THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


JOHAN  VAN  OLDEN-BARNEVELD. 

"Nil  pcire  tutissima  fides." 


HISTORY  OF  THE 
UNITED   NETHERLANDS 

FROM    THE    DEATH    OF    WILLIAM    THE    SILENT 
TO     THE    TWELVE    YEARS'     TRUCE— 1609 


BY 
JOHN  LOTHROP  MOTLEY,  D.C.L.,  LL.D. 

CORRESPONDING    MEMBER    OF   THE    INSTITUTE   OK    FRANCE,    ETC. 


IN   TWO    VOLUMES— VOL.  II 

1590—1009 


WITH    PORTRAITS 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
NEWYORK  AND  LONDON 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSl  1  Y  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVJS 


BOOK  III. 


CHAPTER   XXL 

Effect  of  the  Assassination  of  Henry  III.  —  Concentration  of  forces  for  the  in 
vasion  of  France  —  The  Netherlands  determine  on  striking  a  blow  for 
freedom  —  Organization  of  a  Dutch  army  —  Stratagem  to  surprise  the  castle 
of  Breda  —  Intrepidity  and  success  of  the  enterprise. Page  1 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Struggle  of  the  United  Provinces  against  Philip  of  Spain — Progress  of  the 
Republic  —  Influence  of  Geographical  position  on  the  fate  of  the  Nether 
lands —  Contrast  offered  by  America  —  Miserable  state  of  the  so-called 
"obedient"  provinces — Prosperity  of  the  Commonwealth  —  Its  internal 
government  —  Tendency  to  provincialism  —  Quibbles  of  the  English  Mem 
bers  of  the  Council,  Wilkes  and  Bodley  —  Exclusion  of  Olden-Barneveld 
from  the  State-Council  —  Proposals  of  Philip  for  mediation  with  the 
United  Provinces — The  Provinces  resolutely  decline  all  proffers  of  inter 
vention  • 17 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Philip's  scheme  of  aggrandizement  —  Projected  invasion  of  France  —  Internal 
condition  of  France  —  Character  of  Henry  of  Navarre  —  Preparation  for 
action — Battle  of  Ivry — Victory  of  the  French  king  over  the  League  — 
Reluctance  ot  the  king  to  attack  the  French  capital  —  Siege  of  Paris  — The 
Pope  indisposed  towards  the  League  —  Extraordinary  demonstration  of 
ecclesiastics  —  Influence  ot  the  priests  —  Extremities  of  the  siege  —  At 
tempted  negotiation  —  State  of  Philip's  army  —  Difficult  position  of  Farnese 
— March  of  the  allies  to  the  relief  of  Paris — Lagny  taken  and  the  city 
relieved  —  Desertion  of  the  king's  army  —  Siege  of  Corbeil  — Death  of  Pope 
SixtusV. — Re-capture  of  Lagny  and  Corbeil  —  Return  of  Parma  to  the 
Netherlands  —  Result  of  the  expedition , , . .  42 


CHAPTEK  XXIV. 

Prince  Maurice  —  State  of  the  Republican  army — Martial  science  of  the  period 
—  Reformation  of  the  military  system  by  Prince  Maurice  —  His  military 
genius — Campaign  in  the  Netherlands  —  The  fort  and  town  of  Zutphen 
taken  by  the  States'  forces  —  Attack  upon  Deventer  —  Its  capitulation  — 
Advance  on  Groningen,  Delfzyl,  Opslag,  Yementil,  Steenwyk,  and  other 
places  —  Farnese  besieges  Fort  Knodsenburg  —  Prince  Maurice  hastens  to 
its  relief —  A  skirmish  ensues,  resulting  in  the  discomfiture  of  the  Spanish 
and  Italian  troops  —  Surrender  of  Hulst  and  Nymegen  —  Close  of  military 
operations  of  the  year 92 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

War  in  Brittany  and  Normandy  —  Death  of  La  Noue  —  Religious  and  political 
persecution  in  Paris  —  Murder  of  President  Brisson,  Larcher,  andTardif — 
The  sceptre  of  France  offered  to  Philip  —  The  Duke  of  Mayenne  punishes 
the  murderers  of  the  magistrates  —  Speech  of  Henry's  envoy  to  the  States- 
General —  Letter  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Henry — Siege  of  Rouen  —  Far 
nese  leads  an  army  to  its  relief — The  king  is  wounded  in  a  skirmish  — 
Siege  of  Rue  by  Farnese  —  Henry  raises  the  siege  of  Rouen — Siege  of 
Caudebec  —  Critical  position  of  Farnese  and  his  army  — Victory  of  the  Duke 
of  Menxfiur  in  Brittany 120 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Return  of  Prince  Maurice  to  the  siege  of  Steenwyk  —  Capitulation  of  the 
besieged  —  Effects  of  the  introduction  of  mining  operations  —  Maurice  be 
sieges  Coeworden  — Verdugo  attempts  to  relieve  the  city,  but  fails  —  The 
city  capitulates,  and  Prince  Maurice  retreats  into  winter  quarters. . . .  156 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

Negotiations  between  Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  States  —  Aspect  of  affairs 
between  England  and  the  Netherlands  —  Complaints  by  the  Hollanders  of 
the  piratical  acts  of  the  English  —  The  Dutch  Envoy  and  the  English 
Government  —  Caron's  interview  with  Elizabeth  —  The  Queen  promises 
redress  of  grievances 170 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

fnfluence  of  the  rule  and  character  of  Philip  II.  —  Heroism  of  the  sixteenth 
century  —  Contest  for  the  French  throne  —  Character  and  policy  of  the 
Duke  of  Mayenne  —  Escape  of  the  Duke  of  Guise  from  Castle  Tours — Pro 
positions  for  the  marriage  of  the  Infanta — Plotting  of  the  Catholic  party — 


Grounds  of  Philip's  pretensions  to  the  crown  of  France  —  Motives  of  the 
Duke  of  Parma  maligned  by  Commander  Moreo  —  He  justifies  himself  to 
the  king — View  of  the  private  relations  between  Philip  and  the  Duke  of 
Mayenne  and  their  sentiments  towards  each  other  —  Disposition  of  the 
French  politicians  and  soldiers  towards  Philip — Peculiar  commercial  pur 
suits  of  Philip  —  Confused  state  of  affairs  in  France  —  Treachery  of  Philip 
towards  the  Duke  of  Parma  —  Recall  of  the  duke  to  Spain  —  His  sufferings 
and  death 185 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

Effect  of  the  death  of  Farnese  upon  Philip's  schemes  —  Priestly  flattery  and 
counsel  —  Assembly  of  the  States-General  of  France  —  Meeting  of  the 
Leaguers  at  the  Louvre  —  Conference  at  Surene  between  the  chiefs  of  the 
League  and  the  "political"  leaders — Henry  convokes  an  assembly  of 
bishops,  theologians,  and  others  —  Strong  feeling  on  all  sides  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  succession  —  Philip  commands  that  the  Infanta  and  the  Duke 
of  Guise  be  elected  King  and  Queen  of  France  —  Manifesto  of  the  Duke  of 
Mayenne  —  Formal  re-admission  of  Henry  to  the  Roman  faith  —  The  pope 
refuses  to  consent  to  his  reconciliation  with  the  Church  —  His  consecration 
with  the  sacred  oil  —  Entry  of  the  king  into  Paris  —  Departure  of  the 
Spanish  garrison  from  the  capital — Dissimulation  of  the  Duke  of  Mayenne 

—  He  makes  terms  with  Henry  —  Grief  of  Queen  Elizabeth  on  receipt  of 
•    the  communications  from  France 227 

CHAPTER    XXX. 

Prince  Maurice  lays  siege  to  Gertruydenberg  —  Advantages  of  the  new  system 
of  warfare  —  Progress  of  the  besieging  operations  —  Superiority  of  Maurice's 
manoeuvres  —  Adventure  of  Count  Philip  of  Nassau  —  Capitulation  of 
Gertruydenberg  —  Mutiny  among  the  Spanish  troops  —  Attempt  of  Ver- 
dugo  to  retake  Coeworden  —  Suspicions  of  treason  in  the  English  garrison 
at  Ostend  —  Letter  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Sir  Edward  Norris  on  the  sub 
ject —  Second  attempt  on  Coeworden — Assault  on  Groningen  by  Maurice 

—  Second  adventure  of  Philip  of  Nassau  —  Narrow  escape  of  Prince  Mau 
rice —  Surrender  of  Groningen  —  Particulars  of  the  siege  —  Question  of 
religious  toleration  —  Progress  of  the  United  Netherlands — Condition  of 
the  "obedient"  Netherlands — Incompetency  of  Peter  Mansfeld  as  Go 
vernor —  Archduke  Ernest,  the  successor  of  Farnese — Difficulties  of  his 
position  —  His  unpopularity — Great  achievements  of  the  republicans  — 
Triumphal  entry  of  Ernest  into  Brussels  and  Antwerp  —  Magnificence  of 
the  spectacle  —  Disaffection  of  the  Spanish  troops — Great  military  rebel 
lion—Philip's  proposal  to  destroy  the  English  fleet  —  His  assassination 
plans  —  Plot  to  poison    Queen    Elizabeth  —  Conspiracies  against  Prince 
Maurice  —  Futile  attempts  at  negotiation  —  Proposal  of  a  marriage  between 
Henry  and  the  Infanta  —  Secret  mission  from  Henry  to  the  King  of  Spain 

—  Special  dispatch  to  England  and  the  States  —  Henry  obtains  further  aid 
from  Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  States-Council  —  Anxiety  of  the  Protestant 
countries  to  bring  about  a  war  with  Spain  - —  Aspect  of  affairs  at  the  close 
of  the  year  1594 255 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

Formal  declaration  of  war  against  Spain  —  Marriage  festivities  —  Death  of 
Archduke  Ernest  —  His  year  of  government  —  Fuentes  declared  governor- 
general —  Disaffection  of  the  Duke  of  Arschot  and  Count  Arenberg  — 
Death  of  the  Duke  of  Arschot  —  Fuentes  besieges  Le  Catelet  —  The  fortress 
of  Ham,  sold  to  the  Spanish  by  De  Gomeron,  besieged  and  taken  by  the 
Duke  of  Bouillon  —  Execution  of  De  Gomeron  —  Death  of  Colonel  Verdugo 
— Siege  of  Dourlens  by  Fuentes  —  Death  of  La  Motte  —  Death  of  Charles 
Mansfeld  —  Total  defeat  of  the  French  —  Murder  of  Admiral  De  Villars  — 
Dourlens  captured,  and  the  garrison  and  citizens  put  to  the  sword  — 
Military  operations  in  eastern  Netherlands  and  on  the  Rhine  —  Maurice 
lays  siege  to  Groento  —  Mondragon  hastening  to  its  relief,  Prince  Maurice 
raises  the  siege  —  Skirmish  between  Maurice  and  Mondragon  —  Death  of 
Philip  of  Nassau —  Death  of  Mondragon  —  Bombardment  and  surrender  of 
Weerd  Castle  —  Maurice  retires  into  winter  quarters  —  Campaign  of  Henry 
IV.  —  He  besieges  Dijon — Surrender  of  Dijon  —  Absolution  granted  to 
Henry  by  the  pope  —  Career  of  Balagny  at  Cambray  —  Progress  of  the 
siege  —  Capitulation  of  the  town  —  Suicide  of  the  Princess  of  Cambray, 
wife  of  Balagny 317 


CHAPTEE   XXXII. 

Archduke-Cardinal  Albert  appointed  governor  of  the  Netherlands  —  Return 
of  Philip  William  from  captivity — His  adherence  to  the  King  of  Spain  — 
Notice  of  the  Marquis  of  Varambon,  Count  Varax,  and  other  new  officers 
—  Henry's  communications  with  Queen  Elizabeth  —  Madame  de  Mon- 
ceaux  —  Conversation  of  Henry  with  the  English  ambassador  —  Marseilles 
secured  by  the  Duke  of  Guise  —  The  fort  of  Rysbank  taken  by  De  Rosne — 
Calais  in  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  —  Assistance  from  England  solicited  by 
Henry — Unhandsome  conditions  proposed  by  Elizabeth  —  Annexation  of 
Calais  to  the  obedient  provinces  —  Pirates  of  Dunkirk  —  Uneasiness  of  the 
Netherlander  with  regard  to  the  designs  of  Elizabeth  —  Her  protestations 
of  sincerity  —  Expedition  of  Dutch  and  English  forces  to  Spain  —  Attack 
on  the  Spanish  war-ships — Victory  of  the  allies — Flag  of  the  Republic 
planted  on  the  fortress  of  Cadiz  —  Capitulation  of  the  city  —  Letter  of 
Elizabeth  to  the  Dutch  admiral  —  State  of  affairs  in  France  —  Proposition 
of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  for  the  division  of  the  kingdom  —  Successes  of 
the  Cardinal  Archduke  in  Normandy  —  He  proceeds  to  Flanders  —  Siege 
and  capture  of  Hulst  —  Projected  alliance  against  Spain  —  Interview  of 
De  Sancy  with  Lord  Burghley  —  Diplomatic  conference  at  Greenwich  — 
Formation  of  a  league  against  Spain —  Duplicity  of  the  treaty  —  Affairs  in 
Germany  —  Battle  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Grand  Turk  —  Endeavour 
of  Philip  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the  league — His  interference  in 
the  affairs  of  Germany  —  Secret  intrigue  of  Henry  with  Spain — Philip's 
second  attempt  at  the  conquest  of  England 352 


CHAPTEK   XXXIII. 

Struggle  of  the  Netherlands  against  Spain  —  March  to  Turnhout  —  Retreat  of 
the  Spanish  commander — Pursuit  and  attack  —  Demolition  of  the  Spanish 
army — Surrender  of  the  garrison  of  Turnhout  — Improved  military  science 
— Moral  effect  of  the  battle  — The  campaign  in  France  — Attack  on  Amiens 
by  the  Spaniards  —  Sack  and  burning  of  the  city  —  De  Rosny's  plan  for 
reorganisation  of  the  finances — Jobbery  and  speculation— Philip  ^s  repudia 
tion  of  his  debts  —  Effects  of  the  measure  —  Renewal  of  persecution  by  the 
Jesuits  —  Contention  between  Turk  and  Christian  —  Envoy  from  the  King 
of  Poland  to  the  Hague  to  plead  for  reconciliation  with  Philip  -  His 
subsequent  presentation  to  Queen  Elizabeth  —  Military  events  —  Recovery 
of  Amiens  —  Feeble  operations  of  the  confederate  powers  against  Spain  — 
Marriage  of  the  Princess  Emilia,  sister  of  Maurice— Reduction  of  the  castle 
and  town  of  Alphen  —  Surrender  of  Rheinberg  —  Capitulation  of  Meurs  — 
Surrender  of  Grol  —  Storming  and  taking  of  Brevoort  —  Capitulation  of 
Enschede,  Ootmarsum,  Oldenzaal,  and  Lingen  —  Rebellion  of  the  Spanish 
garrisons  in  Antwerp  and  Ghent — Progress  of  the  peace  movement  between 
Henry  and  Philip  —  Relations  of  the  three  confederate  powers  —  Henry's 
scheme  for  reconciliation  with  Spain  —  His  acceptance  of  Philip's  offer  of 
peace  announced  to  Elizabeth  —  Endeavours  for  a  general  peace 432 


CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

Mission  of  the  States  to  Henry  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  peace  with 
Spain  —  Proposal  of  Henry  to  elevate  Prince  Maurice  to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  States  —  Embarkation  of  the  States' envoys  for  England — Their 
interview  with  Queen  Elizabeth  —  Return  of  the  envoys  from  England  — 
Demand  of  Elizabeth  for  repayment  of  her  advances  to  the  republic  — 
Second  embassy  to  England  —  Final  arrangement  between  the  Queen 
and  the  States 475 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Negotiations  between  France  and  Spain  —  Conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  peace  — 
Purchase  of  the  allegiance  of  the  French  nobles  —  Transfer  of  the  Nether 
lands  to  Albert  and  Isabella  —  Marriages  of  the  Infante  and  Infanta  — 
Illness  of  Philip  II.  —  Horrible  nature  of  his  malady  —  His  last  hours  and 
death  —  Review  of  his  reign  —  Extent  of  the  Spanish  dominions  —  Causes 
of  the  greatness  of  Spain,  and  of  its  downfall  —  Philip's  wars  and  their 
expenses  —  The  Crown  revenues  of  Spain  —  Character  of  the  people  —  Their 
inordinate  self-esteem  —  Consequent  deficiency  of  labour  —  Ecclesiastical 
Government  —  Revenues  of  the  Church  —  Characteristics  of  the  Spanish 
clergy  —  Foreign  commerce  of  Spain  —  Governmental  system  of  Philip  II. — 
Founded  on  the  popular  ignorance  and  superstition  —  Extinction  of  liberty 
in  Spain  —  The  Holy  Inquisition  —  The  work  and  character  of  Philip  498 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Commercial  prospects  of  Holland  —  Travels  of  John  Huygen  van  Linschoten 
—  Their  effect  on  the  trade  and  prosperity  of  the  Netherlands —  Progress 
of  nautical  and  geographical  science  —  Maritime  exploration  —  Fantastic 
notions  respecting  the  polar  regions  —  State  of  nautical  science  —  First 
Arctic  expedition  —  {Success  of  the  voyagers  —  Failure  of  the  second  expe 
dition  —  Third  attempt  to  discover  the  north-east  passage  —  Discovery  of 
Spitzbergen — Scientific  results  of  the  voyage —  Adventures  in  the  frozen 
regions  —  Death  of  William  Barendz  —  Return  of  the  voyagers  to  Am 
sterdam —  Southern  expedition  against  the  Spanish  power — Disasters 
attendant  upon  it  —  Extent  of  Dutch  discovery 544 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

Military  Operations  in  cue  Netherlands  —  Designs  of  the  Spanish  Commander 
—  Siege  ol  Orsoy  —  Advance  upon  Rheinberg  —  Murder  of  the  Count  of 
Broeck  and  his  garrison  —  Capture  of  Rees  and  Emmerich  — Outrages  of  the 
Spanish  soldiers  in  the  peaceful  provinces  —  Inglorious  attempt  to  avenge 
the  hostilities —  State  of  trade  in  the  Provinces  —  Naval  expedition  under 
Van  der  Does—  Arrival  of  Albert  and  Isabella  at  Brussels  —  Military  ope 
rations  of  Prince  Maurice  —  Negotiation  between  London  and  Brussels  — 
Henry's  determination  to  enact  the  Council  of  Trent — His  projected 
marriage — Queen  Elizabeth  and  Envoy  Caron  —  Peace  proposals  of  Spain 
to  Elizabeth — Conferences  at  Gtertruydenberg — Uncertain  state  of  affairs. 

681 


BOOK  IV. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Military  events  —  Aggressive  movement  of  the  Netherlanders  —  State  of  the 
Archduke's  provinces  —  Mutiny  of  the  Spanish  forces  —  Proposed  invasion 
of  Flanders  by  the  States-General  —  Disembarkation  of  the  troops  on  the 
Spanish  coasts  —  Capture  of  Oudenburg  and  other  places  —  Surprise  of 
Nieuport  —  Conduct  of  the  Archduke — Oudenburg  and  the  other  forts 
re-taken — Dilemma  of  the  States'  army — Attack  of  the  Archduke  on 
Count  Ernest's  cavalry — Panic  and  total  overthrow  of  the  advance-guard 
of  the  States'  army  — Battle  of  Nieuport—  Details  of  the  action  —  Defeat 
of  the  Spanish  army  —  Results  of  the  whole  expedition Page  1 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

Effects  of  the  Nieuport  campaign  —  The  general  and  the  statesman — The 
Roman  empire  and  the  Turk  —  Disgraceful  proceedings  of  the  mutinous 
soldiers  in  Hungary  —  The  Dunkirk  pirates  —  Siege  of  Ostendby  the  Arch 
duke  —  Attack  on  Rheinberg  by  Prince  Maurice  —  Siege  and  capitulation 
of  Meurs  —  Attempt  on  Bois-le-Duc  —  Concentration  of  the  war  at  Ostend 
—  Account  of  the  belligerents  —  Details  of  the  siege  —  Feigned  offer  of  Sir 
Francis  Vere  to  capitulate  —  Arrival  of  reinforcements  from  the  States  — 
Attack  and  overthrow  of  the  besiegers 55 


CHAPTEE  XL. 

Protraction  of  the  siege  of  Ostend  —  Spanish  invasion  of  Ireland  —  Prince 
Maurice  again  on  the  march  —  Siege  of  Grave  —  State  of  the  archduke's 
army  —  Formidable  mutiny — State  of  Europe — Portuguese  expedition 
to  Java — Foundation  there  of  the  first  Batavian  trading  settlement  — 
Exploits  of  Jacob  Heemskerk  —  Capture  of  a  Lisbon  carrack  —  Progress  of 
Dutch  commerce — Oriental  and  Germanic  republics — Commercial  embassy 
from  the  King  of  Atsgen  in  Sumatra  to  the  Netherlands  —  Surrender  of 
Grave  —  Privateer  work  of  Frederic  Spinola  —  Destruction  of  Spinola'e 
fleet  by  English  and  Dutch  cruisers —  Continuation  of  the  siege  of  Ostend 


—  Fearful  hurricane  and  its  effects  —  The  attack  —  Capture  of  external 
forts  —  Encounter  between  Spinola  and  a  Dutch  squadron  —  Execution  of 
prisoners  by  the  archduke  —  Philip  Fleming  and  his  diary  —  Continuation 
of  operations  before  Ostend  —  Spanish  veterans  still  mutinous  —  Their 
capital  besieged  by  Van  den  Berg  —  Maurice  marches  to  their  relief  —  Con 
vention  between  the  prince  and  the  mutineers  —  Great  commercial  pro 
gress  of  the  Dutch  —  Opposition  to  international  commerce  — Organiza 
tion  of  the  Universal  East  India  Company 94 


CHAPTEK    XLI. 

Death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  —  Condition  of  Spain  —  Legations  to  James  I.  — 
Union  of  England  and  Scotland  —  Characteristics  of  the  new  monarch  — 
The  English  Court  and  Government  —  Piratical  practices  of  the  English  — 
Audience  of  the  States'  envoy  with  King  James — Queen  Elizabeth's  scheme 
for  remodelling  Europe  —  Ambassador  extraordinary  from  Henry  IV.  to 
James  —  De  Rosny's  strictures  on  the  English  people  —  Private  interview 
of  De  Rosny  with  the  States'  envoy  —  De  Rosny's  audience  of  the  king  — 
Objects  of  his  mission  —  Insinuations  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  — 
Invitation  of  the  embassy  to  Greenwich  —  Promise  of  James  to  protect  the 
Netherlands  against  Spain  —  Misgivings  of  Barneveld  —  Conference  at 
Arundel  House  —  Its  unsatisfactory  termination  —  Contempt  of  De  Rosny 
for  the  English  counsellors  —  Political  aspect  of  Europe  —  De  Rosny's  dis 
closure  to  the  king  of  the  secret  object  of  his  mission  —  Agreement  of  James 
to  the  proposals  of  De  Rosny  —  Ratification  of  the  treaty  of  alliance  —  Re 
turn  of  De  Rosny  and  suite  to  France  —  Arrival  of  the  Spanish  ambas 
sador..  136 


CHAPTER   XLII. 

Siege  of  Ostend  —  The  Marquis  Spinola  made  commander-in-chief  of  the 
besieging  army — Discontent  of  the  troops  —  General  aspect  of.  the  opera 
tions  —  Gradual  encroachment  of  the  enemy P 181 


CHAPTEK   XLIII. 

Policy  of  the  King  of  France  —  Operations  of  Prince  Maurice  —  Plans  for  a 
Flemish  Campaign  —  Passage  into  Flanders  —  Fort  St.  Catharine  — Flight 
of  its  garrison,  and  occupation  by  Maurice  —  Surrender  of  Ysendyke  and 
Aardenburg  —  Skirmish  at  Stamper's  Hook  —  Siege  of  Sluys  by  Prince 
Maurice  —  Ineffectual  attempt  of  Spinola  to  relieve  the  town  —  Its  capitu 
lation  and  restoration  to  the  States —  Death  of  Lewis  Guntherof  Nassau — 
Operations  at  Ostend  —  Surrender  of  the  garrison  —  Desolation  of  the  scene 
after  its  evacuation 199 


CHAPTEK  XLIV. 

Equation  between  the  contending  powers— ^Treaty  of  peace  between  King 
James  and  the  archdukes  and  the  King  of  Spain  —  Position  of  the  Pro 
vinces —  States  envoy  in  England  to  be  styled  ambassador  —  Protest  of 
the  Spanish  ambassador  —  Effect  of  James's  peace-treaty  on  the  people  of 
England —  Public  rejoicings  for  the  victory  at  Sluys—  Spinola  appointed 
Commander-in-chief  of  the  Spanish  forces  —  Preparations  for  a  campaign 
against  the  States  —  Seizure  of  Dutch  cruisers  —  International  discord  — 
Destruction  of  Sarmiento's  fleet  by  Admiral  Haultain  —  Projected  enter 
prise  against  Antwerp  —  Descent  of  Spinola  on  the  Netherland  frontier  — 
Oldenzaal  and  Lingen  taken  —  Movements  of  Prince  Maurice  —  En 
counter  of  the  two  armies —  Panic  of  the  Netherlanders  —  Consequent  loss 
and  disgrace  —  Wachtendonk  and  Cracow  taken  by  Spinola  —  Spinola's 
reception  in  Spain —  Effect  of  his  victories —  Results  of  the  struggle  be 
tween  Freedom  and  Absolutism  —  Affairs  in  the  East  —  Amboyna  taken 
by  Van  der  Hagen  —  Contest  for  possession  of  the  Clove  Islands  — Com 
mercial  treaty  between  the  States  and  the  King  of  Ternate  —  Hostilities 
between  the  Kings  of  Ternate  and  Tydor  —  Expulsion  of  the  Portuguese 
from  the  Moluccas  —  Du  Terrail's  attempted  assault  on  Bergen-op-Zoom  — 
Attack  on  the  Dunkirk  pirate  fleet  —  Practice  of  executing  prisoners  cap 
tured  at  sea 218 


CHAPTEK    XLV. 

Preparations  for  the  campaign  of  1606 — Diminution  of  Maurice's  popularity — 
Quarrel  between  the  pope  and  the  Venetian  republic  —  Surprise  of  Sluya 
by  Da  Terrail  —  Dilatoriness  of  the  republic's  operations  —  Movements  of 
Spinola — Influence  of  the  weather  on  the  military  transactions  of  the 
year  —  Endeavours  of  Spinola  to  obtain  possession  of  the  Waal  and  Yssel 
—  Surrender  of  Lochem  to  Spinola  —  Siege  of  Groll  —  Siege  and  loss  of 
Rheinberg  —  Mutiny  in  the  Catholic  army — Recovery  of  Lochem  by 
Maurice  —  Attempted  recovery  of  Groll  —  Sudden  appearance  of  the 
enemy  —  Withdrawal  of  the  besieging  army  —  Close  of  the  campaign  — 
End  of  the  war  of  independence  —  Motives  of  the  Prince  in  his  actions 
before  Groll  —  Cruise  of  Admiral  Haultain  to  the  coast  of  Spain  and 
Portugal  —  His  encounter  with  the  war-ships  of  Fazardo  —  Courageous 
conduct  of  the  vice-admiral  —  Deaths  of  Justus  Lipsius,  Hohenlo,  and 
Count  John  of  Nassau 254 


CHAPTEK    XLYI. 

General  desire  tor  peace  — Political  aspect  01  Europe  —  Designs  of  the  kings 
of  England,  France,  and  Spain  concerning  the  United  Provinces  —  Matri 
mon i a  1  schemes  of  Spain  —  Conference  between  the  French  minister*  and 


the  Dutch  envoy  —  Confidential  revelations  —  Henry's  desire  to  annex  the 
Netherlands  to  France  —  Discussion  of  the  subject  —  Artifice  of  Barneveld 
—  Impracticability  of  a  compromise  between  the  Provinces  and  Spain  — 
Formation  of  a  West  India  Company  —  Secret  mission  from  the  archdukes 
to  the  Hague  —  Reply  of  the  States-General  —  Return  of  the  archdukes' 
envoy  —  Arrangement  of  an  eight  months'  armistice 277 


CHAPTEK    XLYII. 

A.  Dutch  fleet  under  Heemskerk  sent  to  the  coast  of  Spain  and  Portugal  — - 
Encounter  with  the  Spanish  war-fleet  under  D'Avila  —  Death  of  both 
commanders-in-chief — Victory  of  the  Netherlander — .Massacre  of  the 
Spaniards 318 


CHAPTER   XLVIII. 

Internal  condition  of  Spain  —  Character  of  the  people  —  Influence  of  the 
Inquisition  —  Population  and  Revenue  —  Incomes  of  Church  and  Govern 
ment  —  Degradation  of  Labour  —  Expulsion  of  the  Moors  and  its  conse 
quences  — Venality  the  special  characteristic  of  Spanish  polity  —  Maxims 
of  the  foreign  polity  of  Spain  —  The  Spanish  army  and  navy  —  Insolvent 
state  of  the  Government  — The  Duke  of  Lerma —  His  position  in  the  State 
—  Origin  of  his  power  —  System  of  bribery  and  trafficking  — Philip  III. — 
His  character  —  Domestic  life  of  the  king  and  queen 330 


CHAPTEK  XLIX. 

Peace  deliberations  in  Spain  —  Unpopularity  of  the  project  —  Disaffection  of 
the  courtiers  —  Complaints  against  Spinola  —  Conference  of  the  Catholic 
party  —  Position  of  Henry  IV.  towards  the  republic  —  State  of  France  — 
Further  peace  negotiations  —  Desire  of  King  James  of  England  for  the 
restoration  of  the  States  to  Spain  —  Arrival  of  the  French  commissioners  — 
President  Jeannin  before  the  States-General  —  Dangers  of  a  truce  with 
Spain — Dutch  legation  to  England  —  Arrival  of  Lewis  Verreyken  at  the 
Hague  with  Philip's  ratification  —  Rejection  of  the  Spanish  treaty  — 
Withdrawal  of  the  Dutch  fleet  from  the  Peninsula  —  The  peace  project 
denounced  by  the  party  of  Prince  Maurice  —  Opposition  of  Maurice  to 
the  plans  of  Barneveld  —  Amended  ratification  presented  to  the  States- 
General  —  Discussion  of  the  conditions  —  Determination  to  conclude  a 
peace  —  Indian  trade  —  Exploits  of  Admiral  Matelieff  in  the  Malay  penin 
sula  —  He  lays  siege  to  Malacca  —  Victory  over  the  Spanish  fleet  —  En 
deavour  to  open  a  trade  with  Cliina  —  Return  of  Matelieff  to  Holland  368 


CHAPTER   L. 

Movements  of  the  Emperor  Rudolph  —  Marquis  Spinola's  reception  at  the 
Hague  —  Meeting  of  Spinola  and  Prince  Maurice  —  Treaty  of  the  Republic 
with  the  French  Government  —  The  Spanish  Commissioners  before  the 
States-General  —  Beginning  of  negotiations  —  Stormy  discussions  —  Real 
object  of  Spain  in  the  negotiations  —  Question  of  the  India  trade  — 
Abandonment  of  the  peace  project  —  Negotiations  for  a  truce — Prolonga 
tion  of  the  armistice  —  Further  delays  —  Treaty  of  the  States  with 
England  —  Proposals  of  the  Spanish  ambassadors  to  Henry  of  France  and 
to  James  of  England  —  Friar  Neyen  at  the  court  of  Spain  —  Spanish  pro 
crastination  —  Decision  of  Philip  on  the  conditions  of  peace  —  Further 
conference  at  the  Hague — Answer  of  the  States-General  to  the  proposals 
of  the  Spanish  Government  —  General  rupture 426 


CHAPTEE  LI. 

Designs  of  Henry  IV.  —  New  marriage  project  between  France  and  Spain  — 
Formal  proposition  of  negotiating  for  a  truce  between  the  States  and  Spain 
—  Exertions  of  Prince  Maurice  to  counteract  the  designs  of  Barneveld  — 
Strife  between  the  two  parties  in  the  republic  —  Animosity  of  the  people 
against  Barneveld  —  Return  of  the  Spanish  commissioners  —  Further 
trifling  —  Dismissal  of  the  commissioners  —  Close  of  the  negotiations  — 
Accidental  discovery  of  the  secret  instructions  of  the  archdukes  to  the 
commissioners — Opposing  factions  in  the  republic  —  Oration  of  President 
Jeannin  before  the  States-General  —  Comparison  between  the  Dutch  and 
Swiss  republics  —  Calumnies  against  the  Advocate  — Ambassador  Lambert 
in  France  —  Henry's  letter  to  Prince  Maurice  —  Reconciliation  of  Maurice 
and  Barneveld — Agreement  of  the  States  to  accept  a  truce 464 


CHAPTEE  LIL 

Vote  of  the  States-General  on  the  groundwork  of  the  treaty — Meeting  of  the 
plenipotentiaries  for  arrangement  of  the  truce  —  Signing  of  the  twelve 
years'  truce —  Its  purport  —  The  negotiations  concluded —  Ratification  by 
the  States-General,  the  Archdukes,  and  the  King  of  Spain  —  Question  of 
toleration  —  Appeal  of  President  Jeannin  on  behalf  of  the  Catholics  — 
Religious  liberty  the  fruit  of  the  war —  Internal  arrangements  of  the  States 
under  the  rule  of  peace  —  Death  of  John  Duke  of  Cleves  and  Jacob 
Arminius  —  Doctrines  of  Arminius  and  Gomarus  —  Theological  warfare — 
Twenty  years'  truce  between  the  Turkish  and  Roman  empires— Ferdinand 
of  Styria  —  Religious  peace  —  Prospects  of  the  future 516 

CHAPTEE    LIII. 
CONCLUSION 542 


ADVERTISEMENT 

TO  THE 

TWO    CONCLUDING    VOLUMES. 


IT  will  be  seen  that  a  change  has  been  made  in  the  epoch  at 
which  it  was  originally  meant  to  close  this  work.  Instead 
of  going  on  with  the  exclusive  history  of  the  Netherlands 
until  the  syiiod  of  Dort,  the  author  has  thought  it  more 
strictly  in  accordance  with  his  general  plan,  as  well  as  more 
convenient  for  the  reader,  to  pause  with  the  narrative  at  the 
point  of  time  when  the  Eepublic  was  formally  admitted  into 
the  family  of  nations  by  the  treaty  of  twelve  years  Truce, 
and  when  its  independence  was  virtually  admitted  by 
Spain. 

The  history  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  with  which  the 
renewed  conflict  between  the  Dutch  Commonwealth  and 
the  Spanish  Monarchy  was  blended,  until  the  termination  of 
the  great  European  struggle  by  the  peace  of  Westphalia, 
involves  all  the  most  important  episodes  in  the  progress  of 
the  Netherlands  until  the  year  1648. 

Upon  this  history,  which  is  the  natural  complement  to 
his  two  works — "  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Eepublic "  and 
"  The  History  of  the  United  Netherlands,"  — the  author  is 
now  engaged,  and  he  hopes  at  a  future  day  to  ask  for  it 
the  indulgence  which  has  been  generously  accorded  to  its 
predecessors. 

LONDON,  August,  1867. 


HISTORY    OF    THE 
UNITED    NETHERLANDS 

BOOK    III 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

Effect  of  the  Assassination  of  Henry  III.  —  Concentration  of  forces  for  the 
invasion  of  France  —  The  Netherlands  determine  on  striking  a  blow  for 
freedom  —  Organization  of  a  Dutch  army  —  Stratagem  to  surprise  the 
castle  of  Breda  —  Intrepidity  and  success  of  the  enterprise. 

THE  dagger  of  Jacques  Clement  had  done  much,  and  was 
likely  to  do  more,  to  change  the  face  of  Europe.  Another 
proof  was  afforded  that  assassination  had  become  a  regular 
and  recognised  factor  in  the  political  problems  of  the  six 
teenth  century.  Another  illustration  was  exhibited  of  the 
importance  of  the  individual — even  although  that  individual 
was  in  himself  utterly  despicable — to  the  working  out  of  great 
historical  results.  It  seemed  that  the  murder  of  Henry  III. — 
that  forlorn  caricature  of  kingship  and  of  manhood — was  likely 
to  prove  eminently  beneficial  to  the  cause  of  the  Netherland 
commonwealth.  Five  years  earlier,  the  murder  of  William 
the  Silent  had  seemed  to  threaten  its  very  existence. 

For  Philip  the  Prudent,  now  that  France  was  deprived  of 
a  head,  conceived  that  the  time  had  arrived  when  he  might 
himself  assume  the  sovereignty  of  that  kingdom.  While  a 
thing  of  straw,  under  the  name  of  Charles  X.  and  shape  of 
a  Cardinal  Bourbon,  was  set  up  to  do  battle  with  that  living 
sovereign  and  soldier,  the  heretic  Bearnese,  the  Duke  of 
Parma  was  privately  ordered  to  bend  all  his  energies  towards 
the  conquest  of  the  realm  in  dispute,  under  pretence  of 
assisting  the  Holy  League. 

VOL  in. — B. 


2  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXL 

Accordingly,  early  in  the  year  1590,  Alexander  concen 
trated  a  considerable  force  on  the  French  frontier  in  Artois 
and  Hainault,  apparently  threatening  Bergen-op-Zoom  and 
other  cities  in  South  Holland,  but  in  reality  preparing  to 
invade  France.  The  Duke  of  Mayenne,  who  had  assumed 
the  title  of  lieutenant-general  of  that  kingdom,  had  already 
visited  him  at  Brussels  in  order  to  arrange  the  plan  of  the 
campaign.1 

While  these  measures  were  in  preparation,  an  opportunity 
was  likely  to  be  afforded  to  the  Netherlander  of  striking  a 
blow  or  two  for  liberty  and  independence  ;  now  that  all  the 
force  that  possibly  could  be  spared  was  to  be  withdrawn  by 
their  oppressors  and  to  be  used  for  the  subjugation  of  their 
neighbours.  The  question  was  whether  there  would  be  a 
statesman  and  a  soldier  ready  to  make  use  of  this  golden 
opportunity. 

There  was  a  statesman  ripe  and  able  who,  since  the  death 
of  the  Taciturn,  had  been  growing  steadily  in  the  estimation 
of  his  countrymen  and  who  already  was  paramount  in  the 
councils  of  the  States-General.  There  was  a  soldier,  still 
very  young,  who  was  possessed  of  the  strongest  hereditary 
claims  to  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  United  Pro 
vinces  and  who  had  been  passing  a  studious  youth  in  making 
himself  worthy  of  his  father  and  his  country.  Fortunately, 
too,  the  statesman  and  the  soldier  were  working  most  har 
moniously  together.  John  of  Olden-Barneveld,  witn  his 
great  experience  and  vast  and  steady  intellect,  stood  side  by 
side  with  young  Maurice  of  Nassau  at  this  important  crisis 
in  the  history  of  the  new  commonwealth. 

At  length  the  twig  was  becoming  the  tree — tandem  fit 
surculus  arbor — according  to  the  device  assumed  by  the  son 
of  William  the  Silent  after  his  father's  death. 

The  Netherlands  had  sore  need  of  a  practical  soldier  to  con 
tend  with  the  scientific  and  professional  tyrants  against  whom 
they  had  so  long  been  struggling,  and  Maurice,  although  so 
young,  was  pre-eminently  a  practical  man.  He  was  no  enthu- 
1  Bor,  vol.  III.  B.  xxvi.  pp.  516,  518. 


1590.        INTELLECTUAL  TRAINING  OF  PRINCE  MAURICE.  3 

siast ;  he  was  no  poet.  He  was  at  that  period  certainly  no 
politician.  Not  often  at  the  age  of  twenty  has  a  man  devoted 
himself  for  years  to  pure  mathematics  for  the  purpose  of  saving 
his  country.  Yet  this  was  Maurice's  scheme.  Four  years  long 
and  more,  when  most  other  youths  in  his  position  and  at  that 
epoch  would  have  been  alternating  between  frivolous  plea 
sures  and  brilliant  exploits  in  the  field,  the  young  prince  had 
spent  laborious  days  and  nights  with  the  learned  Simon 
Stevinus  of  Bruges.  The  scientific  work  which  they  com 
posed  in  common,  the  credit  of  which  the  master  assigned  to 
the  pupil,  might  have  been  more  justly  attributed  perhaps 
to  the  professor  than  to  the  prince,  but  it  is  certain  that 
Maurice  was  an  apt  scholar. 

In  that  country,  ever  held  in  existence  by  main  human 
force  against  the  elements,  the  arts  of  engineering,  hydro 
statics  and  kindred  branches  were  of  necessity  much  culti 
vated.  It  was  reserved  for  the  young  mathematician  to 
make  them  as  potent  against  a  human  foe. 

Moreover,  there  were  symptoms  that  the  military  disci 
pline,  learning  and  practical  skill,  which  had  almost  made 
Spain  the  mistress  of  the  world,  were  sinking  into  decay. 
Farnese,  although  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  was  broken  in 
health,  and  there  seemed  no  one  fit  to  take  the  place  of  him 
self  and  his  lieutenants  when  they  should  be  removed  from 
the  scene  where  they  had  played  their  parts  so  consum 
mately.  The  army  of  the  Netherlands  was  still  to  be  created. 
Thus  far  the  contest  had  been  mainly  carried  on  by  domestic 
militia  and  foreign  volunteers  or  hirelings.  The  train-bands 
of  the  cities  were  aided  in  their  struggles  against  Spanish 
pikemen  and  artillerists,  Italian  and  Albanian  cavalry  by 
the  German  riders,  whom  every  little  potentate  was  anxious 
to  sell  to  either  combatant  according  to  the  highest  bid, 
and  by  English  mercenaries,  whom  the  love  of  adventure  or 
the  hope  of  plunder  sent  forth  under  such  well-seasoned 
captains  as  Williams  and  Morgan,  Vere  and  the  Norrises, 
Baskerville  and  Willoughby. 

But  a   Dutch    army   there   was  none   and    Maurice   had 


4  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXI, 

determined  that  at  last  a  national  force  should  be  created. 
In  this  enterprise  he  was  aided  and  guided  by  his  cousin 
Lewis  William,  Stadtholder  of  Friesland — the  quaint,  rugged 
little  hero,  young  in  years  but  almost  a  veteran  in  the  wars 
of  freedom,  who  was  as  genial  and  intellectual  in  council  as 
he  was  reckless  and  impulsive  in  the  field. 

Lewis  William  had  felt  that  the  old  military  art  was  dying 
out  and  that  there  was  nothing  to  take  its  place.  He  was  a 
diligent  student  of  antiquity.  He  had  revived  in  the  swamps 
of  Friesland  the  old  manoeuvres,  the  quickness  of  wheeling, 
the  strengthening,  without  breaking  ranks  or  columns,  by 
which  the  ancient  Romans  had  performed  so  much  excellent 
work  in  their  day,  and  which  seemed  to  have  passed  entirely 
into  oblivion.  Old  colonels  and  rittmasters,  who  had  never 
heard  of  Leo  the  Thracian  nor  the  Macedonian  phalanx, 
smiled  and  shrugged  their  shoulders,  as  they  listened  to  the 
questions  of  the  young  count,  or  gazed  with  profound 
astonishment  at  the  eccentric  evolutions  to  which  he  was 
accustoming  his  troops.  From  the  heights  of  superior 
wisdom  they  looked  down  with  pity  upon  these  innovations 
on  the  good  old  battle  order.  They  were  accustomed  to  great 
solid  squares  of  troops  wheeling  in  one  way,  steadily,  delibe 
rately,  all  together,  by  one  impulse  and  as  one  man.  It  was 
true  that  in  narrow  fields,  and  when  the  enemy  was  pressing, 
such  stately  evolutions  often  became  impossible  or  ensured 
defeat ;  but  when  the  little  Stadtholder  drilled  his  soldiers 
in  small  bodies  of  various  shapes,  teaching  them  to  turn, 
advance,  retreat,  wheel  in  a  variety  of  ways,  sometimes  in 
considerable  masses,  sometimes  man  by  man,  sending  the 
foremost  suddenly  to  the  rear,  or  bringing  the  hindmost  ranks 
to  the  front,  and  began  to  attempt  all  this  in  narrow  fields  as 
well  as  in  wide  ones,  and  when  the  enemy  was  in  sight,  men 
stood  aghast  at  his  want  of  reverence,  or  laughed  at  him  as  a 
pedant.  But  there  came  a  day  when  they  did  not  laugh, 
neither  friends  nor  enemies.  Meantime  the  two  cousins, 
who  directed  all  the  military  operations  in  the  provinces, 
understood  each  other  thoroughly  and  proceeded  to  perfect 


1590.  ORGANIZATION  OF   THE  REPUBLICAN   ARMY.  5 

their  new  system,  to  be  adopted  at  a  later  period  by  all 
civilized  nations.2 

The  regular  army  of  the  Netherlands  was  small  in  number 
at  that  moment — not  more  than  twenty  thousand  foot  with 
two  thousand  horse — but  it  was  well  disciplined,  well  equipped, 
and,  what  was  of  great  importance,  regularly  paid.  Old 
campaigners  complained  that  in  the  halcyon  days  of  paper 
enrolments,  a  captain  could  earn  more  out  of  his  company 
than  a  colonel  now  received  for  his  whole  regiment.  The 
days  when  a  thousand  men  were  paid  for,  with  a  couple  of 
hundred  in  the  field,  were  passing  away  for  the  United  Pro 
vinces  and  existed  only  for  Italians  and  Spaniards.  While, 
therefore,  mutiny  on  an  organised  and  extensive  scale  seemed 
almost  the  normal  condition  of  the  unpaid  legions  of  Philip, 
the  little  army  of  Maurice  was  becoming  the  model  for 
Europe  to  imitate. 

The  United  Provinces  were  as  yet  very  far  from  being 
masters  of  their  own  territory.  Many  of  their  most  important 
cities  still  held  for  the  king.  In  Brabant,  such  towns  as 
Breda  with  its  many  dependencies  and  Gertruydenberg  ;  on 
the  Waal,  the  strong  and  wealthy  Nymegen  which  Martin 
Schenk  had  perished  in  attempting  to  surprise  ;  on  the  Yssel, 
the  thriving  city  of  Zutphen,  whose  fort  had  been  surrendered 
by  the  traitor  York,  and  the  stately  Deventer,  which  had 
been  placed  in  Philip's  possession  by  the  treachery  of 
Sir  William  Stanley;  on  the  borders  of  Drenthe,  the 
almost  impregnable  Koevorden,  key  to  the  whole  Zwollian 
country ;  and  in  the  very  heart  of  ancient  Netherland, 
Groningen,  capital  of  the  province  of  the  same  name,  which 
the  treason  of  Kenneberg  had  sold  to  the  Spanish  tyrant ; — 
all  these  flourishing  cities  and  indispensable  strongholds  were 
garrisoned  by  foreign  troops,  making  the  idea  of  Dutch 
independence  a  delusion. 

While  Alexander  of  Parma,  sorely  against  his  will  and  in 
obedience  to  what  he  deemed  the  insane  suggestions  of  his 
master,  was  turning  his  back  on  the  Netherlands  in  order  to 

9  Reyd,  viii.  162. 


6  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP,  XXI. 

relieve  Paris,  now  hard  pressed  by  the  Bearnese,  an  oppor 
tunity  offered  itself  of  making  at  least  a  beginning  in  the 
great  enterprise  of  recovering  these  most  valuable  posses 
sions. 

The  fair  and  pleasant  city  of  Breda  lies  on  the  Merk,  a 
slender  stream,  navigable  for  small  vessels,  which  finds  its 
way  to  the  sea  through  the  great  canal  of  the  Dintel.  It 
had  been  the  property  of  the  Princes  of  Orange,  Barons  of 
Breda,  and  had  passed  with  the  other  possessions  of  the  family 
to  the  house  of  Chalons-Nassau.  Henry  of  Nassau  had,  half 
a  century  before,  adorned  and  strengthened  it  by  a  splendid 
palace-fortress  which,  surrounded  by  a  deep  and  double 
moat,  thoroughly  commanded  the  town.  A  garrison  of  five 
companies  of  Italian  infantry  and  one  of  cavalry  lay  in  this 
castle,  which  was  under  the  command  of  Edward  Lanzavecchia, 
governor  both  of  Breda  and  of  the  neighbouring  Grertruy- 
denberg. 

Breda  was  an  important  strategical  position.  It  was 
moreover  the  feudal  superior  of  a  large  number  of  adjacent 
villages  as  well  as  of  the  cities  Osterhout,  Stcenberg  and 
Kosendaal.  It  was  obviously  not  more  desirable  for  Maurice 
of  Nassau  to  recover  his  patrimonial  city  than  it  was  for  the 
States-General  to  drive  the  Spaniards  from  so  important  a 
position.3 

In  the  month  of  February,  1590,  Maurice,  being  then  at 
the  castle  of  Voorn  in  Zeeland,  received  a  secret  visit  from  a 
boatman,  Adrian  van  der  Berg  by  name,  who  lived  at  the 
village  of  Leur,  eight  or  ten  miles  from  Breda,  and  who  had 
long  been  in  the  habit  of  supplying  the  castle  with  turf 
In  the  absence  of  woods  and  coal  mines,  the  habitual  fuel  of 
the  country  was  furnished  by  those  vast  relics  of  the  ante 
diluvian  forests  which  abounded  in  the  still  partially  sub 
merged  soil.  The  skipper  represented  that  his  vessel  had 
passed  so  often  into  and  out  of  the  castle  as  to  be  hardly  liable 
to  search  by  the  guard  on  its  entrance.  He  suggested  a 

1  Bor,  III.  xxvi.  518,  seqq.  Giucciardini  in  wee.  Meteren,  xvi.  290,  291, 
Em.  van  Reyd,  viii.  162-163.  Bentivoglio,  II.  v.  386,  338. 


1590.       PROJECT  TO  SURPRISE  THE  CASTLE  OF  BREDA.  7 

stratagem  by   which   it   might  be    possible  to   surprise  the 
stronghold. 

The  prince  approved  of  the  scheme  and  immediately  con 
sulted  with  Barneveld.  That  statesman  at  once  proposed, 
as  a  suitable  man  to  carry  out  the  daring  venture,  Captain 
Charles  de  Heraugiere,  a  nobleman  of  Cambray,  who  had 
been  long  in  the  service  of  the  States,  had  distinguished 
himself  at  Sluys  and  on  other  occasions,  but  who  had  been 
implicated  in  Leicester's  nefarious  plot  to  gain  possession  of 
the  city  of  Leyden  a  few  years  before.4  The  Advocate 
expressed  confidence  that  he  would  be  grateful  for  so  signal 
an  opportunity  of  retrieving  a  somewhat  damaged  reputation. 
Heraugiere,  who  was  with  his  company  in  Voorn  at  the  mo 
ment,  eagerly  signified  his  desire  to  attempt  the  enterprise  as 
soon  as  the  matter  was  communicated  to  him  ;  avowing  the 
deepest  devotion  to  the  house  of  William  the  Silent  and 
perfect  willingness  to  sacrifice  his  life,  if  necessary,  in  its 
cause  and  that  of  the  country.  Philip  Nassau,  cousin  of 
Prince  Maurice  and  brother  of  Lewis  William,  governor  of 
Grorcum,  Dorcum,  and  Lowenstein  Castle  and  colonel  of  a 
regiment  of  cavalry,  was  also  taken  into  the  secret,  as  well 
as  Count  Hohenlo,  President  Van  der  Myle  and  a  few  others  ; 
but  a  mystery  was  carefully  spread  and  maintained  over  the 
undertaking. 

Heraugiere  selected  sixty-eight  men,  on  whose  personal 
daring  and  patience  he  knew  that  he  could  rely,  from  the 
regiments  of  Philip  Nassau  and  of  Famars,  governor  of  the 
neighbouring  city  of  Heusden,  and  from  his  own  company.. 
Besides  himself,  the  officers  to  command  the  party  were  cap-' 
tains  Logier  and  Fervet,  and  lieutenant  Matthew  Held.  The 
names  of  such  devoted  soldiers  deserve  to  be  commemorated 
and  are  still  freshly  remembered  by  their  countrymen. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  Maurice  and  his  staff  went  to 

Willemstad  on  the  Isle  of  Klundert,  it  having  been  given  out 

on  his  departure  from  the  Hague  that  his  destination  was 

Dort.     On  the   same   night  at  about  eleven  o'clock,  by  the 

4  Vol.  II.  of  this  work,  ck,  xvii  p.  333,  seqq, 


8  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXI 

feeble  light  of  a  waning  moon,  Heraugiere  and  his  band  came 
to  the  Swertsenburg  ferry,  as  agreed  upon,  to  meet  the  boat 
man.  They  found  neither  him  nor  his  vessel,  and  they 
wandered  about  half  the  night,  very  cold,  very  indignant, 
much  perplexed.  At  last,  on  their  way  back,  they  came 
upon  the  skipper  at  the  village  of  Terheyde,  who  made  the 
extraordinary  excuse  that  he  had  overslept  himself  and  that 
he  feared  the  plot  had  been  discovered.  It  being  too  late  to 
make  any  attempt  that  night,  a  meeting  was  arranged  for 
the  following  evening  No  suspicion  of  treachery  occurred  to 
any  of  the  party,  although  it  became  obvious  that  the  skipper 
had  grown  faint-hearted.  He  did  not  come  on  the  next 
night  to  the  appointed  place  but  he  sent  two  nephews,  boat 
men  like  himself,  whom  he  described  as  dare-devils. 

On  Monday  night,  the  26th  of  February,  the  seventy  went 
on  board  the  vessel,  which  was  apparently  filled  with  blocks 
of  turf,  and  packed  themselves  closely  in  the  hold.5  They 
moved  slowly  during  a  little  time  on  their  perilous  voyage  ; 
for  the  winter  wind,  thick  with  fog  and  sleet,  blew  directly 
down  the  river,  bringing  along  with  it  huge  blocks  of  ice  and 
scooping  the  water  out  of  the  dangerous  shallows,  so  as  to 
render  the  vessel  at  any  moment  liable  to  be  stranded.  At 
last  the  navigation  became  impossible  and  they  came  to  a 
standstill.  From  Monday  night  till  Thursday  morning  those 
seventy  Hollanders  lay  packed  like  herrings  in  the  hold  of 
their  little  vessel,  suffering  from  hunger,  thirst,  and  deadly 
cold  ;  yet  not  one  of  them  attempted  to  escape  or  murmured 
a  wish  to  abandon  the  enterprise.  Even  when  the  third 
morning  dawned  there  was  no  better  prospect  of  proceeding  ; 
fbr  the  remorseless  east  wind  still  blew  a  gale  against  them, 
and  the  shoals  which  beset  their  path  had  become  more 
dangerous  than  ever.  It  was,  however,  absolutely  necessary 
to  recruit  exhausted  nature,  unless  the  adventurers  were  to 
drop  powerless  on  the  threshold  when  they  should  at  last 
arrive  at  their  destination.  In  all  secrecy  they  went  ashore 
at  a  lonely  castle  called  Nordam,  where  they  remained  to 

6  Bor,  Reyd,  Meteren,  Bentivoglio,  libi  #u$. 


1590.  PERILS  OF  THE  UNDERTAKING.  9 

refresh  themselves  until  about  eleven  at  night,  when  one  of 
the  boatmen  came  to  them  with  the  intelligence  that  the  wind 
had  changed  and  was  now  blowing  freshly  in  from  the  sea. 
Yet  the  voyage  of  a  few  leagues,  on  which  they  were  em 
barked,  lasted  nearly  two  whole  days  longer.  On  Saturday 
afternoon  they  passed  through  the  last  sluice,  and  at  about 
three  o'clock  the  last  boom  was  shut  behind  them.  There 
was  no  retreat  possible  for  them  now.  The  seventy  were  to 
take  the  strong  castle  and  city  of  Breda  or  to  lay  down  their 
lives,  every  man  of  them.  No  quarter  and  short  shrift — such 
was  their  certain  destiny,  should  that  half-crippled,  half-frozen 
little  band  not  succeed  in  their  task  before  another  sunrise. 

They  were  now  in  the  outer  harbour  and  not  far  from  the 
Watergate  which  led  into  the  inner  castle-haven.  Presently 
an  officer  of  the  guard  put  off  in  a  skiff  and  came  on  board 
the  vessel.  He  held  a  Tittle  conversation  with  the  two  boat 
men,  observed  that  the  castle  was  much  in  want  of  fuel,  took 
a  survey  of  the  turf  with  which  the  ship  was  apparently  laden, 
and  then  lounged  into  the  little  cabin.  Here  he  was  only 
separated  by  a  sliding  trap-door  from  the  interior  of  the 
vessel.  Those  inside  could  hear  and  see  his  every  movement. 
Had  there  been  a  single  cough  or  sneeze  from  within,  the  true 
character  of  the  cargo,  then  making  its  way  into  the  castle, 
would  have  been  discovered  and  every  man  would  within  ten 
minutes  have  been  butchered.  But  the  officer,  unsuspecting, 
soon  took  his  departure,  saying  that  he  would  send  some  men 
to  warp  the  vessel  into  the  castle  dock. 

Meantime,  as  the  adventurers  were  making  their  way 
slowly  towards  the  Watergate,  they  struck  upon  a  hidden 
obstruction  in  the  river  and  the  deeply  laden  vessel  sprang 
a  leak.  In  a  few  minutes  those  inside  were  sitting  up  to 
their  knees  in  water — a  circumstance  which  scarcely  im 
proved  their  already  sufficiently  dismal  condition.  The  boat 
men  vigorously  plied  the  pumps  to  save  the  vessel  from 
sinking  outright ;  a  party  of  Italian  soldiers  soon  arrived  on 
the  shore,  and  in  the  course  of  a  couple  of  hours  they  had 
laboriously  dragged  the  concealed  Hollanders  into  the  inner 


10  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXL 

harbour  and  made  their  vessel  fast,  close  to  the  guard-house 
of  the  castle. 

And  now  a  crowd  of  all  sorts  came  on  board.  The 
winter  nights  had  been  long  and  fearfully  cold,  and  there 
was  almost  a  dearth  of  fuel  both  in  town  and  fortress.  A 
gang  of  labourers  set  to  work  discharging  the  turf  from  the 
vessel  with  such  rapidity  that  the  departing  daylight  began 
to  shine  in  upon  the  prisoners  much  sooner  than  they  wished. 
Moreover,  the  thorough  wetting,  to  which  after  all  their  other 
inconveniences  they  had  just  been  exposed  in  their  narrow 
escape  from  foundering,  had  set  the  whole  party  sneezing  and 
coughing.  Never  was  a  catarrh  so  sudden,  so  universal,  or  so 
ill-timed.  Lieutenant  Held,  unable  to  control  the  violence  of 
his  cough,  drew  his  dagger  and  eagerly  implored  his  next 
neighbour  to  stab  him  to  the  heart,  lest  his  infirmity  should 
lead  to  the  discovery  of  the  whole  party.  But  the  calm  and 
wary  skipper  who  stood  on  the  deck  instantly  commanded  his 
companion  to  work  at  the  pump  with  as  much  clatter  as 
possible,  assuring  the  persons  present  that  the  hold  was  nearly 
full  of  water.  By  this  means  the  noise  of  the  coughing  was 
effectually  drowned.  Most  thoroughly  did  the  bold  boatman 
deserve  the  title  of  dare-devil,  bestowed  by  his  more  faint 
hearted  uncle.  Calmly  looking  death  in  the  face,  he  stood 
there  quite  at  his  ease,  exchanging  jokes  with  his  old 
acquaintances,  chaffering  with  the  eager  purchasers  of  peat, 
shouting  most  noisy  and  superfluous  orders  to  the  one  man 
who  composed  his  crew,  doing  his  utmost,  in  short,  to  get  rid 
of  his  customers  and  to  keep  enough  of  the  turf  on  board  to 
conceal  the  conspirators.6 

At  last,  when  the  case  seemed  almost  desperate,  he  loudly 
declared  that  sufficient  had  been  unladen  for  that  evening  and 
that  it  was  too  dark  and  he  too  tired  for  further  work.  So, 
giving  a  handful  of  stivers  among  the  workmen,  he  bade  them 
go  ashore  at  once  and  have  some  beer  and  come  next  morning 
for  the  rest  of  the  cargo.  Fortunately,  they  accepted  his 
hospitable  proposition  and  took  their  departure.  Only  the 
6  Reyd.  vhi  sup. 


1590. 


THE  ADVENTURERS  PROCEED  TO  ACTION. 


11 


servant  of  the  captain  of  the  guard  lingered  behind,  com 
plaining  that  the  turf  was  not  as  good  as  usual  and  that  his 
master  would  never  be  satisfied  with  it. 

"  Ah  !"  returned  the  cool  skipper,  "  the  Lest  part  of  the  cargo 
is  underneath.  This  is  expressly  reserved  for  the  captain.  He 
is  sure  to  get  enough  of  it  to-morrow.''7 

Thus  admonished,  the  servant  departed  and  the  boatman 
was  left  to  himself.  His  companion  had  gone  on  shore  with 
secret  orders  to  make  the  best  of  his  way  to  Prince  Maurice, 
to  inform  him  of  the  arrival  of  the  ship  within  the  fortress, 
and  of  the  important  fact  which  they  had  just  learned,  that 
Governor  Lanzavecchia,  who  had  heard  rumours  of  some 
projected  enterprise  and  who  suspected  that  the  object  aimed 
at  was  G-ertruydenberg,  had  suddenly  taken  his  departure 
for  that  city,  leaving  as  his  lieutenant  his  nephew  Paolo, 
a  raw  lad  quite  incompetent  to  provide  for  the  safety  of 
Breda.8 

A  little  before  midnight,  Captain  Heraugiere  made  a  brief 
address  to  his  comrades  in  the  vessel,  telling  them  that  the 
hour  for  carrying  out  their  undertaking  had  at  length  arrived. 
Retreat  was  impossible,  defeat  was  certain  death,  only  in 
complete  victory  lay  their  own  safety  and  a  great  advantage 
for  the  commonwealth.  It  was  an  honor  to  them  to  be 
selected  for  such  an  enterprise.  To  show  cowardice  now 
would  be  an  eternal  shame  for  them,  and  he  would  be  the 
man  to  strike  dead  with  his  own  hand  any  traitor  or  poltroon. 
But  if,  as  he  doubted  not,  every  one  was  prepared  to  do  his 
duty,  their  success  was  assured,  and  he  was  himself  ready  to 
take  the  lead  in  confronting  every  danger. 

He  then  divided  the  little  band  into  two  companies,  one 
under  himself  to  attack  the  main  guard-house,  the  other 
under  Fervet  to  seize  the  arsenal  of  the  fortress. 

Noiselessly  they  stole  out  of  the  ship  where  they  had  so 
long  been  confined,  and  stood  at  last  on  the  ground  within 


7Reyd.  This  answer,  which  is  his 
torical,  is  as  good  a  specimen  of  ready 
wit  in  an  emergency  as  is  often  met 


with  in  real  life. 

8  Bentivoglio,  Bor,  Meteren,  Reyd, 
vM  sup. 


12  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXI 

the  precincts  of  the  castle.     Heraugiere  marched  straight  to 
the  guard-house. 

"  Who  goes  there  ?"  cried  a  sentinel,  hearing  some  move 
ment  in  the  darkness. 

"  A  friend/7  replied  the  captain,  seizing  him  by  the  throat, 
and  commanding  him,  if  he  valued  his  life,  to  keep  silence 
except  when  addressed  and  then  to  speak  in  a  whisper. 

"  How  many  are  there  in  the  garrison  ?"  muttered 
Heraugiere. 

"  Three  hundred  and  fifty,"  whispered  the  sentinel. 

"  How  many  ?"  eagerly  demanded  the  nearest  followers, 
not  hearing  the  reply. 

"  He  says  there  are  but  fifty  of  them/'  said  Heraugiere, 
prudently  suppressing  the  three  hundred,  in  order  to  en 
courage  his  comrades. 

Quietly  as  they  had  made  their  approach,  there  was  never 
theless  a  stir  in  the  guard-house.  The  captain  of  the  watch 
sprang  into  the  courtyard. 

"  Who  goes  there  ?"  he  demanded  in  his  turn. 

"A  friend/'  again  replied  Heraugiere,  striking  him  dead 
with  a  single  blow  as  he  spoke. 

Others  emerged  with  torches.  Heraugiere  was  slightly 
wounded,  but  succeeded,  after  a  brief  struggle,  in  killing  a 
second  assailant.  His  followers  set  upon  the  watch  who 
retreated  into  the  guard-house.  Heraugiere  commanded  his 
men  to  fire  through  the  doors  and  windows,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  every  one  of  the  enemy  lay  dead. 

It  was  not  a  moment  for  making  prisoners  or  speaking  of 
quarter.  Meantime  Fervet  and  his  band  had  not  been  idle. 
The  magazine-house  of  the  castle  was  seized,  its  defenders 
slain,  Young  Lanzavecchia  made  a  sally  from  the  palace, 
was  wounded  and  driven  back  together  with  a  few  of  his 
adherents. 

The  rest  of  the  garrison  fled  helter-skelter  into  the  town. 
Never  had  the  musketeers  of  Italy — for  they  all  belonged  to 
Spinola's  famous  Sicilian  Legion — behaved  so  badly.9  They 

9  "  Non  fece  mai  la  soldatesca  Italiana  piu  iudegna  attione  di  questa," 
says  Cardinal  Bentivoglio,  loc.  cit. 


1590. 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  PROJECT, 


13 


did  not  even  take  the  precaution  to  destroy  the  bridge  between 
the  castle  and  the  town  as  they  fled  panic-stricken  before 
seventy  Hollanders.  Instead  of  encouraging  the  burghers  to 
their  support  they  spread  dismay,  as  they  ran,  through  every 
street. 

Young  Lanzavecchia,  penned  into  a  corner  of  the  castle, 
began  to  parley  ;  hoping  for  a  rally  before  a  surrender  should 
be  necessary.  In  the  midst  of  the  negotiation  and  a  couple 
of  hours  before  dawn,  Hohenlo,  duly  apprised  by.  the  boatman, 
arrived  with  the  vanguard  of  Maurice's  troops  before  the 
field-gate  of  the  fort.  A  vain  attempt  was  made  to  force  this 
portal  open,  but  the  winter's  ice  had  fixed  it  fast.  Hohenlo 
was  obliged  to  batter  down  the  palisade  near  the  water-gate 
and  enter  by  the  same  road  through  which  the  fatal  turf-boat 
had  passed. 

Soon  after  he  had  marched  into  the  town  at  the  head 
of  a  strong  detachment,  Prince  Maurice  himself  arrived  in 
great  haste,  attended  by  Philip  Nassau,  the  Admiral  Justinus 
Nassau,  Count  Solms,  Peter  van  der  Does,  and  Sir  Francis 
Vere,  and  followed  by  another  body  of  picked  troops  ;  the 
musicians  playing  merrily  that  national  air,  then  as  now  so 
dear  to  Netherlanders — 

"  Wilhelmus  van  Nassouwen 
Ben  ick  van  Duytsem  bloed." 

The  fight  was  over.  Some  forty  of  the  garrison  had  been 
killed,  but  not  a  man  of  the  attacking  party.  The  burgo 
master  sent  a  trumpet  to  the  prince  asking  permission  to  come 
to  the  castle  to  arrange  a  capitulation  ;  and  before  sunrise,  the 
city  and  fortress  of  Breda  had  surrendered  to  the  authority 
of  the  States-General  and  of  his  Excellency.10 

The  terms  were  moderate.     The  plundering  was  commuted 


10  Bor,  Bentivoglio,  Reyd,  Meteren, 
ubi  sup.  Count  William  Lewis  in  a 
letter  to  his  father,  dated  1  March, 
O.  S.  1590,  in  giving  a  very  brief 
account  of  this  enterprise,  speaks  of 
three  turf  vessels  as  having  been  em 
ployed  ;  "  in  drie  torff  schuiten  unter 
dem  holtz  verborgen  80  soldaten," 


but  this  statement  is  so  much  at  vari 
ance  with  every  other  account,  and 
especially  with  the  elaborate  narrative 
of  Eberhard  van  Reyd,  secretary  to 
Count  William  Lewis,  that  I  cannot 
doubt  the  Count  had  at  first  been 
misinformed.  Groen  v.  Prinsterer 
Archives,  &c.  II.  serie  i.  127. 


14  TttE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXI 

for  the  payment  of  two  months'  wages  to  every  soldier 
engaged  in  the  affair.  Burghers  who  might  prefer  to  leave 
the  city  were  allowed  to  do  so  with  protection  to  life  and 
property.  Those  who  were  willing  to  remain  loyal  citizens 
were  not  to  be  molested,  in  their  consciences  or  their 
households,  in  regard  to  religion.  The  public  exercise  of 
Catholic  rites  was  however  suspended  until  the  States-General 
should  make  some  universal  provision  on  this  subject. 

Subsequently,  it  must  be  allowed,  the  bargain  of  commuta 
tion  proved  a  bad  one  for  the  burghers.  Seventy  men  had 
in  reality  done  the  whole  work,  but  so  many  soldiers,  belong 
ing  to  the  detachments  who  marched  in  after  the  fortress  had 
been  taken,  came  forward  to  claim  their  months'  wages  as  to 
bring  the  whole  amount  required  above  one  hundred  thousand 
florins.  The  Spaniards  accordingly  reproached  Prince 
Maurice  with  having  fined  his  own  patrimonial  city  more 
heavily  than  Alexander  Farnese  had  mulcted  Antwerp,  which 
had  been  made  to  pay  but  four  hundred  thousand  florins,  a 
far  less  sum  in  proportion  to  the  wealth  and  importance 
of  the  place. 

Already  the  Prince  of  Parma,  in  the  taking  of  Breda,  saw 
verified  his  predictions  of  the  disasters  about  to  fall  on  the 
Spanish  interests  in  the  Netherlands,  by  reason  of  Philip's 
obstinate  determination  to  concentrate  all  his  energies  on 
the  invasion  of  France.  Alexander  had  been  unable,  in  the 
midst  of  preparations  for  his  French  campaign,  to  arrest  this 
sudden  capture,  but  his  Italian  blood  was  on  fire  at  the 
ignominy  which  had  come  upon  the  soldiership  of  his  country 
men.  Five  companies  of  foot  and  one  of  horse — picked 
troops  of  Spain  and  Italy — had  surrendered  a  wealthy,  popu 
lous  town  and  a  well-fortified  castle  to  a  mud-scow,  and  had 
fled  shrieking  in  dismay  from  the  onset  of  seventy  frost 
bitten  Hollanders. 

It  was  too  late  to  save  the  town,  but  he  could  punish,  as  it 
deserved,  the  pusillanimity  of  the  garrison. 

Three  captains — one  of  them  rejoicing  in  the  martial  name 
of  Cesar  Guerra — were  publicly  beheaded  in  Brussels,  A 


1500.   BREDA  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  THE  NETHERLANDER^.   15 

fourth,  Ventimiglia,  was  degraded  but  allowed  to  escape  with 
life,  on  account  of  his  near  relationship  to  the  Duke  of 
Terranova,  while  Governor  Lanzavecchia  was  obliged  to 
resign  the  command  of  Gertruydenberg.  The  great  com 
mander  knew  better  than  to  encourage  the  yielding  up  of 
cities  and  fortresses  by  a  mistaken  lenity  to  their  unlucky 
defenders.11 

Prince  Maurice  sent  off  letters  the  same  night  announcing 
his  success  to  the  States-General.  Hohenlo  wrote  pithily 
to  Olden- Barne veld — "  The  castle  and  town  of  Breda  are  ours, 
without  a  single  man  dead  on  our  side.  The  garrison  made 
no  resistance  but  ran  distracted  out  of  the  town."12 

The  church  bells  rang  and  bonfires  blazed  and  cannon 
thundered  in  every  city  in  the  United  Provinces  to  comme 
morate  this  auspicious  event.  Olden- Barne  veld,  too,  whose 
part  in  arranging  the  scheme  was  known  to  have  been  so 
valuable,  received  from  the  States-General  a  magnificent 
gilded  vase  with  sculptured  representations  of  the  various 
scenes  in  the  drama,13  and  it  is  probable  that  not  more 
unmingled  satisfaction  had  been  caused  by  any  one  event  of 
the  war  than  by  this  surprise  of  Breda. 

The  capture  of  a  single  town,  not  of  first-rate  im 
portance  either,  would  hardly  seem  to  merit  so  minute  a 
description  as  has  been  given  in  the  preceding  pages. 
But  the  event,  with  all  its  details,  has  been  preserved  with 
singular  vividness  in  Netherland  story.  As  an  example  of 
daring,  patience,  and  complete  success,  it  has  served  to 
encourage  the  bold  spirits  of  every  generation  and  will 
always  inspire  emulation  in  patriotic  hearts  of  every  age 
and  clime,  while,  as  the  first  of  a  series  of  audacious  enter 
prises  by  which  Dutch  victories  were  to  take  the  place  of  a 
long  procession  of  Spanish  triumphs  on  the  blood-stained  soil 
of  the  provinces,  it  merits,  from  its  chronological  position,  a 
more  than  ordinary  attention. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  Prince  Maurice,  carrying  out 

11  The  story  is  briefly  told  by  Parma  in  his  correspondence  with  the  king, 
14  March,  1590.  Archives  of  Simancas  MS.  12  Bor,  ubi  sup.  13  Ibid. 

VOL.  II— 2 


16  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXI. 

into  practice  the  lessons  which  he  had  so  steadily  been 
pondering,  reduced  the  towns  and  strong  places  of  Heyl, 
Flemert,  Elshout,  Crevecoeur,  Hayden,  Steenberg,  Eosendaal, 
and  Osterhout.14  But  his  time,  during  the  remainder  of  the 
year  1590,  was  occupied  with  preparations  for  a  campaign  on 
an  extended  scale  and  with  certain  foreign  negotiations  to 
which  it  will  soon  be  necessary  to  direct  the  reader's  atten 
tion. 

"  Meteren,  xvi.  294. 


1590.  THE  STRUGGLE  OF  THE  UNITED  PROVINCES.  J7 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

Struggle  of  the  United  Provinces  against  Philip  of  Spain  —  Progress  of  the 
Republic  —  Influence  of  Geographical  position  on  the  fate  of  the  Nether 
lands  —  Contrast  offered  by  America  —  Miserable  state  of  the  so-called 
"  obedient"  provinces  —  Prosperity  of  the  Commonwealth  —  Its  internal 
government  —  Tendency  to  provincialism  —  Quibbles  of  the  English  Mem 
bers  of  the  Council,  Wilkes  .and  Bodley  —  Exclusion  of  Olden-Barneveld 
from  the  State  Council  —  Proposals  of  Philip  for  mediation  with  the  United 
Provinces  —  The  Provinces  resolutely  decline  all  proffers  of  intervention. 

THE  United  Provinces  had  now  been  engaged  in  unbroken 
civil  war  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  It  is,  however,  inaccurate 
to  designate  this  great  struggle  with  tyranny  as  a  civil  war. 
It  was  a  war  for  independence,  maintained  by  almost  the 
whole  population  of  the  United  Provinces  against  a  foreigner, 
a  despot,  alien  to  their  blood,  ignorant  of  their  language,  a 
hater  of  their  race,  a  scorner  of  their  religion,  a  trampler 
upon  their  liberties,  their  laws,  and  institutions — a  man  who 
had  publicly  declared  that  he  would  rather  the  whole  nation 
were  exterminated  than  permitted  to  escape  from  subjection 
to  the  Church  of  Home.  Liberty  of  speech,  liberty  of  the 
press,  liberty  of  thought  on  political,  religious,  and  social 
questions  existed  within  those  Dutch  pastures  and  Frisian 
swamps  to  a  far  greater  degree  than  in  any  other  part  of  the 
world  at  that  day ;  than  in  very  many  regions  of  Christen 
dom  in  our  own  time.  Personal  slavery  was  unknown.  In  a 
large  portion  of  their  territory  it  had  never  existed.  The  free 
Frisians,  nearest  blood-relations  of,  in  this  respect,  the  less 
favoured  Anglo-Saxons,  had  never  bowed  the  knee  to  the 
feudal  system,  nor  worn  nor  caused  to  be  worn  the  collar  of 
the  serf.  In  the  battles  for  human  liberty  no  nation  has 
stood  with  cleaner  hands  before  the  great  tribunal,  nor  offered 
more  spotless  examples  of  patriotism  to  be  emulated  in  all 
succeeding  ages,  than  the  Netberlanders  in  their  gigantic? 
VOI*, 


18  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS  CHAP.  XXII. 

struggle  with  Philip  of  Spain.  It  was  not  a  class  struggling 
for  their  own  privileges,  but  trampling  on  their  fellow-men  in 
a  lower  scale  of  humanity.  Kings  and  aristocrats  sneered  at 
the  vulgar  republic  where  Hans  Miller,  Hans  Baker,  and 
Hans  Brewer  enjoyed  political  rights  and  prated  of  a  sove 
reignty  other  than  that  of  long-descended  races  and  of 
anointed  heads.1  Yet  the  pikemen  of  Spain  and  the  splendid 
cavalry  and  musketeers  of  Italy  and  Burgundy,  who  were  now 
beginning  to  show  their  backs  both  behind  entrenchments  and 
in  the  open  field  to  their  republican  foes,  could  not  deny  the 
valour  with  which  the  battles  of  liberty  were  fought ;  while 
Elizabeth  of  England,  maintainer,  if  such  ever  were,  of  here 
ditary  sovereignty  and  hater  of  popular  freedom,  acknowledged 
that  for  wisdom  in  council,  dignity  and  adroitness  in  diplo 
matic  debate,  there  were  none  to  surpass  the  plain  burgher 
statesmen  of  the  new  republic. 

And  at  least  these  Netherlander  were  consistent  with 
themselves.  They  had  come  to  disbelieve  in  the  mystery  of 
kingcraft,  in  the  divine  speciality  of  a  few  transitory  mortals 
to  direct  the  world's  events  and  to  dictate  laws  to  their 
fellow-creatures.  What  they  achieved  was  for  the  common 
good  of  all.  They  chose  to  live  in  an  atmosphere  of  blood 
and  fire  for  generation  after  generation  rather  than  flinch 
from  their  struggle  with  despotism,  for  they  knew  that, 
cruel  as  the  sea,  it  would  swallow  them  all  at  last  in  one 
common  destruction  if  they  faltered  or  paused.  They  fought 
for  the  liberty  of  all.  And  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the 
history  of  this  great  conflict  deserved  to  be  deeply  pondered 
by  those  who  have  the  instinct  of  human  freedom.  Had  the 
Hollanders  basely  sunk  before  the  power  of  Spain,  the  proud 
history  of  England,  France,  and  Germany  would  have  been 
written  in  far  different  terms.  The  blood  and  tears  which 
the  Netherlander  caused  to  flow  in  their  own  stormy  days 
have  turned  to  blessings  for  remotest  climes  and  ages.  A 
pusillanimous  peace,  always  possible  at  any  period  of  their 

1  Bor,  III.  205.     Compare  Fruin,  Tien  Jaren  uit  den  Tagtigjarigen  Oorlog 
p.  27.    A  work  of  remarkable  research  and  power. 


1590.  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.  19 

war,  would  have  been  hailed  with  rapture  by  contemporary 
statesmen,  whose  names  have  vanished  from  the  world's 
memory ;  but  would  have  sown  with  curses  and  misery  the 
soil  of  Europe  for  succeeding  ages.  The  territory  of  the 
Netherlands  is  narrow  and  meagre.  It  is  but  a  slender 
kingdom  now  among  the  powers  of  the  earth.  The  political 
grandeur  of  nations  is  determined  by  physical  causes  almost 
as  much  as  by  moral  ones.  Had  the  cataclysm  which 
separated  the  fortunate  British  islands  from  the  mainland 
happened  to  occur,  instead,  at  a  neighbouring  point  of  the 
earth's  crust ;  had  the  Belgian,  Dutch,  German  and  Danish 
Netherland  floated  off  as  one  island  into  the  sea,  while  that 
famous  channel  between  two  great  rival  nations  remained 
dry  land,  there  would  have  been  a  different  history  of  the 
world. 

But  in  the  16th  century  the  history  of  one  country  was 
not  an  isolated  chapter  of  personages  and  events.  The 
history  of  the  Netherlands  is  tne  history  of  liberty.  It  was 
now  combined  with  the  English,  now  with  French,  now 
with  German  struggles  for  political  and  religious  freedom, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  separate  it  from  the  one  great  complex 
which  makes  up  the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  and  the  first 
half  of  the  seventeenth  centuries. 

At  that  day  the  Netherland  republic  was  already  becoming 
a  power  of  importance  in  the  political  family  of  Christendom. 
If,  in  spite  of  her  geographical  disadvantages,  she  achieved 
so  much,  how  much  vaster  might  her  power  have  grown, 
how  much  stronger  through  her  example  might  popular 
institutions  throughout  the  world  have  become,  and  how 
much  more  pacific  the  relations  of  European  tribes,  had 
nature  been  less  niggard  in  her  gifts  to  the  young  common 
wealth.  On  the  sea  she  was  strong,  for  the  ocean  is  the  best 
of  frontiers  ;  but  on  land  her  natural  boundaries  faded  vaguely 
away,  without  strong  physical  demarcations  and  with  no 
sharply  defined  limits  of  tongue,  history  or  race.  Accident 
or  human  caprice  seemed  to  have  divided  German  Highland 
from  German  Netherland  ;  Belgic  Gaul  from  the  rest  of  the 


20  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAR  XXII 

Gallic  realm.  And  even  from  the  slender  body,  which  an 
arbitrary  destiny  had  set  off  for  centuries  into  a  separate 
organism,  tyranny  and  religious  bigotry  had  just  hewn 
another  portion  away.  But  the  commonwealth  was  already 
too  highly  vitalized  to  permit  peaceful  dismemberment.  Only 
the  low  organisms  can  live  in  all  their  parts  after  violent 
separations.  The  trunk  remained,  bleeding  but  alive  and 
vigorous,  while  the  amputated  portion  lay  for  centuries  m 
fossilized  impotence. 

Never  more  plainly  than  in  the  history  of  this  common 
wealth  was  the  geographical  law  manifested  by  which  the 
fate  of  nations  is  so  deeply  influenced.  Courage,  enterprise 
amounting  almost  to  audacity,  and  a  determined  will  con^ 
fronted  for  a  long  lapse  of  time  the  inexorable,  and  permitted 
a  great  empire  to  germinate  out  of  a  few  sand-banks  held  in 
defiance  of  the  ocean,  and  protected  from  human  encroach 
ments  on  the  interior  only  by  the  artificial  barrier  of  custom 
house  and  fort. 

Thus  foredoomed  at  birth,  it  must  increase  our  admi 
ration  of  human  energy  and  of  the  sustaining  influence  of 
municipal  liberty  that  the  republic,  even  if  transitory, 
should  yet  have  girdled  the  earth  with  its  possessions  and 
held  for  a  considerable  period  so  vast  a  portion  of  the  world 
in  fee. 

What  a  lesson  to  our  transatlantic  commonwealth,  whom 
bountiful  nature  had  blessed  at  her  birth  beyond  all  the 
nations  of  history  and  seemed  to  speed  upon  an  unlimited 
career  of  freedom  and  peaceful  prosperity,  should  she  be 
capable  at  the  first  alarm  on  her  track  to  throw  away  her 
inestimable  advantages  !  If  all  history  is  not  a  mockery  and 
a  fable,  she  may  be  sure  that  the  nation  which  deliberately 
carves  itself  in  pieces  and  substitutes  artificial  boundaries  for 
the  natural  and  historic  ones,  condemns  itself  either  to  ex^ 
tinction  or  to  the  lower  life  of  political  insignificance  and 
petty  warfare,  with  the  certain  loss  of  liberty  and  national 
independence  at  last.  Better  a  terrible  struggle,  better  the 
sacrifice  of  prosperity  and  happiness  for  years,  than  the 


1590.  STATE  OF  THE  "OBEDIENT"  PROVINCES.  21 

eternal   setting   of   that    great    popular   hope;   the    United 
American  Kepublic.1 

I  speak  in  this  digression  only  of  the  relations  of  physical 
nature  to  liberty  and  nationality,  making  no  allusion  to  the 
equally  stringent  moral  laws  which  no  people  can  violate  and 
yet  remain  in  health  and  vigour. 

Despite  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  what  is  commonly  termed 
civil  war,  the  United  Netherlands  were  prosperous  and  full  of 
life.  It  was  in  the  provinces  which  had  seceded  from  the 
union  of  Utrecht  that  there  was  silence  as  of  the  grave,  des 
titution,  slavery,  abject  submission  to  a  foreign  foe.  The 
headers  in  the  movement  which  had  brought  about  the  scission 
of  1579 — commonly  called  the  '  Keconciliation' — enjoyed 
military  and  civil  posts  under  a  foreign  tyrant,  but  were 
poorly  rewarded  for  subserviency  in  fighting  against  their 
own  brethren  by  contumely  on  the  part  of  their  masters. 
As  for  the  mass  of  the  people  it  would  be  difficult  to  find 
a  desolation  more  complete  than  that  recorded  of  the 
"obedient"  provinces.  Even  as  six  years  before,  wolves 
littered  their  wjielps  in  deserted  farm-houses,  cane-brake  and 
thicket  usurped  the  place  of  cornfield  and  orchard,  robbers 
swarmed  on  the  highways  once  thronged  by  a  most  thriving 
population,  nobles  begged  their  bread  in  the  streets  of  cities 
whose  merchants  once  entertained  emperors  and  whose 
wealth  and  traffic  were  the  wonder  of  the  world,  while  the 
Spanish  viceroy  formally  permitted  the  land  in  the  agricul 
tural  districts  to  be  occupied  and  farmed  by  the  first  comer 
for  his  own  benefit,  until  the  vanished  proprietors  of  the  soil 
should  make  their  re-appearance.2 

"Administered  without  justice  or  policy/'  said  a  Nether 
lander  who  was  intensely  loyal  to  the  king  and  a  most 
uncompromising  Catholic,  "  eaten  up  and  abandoned  for  that 
purpose  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  foreigners  who  suck  the  sub 
stance  and  marrow  of  the  land  without  benefit  to  the  king, 
gnaw  the  obedient  cities  to  the  bones,  and  plunder  the  open 
defenceless  country  at  their  pleasure,  it  may  be  imagined 

1  Written  in  1863.  a  Meteren,  xvi.  297. 


22 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXII. 


how  much  satisfaction  these  provinces  take  in  their  condition. 
Commerce  and  trade  have  ceased  in  a  country  which  traffic 
alone  has  peopled,  for  without  it  no  human  habitation  could 
be  more  miserable  and  poor  than  our  land."3 

Nothing  could  be  more  gloomy  than  the  evils  thus  de 
scribed  by  the  Netherland  statesman  and  soldier,  except  the 
remedy  which  he  suggested.  The  obedient  provinces,  thus 
scourged  and  blasted  for  their  obedience,  were  not  advised  to 
improve  their  condition  by  joining  hands  with  their  sister 
States,  who  had  just  constituted  themselves  by  their  noble 
resistance  to  royal  and  ecclesiastical  tyranny  into  a  free  and 
powerful  commonwealth.  On  the  contrary,  two  great  sources 
of  regeneration  and  prosperity  were  indicated,  but  very 
different  ones  from  those  in  which  the  republic  had  sought 
and  found  her  strength.  In  the  first  place,  it  was  suggested 
as  indispensable  that  the  obedient  provinces  should  have 
more  Jesuits  and  more  Friars.  The  mendicant  orders  should 
be  summoned  to  renewed  exertions,  and  the  king  should  be 
requested  to  send  seminary  priests  to  every  village  in  numbers 
proportionate  to  the  population,  who  should  go  about  from 
house  to  house,  counting  the  children,  and  seeing  that  they 
learned  their  catechism  if  their  parents  did  not  teach  them, 


3  Discours  du  Seigneur  de  Cham- 
pagny  sur  les  affaires  des  Pays  Bas, 
21  Dec.  1589.  Bibl.  de  Bourgogne, 
MS.  No.  12,962. 

"  Considerando  assi  mismo  el  mal 
termino  que  con  todos  usa,  los  pocos 
consejos  el  desauctorisar  los  que  el 
Rey  a  puesto,  y  que  solo  lo  emprende 
y  maneje  todo  con  sus  hechuras 
para  aprovecharlas,  y  la  increyble 
disorden  no  solo  en  lo  politico  mas 
en  la  gente  de  guerra,  haze  que 
no  solo  todos  los  de  los  estados 
mas  aun  que  quantos  con  el  han  de 
negociar  pierdan  toda  opinion  no  solo 
de  su  discretion  o  prudencia  mas  del 
respeto  que  devria  tener  al  Rey.  Asi 
manejandose  todo  sin  j  usticia  y  policia, 
comidos  todos  estos  estados  y  abando- 
nados  por  esta  al  alvidrio  y  govierno 
de  estrangeros  qui  chupan  la  sustancia 
del  pays  sin  beneficio  del  Rey,  y  solos 
teoiendo  credito  con  este  hombre. 


(Farnese)  royendose  quantas  villas 
ternan  a  1'obediencia  del  Rey  hasta  los 
huessos  y  el  plat  pays  sin  defensa  con 
tra  el  enemigo  que  come  y  roba  a  todas 
partas  como  quiere — se  puede  coligar 
desto  la  satisfaccion  que  del  tendran  to 
dos  estados  que  indifferentemente  assi 
prelados,  nobles  como  villas  y  pueblos 
no  solo  murmuran  del  mas  lo  dizen 
y  a  vozes,"  etc.  etc.  etc.  "  demas  que 
destos  los  rebeldes  s'endurescen  dizi- 
endo  que  no  se  deven  fiar  de  nuestras 
promesas,  representando  la  miseria  y 
calamidad  en  que  viven  los  reduzidog 
por  la  violencia  y  cohechos  de  nuestra 
propria  gente,  governandose  todo  sin 
policia,  j  usticia,  verdad  ni  consejo  poi 
cabezas  codiciosas  sin  otra  mira  que  a 
su  provecho  y  ninguna  al  del  Rey 

que  solo  el  trato  puebla, 

porque  cessando  la  comodidad  del,  no 
ay  abitacion  mas  miserable  y  pobre." 


1590. 


REGENERATIVE  PROPOSALS. 


and,  even  in  case  they  did,  examining  whether  it  was  done 
thoroughly  and  without  deception. 

In  the  second  place  it  was  laid  down  as  important  that  the 
bishops  should  confirm  no  one  who  had  not  heen  sufficiently 
catechized.  "  And  if  the  mendicant  orders,"  said  Champagny, 
"  are  not  numerous  enough  for  these  catechizations,  the  Jesuits 
might  charge  themselves  therewith,  not  more  and  not  less 
than  the  said  mendicants,  some  of  each  being  deputed  to 
each  parish.  To  this  end  it  would  be  well  if  his  Majesty 
should  obtain  from  the  Pope  a  command  to  the  Jesuits  to 
this  effect,  since  otherwise  they  might  not  be  willing  to 
comply.  It  should  also  be  ordered  that  all  Jesuits,  natives  of 
these  provinces,  should  return  hither,  instead  of  wandering 
about  in  other  regions  as  if  their  help  were  not  so  necessary 
here/'4 

It  was  also  recommended  that  the  mendicant  friars  should 
turn  their  particular  attention  to  Antwerp,  and  that  one  of 
them  should  preach  in  French,  another  in  German,  another 
in  English,  every  day  at  the  opening  of  the  Exchange. 

With  these  appliances  it  was  thought  that  Antwerp  would 
revive  out  of  its  ruins  and,  despite  the  blockade  of  its 
river,  renew  its  ancient  commercial  glories.  Founded  on 
the  substantial  rocks  of  mendicancy  and  Jesuitism,  it  might 
again  triumph  over  its  rapidly  rising  rival,  the  heretic  Amster 
dam,  which  had  no  better  basis  for  its  grandeur  than  religious 
and  political  liberty,  and  uncontrolled  access  to  the  ocean. 

Such  were   the  aspirations  of  a  distinguished  and  loyal 


4  "  Por  lo  qual  primero  encarguense 
de  nuevo  todas  las  ordenes  mendi- 
cantes  en  las  quales  santissamente  el 
Key  nro  Sefior  introduze  seminaries  a 
que  como  siempre  en  estos  estados  han 
sido  el  socorro  de  los  curas  que  a  cada 
parochia  acuden  dellos  a  catechisar 
conforme  al  numero  de  las  casas  que 
debaxo  de  las  parochias  resultan,  y  de 
casa  en  casa  vayan,  scaviendo  que 
ninos  ay,  y  que  entienden  en  catechi- 
earlos  quandolosmismos  padres  no  lo 
Lagan,  y  aunque  esso  sea  que  lo  hagan 
no  sea  sin  su  examinacion  porque  no 
aya  eugaiio Quando  tam- 


bien  no  bastan  para  estas  catecisationes 
las  ordenes  mendicantes,  pueden  se 
encargar  deste  los  Jesuitas  ne  mas  ne 
menos  con  dichos  mendicantes,  depu- 
tando  algunos  dellos  juntamente,  con 
esotros  por  las  parochias.  Para  esto 
mesmo  seria  bien  su  Mag*1  impetrasse 
del  papa  mandado  a  los  Jesuitas 
porque  de  otra  manera  no  querran 
submitirse  a  ello,  y  para  que  buelvan 
a  estos  estados  todos  los  Jesuitas  natu- 
rales  del  que  distraydos  en  otras 
provincias,  dexan  esta  como  si  aqui 
no  fuesse  tanto  menester  su 
tencia."  .  .  .—Ibid. 


24  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXII. 

Netherlander  for  the  regeneration  of  his  country.  Such 
were  his  opinions  as  to  the  true  sources  of  the  wealth  and 
greatness  of  nations.  Can  we  wonder  that  the  country  fell 
to  decay,  or  that  this  experienced  statesman  and  brave  soldier 
should  himself,  after  not  many  years,  seek  to  hide  his  dis 
honoured  head  under  the  cowl  of  a  monk  ? 

The  coast  of  the  obedient  provinces  was  thoroughly  block 
aded.  The  United  Provinces  commanded  the  sea,  their 
cruisers,  large  and  small,  keeping  diligent  watch  off  every 
port  and  estuary  of  the  Flemish  coast,  so  that  not  a  herring- 
boat  could  enter  without  their  permission.  Antwerp,  when 
it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniard,  sank  for  ever  from  its 
proud  position.  The  city  which  Venetians  but  lately  had 
confessed  with  a  sigh  to  be  superior  in  commercial  grandeur 
to  their  own  magnificent  capital,  had  ceased  to  be  a  seaport. 
Shut  in  from  the  ocean  by  Flushing — firmly  held  by  an 
English  garrison  as  one  of  the  cautionary  towns  for  the 
Queen's  loan  —  her  world- wide  commerce  withered  before 
men's  eyes.  Her  population  was  dwindling  to  not  much  more 
than  half  its  former  numbers,  while  Ghent,  Bruges,  and  other 
cities  were  diminished  by  two-thirds. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  commerce  and  manufactures  of  the 
United  Kepublic  had  enormously  augmented.  Its  bitterest 
enemies  bore  witness  to  the  sagacity  and  success  by  which  its 
political  affairs  were  administered,  and  to  its  vast  superiority 
in  this  respect  over  the  obedient  provinces.  "  The  rebels  are 
not  ignorant  of  our  condition,"  said  Champagny,  "  they  are 
themselves  governed  with  consummate  wisdom,  and  they  mock 
at  those  who  submit  themselves  to  the  Duke  of  Parma. 
They  are  the  more  confirmed  in  their  rebellion,  when  they 
see  how  many  are  thronging  from  us  to  them,  complaining 
of  such  bad  government,  and  that  all  take  refuge  in 
flight  who  can  from  the  misery  and  famine  which  it  has 
caused  throughout  these  provinces  !"5  The  industrial  popu 
lation  had  flowed  from  the  southern  provinces  into  the 

*  Discours  du  Seigneur  de  Cham-  I  beldes  que  con  grandissima  policia 
pagny.  "  Esto  no  ignoran  los  Re-  j  governados  se  burlan  de  lo  que  se 


1590. 


RAPID  DEVELOPMENT  OF  INDUSTRY. 


25 


north,  in  obedience  to  an  irresistible  law.  The  workers  in 
iron,  paper,  silk,  linen,  lace,  the  makers  of  brocade,  tapestry, 
and  satin,  as  well  as  of  all  the  coarser  fabrics,  had  fled  from 
the  land  of  oppression  to  the  land  of  liberty.  Never  in  the 
history  of  civilisation  had  there  been  a  more  rapid  develop 
ment  of  human  industry  than  in  Holland  during  these  years 
of  bloodiest  warfare.  The  towns  were  filled  to  overflowing. 
Amsterdam  multiplied  in  wealth  and  population  as  fast  as 
Antwerp  shrank.  Almost  as  much  might  be  said  of  Middel- 
burg,  Enkhuyzen,  Horn,  and  many  other  cities.  It  is  the 
epoch  to  which  the  greatest  expansion  of  municipal  archi 
tecture  is  traced.  Warehouses,  palaces,  docks,  arsenals, 
fortifications,  dykes,  splendid  streets  and  suburbs,  were  con 
structed  on  every  side,  and  still  there  was  not  room  for  the 
constantly  increasing  population,  large  numbers  of  which 
habitually  dwelt  in  the  shipping.  For  even  of  that  narrow 
span  of  earth  called  the  province  of  Holland,  one-third  was 
then  interior  water,  divided  into  five  considerable  lakes,  those 
of  Harlem,  Schermer,  Beemster,  Waert,  and  Purmer.  The 
sea  was  kept  out  by  a  magnificent  system  of  dykes  under  the 
daily  superintendence  of  a  board  of  officers,  called  dyke- 
graves,  while  the  rain-water,  which  might  otherwise  have 
drowned  the  soil  thus  painfully  reclaimed,  was  pumped  up 
by  windmills  and  drained  off  through  sluices  opening  and 
closing  with  the  movement  of  the  tides. 

The  province  of  Zeeland  was  one  vast  "  polder."  It  was 
encircled  by  an  outer  dyke  of  forty  Dutch,  equal  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  English,  miles  in  extent,  and  traversed 
by  many  interior  barriers.  The  average  cost  of  dyke- 
building  was  sixty  florins  the  rod  of  twelve  feet,  or  84,000 
florins  the  Dutch  mile.  The  total  cost  of  the  Zeeland 
dykes  was  estimated  at  3,360,000  florins,  besides  the  annual 
repairs.6 

But  it  was  on  the  sea  that  the  Netherlander  were  really 


sumetten  al  D.  de  Parma  y  se  con- 
firman  mas  en  su  rebelion,  con  ver 
quantos  van  a  ellos  quexosos  de  tan 
mal  govierno,  y  quantps  pueden, 


huyen  con  la  miseria,  hambre,  pobreza 
y  carestia  causada  generalmente  por 
esto  en  todas  partes,"  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 
?  Meteren,  xvi.  288,  289, 290. 


26  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XXIL 

at  home,  and  they  always  felt  it  in  their  power — as  their  last 
resource  against  foreign  tyranny — to  bury  their  land  for  ever 
in  the  ocean,  and  to  seek  a  new  country  at  the  ends  of  the 
earth.  It  has  always  been  difficult  to  doom  to  political  or 
personal  slavery  a  nation  accustomed  to  maritime  pursuits. 
Familiarity  with  the  boundless  expanse  of  ocean,  and  the  habit 
of  victoriously  contending  with  the  elements  in  their  stormy 
strength,  would  seem  to  inspire  a  consciousness  in  mankind  of 
human  dignity  and  worth.  With  the  exception  of  Spain,  the 
chief  seafaring  nations  of  the  world  were  already  protestanl 
The  counter-league,  which  was  to  do  battle  so  strenuously  with 
the  Holy  Confederacy,  was  essentially  a  maritime  league. 
"  All  the  maritime  heretics  of  the  world,  since  heresy  is  best 
suited  to  navigators,  will  be  banded  together,"  said  Cham- 
pagny,  "  and  then  woe  to  the  Spanish  Indies,  which  England 
and  Holland  are  already  threatening."7 

The  Netherlander  had  been  noted  from  earliest  times  for 
a  free-spoken  and  independent  personal  demeanour.  At  this 
epoch  they  were  taking  the  lead  of  the  whole  world  in  marine 
adventure.  At  least  three  thousand  vessels  of  between  one 
hundred  and  four  hundred  tons,  besides  innumerable  doggers, 
busses,  cromstevens,  and  similar  craft  used  on  the  rivers  and 
in  fisheries,  were  to  be  found  in  the  United  Provinces,  and 
one  thousand,  it  was  estimated,  were  annually  built.8 

They  traded  to  the  Baltic  regions  for  honey,  wax,  tallow, 
lumber,  iron,  turpentine,  hemp.  They  brought  from  farthest 
Indies  and  from  America  all  the  fabrics  of  ancient  civilisation, 
all  the  newly  discovered  products  of  a  virgin  soil,  and  dis 
pensed  them  among  the  less  industrious  nations  of  the  earth. 
Enterprise,  led  on  and  accompanied  by  science,  was  already 
planning  the  boldest  flights  into  the  unknown  yet  made  by 
mankind,  and  it  will  soon  be  necessary  to  direct  attention  to 
those  famous  arctic  voyages,  made  by  Hollanders  in  pursuit 
of  the  north-west  passage  to  Cathay,  in  which  as  much 
heroism,  audacity,  and  scientific  intelligence  were  displayed  as 


7  Discours  du  Seigneur  de  Cham- 
pagny .  "  Todos  los  herej  es  del  oceano 
que  lo  son  quasi  todos  sino  sola 


Eppaiia  .  .  .  .  y  pues  la  heresia  es  lo 
que  mas  conforme  en  e.stos  maritimos" 
etc.,  etc.,  etc.  8  Meteren.  ubi  sup. 


1590.  INFLUENCE  OF  FREEDOM.  27 

in  later  times  have  made  so  many  men  belonging  to  both 
branches  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  illustrious.  A  people, 
engaged  in  perennial  conflict  with  a  martial  and  sacerdotal 
despotism  the  most  powerful  in  the  world,  could  yet  spare 
enough  from  its  superfluous  energies  to  confront  the  dangers 
of  the  polar  oceans,  and  to  bring  back  treasures  of  science  to 
enrich  the  world. 

Such  was  the  spirit  of  freedom.  Inspired  by  its  blessed 
influence  this  vigorous  and  inventive  little  commonwealth 
triumphed  over  all  human,  all  physical  obstacles  in  its  path. 
It  organised  armies  on  new  principles  to  drive  the  most  famous 
legions  of  history  from  its  soil.  It  built  navies  to  help  rescue,  at 
critical  moments,  the  cause  of  England,  of  protestantism,  of 
civil  liberty,  and  even  of  French  nationality.  More  than  all, 
by  its  trade  with  its  arch-enemy,  the  republic  constantly 
multiplied  its  resources  for  destroying  his  power  and  aggran 
dizing  its  own. 

The  war  navy  of  the  United  Provinces  was  a  regular  force 
of  one  hundred  ships — large  at  a  period  when  a  vessel  of  thir 
teen  hundred  tons  was  a  monster — together  with  an  indefinite 
number  of  smaller  craft,  which  could  be  put  into  the  public 
service  on  short  notice.9  In  those  days  of  close  quarters  and 
light  artillery  a  merchant  ship  was  converted  into  a  cruiser 
by  a  very  simple  process.  The  navy  was  a  self-supporting 
one,  for  it  was  paid  by  the  produce  of  convoy  fees  and 
licenses  to  trade.  It  must  be  confessed  that  a  portion  of 
these  revenues  savoured  much  of  black-mail  to  be  levied  on 
friend  and  foe ;  for  the  distinctions  between  freebooter, 
privateer,  pirate,  and  legitimate  sea-robber  were  not  very 
closely  drawn  in  those  early  days  of  seafaring. 

Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau  was  lord  high  admiral,  but  he 
was  obliged  to  listen  to  the  counsels  of  various  provincial 
boards  of  admiralty,  which  often  impeded  his  action  and 
interfered  with  his  schemes. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  inherent  vice  of  the  Nether- 
land  polity  was  already  a  tendency  to  decentralisation  and 

9  Meterea,  ubi  sup. 


28  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXII. 

provincialism.  The  civil  institutions  of  the  country,  in  their 
main  characteristics,  have  been  frequently  sketched  in  these 
pages.  At  this  period  they  had  entered  almost  completely 
into  the  forms  which  were  destined  to  endure  until  the  com 
monwealth  fell  in  the  great  crash  of  the  French  Eevolution. 
Their  beneficial  effects  were  more  visible  now — sustained 
and  bound  together  as  the  nation  was  by  the  sense  of  a 
common  danger,  and  by  the  consciousness  of  its  daily  deve 
loping  strength — than  at  a  later  day  when  prosperity  and 
luxury  had  blunted  the  fine  instincts  of  patriotism. 

The  supreme  power,  after  the  deposition  of  Philip,  and  the 
refusal  by  France  and  by  England  to  accept  the  sovereignty 
of  the  provinces,  was  definitely  lodged  in  the  States-General. 
But  the  States-General  did  not  technically  represent  the 
people.  Its  members  were  not  elected  by  the  people.  It 
was  a  body  composed  of  delegates  from  each  provincial 
assembly,  of  which  there  were  now  five — Holland,  Zeeland, 
Friesland,  Utrecht,  and  Gelderland.  Each  provincial  assembly 
consisted  again  of  delegates,  not  from  the  inhabitants  of  the 
provinces,  but  from  the  magistracies  of  the  cities.  Those 
magistracies,  again,  were  not  elected  by  the  citizens.  They 
elected  themselves  by  renewing  their  own  vacancies,  and 
were,  in  short,  immortal  corporations.  Thus,  in  final  analysis, 
the  supreme  power  was  distributed  and  localised  among  the 
mayors  and  aldermen  of  a  large  number  of  cities,  all  inde 
pendent  alike  of  the  people  below  and  of  any  central  power 
above. 

It  is  true  that  the  nobles,  as  a  class,  had  a  voice  in  the 
provincial  and  in  the  general  assembly,  both  for  themselves 
and  as  technical  representatives  of  the  smaller  towns  and 
of  the  rural  population.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
influence  of  this  caste  had  of  late  years  very  rapidly 
diminished,  through  its  decrease  in  numbers,  and  the 
far  more  rapid  increase  in  wealth  and  power  of  the  com 
mercial  and  manufacturing  classes.  Individual  nobles  were 
constantly  employed  in  the  military,  civil,  and  diplomatic 
service  of  the  republic,  but  their  body  had  ceased  to  be  a 


1590.  CHARACTER  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  29 

power.  It  had  been  the  policy  of  William  the  Silent  to 
increase  the  number  of  cities  entitled  to  send  deputies  to  the 
States ;  for  it  was  among  the  cities  that  his  resistance  to 
the  tyranny  of  Spain,  and  his  efforts  to  obtain  complete 
independence  for  his  country,  had  been  mainly  supported. 
Many  of  the  great  nobles,  as  has  been  seen  in  these  pages, 
denounced  the  liberator  and  took  sides  with  the  tyrant. 
Lamoral  Egmont  had  walked  to  the  scaffold  to  which  Philip 
had  condemned  him,  chanting  a  prayer  for  Philip's  welfare, 
Egmont's  eldest  son  was  now  foremost  in  the  Spanish  army, 
doing  battle  against  his  own  country  in  behalf  of  the  tyrant 
who  had  taken  his  father's  life.  Aremberg  and  Ligny, 
Arschot,  Chimay,  Croy,  Capres,  Montigny,  and  most  of  the 
great  patrician  families  of  the  Netherlands  fought  on  the 
royal  side. 

The  revolution  which  had  saved  the  country  from  perdition 
and  created  the  great  Netherland  republic  was  a  burgher 
revolution,  and  burgher  statesmen  now  controlled  the  State. 
The  burgher  class  of  Europe  is  not  the  one  that  has  been 
foremost  in  the  revolutionary  movements  of  history,  or  that 
has  distinguished  itself — especially  in  more  modern  times — by 
a  passionate  love  of  liberty.  It  is  always  easy  to  sneer  at  Hans 
Miller  and  Hans  Baker,  and  at  the  country  where  such 
plebeians  are  powerful.  Yet  the  burghers  played  a  prominent 
part  in  the  great  drama  which  forms  my  theme,  and  there  has 
rarely  been  seen  a  more  solid  or  powerful  type  of  their  class 
than  the  burgher  statesman,  John  of  Olden-Barneveld,  who, 
since  the  death  of  William  the  Silent  and  the  departure  of 
Lord  Leicester,  had  mainly  guided  the  destinies  of  Holland. 
Certainly  no  soldier  nor  statesman  who  ever  measured  intel 
lects  with  that  potent  personage  was  apt  to  treat  his  genius 
otherwise  than  with  profound  respect. 

But  it  is  difficult  to  form  a  logical  theory  of  government, 
except  on  the  fiction  of  divine  right  as  a  basis,  unless  the  fact 
of  popular  sovereignty,  as  expressed  by  a  majority,  be  frankly 
accepted  in  spite  of  philosophical  objections. 

In  the  Netherlands  there  was  no  king,  and  strictly  speaking 


30  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXII. 

no  people.  But  this  latter  and  fatal  defect  was  not  visible 
in  the  period  of  danger  and  of  contest.  The  native  magis 
trates  of  that  age  were  singularly  pure,  upright,  and  patriotic. 
Of  this  there  is  no  question  whatever.  And  the  people 
acquiesced  cheerfully  in  their  authority,  not  claiming  a  larger 
representation  than  such  as  they  virtually  possessed  in  the 
multiple  power  exercised  over  them,  by  men  moving  daily 
among  them,  often  of  modest  fortunes  and  of  simple  lives. 
Two  generations  later,  and  in  the  wilderness  of  Massachusetts, 
the  early  American  colonists  voluntarily  placed  in  the  hands 
of  their  magistrates,  few  in  number,  unlimited  control  of  all 
the  functions  of  government,  and  there  was  hardly  an  in 
stance  known  of  an  impure  exercise  of  authority.  Yet  out  of 
that  simple  kernel  grew  the  least  limited  and  most  powerful 
democracy  ever  known. 

In  the  later  days  of  Netherland  history  a  different  result 
became  visible,  and  with  it  came  the  ruin  of  the  State.  The 
governing  class,  of  burgher  origin,  gradually  separated  itself 
from  the  rest  of  the  citizens,  withdrew  from  commercial  pur 
suits,  lived  on  hereditary  fortunes  in  the  exercise  of  functions 
which  were  likewise  virtually  hereditary,  and  so  became  an 
oligarchy.  This  result,  together  with  the  physical  causes 
already  indicated,  made  the  downfall  of  the  commonwealth 
probable  whenever  it  should  be  attacked  by  an  overwhelming 
force  from  without. 

The  States-General,  however,  at  this  epoch — although  they 
had  in  a  manner  usurped  the  sovereignty,  which  in  the 
absence  of  a  feudal  lord  really  belonged  to  the  whole  people, 
and  had  silently  repossessed  themselves  of  those  executive 
functions  which  they  had  themselves  conferred  upon  the 
state  council — were  at  any  rate  without  self-seeking  am 
bition.  The  Hollanders,  as  a  race,  were  not  office  seekers, 
but  were  singularly  docile  to  constituted  authority,  while  their 
regents — as  the  municipal  magistrates  were  commonly  called 
— were  not  very  far  removed  above  the  mass  by  birth  or 
habitual  occupation.  The  republic  was  a  social  and  political 
fact,  against  which  there  was  no  violent  antagonism  either 


1590. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  RULE. 


31 


of  laws  or  manners,  and  the  people,  although  not  technically 
existing,  in  reality  was  all  in  all.  In  Netherland  story  the 
People  is  ever  the  true  hero.  It  was  an  almost  unnoticed  but 
significant  revolution — that  by  which  the  state  council  was 
now  virtually  deprived  of  its  authority.  During  Leicester's 
rule  it  had  been  a  most  important  college  of  administration. 
Since  his  resignation  it  had  been  entrusted  by  the  States- 
General  with  high  executive  functions,  especially  in  war 
matters.  It  was  an  assembly  of  learned  counsellors  appointed 
from  the  various  provinces  for  wisdom  and  experience,  usually 
about  eighteen  in  number,  and  sworn  in  all  things  to  be 
faithful  to  the  whole  republic.  The  allegiance  of  all  was 
rendered  to  the  nation.  Each  individual  member  was  re 
quired  to  "  forswear  his  native  province  in  order  to  be  true 
to  the  generality."  They  deliberated  in  common  for  the 
general  good,  and  were  not  hampered  by  instructions  from 
the  provincial  diets,  nor  compelled  to  refer  to  those  diets  for 
decision  when  important  questions  were  at  issue.  It  was  an 
independent  executive  committee  for  the  whole  republic.10 

But  Leicester  had  made  it  unpopular.  His  intrigues,  in 
the  name  of  democracy,  to  obtain  possession  of  sovereign 
power,  to  inflame  the  lower  classes  against  the  municipal 
magistracies,  and  to  excite  the  clergy  to  claim  a  political 
influence  to  which  they  were  not  entitled  and  which  was  most 
mischievous  in  its  effects,  had  exposed  the  state  council,  with 
which  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  consulting,  to  suspicion. 

The  Queen  of  England,  by  virtue  of  her  treaty,  had  the 
right  to  appoint  two  of  her  subjects  to  be  members  of 


10  "  Sa  Majeste  voit  journellement 
par  experience  qu'a  cause  que  1'au- 
torite  qui  appartient  au  conseil  d'etat 
de  ces  provinces  suivant  les  articles  du 
contract  faict  entre  S.  M.  et  ces  pays  cy 
luy  est  en  plusieurs  points  du  tout 
ostee  et  quasi  en  tout  fort  raccourcie 
par  V.  S.  De  la  naist  une  telle  con 
fusion  et  desordre  au  gouvernement  de 
ces  provinces  que  non  settlement  c'est 
1'occasion  de  beaucoup  de  malentenduz 
et  mescontentemens,  mais  aussi  faict 
que  1'ennemi  n'est  si  vivement  re 
pousse  comme  il  pourrait  estre,  et 


consequemment  met  S.  M.  et  ces  pro 
vinces  en  plus  grand  trouble  et  des- 
pense  qu'aultrement  ne  requerroit  le 
maintien  de  ces  guerres ;  eu  esgard  de 
quoi  je  suis  charge  de  par  S.  M.  de  vous 
signifier,  qu'elle  desire  de  V.  S.  que 
quelque  pouvoir  qui  a  este  bailie  au 
conseil  d'etat  par  la  susdicte  conven 
tion,  soit  aussi  pleinement  restitue  et 
establi,"  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  (Paper  sent  tc 
the  States-General  by  Sir  Thomas 
Bodley,  26  April,  1590 ;  Archives  of 
the  Hague  MS.) 


32 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXII, 


the  council.  The  governor  of  her  auxiliary  forces  was  also 
entitled  to  a  seat  there.  Since  the  malpractices  of  Leicester 
and  the  danger  to  which  the  country  had  been  subjected  in 
consequence  had  been  discovered,  it  was  impossible  that  there 
should  be  very  kindly  feeling  toward  England  in  the  public 
mind,  however  necessary  a  sincere  alliance  between  the  two 
countries  was  known  to  be  for  the  welfare  of  both. 

The  bickering  of  the  two  English  councillors,  Wilkes  and 
Bodley,  and  of  the  governor  of  the  English  contingent  with 
the  Hollanders,  was  incessant.  The  Englishmen  went  so  far 
as  to  claim  the  right  of  veto  upon  all  measures  passed  by  the 
council,  but  the  States-General  indignantly  replied  that 
the  matters  deliberated  and  decided  upon  by  that  board  were 
their  own  affairs,  not  the  state  affairs  of  England.  The  two 
members  and  the  military  officer  who  together  represented 
her  Majesty  were  entitled  to  participate  in  the  deliberations 
and  to  vote  with  their  brother  members.  For  them  to  claim 
the  right,  however,  at  will  to  annul  the  proceedings  was  an 
intolerable  assumption,  and  could  not  be  listened  to  for  a 
moment.  Certainly  it  would  have  been  strange  had  two 
Dutchmen  undertaken  to  veto  every  measure  passed  by  the 
Queen's  council  at  Kichmond  or  Windsor,  and  it  was  difficult 
to  say  on  what  article  of  the  contract  this  extraordinary 
privilege  was  claimed  by  Englishmen  at  the  Hague.11 

Another  cause  of  quarrel  was  the  inability  of  the  English 
men  to  understand  the  language  in  which  the  debates  of  the 
state  council  were  held. 

According  to  a  custom  not  entirely  unexampled  in  parlia 
mentary  history  the  members  of  assembly  and  council  made 
use  of  their  native  tongue  in  discussing  the  state  affairs 


11  "  In  den  Raedt  van  State  deser 
Landen,"  said  the  States-General  to 
the  English  councillors,  "  worden 
gehandelt,  geconsulteert  ende  gere- 
solveert  de  saecken  den  staet  derzelver 
Landen  aengaende  ende  niet  den 
Btaet  van  Engelant.  Ende  daeromnie 
en  connen  die  staten  niet  verstaen  dat 
tot  dienste  van  dese  Landen  ofte  van 
haer  Ma1  by  forme  van  een  negative 


voix  can  worden  geprocedeert  omme 
den  voortganct  der  resolutie  te  beletten, 
maer  hebben  den  gouverneur  van  hare 
Ma1  secours  ende  de  Raeden  by 
haere  Ma*  geintroduceert  hare  stem- 
men  negative  ofte  affirmative  te  geven 
als  andere  van  den  Raede."  (Answer 
to  Wilkes  and  Bodley,  15  Oct.  1590  ; 
Hague  Archives  MS.) 


1590. 


QUARRELS  IN  THE  STATS-COUNCIL. 


33 


of  their  native  land.  It  was  however  considered  a  grievance 
by  the  two  English  members  that  the  Dutchmen  should 
speak  Dutch,  and  it  was  demanded  in  the  Queen's  name  that 
they  should  employ  some  other  language  which  a  foreigner 
could  more  easily  understand.12 

The  Hollanders  however  refused  this  request,  not  believing 
that  in  a  reversed  case  her  Majesty's  Council  or  Houses  of 
Parliament  would  be  likely  or  competent  to  carry  on  their 
discussions  habitually  in  Italian  or  Latin  for  the  benefit  of  a 
couple  of  strangers  who  might  not  be  familiar  with  English. 
The  more  natural  remedy  would  have  been  for  the  foreigners 
to  take  lessons  in  the  tongue  of  the  country,  or  to  seek  for 
an  interpreter  among  their  colleagues ;  especially  as  the 
States,  when  all  the  Netherlands  were  but  provinces,  had 
steadily  refused  to  adopt  any  language  but  their  mother 
tongue,  even  at  the  demand  of  their  sovereign  prince.13 

At  this  moment,  Sir  Thomas  Bodley  was  mainly  entrusted 
with  her  Majesty's  affairs  at  the  Hague,  but  his  overbearing 
demeanour,  intemperate  language,  and  passionate  style  of 
correspondence  with  the  States  and  with  the  royal  government, 


12 "  S.  Majeste  trouvant  estrange  que 
voulsissiez  que  les  siens  demeurassent 
par  ce  moyen  muets  au  dit  conseil, 
requiert  que  des  a  present  et  a  1'avenir 
toutes  les  propositions,  consultations, 
conferences  et  deliberations  qui  se 
feront  au  dit  conseil  soyent  tousjours  es 
langues  Latine  ou  Francoise,  et  que 
les  actes  etregistres  de,sdictes  consulta 
tions,  resolutions,  et  deliberations  se 
tiennent  en  1'une  deux  langues  sus- 
dictes."  (Wilkes  and  Bodley  to  the 
States-General,  20  July,  1590 ;  Hague 
Archives  MS.) 

13  "  Alle  de  provincien,  Steden  ende 
Leden  van  dien  jegenwoordig  in  de 
Unie  wezende,"  said  the  States,  "  ge- 
bruycken  de  Nederlantsche  spraecke, 
ende  volgende  verscheyde  privilegien, 
ende  rechten  der  voorscreven  Landen 
en  mogende  Gecommitteerden  der  Sta- 
ten  van  de  respective  provincien  in  de 
zaecken  van  den  Lande  geen  ander  als 
de  Nederlandtsche  spraecke  gebruyc- 
ken.  Daeromme  en  is  niet  practica- 
bael  en  ditpuncteenigeveranderinghe 
inne  te  voeren.  Temin  nademael  die 

VOL.    III. — D 


Staten  der  voorscreven  respective  pro 
vincien  noyt  hebben  willen  gedoogen 
dat  haere  Gecommitteerdenin  saecken 
der  Landen  vreemde  spraecken  zouden 
gebruycken ;  oock  niettegestaende  het 
verzoeck  van  haerlicker  princen  selfs 
geschiet  uit  wichtige  ende  wel  gefon- 
deerde  redenen.  Ende  daer  zulcx  in 
eenige  zaecken  specialyck  met  veele 
difficultey  ten  isgeconsenteert  geweeet, 
ten  tyde  ais  in  de  vergaderinge  van  de 
Staten  verscheyden  provincien  van 
Walscher  sprake  waren  comparerende 
hebben  de  princen  daervan  den  Staten 
gegeven  solennele  acte  van  non-pre- 
juditie  met  belofte  dat  zulcx  niet  in 
consequentie  zoude  worden  getoogen. 
Ende  hebben  de  ondersaten  van  haere 
Ma*  hen  beter  te  laeten  onderrichten 
in  den  Raedt  van  staet  vant  gunt 
aldaer  geproponeert  ende  gedelibereert 
zal  worden,  dan  dat  de  Ingesetenen 
deser  Landen  jegens  de  rechten  ende 
privilegien  derzelver  in  de  beleydinghe 
van  des  Landes  zaecken  vreemde 
spraecke  zouden  moeten  gebruycken." 
Ibid. 


34  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXII. 

did  much  injury  to  both  countries.  The  illustrious  Walsing- 
ham — whose  death  in  the  spring  of  this  year  England  had 
so  much  reason  to  deplore — had  bitterly  lamented,  just  before 
his  death,  having  recommended  so  unquiet  a  spirit  for  so  im 
portant  a  place.  Ortel,  envoy  of  the  States  to  London, 
expressed  his  hopes  that  affairs  would  now  be  handled  more 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  States  ;  as  Bodley  would  be  obliged, 
since  the  death  of  Sir  Francis,  to  address  his  letters  to  the 
Lord  High  Treasurer,  with  whom  it  would  be  impossible  for 
him  to  obtain  so  much  influence  as  he  had  enjoyed  with  the 
late  Secretary  of  State.14 

Moreover  it  was  exactly  at  this  season  that  the  Advocate 
of  Holland,  Olden-Barneveld,  was  excluded  from  the  state 
council.15  Already  the  important  province  of  Holland  was 
dissatisfied  with  its  influence  in  that  body.  Bearing  one-half 
of  the  whole  burthen  of  the  war  it  was  not  content  with  one 
quarter  of  the  council  vote,  and  very  soon  it  became  the 
custom  for  the  States-General  to  conduct  all  the  most 
important  affairs  of  the  republic.16  The  state  council  com 
plained  that  even  in  war  matters  it  was  not  consulted,  and 
that  most  important  enterprises  were  undertaken  by  Prince 
Maurice  without  its  knowledge,  and  on  advice  of  the  Advocate 
alone.  Doubtless  this  was  true,  and  thus,  most  unfortunately, 
the  commonwealth  was  degraded  to  a  confederacy  instead  of 
becoming  an  incorporate  federal  State.  The  members  of  the 
States-General — as  it  has  been  seen — were  responsible  only 
to  their  constituents,  the  separate  provinces.  They  avowed 
allegiance,  each  to  his  own  province,  none  to  the  central 
government.  Moreover  they  were  not  representatives,  but 
envoys,  appointed  by  petty  provinces,  bound  by  written  orders, 
and  obliged  to  consult  at  every  step  with  their  sovereigns  at 
home.  The  Netherland  polity  was  thus  stamped  almost  at 
its  birth  with  a  narrow  provincialism.  Delay  and  hesitation 
thus  necessarily  engendered  were  overcome  in  the  days  of 
danger  by  patriotic  fervour.  The  instinct  of  union  for  the 
sake  of  the  national  existence  was  sufficiently  strong,  and 
14  Bor,  III.  xxvii.  530.  «  Fmin,  24  16  Ibid. 


1590.     EFFECT  OF  THE  STRUGGLE  ON  NEUTRAL  NATIONS.       35 

the  robust,  practical  common  sense  of  the  people  sufficiently 
enlightened  to  prevent  this  weakness  from  degenerating  into 
impotence  so  long  as  the  war  pressure  remained  to  mould 
them  into  a  whole.  But  a  day  was  to  come  for  bitterly  rueing 
this  paralysis  of  the  imperial  instincts  of  the  people,  this 
indefinite  decentralisation  of  the  national  strength. 

For  the  present,  the  legislative  and  executive  body  was 
the  States-General.  But  the  States-General  were  in  reality 
the  States  provincial,  and  the  States  provincial  were  the  city 
municipalities,  among  which  the  magistracies  of  Holland  were 
preponderant. 

Ere  long  it  became  impossible  for  an  individual  to  resist 
the  decrees  of  the  civic  authorities.  In  1591,  the  States- 
General  passed  a  resolution  by  which  these  arrogant  corpora 
tions  virtually  procured  their  exemption  from  any  process  at 
.the  suit  of  a  private  person  to  be  placed  on  record.  So  far 
could  the  principle  of  sovereignty  be  pulverized.  City 
council  boards  had  become  supreme.17 

It  was  naturally  impossible  during  the  long  continuance  of 
this  great  struggle,  that  neutral  nations  should  not  be 
injuriously  affected  by  it  in  a  variety  of  ways.  And  as  a 
matter  of  course  neutral  nations  were  disposed  to  counsel 
peace.  Peace,  peace,  peace  was  the  sigh  of  the  bystanders 
whose  commerce  was  impeded,  whose  international  relations 
were  complicated,  and  whose  own  security  was  endangered  in 
the  course  of  the  bloody  conflict.  It  was  however  not  very 
much  the  fashion  of  that  day  for  governments  to  obtrude 
advice  upon  each  other,  or  to  read  to  each  other  moral 
lectures.  It  was  assumed  that  when  the  expense  and  sacri 
fice  of  war  had  been  incurred,  it  was  for  cause,  and  the 
discovery  had  not  yet  been  made  that  those  not  immediately  in 
terested  in  the  fray  were  better  acquainted  with  its  merits  than 
the  combatants  themselves,  and  were  moreover  endued  with 
superhuman  wisdom  to  see  with  perfect  clearness  that  future 
issue  which  to  the  parties  themselves  was  concealed. 

1T  Kluit,  iii.  52.     Compare  Fruin,  iv.  pp.  18-31,  to  whose  lucid  and  learned 
exposition  of  the  Netherland  polity  I  am  under  great  obligations. 


36  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CKAP.  XXII 

Cheap  apothegms  upon  the  blessings  of  peace  and  upon 
the  expediency  of  curbing  the  angry  passions,  uttered  by 
the  belligerents  of  yesterday  to  the  belligerents  of  to-day, 
did  not  then  pass  current  for  profound  wisdom. 

Still  the  emperor  Kudolph,  abstaining  for  a  time  from  his 
star-gazing,  had  again  thought  proper  to  make  a  feeble 
attempt  at  intervention  in  those  sublunary  matters  which 
were  supposed  to  be  within  his  sphere.18 

It  was  perfectly  well  known  that  Philip  was  incapable  of 
abating  one  jot  of  his  pretensions,  and  that  to  propose 
mediation  to  the  United  Provinces  was  simply  to  request  them, 
for  the  convenience  of  other  powers,  to  return  to  the  slavery 
out  of  which,  by  the  persistent  efforts  of  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
they  had  struggled.  Nevertheless  it  was  formally  proposed 
to  re-open  those  lukewarm  fountains  of  diplomatic  common 
place  in  which  healing  had  been  sought  during  the  peace 
negotiations  of  Cologne  in  the  year  1579.  But  the  States- 
General  resolutely  kept  them  sealed.  They  simply  answered 
his  imperial  Majesty  by  a  communication  of  certain  inter 
cepted  correspondence  between  the  King  of  Spain  and  his 
ambassador  at  Vienna,  San  Clemente,  through  which  it  was 
satisfactorily  established  that  any  negotiation  would  prove 
as  gigantic  a  comedy  on  the  part  of  Spain  as  had  been  the 
memorable  conferences  at  Ostend,  by  which  the  invasion  of 
England  had  been  masked.19 

There  never  was  a  possibility  of  mediation  or  of  compromise 
except  by  complete  submission  on  the  part  of  the  Nether- 
landers  to  Crown  and  Church.  Both  in  this,  as  well  as  in 
previous  and  subsequent  attempts  at  negotiations,  the  secret 
instructions  of  Philip  forbade  any  real  concessions  on  his 
side.  He  was  always  ready  to  negotiate,  he  was  especially 
anxious  to  obtain  a  suspension  of  arms  from  the  rebels 
during  negotiation,  but  his  agents  were  instructed  to  use 
great  dexterity  and  dissimulation  in  order  that  the  proposal 
for  such  armistice,  as  well  as  for  negotiation  at  all,  should 
appear  to  proceed,  not  from  himself  as  was  the  fact,  but  from 
'«  Meteren,  xvi.  297.  »  Ibid. 


1590.  PHILIP'S  PROPOSALS  FOR  A  COMPROMISE.  37 

the  emperor  as  a  neutral  potentate.  The  king  uniformly 
proposed  three  points  ;  firstly,  that  the  rebels  should  recon 
vert  themselves  to  the  Catholic  religion  ;  secondly,  that  they 
should  return  to  their  obedience  to  himself ;  thirdly,  that 
they  should  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war.  Number  three  was, 
however,  usually  inserted  in  order  that,  by  conceding  it 
subsequently,  after  much  contestation,  he  might  appear  con 
ciliatory.  It  was  a  vehicle  of  magnanimity  towards  men 
grown  insolent  with  temporary  success.20  Numbers  one  and 
two  were  immutable. 

Especially  upon  number  one  was  concession  impossible. 
"  The  Catholic  religion  is  the  first  thing,"  said  Philip,  "  and 
although  the  rebels  do  not  cease  to  insist  that  liberty  of 
conscience  should  be  granted  them,  in  order  that  they  may 
preserve  that  which  they  have  had  during  these  past  years, 
this  is  never  to  be  thought  of  in  any  event."  The  king 
always  made  free  use  of  the  terrible  weapon  which  the 
Protestant  princes  of  Germany  had  placed  in  his  hands.  For 
indeed  if  it  were  right  that  one  man,  because  possessed  of 
hereditary  power  over  millions  of  his  fellow  creatures,  should 
compel  them  all  to  accept  the  dogmas  of  Luther  or  of 
Calvin  because  agreeable  to  himself,  it  was  difficult  to  say 
why  another  man,  in  a  similarly  elevated  position,  might 
not  compel  his  subjects  to  accept  the  creed  of  Trent,  or  the 
doctrines  of  Mahomet  or  Confucius.  The  Netherlanders  were 
fighting — even  more  than  they  knew — for  liberty  of  con 
science,  for  equality  of  all  religions  ;  not  for  Moses,  nor  for 
Melancthon  ;  for  Henry,  Philip,  or  Pius  ;  while  Philip  justly 
urged  that  no  prince  in  Christendom  permitted  license.  "  Let 
them  well  understand,"  said  his  Majesty,  "  that  since  others 
who  live  in  error,  hold  the  opinion  that  vassals  are  to  conform 
to  the  religion  of  their  master,  it  is  insufferable  that  it  should 
be  proposed  to  me  that  my  vassals  should  have  a  different  religion 


30  Minuta  de  instrucion  al  Marques 
de  Carvalho,  25  Jan.  1592,  Arch,  de 
Simancas,  MS.  "Como  hombres  in- 
solentes  con  los  buenos  sucesos  destos 


algunas  cosas  sin  fundamento,  por 
desyiarlos  dellos  se  deben  a  lo  menos 
deahecharlos  con  esta  recompensa  de 
gastos  las  otras  pretenciones  que 


dias,  pidieren  que  se  hagan  con  ellos  1  tuvieren  mal  fundadas." 


38 


THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXII. 


from  mine, — and  that  too  being  the  true  religion,  proved  by 
so  many  testimonies  and  miracles,  while  all  others  are  decep 
tion.  This  must  be  arranged  with  the  authority  of  the 
commissioners  of  the  emperor,  since  it  is  well  understood  by 
them  that  the  vassal  is  never  to  differ  from  the  opinion  of  his 
master.''21  Certainly  it  was  worth  an  eighty  years7  war  to 
drive  such  blasphemous  madness  as  this  out  of  human  heads, 
whether  crowned  or  shaven. 

There  was  likewise  a  diet  held  during  the  summer  of  this 
year,  of  the  circles  of  the  empire  nearest  to  the  Nether 
lands — Westphalia,  Cleves,  Juliers,  and  Saxony— from  which 
commissioners  were  deputed  both  to  Brussels  and  to  the 
Hague,  to  complain  of  the  misfortunes  suffered  by  neutral 
and  neighbouring  nations  in  consequence  of  the  civil  war. 

They  took  nothing  by  their  mission  to  the  Duke  of  Parma. 
22  Aug.  At  the  Hague  the  deputies  were  heard  on  the  22nd 

1590.  August,  1590.  They  complained  to  the  States- 
General  of  "  brandschatting "  on  the  border,  of  the  holding 
of  forts  beyond  the  lines,  and  of  other  invasions  of  neutral 
territory,  of  the  cruising  of  the  war-vessels  of  the  States  off 
the  shores  and  on  the  i  ivers,  and  of  their  interference  with 
lawful  traders.  Threats  were  made  of  forcible  intervention 
and  reprisals.22 

The  united  States  replied  on  the  13th  September.     Ex- 


11  "  Lo  de  la  religion  Catolica  es  la 
primera  cosa  ;  y  aunque  no  dexaran  de 
insistir  rebeldes  en  que  se  les  de  liber- 
tad  de  concientia  por  conservar  la  que 
lian  tenido  estos  anos,  no  se  ha  de  dar 
lugar  a  esto  por  ningunocaso — dando 
les  bien  a  entencler  que  pues  otros  qui 
viven  en  errores  tienen  por  opinion 
que  sus  vassalos  se  han  de  conformar 
con  la  religion  de  su  Senor,  no  se 
sul're  que  a  mi  se  me  proponga  que 
los  mios  la  tengan  diferente  que  yo, 
siendo  esta  la  verdadera  y  probada  con 
tantos  testimonies  y  milagros,  y  todo 
lo  demas  engano,  y  esto  se  lia  de  pro- 
curar  con  la  autoridad  de  los  comisa- 
rios  del  emperador  pues  esmuy  recibido 
entre  ellos  de  no  haberse  de  apartar  el 
vassallo  de  la  opinion  de  su  senor." 
Ibid. 


In  July  of  this  year  Farnese  had 
much  talk  with  the  Elector  of  Cologne 
at  Spa  about  peace  with  the  rebels 
through  the  mediation  of  the  Emperor. 
It  was  agreed  that  a  congress  should 
be  proposed  at  Cologne,  but  the  sug 
gestion  was  not  to  appear  as  coming 
from  Philip,  and  Farnese  informed  his 
master  that  the  Duke  of  Wirtemberg 
and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  would 
both  attend.  Although  heretics,  they 
were  described  as  pacific  and  pro 
foundly  of  opinion  "  that  in  the  matter 
of  religion  vassals  were  necessarily 
to  conform  to  the  will  and  command 
of  their  princes."  Parma  to  Philip, 
21  July,  1590;  (Arch,  de  Simancas 
MS.)  ' 

w  Meteren,  xvi.  295,  seqq. 


1590.  COMPLAINTS  OF  NEIGHBOURING   NATIONS.  39 

pressing  deep  regret  tha*!1  neutral  nations  should  suffer,  they 
pronounced  it  to  be  impossible  but  that  some 
sparks  from  the  great  fire/^W1  desolating  their  land, 
should  fly  over  into  their  neighbours'  ground.  The  States 
were  fighting  the  battle  of  liberty  against  slavery,  in  which 
the  future  generations  of  Germany,  as  well  as  of  the  Nether- 
lands  were  interested.  They  were  combating  that  horrible 
institution,  the  Holy  Inquisition.  They  were  doing  their  best 
to  strike  down  the  universal  monarchy  of  Spain,  which  they 
described  as  a  bloodthirsty,  insatiable,  insolent,  absolute 
dominion  of  Saracenic,  Moorish  Christians.23  They  warred 
with  a  system  which  placed  inquisitors  on  the  seats  of  judges, 
which  made  it  unlawful  to  read  the  Scriptures,  which  violated 
all  oaths,  suppressed  all  civic  freedom,  trampled  on  all  laws 
and  customs,  raised  inordinate  taxes  by  arbitrary  decree,  and 
subjected  high  and  low  to  indiscriminate  murder.  Spain  had 
sworn  the  destruction  of  the  provinces  and  their  subjugation 
to  her  absolute  dominion,  in  order  to  carry  out  her  scheme 
of  universal  empire. 

These  were  the  deeds  and  designs  against  which  the  States 
were  waging  that  war,  concerning  some  inconvenient  results 
of  which  their  neighbours,  n'ow  happily  neutral,  were  com 
plaining.  But  the  cause  of  the  States  was  the  cause  of 
humanity  itself.  This  Saracenic,  Moorish,  universal  mon 
archy  had  been  seen  by  Germany  to  murder,  despoil,  and 
trample  upon  the  Netherlands.  It  had  murdered  millions  of 
innocent  Indians  and  Granadians.  It  had  kept  Naples  and 
Milan  in  abject  slavery.  It  had  seized  Portugal.  It  had 
deliberately  planned  and  attempted  an  accursed  invasion  of 
England  and  Ireland.  It  had  overrun  and  plundered  many 
cities  of  the  empire.  It  had  spread  a  web  of  secret  intrigue 
about  Scotland.  At  last  it  was  sending  great  armies  to  con 
quer  France  and  snatch  its  crown.  Poor  France  now  saw 
the  plans  of  this  Spanish  tyranny  and  bewailed  her  misery. 
The  subjects  of  her  lawful  king  were  ordered  to  rise  against 
aim,  on  account  of  religion  and  conscience.  Such  holy 
83  Meteren,  xvi.  295,  seg. 


40  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXII. 

pretexts  were  used  by  these  Saracenic  Christians  in  order  to 
gain  possession  of  that  kingdom. 

For  all  these  reasons,  men  should  not  reproach  the  inhabi 
tants  of  the  Netherlands,  because  seeing  the  aims  of  this 
accursed  tyranny,  they  had  set  themselves  to  resist  it.  It  was 
contrary  to  reason  to  consider  them  as  disturbers  of  the 
general  peace,  or  to  hold  them  guilty  of  violating  their  oaths 
or  their  duty  to  the  laws  of  the  holy  empire.  The  States- 
General  were  sure  that  they  had  been  hitherto  faithful  and 
loyal,  and  they  were  resolved  to  continue  in  that  path. 

As  members  of  the  holy  empire,  in  part — as  of  old  they 
were  considered  to  be — they  had  rather  the  right  to  expect, 
instead  of  reproaches,  assistance  against  the  enormous  power 
and  inhuman  oppression  of  their  enemies.  They  had  de 
manded  it  heretofore  by  their  ambassadors,  and  they  still 
continued  to  claim  it.  They  urged  that,  according  to  the 
laws  of  the  empire,  all  foreign  soldiers,  Spaniards,  Saracens, 
and  the  like  should  be  driven  out  of  the  limits  of  the  empire. 
Through  these  means  the  German  Highland  and  the  German 
Netherland  might  be  restored  once  more  to  their  old  friend 
ship  and  unity,  and  might  deal  with  each  other  again  ic 
amity  and  commerce. 

If,  however,  such  requests  could  not  be  granted  they  at 
least  begged  his  electoral  highness  and  the  other  dukes,  lords, 
and  states  to  put  on  the  deeds  of  Netherlander  in  this 
laborious  and  heavy  war  the  best  interpretation,  in  order 
that  they  might,  with  the  better  courage  and  resolution,  bear 
those  inevitable  burthens  which  were  becoming  daily  heavier 
in  this  task  of  resistance  and  self-protection  ;  in  order  that 
the  provinces  might  not  be  utterly  conquered,  and  serve, 
with  their  natural  resources  and  advantageous  situation,  as 
sedes  et  media  belli  for  the  destruction  of  neighbouring  States 
and  the  building  up  of  the  contemplated  universal,  absolute 
monarchy.24 

The  United  Provinces  had  been  compelled  by  overpowering 
necessity  to  take  up  arms.  That  which  had  resulted  was  and 

84  Meteren,  xvi.  295,  seqq. 


1590.  REPLY  OF  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  41 

remained  in  terminis  defensionis.  Their  object  was  to  protect 
what  belonged  to  them,  to  recover  that  which  by  force  or 
fraud  had  been  taken  from  them. 

In  regard  to  excesses  committed  by  their  troops  against 
neutral  inhabitants  on  the  border,  they  expressed  a  strong 
regret,  together  with  a  disposition  to  make  all  proper  retribu 
tion  and  to  cause  all  crimes  to  be  punished. 

They  alluded  to  the  enormous -sins  of  this  nature  practised 
by  the  enemy  against  neutral  soil.  They  recalled  to  mind 
that  the  Spaniards  paid  their  troops  ill  or  not  at  all,  and  that 
they  allowed  them  to  plunder  the  innocent  and  the  neutral, 
while  the  united  States  had  paid  their  troops  better  wages, 
and  more  punctually,  than  had  ever  been  done  by  the  greatest 
potentates  of  Europe.  It  was  true  that  the  States  kept  many 
cruisers  off  the  coasts  and  upon  the  rivers,  but  these  were  to 
protect  their  own  citizens  and  friendly  traders  against  pirates 
and  against  the  common  foe.  Germany  derived  as  much 
benefit  from  this  system  as  did  the  Provinces  themselves.25 

Thus  did  the  States-General,  respectfully  but  resolutely, 
decline  all  proffers  of  intervention,  which,  as  they  were  well 
aware,  could  only  enure  to  the  benefit  of  the  enemy.  Thus 
did  they  avoid  being  entrapped  into  negotiations  which  could 
only  prove  the  most  lamentable  of  comedies. 

•  25  Meteren,  xvi  295,  seqq. 


42  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIIL 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

Philip's  scheme  of  aggrandizement  —  Projected  invasion  of  France  —  Internal 
condition  of  France  —  Character  of  Henry  of  Navarre  —  Preparation  for 
action — Battle  of  Ivry  —  Victory  of  the  French  king  over  the  League  — 
Reluctance  of  the  king  to  attack  the  French  capital  —  Siege  of  Paris  —  The 
pope  indisposed  towards  the  League  —  Extraordinary  demonstration  of 
ecclesiastics  —  Influence  of  the  priests — Extremities  of  the  siege  —  At 
tempted  negotiation  —  State  of  Philip's  army  —  Difficult  position  of  Farnese 
—  March  of  the  allies  to  the  relief  of  Paris  —  Lagny  taken  and  the  city 
relieved  —  Desertion  of  the  king's  army  —  Siege  of  Corbeil  —  Death  of  Pope 
Sixtus  V.  —  Re-capture  of  Lagny  and  Corbeil  —  Return  of  Parma  to  the 
Netherlands  —  Result  oi  the  expedition. 

THE  scene  of  the  narrative  shifts  to  France.  The  history  of 
the  United  Netherlands  at  this  epoch  is  a  world-history. 
Were  it  not  so,  it  would  have  far  less  of  moral  and  instruc 
tion  for  all  time  than  it  is  really  capable  of  affording.  The 
battle  of  liberty  against  despotism  was  now  fought  in  the 
hop-fields  of  Brabant  or  the  polders  of  Friesland,  now  in  tho 
narrow  seas  which  encircle  England,  and  now  on  the  sunny 
plains  of  Dauphiny,  among  the  craggy  inlets  of  Brittany,  or 
along  the  high  roads  and  rivers  which  lead  to  the  gates  of 
Paris.  But  everywhere  a  noiseless,  secret,  but  ubiquitous 
negotiation  was  speeding  with  never  an  instant's  pause  to 
accomplish  the  work  which  lansquenettes  and  riders,  pikemen 
and  carabineers  were  contending  for  on  a  hundred  battle-fields 
and  amid  a  din  of  arms  which  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
had  been  the  regular  hum  of  human  industry.  For  nearly  a 
generation  of  mankind,  Germans  and  Hollanders,  English 
men,  Frenchmen,  Scotchmen,  Irishmen,  Spaniards  and  Italians 
seemed  to  be  born  into  the  world  mainly  to  fight  for  or 
against  a  system  of  universal  monarchy,  conceived  for  his 
own  benefit  by  a  quiet  old  man  who  passed  his  days  at  a 
writing  desk  in  a  remote  corner  of  Europe.  It  must  be  con 
fessed  that  Philip  II.  gave  the  world  work  enough.  Whether 


1590.  SCHEMES  OF  PHILIP  II.  43 

— had  the  peoples  governed  themselves — their  energies  might 
not  have  been  exerted  in  a  different  direction,  and  on  the 
whole  have  produced  more  of  good  to  the  human  race  than 
came  of  all  this  blood  and  smoke,  may  be  questioned. 

But  the  divine  right  of  kings,  associating  itself  with  the 
power  supreme  of  the  Church,  was  struggling  to  maintain  that 
old  mastery  of  mankind  which  awakening  reason  was  inclined 
to  dispute.  Countries  and  nations  being  regarded  as  private 
property  to  be  inherited  or  bequeathed  by  a  few  favoured 
individuals  —  provided  always  that  those  individuals  were 
obedient  to  the  chief-priest — it  had  now  become  right  and 
proper  for  the  Spanish  monarch  to  annex  Scotland,  England, 
and  France  to  the  very  considerable  possessions  which  were 
already  his  own.  Scotland  he  claimed  by  virtue  of  the  ex 
pressed  wish  of  Mary  to  the  exclusion  of  her  heretic  son. 
France,  which  had  been  unjustly  usurped  by  another  family 
in  times  past  to  his  detriment,  and  which  only  a  mere  human 
invention — a  "pleasantry"  as  Alva  had  happily  termed  it, 
"called  the  Salic  law" — prevented  from  passing  quietly  to 
his  daughter,  as  heiress  to  her  mother,  daughter  of  Henry  II., 
he  was  now  fully  bent  upon  making  his  own  without  further 
loss  of  time.  England,  in  consequence  of  the  mishap  of  the 
year  eighty-eight,  he  was  inclined  to  defer  appropriating 
until  the  possession  of  the  French  coasts,  together  with  those 
of  the  Netherlands,  should  enable  him  to  risk  the  adventure 
with  assured  chances  of  success. 

The  Netherlands  were  fast  slipping  beyond  his  control,  to 
be  sure,  as  he  engaged  in  these  endless  schemes  ;  and  ill-dis 
posed  people  of  the  day  said  that  the  king  was  like  ^Esop's 
dog,  lapping  the  river  dry  in  order  to  get  at  the  skins  floating 
on  the  surface.  The  Duke  of  Parma  was  driven  to  his  wits' 
ends  for  expedients,  and  beside  himself  with  vexation,  when 
commanded  to  withdraw  his  ill-paid  and  mutinous  army  from 
the  Provinces  for  the  purpose  of  invading  France.1  Most 


1  "  Con  todo,  claro  es,"  said  Cham- 
pagny,  with  bitterness,  "  que  no  bas- 
tando  ya  para  la  guerra  que  tenemos, 
mucho  menos  para  si  nos  engolfamos 


en  la  de  Francia." — Discours  BUT  les 
affaires  des  Pays  Bas.  (MS.  before 
cited.) 


44  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII 

importunate  were  the  appeals  and  potent  the  arguments  by 
which  he  attempted  to  turn  Philip  from  his  purpose.  It 
was  in  vain.  Spain  was  the  great,  aggressive,  over-shadow 
ing  power  at  that  day,  before  whose  plots  and  whose  violence 
the  nations  alternately  trembled,  and  it  was  France  that  now 
stood  in  danger  of  being  conquered  or  dismembered  by  the 
common  enemy  of  all.  That  unhappy  kingdom,  torn  by  in 
testine  conflict,  naturally  invited  the  ambition  and  the 
greediness  of  foreign  powers.  Civil  war  had  been  its  condition, 
with  brief  intervals,  for  a  whole  generation  of  mankind. 
During  the  last  few  years,  the  sword  had  been  never  sheathed, 
while  "the  holy  Confederacy"  and  the  Bearnese  struggled 
together  for  the  mastery.  Keligion  was  the  mantle  under 
which  the  chiefs  on  both  sides  concealed  their  real  designs 
as  they  led  on  their  followers  year  after  year  to  the  desperate 
conflict.  And  their  followers,  the  masses,  were  doubtless  in 
earnest.  A  great  principle — the  relation  of  man  to  his  Maker 
and  his  condition  in  a  future  world  as  laid  down  by  rival 
priesthoods — has  in  almost  every  stage  of  history  had  power 
to  influence  the  multitude  to  fury  and  to  deluge  the  world  hi 
blood.  And  so  long  as  the  superstitious  element  of  human 
nature  enables  individuals  or  combinations  of  them  to  dictate 
to  their  fellow-creatures  those  relations,  or  to  dogmatize  con 
cerning  those  conditions — to  take  possession  of  their  con 
sciences  in  short,  and  to  interpose  their  mummeries  between 
man  and  his  Creator — it  is  probable  that  such  scenes  as 
caused  the  nations  to  shudder  throughout  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  will  continue  to 
repeat  themselves  at  intervals  in  various  parts  of  the  earth. 
Nothing  can  be  more  sublime  than  the  self-sacrifice,  nothing 
more  demoniac  than  the  crimes,  which  human  creatures  have 
seemed  always  ready  to  exhibit  under  the  name  of  religion. 

It  was  and  had  been  really  civil  war  in  France.  In  the 
Netherlands  it  had  become  essentially  a  struggle  for  inde 
pendence  against  a  foreign  monarch  ;  although  the  germ  out 
of  which  both  conflicts  had  grown  to  their  enormous  propor 
tions  was  an  effort  of  the  multitude  to  check  the  growth  of 


1590.  CLAIMS  OF  HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.  45 

papacy.  In  France,  accordingly,  civil  war,  attended  by  that 
gaunt  sisterhood,  murder,  pestilence,  and  famine,  had  swept 
from  the  soil  almost  everything  that  makes  life  valuable.  It 
had  not  brought  in  its  train  that  extraordinary  material  pros 
perity  and  intellectual  development  at  which  men  wondered 
in  the  Netherlands,  and  to  which  allusion  has  just  been  made. 
But  a  fortunate  conjunction  of  circumstances  had  now  placed 
Henry  of  Navarre  in  a  position  of  vantage.  He  represented 
the  principle  of  nationality,  of  French  unity.  It  was  impos 
sible  to  deny  that  he  was  in  the  regular  line  of  succession, 
now  that  luckless  Henry  of  Valois  slept  with  his  fathers,  and 
the  principle  of  nationality  might  perhaps  prove  as  vital  a 
force  as  attachment  to  the  Roman  Chuich.  Moreover,  the 
adroit  and  unscrupulous  Bearnese  knew  well  how  to  shift 
the  mantle  of  religion  from  one  shoulder  to  the  other,  to  serve 
his  purposes  or  the  humours  of  those  whom  he  addressed. 

"  The  King  of  Spain  would  exclude  me  from  the  kingdom 
and  heritage  of  my  father  because  of  my  religion,"  he  said  to 
the  Duke  of  Saxony  ;  "  but  in  that  religion  I  am  determined 
to  persist  so  long  as  I  shall  live"2  The  hand  was  the  hand  of 
Henry,  but  it  was  the  voice  of  Duplessis  Mornay. 

"  Were  there  thirty  crowns  to  win,"  said  he,  at  about  the 
same  time  to  the  States  of  France,  "  /  would  not  change  my 
religion  on  compulsion,  the  dagger  at  my  throat.  Instruct  me, 
instruct  me,  I  am  not  obstinate"*  There  spoke  the  wily  free 
thinker,  determined  not  to  be  juggled  out  of  what  he  considered 
his  property  by  fanatics  or  priests  of  either  church.  Had  Henry 
been  a  real  devotee,  the  fate  of  Christendom  might  have  been 
different.  The  world  has  long  known  how  much  misery  it  is 
in  the  power  of  crowned  bigots  to  inflict. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Holy  League,  the  sacred  Confede 
racy,  was  catholic  or  nothing.  Already  it  was  more  papist  than 
the  pope,  and  loudly  denounced  Sixtus  V.  as  a  Huguenot 
because  he  was  thought  to  entertain  a  weak  admiration  both 
for  Henry  the  heretic  and  for  the  Jezebel  of  England. 

8  Lettre  du  Roy  au  Due  de  Saxe,  dressee  par  Duplessis.  Mem.  and  Corresp, 
de  Duplessis  Mornay,  iv.  491. 

3  Lettre  du  Roy  de  Navarre  aux  etats  de  ce  royaume.     Ibid.  322,  seqq. 


46  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII. 

But  the  holy  confederacy  was  bent  on  destroying  the 
national  government  of  France,  and  dismembering  the  national 
domain.  To  do  this  the  pretext  of  trampling  out  heresy  and 
indefinitely  extending  the  power  of  Rome,  was  most  in 
fluential  with  the  multitude,  and  entitled  the  leaders  to  enjoy 
immense  power  for  the  time  being,  while  maturing  their 
schemes  for  acquiring  permanent  possession  of  large 
fragments  of  the  national  territory.  Mayenne,  Nemours, 
Aumale,  Mercosur  longed  to  convert  temporary  governments 
into  independent  principalities.  The  Duke  of  Lorraine  looked 
with  longing  eyes  on  Verdun,  Sedan,  and  the  other  fair  cities 
within  the  territories  contiguous  to  his  own  domains.  The 
reckless  house  of  Savoy,  with  whom  freebooting  and  land- 
robbery  seemed  geographical  and  hereditary  necessities,  was 
busy  on  the  southern  borders,  while  it  seemed  easy  enough 
for  Philip  II.,  in  right  of  his  daughter,  to  secure  at  least  the 
duchy  of  Brittany  before  entering  on  the  sovereignty  of  the 
whole  kingdom. 

To  the  eyes  of  the  world  at  large  France  might  well  seem 
in  a  condition  of  hopeless  disintegration  ;  the  restoration  of 
its  unity  and  former  position  among  the  nations,  under  the 
government  of  a  single  chief,  a  weak  and  wicked  dream 
Furious  and  incessant  were  the  anathemas  hurled  on  the  head 
of  the  Bearnese  for  his  persistence  in  drowning  the  land  in 
blood  in  the  hope  of  recovering  a  national  capital  which  never 
could  be  his,  and  of  wresting  from  the  control  of  the  con 
federacy  that  power  which,  whether  usurped  or  rightful,  was 
considered,  at  least  by  the  peaceably  inclined,  to  have  become 
a  solid  fact. 

The  poor  puppet  locked  in  the  tower  of  Fontenay,  and 
entitled  Charles  X.,  deceived  and  scared  no  one.  Such  money 
as  there  was  might  be  coined  in  its  name,  but  Madam 
League  reigned  supreme  in  Paris.  The  confederates,  in 
spired  by  the  eloquence  of  a  cardinal  legate,  and  supplied 
with  funds  by  the  faithful,  were  ready  to  dare  a  thousand 
deaths  rather  than  submit  to  the  rule  of  a  tyrant  and 
heretic. 


1590.  POWER  OF  THE  LEAGUE  IN  PARIS.  47 

What  was  an  authority  derived  from  the  laws  of  the  land 
and  the  history  of  the  race  compared  with  the  dogmas  of 
Rome  and  the  trained  veterans  of  Spain  ?  It  remained  to  be 
seen  whether  nationality  or  bigotry  would  triumph.  But  in 
the  early  days  of  1590  the  prospects  of  nationality  were  not 
encouraging. 

Francois  de  Luxembourg,  due  de  Pincey,  was  in  Rome  at 
that  moment,  deputed  by  such  catholic  nobles  of  France  as 
were  friendly  to  Henry  of  Navarre.4  Sixtus  might  perhaps 
be  influenced  as  to  the  degree  of  respect  to  be  accorded  to 
the  envoy's  representations  by  the  events  of  the  campaign 
about  to  open.  Meantime  the  legate  Gaetano,  young,  rich, 
eloquent,  unscrupulous,  distinguished  alike  for  the  splendour 
of  his  house  and  the  brilliancy  of  his  intellect,  had  arrived  in 
Paris.5 

Followed  by  a  great  train  of  adherents  he  had  gone  down 
to  the  House  of  Parliament,  and  was  about  to  seat  himself 
under  the  dais  reserved  for  the  king^  when  Brisson,  first 
President  of  Parliament,  plucked  him  back  by  the  arm,  and 
caused  him  to  take  a  seat  immediately  below  his  own.6 

Deeply  was  the  bold  president  to  expiate  this  defence 
of  king  and  law  against  the  Holy  League.  For  the  moment 
however  the  legate  contented  himself  with  a  long  harangue, 
setting  forth  the  power  of  Rome,  while  Brisson  replied  by  an 
oration  magnifying  the  grandeur  of  France. 

Soon  afterwards  the  cardinal  addressed  himself  to  the 
counteraction  of  Henry's  projects  of  conversion.  For  well 
did  the  subtle  priest  understand  that  in  purging  himself  of 
heresy,  the  Bearnese  was  about  to  cut  the  ground  from 
beneath  his  enemies'  feet.  In  a  letter  to  the  archbishops  and 
bishops  of  France  he  argued  the  matter  at  length.  Especially 
he  denied  the  necessity  or  the  legality  of  an  assembly  of 
all  the  prelates  of  France,  such  as  Henry  desired  to  afford 
him  the  requisite  "  instruction  "  as  to  the  respective  merits  of 
the  Roman  and  the  reformed  Church.  Certainly,  he  urged, 

4  De  Thou,  xi.  97,  pp.  100-103. 

6  Dondini.     De  rebus  in  Gallia  gestis  ab  Alexandra  Farnesio,  i.  131. 

6  De  Thou,  ubi  sup.  p.  108. 

VOL.  II— 3 


48  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII. 

the  Prince  of  Bearne  could  hardly  require  instruction  as 
to  the  tenets  of  either,  seeing  that  at  different  times  he  had 
faithfully  professed  both.7 

But  while  benches  of  bishops  and  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne 
were  burnishing  all  the  arms  in  ecclesiastical  and  legal 
arsenals  for  the  approaching  fray,  the  sound  of  louder  if  not 
more  potent  artillery  began  to  be  heard  in  the  vicinity  of 
Paris.  The  candid  Henry,  while  seeking  ghostly  instruction 
with  eagerness  from  his  papistical  patrons,  was  equally  per 
severing  in  applying  for  the  assistance  of  heretic  musketeers 
and  riders  from  his  protestant  friends  in  England,  Holland, 
Germany,  and  Switzerland. 

Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  States-General  vied  with  each 
other  in  generosity  to  the  great  champion  of  protestantism, 
who  was  combating  the  holy  league  so  valiantly,  and  rarely 
has  a  great  historical  figure  presented  itself  to  the  world  so 
bizarre  of  aspect,  and  under  such  shifting  perplexity  of 
light  and  shade,  as  %  did  the  Bearnese  in  the  early  spring 
of  1590. 

The  hope  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  catholic  nobility 
of  his  realm,  although  himself  an  excommunicated  heretic  ; 
the  mainstay  of  Calvinism  while   secretly  bending  all  his 
energies  to  effect  his  reconciliation  with  the  pope  ;  the  idol 
of   the    austere    and    grimly  puritanical,   while    himself   a 
model   of   profligacy ;    the    leader  of   the   earnest   and   the 
true,   although  false  as  water  himself  in  every  relation  in' 
which  human  beings  can  stand  to  each  other ;  a  standard- 
bearer  of   both   great  branches    of   the    Christian    Church  i 
in  an  age  when  religion  was  the  atmosphere  of  men's  daily' 
lives,  yet,  finding  his  sincerest  admirer,  and  one  of  his  most 
faithful   allies,  in  the   Grand   Turk,8  the  representative   of 


7  De  Thou,  uU  sup.  p.  108. 

8  A  portion  of  the   magnificently 
protective  letter  of  Sultan  Amurath, 
in  which  he  complimented  Henry  on 
his  religious  stedfastness,might  almost 
have  made  the  king's  cheek  tingle. 

"  ..."  a  toi,  Henri  de  Navarre  de 
la  race  invincible  des  Bourbons,  nous 


de  la  maison  d'Autriche,  favorisant 
aucuns  de  tes  ennemis,  tache  de  te 
priver  de  la  succession  legitime  qui 
t'appartient  au  royaume  de  France  qui 
est  de  notre  alliance  et  confederation 
en  haine  de  ce-que  tu  detestes  les  faux 
services  des  idoles,  tres  deplaisantes  au 
grand  Dieu,  pour  tenir  purement  ce 


avons    entendu    que   Don    Philippe,  i  que  tu  tiens  qui  est  le  meiUeur   du 


1590.  RELATIVE   POWER   OF  HENRY  AND  PHILIP.  49 

national  liberty  and  human  rights  against  regal  and  sacerdo 
tal  absolutism,  while  himself  a  remorseless  despot  by  nature 
and  education,  and  a  believer  in  no  rights  of  the  people  save 
in  their  privilege  to  be  ruled  by  himself,  it  seems  strange 
at  first  view  that  Henry  of  Navarre  should  have  been  for 
centuries  so  heroic  and  popular  an  image.  But  he  was  a 
soldier,  a  wit,  a  consummate  politician  ;  above  all,  he  was 
a  man,  at  a  period  when  to  be  a  king  was  often  to  be  some 
thing  much  less  or  much  worse. 

To  those  accustomed  to  weigh  and  analyse  popular  forces 
it  might  well  seem  that  he  was  now  playing  an  utterly  hope 
less  game.  His  capital  garrisoned  by  the  Pope  and  the 
King  of  Spain,  with  its  grandees  and  its  populace  scoffing  at 
his  pretence  of  authority  and  loathing  his  name  ;  with  an 
exchequer  consisting  of  what  he  could  beg  or  borrow  from 
Queen  Elizabeth  —  most  parsimonious  of  sovereigns  reigning 
over  the  half  of  a  small  island  —  and  from  the  States-General 
governing  a  half-born,  half-drowned  little  republic,  engaged 
in  a  quarter  of  a  century's  warfare  with  the  greatest  monarch 
in  the  world  ;  with  a  wardrobe  consisting  of  a  dozen  shirts 
and  five  pocket-handkerchiefs,9  most  of  them  ragged,  and  with  a 
commissariat  made  up  of  what  could  be  brought  in  the  saddle 
bags  of  his  Huguenot  cavaliers  who  came  to  the  charge  with 
him  to-day,  and  to-morrow  were  dispersed  again  to  their  moun 
tain  fastnesses  ;  it  did  not  seem  likely  on  any  reasonable  theory 
of  dynamics  that  the  power  of  the  Bearnese  was  capable  of  out 
weighing  Pope  and  Spain,  and  the  meaner  but  massive  popu 
lace  of  France,  and  the  Sorbonne,  and  the  great  chiefs  of  the 
confederacy,  wealthy,  long  descended,  allied  to  all  the  sove 
reigns  of  Christendom,  potent  in  territorial  possessions  and 
skilful  in  wielding  political  influences. 


monde  ;  je  te  fais  assavoir  qu'ayant 
en  horreur  cette  cause  qui  ne  tend 
qu'au  profit  particulier  de  ceux  qui  se 
sont  Sieves  contre  toi,  je  veux  prendro 
ta  protection  et  tellement  dompter  la 
folie  de  tes  ennemis  et  de  1'Espagnol 
qui  t'occupe  injustement  le  royaume 
de  Navarre,  qu'il  en  sera  memoire  a 
jamais,  et  te  rendant  victorieux,  je 
veux  te  retablir  avec  ma  puissance  re- 
VOL,  III,—  E 


doutable  par  tout  le  monde  au  grand 
epouvantement  de  tous  les  roys,  ayant 
moyen  de  les  reduire  en  telle  extre- 
mite  qu'ils  ne  te  feront  jamais  ennui." 
Arch,  de  Simancas  (Paris)  B.  64^- 
Cited  by  Capefigue,  Hist,  de  la  Re- 
forme,  de  la  Ligue  et  du  regne  de 
Henri  IV.  v.  361,  »  L'Estoil'e,  p,  203, 


50  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII 

"  The  Bearnese  is  poor  but  a  gentleman  of  good  family/'10 
said  the  cheerful  Henry,  and  it  remained  to  be  seen  whether 
nationality,  unity,  legitimate  authority,  history,  and  law 
would  be  able  to  neutralise  the  powerful  combination  of 
opposing  elements. 

The  king  had  been  besieging  Dreux  and  had  made  good 
progress  in  reducing  the  outposts  of  the  city.  As  it  was 
known  that  he  was  expecting  considerable  reinforcements  of 
English  ships,  Netherlanders,  and  Germans,  the  chiefs  of  the 
league  issued  orders  from  Paris  for  an  attack  before  he  should 
thus  be  strengthened. 

For  Parma,  unwillingly  obeying  the  stringent  commands 
of  his  master,  had  sent  from  Flanders  eighteen  hundred 
picked  cavalry  under  Count  Philip  Egmont  to  join  the  army 
of  Mayenne.  This  force  comprised  five  hundred  Belgian 
heavy  dragoons  under  the  chief  nobles  of  the  land,  together 
with  a  selection,  in  even  proportions,  of  Walloon,  German, 
Spanish,  and  Italian  troopers. 

Mayenne  accordingly  crossed  the  Seine  at  Mantes  with  au 
army  of  ten  thousand  foot,  and,  including  Egmont's  contin 
gent,  about  four  thousand  horse.  A  force  under  Marshal 
d'Aumont,  which  lay  in  Ivry  at  the  passage  of  the  Eure,  fell 
back  on  his  approach  and  joined  the  remainder  of  the  king's 
army.  The  siege  of  Dreux  was  abandoned;  and  Henry  with 
drew  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Nonancourt.  It  was  obvious 
that  the  duke  meant  to  offer  battle,  and  it  was  rare  that  the 
king  under  any  circumstances  could  be  induced  to  decline  a 
combat.11 

On  the  night  of  the  12th-13th  March,  Henry  occupied 
Saint  Andre,  a  village  situated  on  an  elevated  and  extensive 
plain  four  leagues  from  Nonancourt,  in  the  direction  of  Ivry, 
fringed  on  three  sides  by  villages  and  by  a  wood,  and  com 
manding  a  view  of  all  the  approaches  from  the  country 
between  the  Seine  arid  Eure.  It  would  have  been  better  had 
Mayenne  been  beforehand  with  him,  as  the  sequel  proved  ; 

10  L'Estoile,  p.  203.  dos  Baxos,  iii.   43,  seqq.     Parma  to 

11  De  Thou,  t.  xi.  lib.  97,  pp.   116,    Philip,   24    March,   1590,    (Arch,   de 
seqq.    Coloma,   Guerras  de  los  Esta-  j  Siraancas  MS.) 


1590.  PREPARATION  FOR  ACTION.  51 

but  the  duke  was  not  famed  for  the  rapidity  of  his  movements. 
During  the  greater  part  of  the  night,  Henry  was  employed  in 
distributing  his  orders  for  that  conflict  which  was  inevitable 
on  the  following  day.  His  army  was  drawn  up  according  to 
a  plan  prepared  by  himself,  and  submitted  to  the  most  ex 
perienced  of  his  generals  for  their  approval.  He  then  per 
sonally  visited  every  portion  of  the  encampment,  speaking 
words  of  encouragement  to  his  soldiers,  and  perfecting  his 
arrangements  for  the  coming  conflict.  Attended  by  Marshals 
d'Aumont  and  Biron  he  remained  on  horseback  during  a 
portion  of  the  night,  having  ordered  his  officers  to  their  tents 
and  reconnoitred  as  well  as  he  could  the  position  of  the 
enemy.  Towards  morning  he  retired  to  his  headquarters  at 
Fourainville,  where  he  threw  himself  half-dressed  on  his 
truckle  bed,  and  although  the  night  was  bitterly  cold,  with  no 
covering  but  his  cloak.  He  was  startled  from  his  slumber 
before  the  dawn  by  a  movement  of  lights  in  the  enemy's 
camp,  and  he  sprang  to  his  feet  supposing  that  the  duke  was 
stealing  a  march  upon  him  despite  all  his  precautions.  The 
alarm  proved  to  be  a  false  one,  but  Henry  lost  no  time  in 
ordering  his  battle.  His  cavalry  he  divided  in  seven  troops 
or  squadrons.  The  first,  forming  the  left  wing,  was  a  body  of 
three  hundred  under  Marshal  d'Aumont,  supported  by  two 
regiments  of  French  infantry.  Next,  separated  by  a  short 
interval,  was  another  troop  of  three  hundred  under  the  Duke 
of  Montpensier,  supported  by  two  other  regiments  of  foot,  one 
Swiss  and  one  German.  In  front  of  Montpensier  was  Baron 
Biron  the  younger,  at  the  head  of  still  another  body  of  three 
hundred.  Two  troops  of  cuirassiers,  each  four  hundred  strong, 
were  on  Biron's  left,  the  one  commanded  by  the  Grand  Prior 
of  France,  Charles  d'Angouldme,  the  other  by  Monsieur  de 
Givry.  Between  the  Prior  and  Givry  were  six  pieces  of 
heavy  artillery,  while  the  battalia,  formed  of  eight  hundred 
horse  in  six  squadrons,  was  commanded  by  the  king  in  person, 
and  covered  on  both  sides  by  English  and  Swiss  infantry, 
amounting  to  some  four  thousand  in  all.  The  right  wing  was 
under  the  charge  of  old  Marshal  Biron,  and  comprised  three 


52  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII. 

troops  of  horse,  numbering  one  hundred  and  fifty  each,  two 
companies  of  German  riders,  and  four  regiments  of  French 
infantry.  These  numbers,  which  are  probably  given  with  as 
much  accuracy  as  can  be  obtained,  show  a  force  of  about  three 
thousand  horse  and  twelve  thousand  foot. 

The  Duke  of  Mayenne,  seeing  too  late  the  advantage  of 
position  which  he  might  have  easily  secured  the  day  before, 
led  his  army  forth  with  the  early  light,  and  arranged  it  in  an 
order  not  very  different  from  that  adopted  by  the  king,  and 
within  cannon-shot  of  his  lines.  The  right  wing  under 
Marshal  de  la  Chatre  consisted  of  three  regiments  of  French 
and  one  of  Germans,  supporting  three  regiments  of  Spanish 
lancers,  two  cornets  of  German  riders  under  the  Bastard  of 
Brunswick,  and  four  hundred  cuirassiers.  The  battalia,  which 
was  composed  of  six  hundred  splendid  cavalry,  all  noblemen 
of  France,  guarding  the  white  banner  of  the  Holy  League, 
and  supported  by  a  column  of  three  thousand  Swiss  and  two 
thousand  French  infantry,  was  commanded  by  Mayenne  in 
person,  assisted  by  his  half-brother,  the  Duke  of  Nemours. 
In  front  of  the  infantry  was  a  battery  of  six  cannon  and  three 
culverines.  The  left  wing  was  commanded  by  Marshal  de  Bene, 
with  six  regiments  of  French  and  Lorrainers,  two  thousand 
Germans,  six  hundred  French  cuirassiers,  and  the  mounted 
troopers  of  Count  Egmont.  It  is  probable  that  Mayenne's 
whole  force,  therefore,  amounted  to  nearly  four  thousand 
cavalry  and  at  least  thirteen  thousand  foot.12 

Very  different  was  the  respective  appearance  of  the  two 
armies,  so  far,  especially,  as  regarded  the  horsemen  on  both 
sides.  Gay  in  their  gilded  armour  and  waving  plumes? 
with  silken  scarves  across  their  shoulders,  and  the  fluttering 
favours  of  fair  ladies  on  their  arms  or  in  their  helmets, 
the  brilliant  champions  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Confederacy 
clustered  around  the  chieftains  of  the  great  house  of  Guise, 
impatient  for  the  conflict.  It  was  like  a  muster  for  a  bril 
liant  and  chivalrous  tournament.  The  Walloon  and  Flemish 

12  De  Thou,  Coloma,  ubi  sup.  Dondini,  i.  140,  seqq.  Meteren,  xvi.  292. 
Parma's  letters  before  cited. 


1590,  THE  BATTLE  OF  IVRY.  53 

nobles,  out-rivalling  even  the  self-confidence  of  their  com 
panions  in  arms,  taunted  them  with  their  slowness.  The 
impetuous  Egmont,  burning  to  eclipse  the  fame  of  his  ill- 
fated  father  at  Gravelines  and  St.  Quintin  in  the  same  holy 
cause,  urged  on  the  battle  with  unseemly  haste,  loudly  pro 
claiming  that  if  the  French  were  faint-hearted  he  would  him 
self  give  a  good  account  of  the  Navarrese  prince  without  any 
assistance  from  them. 

A  cannon-shot  away,  the  grim  puritan  nobles  who  had  come 
forth  from  their  mountain  fastnesses  to  do  battle  for  king  and 
law  and  for  the  rights  of  conscience  against  the  Holy  League 
— men  seasoned  in  a  hundred  battle-fields,  clad  all  in  iron,  with 
no  dainty  ornaments  nor  holiday  luxury  of  warfare — knelt 
on  the  ground,  smiting  their  mailed  breasts  with  iron  hands, 
invoking  blessings  on  themselves  and  curses  and  confusion  on 
their  enemies  in  the  coming  conflict,  and  chanting  a  stern 
psalm  of  homage  to  the  God  of  battles  and  of  wrath.  And 
Henry  of  France  and  Navarre,  descendant  of  Lewis  the  Holy 
and  of  Hugh  the  Great,  beloved  chief  of  the  Calvinist 
cavaliers,  knelt  among  his  heretic  brethren,  and  prayed  and 
chanted  with  them.  But  not  the  staunchest  Huguenot  of 
them  all,  not  Duplessis,  nor  D'Aubigne,  nor  De  la  Noue  with 
the  iron  arm,  was  more  devoted  on  that  day  to  crown  and 
country  than  were  such  papist  supporters  of  the  rightful  heir 
as  had  sworn  to  conquer  the  insolent  foreigner  on  the  soil  of 
France  or  die. 

When  this  brief  prelude  was  over,  Henry  made  an  address 
to  his  soldiers,  but  its  language  has  not  been  preserved.  It 
is  known,  however,  that  he  wore  that  day  his  famous  snow- 
white  plume,  and  that  he  ordered  his  soldiers,  should  his 
banner  go  down  in  the  conflict,  to  follow  wherever  and  as 
long  as  that  plume  should  be  seen  waving  on  any  part  of  the 
field.  He  had  taken  a  position  by  which  his  troops  had  the 
sun  and  wind  in  their  backs,  so  that  the  smoke  rolled  toward 
the  enemy  and  the  light  shone  in  their  eyes.  The  combat  began 
with  the  play  of  artillery,  which  soon  became  so  warm  that 

11  De  Thou,  ubi  sup. 


54 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXIII. 


Egmont,  whose  cavalry — suffering'  and  galled — soon  became 
impatient,  ordered  a  charge.  It  was  a  most  brilliant  one. 
The  heavy  troopers  of  Flanders  and  Hainault,  following  their 
spirited  chieftain,  dashed  upon  old  Marshal  Biron,  routing 
his  cavalry,  charging  clean  up  to  the  Huguenot  guns  and 
sabring  the  cannoneers.  The  shock  was  square,  solid,  irre 
sistible,  and  was  followed  up  by  the  German  riders  under  Eric 
of  Brunswick,  who  charged  upon  the  battalia  of  the  royal 
army,  where  the  king  commanded  in  person. 

There  was  a  panic.  The  whole  royal  cavalry  wavered, 
the  supporting  infantry  recoiled,  the  day  seemed  lost  before  the 
battle  was  well  begun.  Yells  of  "  Victory !  Victory !  up  with 
the  Holy  League,  down  with  the  heretic  Bearnese,"  re 
sounded  through  the  Catholic  squadrons.  The  king  and 
Marshal  Biron,  who  were  near  each  other,  were  furious  with 
rage,  but  already  doubtful  of  the  result.  They  exerted  them 
selves  to  rally  the  troops  under  their  immediate  command, 
and  to  reform  the  shattered  ranks.14 

The  German  riders  and  French  lancers  under  Brunswick 
and  Bassompierre  had,  however,  not  done  their  work  as 
thoroughly  as  Egmont  had  done.  The  ground  was  so  miry 
and  soft  that  in  the  brief  space  which  separated  the  hostile 
lines  they  had  not  power  to  urge  their  horses  to  full  speed. 
Throwing  away  their  useless  lances,  they  came  on  at  a  feeble 
canter,  sword  in  hand,  and  were  unable  to  make  a  very 
vigorous  impression  on  the  more  heavily  armed  troopers 
opposed  to  them.  Meeting  with  a  firm  resistance  to  their 
career,  they  wheeled,  faltered  a  little  and  fell  a  short  dis 
tance  back.15  Many  of  the  riders  being  of  the  reformed 


14  De  Thou,  Dondini,  Coloma,  Me- 
teren,  ubi  sup. 

15  William  Lyly  to  Sir  F.  Walsing- 
tam,  20  March,   1590,  (S.   P.   Office 
MS.),  a  blunt,  plain-spoken  English 
man  and  eye-witness,  writing  from  the 
spot.     Memoires  de  Sully,  ed.  Lon- 
dres,  1747,  iii.  L.  168,  169.     The  Due 
de  Sully,  who  fought  in  the  squadron 
which  sustained  Egmont's  first  onset, 
and  who  received  seven  wounds,  states 


expressly  that  the  king  would  have 
been  hopelessly  defeated,  had  the 
whole  army  of  the  League  displayed 
the  same  remarkable  valour  as  was 
manifested  by  Egmont's  command. 
The  right  of  the  royal  cavalry  broke 
into  a  panic  flight,  after  the  hand  to 
hand  combat  had  lasted  a  quarter  of 
an  hour,  and  the  left  was  broken  and 
thrown  into  utter  confusion 


1500.  THE  BATTLE  OF  IVRY.  55 

religion,  refused  moreover  to  fire  upon  the  Huguenots,  and 
discharged  their  carbines  in  the  air.16 

The  king,  whose  glance  on  the  battle-field  was  like  inspi 
ration,  saw  the  blot  and  charged  upon  them  in  person  with 
his  whole  battalia  of  cavalry.  The  veteran  Biron  followed 
hard  upon  the  snow-white  plume.  The  scene  was  changed, 
victory  succeeded  to  impending  defeat,  and  the  enemy  was 
routed.  The  riders  and  cuirassiers,  broken  into  a  struggling 
heap  of  confusion,  strewed  the  ground  with  their  dead  bodies, 
or  carried  dismay  into  the  ranks  of  the  infantry  as  they  strove 
to  escape.  Brunswick  went  down  in  the  melee,  mortally 
wounded  as  it  was  believed.  Egmont  renewing  the  charge  at 
the  head  of  his  victorious  Belgian  troopers,  fell  dead  with  a 
musket-ball  through  his  heart.  The  shattered  German  and 
Walloon  cavalry,  now  pricked  forward  by  the  lances  of  their 
companions,  under  the  passionate  commands  of  Mayenne  and 
Aumale,  now  falling  back  before  the  furious  charges  of  the 
Huguenots,  were  completely  overthrown  and  cut  to  pieces. 
Seven  times  did  Henry  of  Navarre  in  person  lead  his  troopers 
to  the  charge  ;  but  suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  the  din  of  battle 
and  the  cheers  of  victory,  a  message  of  despair  went  from  lip 
to  lip  throughout  the  royal  lines.  The  king  had  disappeared. 
He  was  killed,  and  the  hopes  of  Protestantism  and  of  France 
were  fallen  for  ever  with  him.  The  white  standard  of  his 
battalia  had  been  seen  floating  wildly  and  purposelessly  over 
the  field  ;  for  his  bannerman,  Pot  de  Rhodes,  a  young  noble  of 
Dauphiny,  wounded  mortally  in  the  head,  with  blood  streaming 
over  his  face  and  blinding  his  sight,  was  utterly  unable  to 
control  his  horse,  who  gallopped  hither  and  thither  at  his 
own  caprice,  misleading  many  troopers  who  followed  in 
'nis  erratic  career.  A  cavalier,  armed  in  proof,  and  wearing 
the  famous  snow-white  plume,  after  a  hand-to-hand  struggle 
with  a  veteran  of  Count  Bossu's  regiment,  was  seen  to  fall 
dead  by  the  side  of  the  bannerman.  The  Fleming,  not  used 
to  boast,  loudly  asserted  that  he  had  slain  the  Bearnese,  and 
the  news  spread  rapidly  over  the  battle-field.  The  defeated 
16  Sully,  ubi  tup. 


56  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XXIII 

Confederates  gained  new  courage,  the  victorious  Koyalists 
were  beginning  to  waver,  when  suddenly,  between  the  hostile 
lines,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  battle,  the  king  gallopped 
forward,  bareheaded,  covered  with  blood  and  dust,  but  entirely 
unhurt.  A  wild  shout  of  "  Vive  le  Hoi!"  rang  through  the 
air.  Cheerful  as  ever,  he  addressed  a  few  encouraging  words 
to  his  soldiers,  with  a  smiling  face,  and  again  led  a  charge. 
It  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  complete  the  victory.  The 
enemy  broke  and  ran  away  on  every  side  in  wildest  confusion, 
followed  by  the  royalist  cavalry,  who  sabred  them  as  they 
fled.  The  panic  gained  the  foot-soldiers,  who  should  have 
supported  the  cavalry,  but  had  not  been  at  all  engaged  in 
the  action.  The  French  infantry  threw  away  their  arms  as 
they  rushed  from  the  field  and  sought  refuge  in  the  woods. 
The  Walloons  were  so  expeditious  in  the  race,  that  they  never 
stopped  till  they  gained  their  own  frontier.17  The  day  was 
hopelessly  lost,  and  although  Mayenne  had  conducted  himself 
well  in  the  early  part  of  the  day,  it  was  certain  that  he  was 
excelled  by  none  in  the  celerity  of  his  flight  when  the  rout 
had  fairly  begun.  Pausing  to  draw  breath  as  he  gained  the 
wood,  he  was  seen  to  deal  blows  with  his  own  sword  among 
the  mob  of  fugitives,  not  that  he  might  rally  them  to  their 
flag  and  drive  them  back  to  another  encounter,  but  because 
they  encumbered  his  own  retreat.18 

The  Walloon  carbineers,  the  German  riders,  and  the  French 
lancers,  disputing  as  to  the  relative  blame  to  be  attached  to 
each  corps,  began  shooting  and  sabring  each  other,  almost 
before  they  were  out  of  the  enemy's  sight.  Many  were  thus 
killed.  The  lansquenets  were  all  put  to  the  sword.  The  Swiss 
infantry  were  allowed  to  depart  for  their  own  country  on 
pledging  themselves  not  again  to  bear  arms  against  Henry  IV. 


17  Lyly's  letter  before  cited.     Com 
pare  Coloma,  Doudini,  De  Thou,  Me- 
teren,  ubi  sup 

18  Decorous  chroniclers  like   Don- 
dini  (i.  143)  and  others,  represent  the 
duke  as  vigorously  rallying  and  re- 


"  The  enemy  thus  ran  away,  Mayenne 
to  Ivry,  where  the  Walloons  and 
Reiters  followed  so  fast,  that  there 
standing,  hasting  to  draw  breath,  and 
not  able  to  speak,  he  was  constrained 
to  draw  his  sword  to  strike  the  flyeri 


buking  the  fugitives  ;  but,  says  honest !  to   make  place  for  his  own  flight." 
William  Lyly,  telling  what  he  saw  :   (MS.  letter  before  cited.) 


1590. 


VICTORY  OF  HENRY  OVER   THE  LEAGUE. 


57 


It  is  probable  that  eight  hundred  of  the  leaguers  were  eithei 
killed  on  the  battle-field  or  drowned  in  the  swollen  river  in 
their  retreat.  About  one-fourth  of  that  number  fell  in  the 
army  of  the  king.  It  is  certain  that  of  the  contingent  from 
the  obedient  Netherlands,  two  hundred  and  seventy,  including 
their  distinguished  general,  lost  their  lives.19  The  Bastard  of 
Brunswick,  crawling  from  beneath  a  heap  of  slain,  escaped 
with  life.20  Mayenne  lost  all  his  standards  and  all  the 
baggage  of  his  army,  while  the  army  itself  was  for  a  time 
hopelessly  dissolved.21 

Few  cavalry  actions  have  attained  a  wider  celebrity  in 
history  than  the  fight  of  Ivry.  Yet  there  have  been  many 
hard-fought  battles,  where  the  struggle  was  fiercer  and 
closer,  where  the  issue  was  for  a  longer  time  doubtful, 
where  far  more  lives  on  either  side  were  lost,  where  the  final 
victory  was  immediately  productive  of  very  much  greater 
results,  and  which,  nevertheless,  have  sunk  into  hopeless  ob 
livion.  The  personal  details  which  remain  concerning  the  part 
enacted  by  the  adventurous  king  at  this  most  critical  period 
of  his  career,  the  romantic  interest  which  must  always  gather 
about  that  ready-witted,  ready-sworded  Gascon,  at  the  moment 
when,  to  contemporaries,  the  result  of  all  his  struggles  seemed 
so  hopeless  or  at  best  so  doubtful ;  above  all,  the  numerous 
royal  and  princely  names  which  embellished  the  roll-call  of 
that  famous  passage  of  arms,  and  which  were  supposed,  in 
those  days  at  least,  to  add  such  lustre  to  a  battle-field,  as 
humbler  names,  however  illustrious  by  valour  or  virtue,  could 
never  bestow,  have  made  this  combat  for  ever  famous. 

Yet  it  is  certain  that  the  most  healthy  moral,  in  military 
affairs,  to  be  derived  from  the  event,  is  that  the  importance 
of  a  victory  depends  less  upon  itself  than  on  the  use  to  be 
made  of  it.  Mayenne  fled  to  Mantes,  the  Duke  of  Nemours 
to  Chartres,  other  leaders  of  the  League  in  various  directions. 
Mayenne  told  every  body  he  met  that  the  Bearnese  was 


19  De  Thou  says  eight  hundred, 
Dondini  four  hundred,  but  Farnese  in 
his  letter  to  the  king  says  two  hun 
dred.  &nd  seventy. 


20  So  says  Dondini,  i.  149.  Coloma 
says  he  was  killed. 

'21  Dondini,  De  Thou,  Coloma,  Mo 
teren,  Pannes  letters,  Lyly's 


58  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII. 

killed,  and  that  although  his  own  army  was  defeated,  he 
should  soon  have  another  one  on  foot.  The  same  intelli 
gence  was  communicated  to  the  Duke  of  Parma,  and  by  him 
to  Philip.  Mendoza  and  the  other  Spanish  agents  went 
about  Paris  spreading  the  news  of  Henry's  death,  but  the 
fact  seemed  woefully  to  lack  confirmation,  while  the  proofs 
of  the  utter  overthrow  and  shameful  defeat  of  the  Leaguers 
were  visible  on  every  side.  The  Parisians — many  of  whom 
the  year  before  had  in  vain  hired  windows  in  the  principal 
streets,  in  order  to  witness  the  promised  entrance  of  the 
Bearnese,  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  with  a  gag  in  his  mouth,22 
to  swell  the  triumph  of  Madam  League — were  incredulous 
as  to  the  death  now  reported  to  them  of  this  very  lively 
iieretic,  by  those  who  had  fled  so  ignominiously  from  his 
troopers. 

De  la  Noue  and  the  other  Huguenot  chieftains  earnestly 
urged  upon  Henry  the  importance  of  advancing  upon  Paris 
without  an  instant's  delay,  and  it  seems  at  least  extremely 
probable  that,  had  he  done  so,  the  capital  would  have  fallen 
at  once  into  his  hands.  It  is  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
contemporaries  that  the  panic,  the  destitution,  the  confusion 
would  have  made  resistance  impossible  had  a  deter 
mined  onslaught  been  made.23  And  Henry  had  a  couple 
of  thousand  horsemen  flushed  with  victory,  and  a  dozen 
thousand  foot  who  had  been  compelled  to  look  upon  a 
triumph  in  which  they  had  no  opportunity  of  sharing^ 
Success  and  emulation  would  have  easily  triumphed  over 
dissension  and  despair. 

But  the  king,  yielding  to  the  councils  of  Biron  and 
other  catholics,  declined  attacking  the  capital,  and  preferred 
waiting  the  slow,  and  in  his  circumstances  eminently 
hazardous,  operations  of  a  regular  siege.  Was  it  the  fear  of 
giving  a  signal  triumph  to  the  cause  of  protestantism  that 
caused  the  Huguenot  leader — so  soon  to  become  a  renegade 
— to  pause  in  his  career  ?  Was  it  anxiety  lest  his  victorious 

22  L'Estoile  Reg.  Journal  de  Henri  IV.  p.  6. 

83  Dondini,  Coloma,  ubi  sup.    Compare  De  Thou,  Meteren,  Sully,  et  mult.  al. 


1590.  SIEGE   OF   PARIS.  59 

entrance  into  Paris  might  undo  the  diplomacy  of  his  catholic 
envoys  at  Rome  ?  or  was  it  simply  the  mutinous  condition  of 
his  army,  especially  of  the  Swiss  mercenaries,  who  refused  to 
advance  a  step  unless  their  arrears  of  pay  were  at  once 
furnished  them  out  of  the  utterly  empty  exchequer  of  the 
king  ?24  Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause  of  the  delay, 
it  is  certain  that  the  golden  fruit  of  victory  was  not  plucked, 
and  that  although  the  confederate  army  had  rapidly  dis 
solved,  in  consequence  of  their  defeat,  the  king's  own  forces 
manifested  as  little  cohesion. 

And  now  began  that  slow  and  painful  siege,  the  details  of 
which  are  as  terrible,  but  as  universally  known,  as  those  of  any 
chapters  in  the  blood-stained  history  of  the  century.  Henry 
seized  upon  the  towns  guarding  the  rivers  Seine  and  Marne, 
twin  nurses  of  Paris.  By  controlling  the  course  of  those 
streams  as  well  as  that  of  the  Yonne  and  Oise — especially 
by  taking  firm  possession  of  Lagny  on  the  Marne,  whence  a 
bridge  led  from  the  Isle  of  France  to  the  Brie  country — 
great  thoroughfare  of  wine  and  corn — and  of  Corbeil  at  the 
junction  of  the  little  river  Essonne  with  the  Seine — it  was 
easy  in  that  age  to  stop  the  vital  circulation  of  the  imperial 
city. 

By  midsummer,  Paris,  unquestionably  the  first  city  of 
Europe  at  that  day,25  was  in  extremities,  and  there  are  few 
events  in  history  in  which  our  admiration  is  more  excited 
by  the  power  of  mankind  to  endure  almost  preternatural 
misery,  or  our  indignation  more  deeply  aroused  by  the 
cruelty  with  which  the  sublimest  principles  of  human  nature 
may  be  made  to  serve  the  purposes  of  selfish  ambition  and 
grovelling  superstition,  than  this  famous  leaguer. 

Rarely  have  men  at  any  epoch  defended  their  fatherland 
against  foreign  oppression  with  more  heroism  than  that  which 
was  manifested  by  the  Parisians  of  1590  in  resisting  religious 
toleration,  and  in  obeying  a  foreign  and  priestly  despotism. 
Men,  women,  and  children  cheerfully  laid  down  their  lives  by 

"  Memoires  de  Sully,  lib.  iv.  177,  seqq. 

**  " Aquella  vasta  ciudad,  sin  disputa  la  mayor  de  Europa,"  says  Coloma,  iii.  4SL 


60  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII, 

thousands  in  order  that  the  papal  legate  and  the  king  of  Spain 
might  trample  upon  that  legitimate  sovereign  of  France  who 
was  one  day  to  become  the  idol  of  Paris  and  of  the  whole 
kingdom. 

A  census  taken  at  the  beginning  of  the  siege  had  showed 
a  populace  of  two  hundred  thousand  souls,  with  a  sufficiency 
of  provisions,  it  was  thought,  to  last  one  month.26  But  before 
the  terrible  summer  was  over — so  completely  had  the  city 
been  invested — the  bushel  of  wheat  was  worth  three  hundred 
and  sixty  crowns,  rye  and  oats  being  but  little  cheaper.27 
Indeed,  grain  might  as  well  have  cost  three  thousand  crowns 
the  bushel,  for  the  prices  recorded  placed  it  beyond  the 
reach  of  all  but  the  extremely  wealthy.  The  flesh  of  horses, 
asses,  dogs,  cats,  rats  had  become  rare  luxuries.  There 
was  nothing  cheap,  said  a  citizen  bitterly,  but  sermons.28 
And  the  priests  and  monks  of  every  order  went  daily  about 
the  streets,  preaching  fortitude  in  that  great  resistance  to 
heresy,  by  which  Paris  was  earning  for  itself  a  crown  of  glory, 
and  promising  the  most  direct  passage  to  paradise  for  the 
souls  of  the  wretched  victims  who  fell  daily,  starved  to  death, 
upon  the  pavements.  And  the  monks  and  priests  did  their 
work  nobly,  aiding  the  general  resolution  by  the  example  of 
their  own  courage.  Better  fed  than  their  fellow  citizens, 
they  did  military  work  in  trench,  guard-house  and  rampart, 
as  the  population  became  rapidly  unfit,  from  physical 
exhaustion,  for  the  defence  of  the  city. 

The  young  Duke  of  Nemours,  governor  of  the  place, 
manifested  as  much  resolution  and  conduct  in  bringing  his 
countrymen  to  perdition  as  if  the  work  in  which  he  was 
engaged  had  been  the  highest  and  holiest  that  ever  tasked 
human  energies.  He  was  sustained  in  his  task  by  that 
proud  princess,  his  own  and  Mayenne's  mother,  by  Madame 
Montpensier,  by  the  resident  triumvirate  of  Spain,  Mendoza, 

menteries  .  .  .  persuadant  qu'il  valoit 


*•  DeThou,t.  xi.lib.  97, 162. 

27  Bor,  III.  xviii.  535. 

28  L'Estoile,    23  —  "  Tout   ce     qui 
estoit  bon  marche  a  Paris  etoient  les 
sermons  ou  on  repaissoit  le  pauvre 
monde  affame  de  vent,  c'est  n  dire  de 


mieux  tuer  ses  propres  enfants,  n'ayant 
de  quoi  leur  donner  a  manger,  que  de 
recevoir  et  reconnoitre  un  roy 
ticque,"  &c. 


1590.  THE  POPE  AND  THE  LEAGUE.  61 

Commander  Moreo,  and  John  Baptist  Tassis,  by  the  cardinal 
legate  Graetano,  and,  more  than  all,  by  the  sixteen  chiefs  of 
the  wards,  those  municipal  tyrants  of  the  unhappy  popu 
lace.29 

Pope  Sixtus  himself  was  by  no  means  eager  for  the  success 
of  the  League.  After  the  battle  of  Ivry,  he  had  most  seriously 
inclined  his  ear  to  the  representations  of  Henry's  envoy, 
and  showed  much  willingness  to  admit  the  victorious  heretic 
once  more  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  Sixtus  was  not 
desirous  of  contributing  to  the  advancement  of  Philip's  power 
He  feared  his  designs  on  Italy,  being  himself  most  anxious 
at  that  time  to  annex  Naples  to  the  holy  see.  He  had 
amassed  a  large  treasure,  but  he  liked  best  to  spend  it  in 
splendid  architecture,  in  noble  fountains,  in  magnificent  col 
lections  of  art,  science,  and  literature,  and,  above  all,  in  build^ 
ing  up  fortunes  for  the  children  of  his  sister  the  washer 
woman,  and  in  allying  them  all  to  the  most  princely  houses 
of  Italy,  while  never  allowing  them  even  to  mention  the 
name  of  their  father,  so  base  was  his  degree ;  but  he  cared 
not  to  disburse  from  his  hoarded  dollars  to  supply  the  neces 
sities  of  the  League.30 

But  Gaetano,  although  he  could  wring  but  fifty  thousand 
crowns  from  his  Holiness  after  the  fatal  fight  of  Ivry,  to  further 
the  good  cause,  was  lavish  in  expenditures  from  his  own  purse 
and  from  other  sources,  and  this  too  at  a  time  when  thirty- three 
per  cent,  interest  was  paid  to  the  usurers  of  Antwerp  for  one 
month's  loan  of  ready  money.31  He  was  indefatigable,  too, 
and  most  successful  in  his  exhortations  and  ghostly  consola 
tions  to  the  people.  Those  proud  priests  and  great  nobles 
were  playing  a  reckless  game,  and  the  hopes  of  mankind 
beyond  the  grave  were  the  counters  on  their  table.  For 
themselves  there  were  rich  prizes  for  the  winning.  Should 
they  succeed  in  dismembering  the  fair  land  where  they  were 
enacting  their  fantastic  parts,  there  were  temporal  princi 
palities,  great  provinces,  petty  sovereignties,  to  be  carved  out 

*»  L'Estoile,  23,  s^g.     De  Thou,  ubisup.,  162,   seqq.     Bor,  ubiwp. 
80  De  Thou,  lib.  97.  31  Meteren,  rvi.  293. 


62  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII. 

of  the  heritage  which  the  Bearnese  claimed  for  his  own.  Obvi 
ously  then,  their  consciences  could  never  permit  this  shameless 
heretic,  by  a  simulated  conversion  at  the  critical  moment,  to 
block  their  game  and  restore  the  national  unity  and  laws. 
And  even  should  it  be  necessary  to  give  the  whole  kingdom, 
instead  of  the  mere  duchy  of  Brittany,  to  Philip  of  Spain, 
still  there  were  mighty  guerdons  to  be  bestowed  on  his  sup 
porters  before  the  foreign  monarch  could  seat  himself  on  the 
throne  of  Henry's  ancestors. 

As  to  the  people  who  Avere  fighting,  starving,  dying  by 
thousands  in  this  great  cause,  'there  were  eternal  rewards  in 
another  world  profusely  promised  for  their  heroism  instead 
of  the  more  substantial  bread  and  beef,  for  lack  of  which 
they  were  laying  down  their  lives. 

It  was  estimated  that  before  July  twelve  thousand  human 
beings  in  Paris  had  died,  for  want  of  food,  within  three  months. 
But  as  there  were  no  signs  of  the  promised  relief  by  the  army 
of  Parma  and  Mayenne,  and  as  the  starving  people  at  times 
appeared  faint-hearted,  their  courage  was  strengthened  one 
day  by  a  stirring  exhibition. 

An  astonishing  procession  marched  through  the  streets  of 
the  city,  led  by  the  Bishop  of  Senlis  and  the  Prior  of  Chart- 
reux,  each  holding  a  halberd  in  one  hand  and  a  crucifix  in  the 
other,  and  graced  by  the  presence  of  the  cardinal-legate,  and 
of  many  prelates  from  Italy.  A  lame  monk,  adroitly  manipu 
lating  the  staff  of  a  drum  major,  went  hopping  and  limping 
before  them,  much  to  the  amazement  of  the  crowd.  Then 
came  a  long  file  of  monks — Capuchins,  Bernardists,  Minimes, 
Franciscans,  Jacobins,  Carmelites,  and  other  orders — each 
with  his  cowl  thrown  back,  his  long  robes  trussed  up,  a  helmet 
on  his  head,  a  cuirass  on  his  breast,  and  a  halberd  in  his 
hand.  The  elder  ones  marched  first,  grinding  their  teeth, 
rolling  their  eyes,  and  making  other  ferocious  demonstrations. 
Then  came  the  younger  friars,  similarly  attired,  all  armed 
with  arquebusses,  which  they  occasionally  and  accidentally 
discharged  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  spectators,  several  of 
whom  were  killed  or  wounded  on  the  spot.  Among  others  a 


1590.  ECCLESIASTICAL  DEMONSTRATIONS.  63 

servant  of  Cardinal  Gaetano  was  thus  slain,  and  the  event 
caused  much  commotion,  until  the  cardinal  proclaimed  that 
a  man  thus  killed  in  so  holy  a  cause  had  gone  straight  to 
heaven  and  had  taken  his  place  among  the  just.  It  was  im 
possible,  thus  argued  the  people  in  their  simplicity,  that  so 
wise  and  virtuous  a  man  as  the  cardinal  should  not  know 
what  was  hest. 

The  procession  marched  to  the  church  of  our  Lady  of 
Loretto,  where  they  solemnly  promised  to  the  blessed  Virgin 
a  lamp  and  ship  of  gold — should  she  be  willing  to  use  her 
influence  in  behalf  of  the  suffering  city — to  be  placed  on  hei 
shrine  as  soon  as  the  siege  should  be  raised.32 

But  these  demonstrations,  however  cheering  to  the  souls, 
had  comparatively  little  effect  upon  the  bodies  of  the  sufferers. 
It  was  impossible  to  walk  through  the  streets  of  Paris  without 
stumbling  over  the  dead  bodies  of  the  citizens.  Trustworthy 
eye-witnesses  of  those  dreadful  days  have  placed  the  number 
of  the  dead  during  the  summer  at  thirty  thousand.33  A  tu 
multuous  assemblage  of  the  starving  and  the  forlorn  rushed 
at  last  to  the  municipal  palace,  demanding  peace  or  bread. 
The  rebels  were  soon  dispersed  however  by  a  charge,  headed 
by  the  Chevalier  d'Aumale,  and  assisted  by  the  chiefs  of  the 
wards,  and  so  soon  as  the  riot  was  quelled,  its  ringleader,  a 
leading  advocate,  Renaud  by  name,  was  hanged.31 

Still,  but  for  the  energy  of  the  priests,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  city  could  have  been  held  by  the  Confederacy. 
The  Duke  of  Nemours  confessed  that  there  were  occasions 
when  they  never  would  have  been  able  to  sustain  a  deter 
mined  onslaught,  and  they  were  daily  expecting  to  see  the 
Prince  of  Bearne  battering  triumphantly  at  their  gates. 
But  the  eloquence  of  the  preachers,  especially  of  the  one- 
eyed  father  Boucher,  sustained  the  fainting  spirits  of  the 
people,  and  consoled  the  sufferers  in  their  dying  agonies  by 
glimpses  of  paradise.  Sublime  was  that  devotion,  super 
human  that  craft,  but  it  is  only  by  weapons  from  the  armoury 

32  De  Thou,  t.  xi.  lib.  97,  p.  161.    Herrera,  P.  iii.  lib.  v.  cl.  210. 

M  L'Estoile,  p.  25.    Herrera  says  50,000,  loe.  cit.    34  De  Thou,  ubi  m<p.  177'. 


54  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIIL 

of  the  Unseen  that  human  creatures  can  long  confront  such 
horrors  in  a  wicked  cause.  Superstition,  in  those  days  at 
least,  was  a  political  force  absolutely  without  limitation,  and 
most  adroitly  did  the  agents  of  Spain  and  Rome  handle  its 
tremendous  enginry  against  unhappy  France.  For  the 
hideous  details  of  the  most  dreadful  sieges  recorded  in  ancient 
or  modern  times  were  now  reproduced  in  Paris.  Not  a 
revolutionary  circumstance,  at  which  the  world  had  shuddered 
in  the  accounts  of  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  was  spared.  Men 
devoured  such  dead  vermin  as  could  be  found  lying  in  the 
streets.  They  crowded  greedily  around  stalls  in  the  public 
squares  where  the  skin,  bones,  and  offal  of  such  dogs,  cats 
and  unclean  beasts  as  still  remained  for  the  consumption  of 
the  wealthier  classes  were  sold  to  the  populace.  Over  the 
doorways  of  these  flesh  markets  might  be  read  "  Haec  sunt 
munera  pro  Us  qui  vitam  pro  Philippo  profuderunt."  ^  Men 
stood  in  archways  and  narrow  passages  lying  in  wait  for 
whatever  stray  dogs  still  remained  at  large,  noosed  them, 
strangled  them,  and  like  savage  beasts  of  prey  tore  them  to 
pieces  and  devoured  them  alive.36  And  it  sometimes  hap 
pened,  too,  that  the  equally  hungry  dog  proved  the  more 
successful  in  the  foul  encounter,  and  fed  upon  the  man. 
A  lady  visiting  the  Duchess  of  Nemours — called  for  the 
high  pretensions  of  her  sons  by  her  two  marriages  the  queen- 
mother — complained  bitterly  that  mothers  in  Paris  had  been 
compelled  to  kill  their  own  children  outright  to  save  them 
from  starving  to  death  in  lingering  agony.  "And  if  you 
are  brought  to  that  extremity/'  replied  the  duchess,  "  as  for 
the  sake  of  our  holy  religion  to  be  forced  to  kill  your  own 
children,  do  you  think  that  so  great  a  matter  after  all  ? 
What  are  your  children  made  of  more  than  other  people's 
children  ?  What  are  we  all  but  dirt  and  dust  ?" 37  Such 
was  the  consolation  administered  by  the  mother  of  the  man 
who  governed  Paris,  and  defended  its  gates  against  its  lawful 
sovereign  at  the  command  of  a  foreigner ;  while  the  priests  in 

35  L'Estoile,  27.     "  De  ce  que  j'ecris,"  adds  the  journalist, "  mes  yeux  ont  veil 
one  bonne  partie."  3ti  De  Thou,  ubi  sup.  177.  87  L'Estoile,  29. 


1590  SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  BESIEGED.  65 

their  turn  persuaded  the  populace  that  it  was  far  more 
righteous  to  kill  their  own  children,  if  they  had  no  food  to 
give  them,  than  to  obtain  food  by  recognising  a  heretic 
king.38 

It  was  related  too,  and  believed,  that  in  some  instances 
mothers  had  salted  the  bodies  of  their  dead  children  and  fed 
upon  them,  day  by  day,  until  the  hideous  repast  would  no 
longer  support  their  own  life.  They  died,  and  the  secret  was 
revealed  by  servants  who  had  partaken  of  the  food.39  The 
Spanish  ambassador,  Mendoza,  advised  recourse  to  an  article 
of  diet  which  had  been  used  in  some  of  the  oriental  sieges. 
The  counsel  at  first  was  rejected  as  coming  from  the  agent  of 
Spain,  who  wished  at  all  hazards  to  save  the  capital  of  France 
from  falling  out  of  the  hands  of  his  master  into  those  of  the 
heretic.  But  dire  necessity  prevailed,  and  the  bones  of  the 
dead  were  taken  in  considerable  quantities  from  the  cemeteries, 
ground  into  flour,  baked  into  bread,  and  consumed.  It  was 
called  Madame  Montpensier's  cake,  because  the  duchess 
earnestly  proclaimed  its  merits  to  the  poor  Parisians.  "  She 
was  never  known  to  taste  it  herself,  however,"  bitterly  observed 
one  who  lived  in  Paris  through  that  horrible  summer.  She 
was  right  to  abstain,  for  all  who  ate  of  it  died,  and  the  Mont- 
pen  sier  flour  fell  into  disuse.40 

Lansquenets  and  other  soldiers,  mad  with  hunger  and  rage, 
when  they  could  no  longer  find  dogs  to  feed  on,  chased 
children  through  the  streets,  and  were  known  in  several 
instances  to  kill  and  devour  them  on  the  spot.41  To  those 
expressing  horror  at  the  perpetration  of  such  a  crime,  a 
leading  personage,  member  of  the  Council  of  Nine,  maintained 
that  there  was  less  danger  to  one's  soul  in  satisfying  one's 
hunger  with  a  dead  child,  in  case  of  necessity,  than  in  recog 
nising  the  heretic  Bearnese,  and  he  added  that  all  the  best 
theologians  and  doctors  of  Paris  were  of  his  opinion.42 


38  L'Estoile,  23.  39  Ibid.  25. 

40  Ibid.     De  Thou,  ubi  sup.  177. 

41  L'Estoile,  30. 

42  Ibid.     "  Lansquenets,  gens  de  soi 
barbares  et  inhumains,  mourans  de 

VOL.    III. F 


male  rage  et  faim,  commencerent  a 
chasser  aux  enfans  comme  aux  chiens, 
et  en  mangerent  trois,  deux  a  1'hostel 
Saint  Denis  et  un  a  1'hotel  de  Pa- 
laiseau,  et  fut  commis  ce  cruel  et  bar- 


66  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII. 

As  the  summer  wore  on  to  its  close,  through  all  these 
horrors,  and  as  there  were  still  no  signs  of  Mayenne  and  Parma 
leading  their  armies  to  the  relief  of  the  city,  it  became 
necessary  to  deceive  the  people  by  a  show  of  negotiation 
with  the  beleaguering  army.  Accordingly,  the  Spanish  am 
bassador,  the  legate,  and  the  other  chiefs  of  the  Holy  League 
appointed  a  deputation,  consisting  of  the  Cardinal  Gondy,  the 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  and  the  Abbe  d'Elbene,  to  Henry.43  It 
soon  became  evident  to  the  king,  however,  that  these  commis 
sioners  were  but  trifling  with  him  in  order  to  amuse  the 
populace.  His  attitude  was  dignified  and  determined  through 
out  the  interview.  The  place  appointed  was  St.  Anthony's 
Abbey,  before  the  gates  of  Paris.  Henry  wore  a  cloak  and 
the  order  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  was  surrounded  by  his 
council,  the  princes  of  the  blood,  and  by  more  than  four 
hundred  of  the  chief  gentlemen  of  his  army.  After  passing 
the  barricade,  the  deputies  were  received  by  old  Marshal 
Biron,  and  conducted  by  him  to  the  king's  chamber  of  state. 
When  they  had  made  their  salutations,  the  king  led  the  way 
to  an  inner  cabinet,  but  his  progress  was  much  impeded  by 
the  crowding  of  the  nobles  about  him.  Wishing  to  excuse 
this  apparent  rudeness,  he  said  to  the  envoys  :  "  Gentlemen, 
these  men  thrust  me  on  as  fast  to  the  battle  against  the 
foreigner  as  they  now  do  to  my  cabinet.  Therefore  bear  with 
them."  Then  turning  to  the  crowd,  he  said  :  "  Koom,  gentle 
men,  for  the  love  of  me/'  upon  which  they  all  retired.44 

The  deputies  then  stated  that  they  had  been  sent  by  the 
authorities  of  Paris  to  consult  as  to  the  means  of  obtaining  a 
general  peace  in  France.  They  expressed  the  hope  that  the 

d'un  enfant  mort  en  telle  necessite  que 


bare  acte  dans  1'enceinte  des  murailles 
de  Paris,  tant  Fire  de  Dieu  estoit  em- 
brassee  sur  nos  testes.  Ce  qui  tenant 
du  commencement  pour  une  fable 
pour  ce  que  me  sembloit  que  hoc  erat 
atrocius  vero,  j'ai  trouve  depuis  que 
c'estoit  verite,confesse  et  temoigne  par 
les  propres  bouches  des  lansquenets. 
De  moi  j'ai  oui  tenir  ceste  proposition 
a  un  grand  Catholique  de  Paris  qui 
estoit  du  Conseil  des  Neuf  qu'il  y 
evoit  moms  de  danger  de  s'accomoder 


de  reconnoitre  le  Bearnais,  estant 
hereticque  comme  il  estoit,  et  que  de 
son  opinion  estoient  tous  les  meilleurs 
theologiens  et  docteurs  de  Paris." 
Compare  Meteren,  xvi.  293,  who  re 
lates  that  eighteen  children  were  said 
to  have  been  eaten. 

43  De  Thou,  ubi  sup. 

«  W.  Lyly  to  SirE.  Stafford,  — g> 
1590.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 


1590. 


PRETENDED  NEGOTIATIONS. 


67 


king's  disposition  was  favourable  to  this  end,  and  that  he 
would  likewise  permit  them  to  confer  with  the  Duke  of 
Mayenne.  This  manner  of  addressing  him  excited  his  choler. 
He  told  Cardinal  Gondy,  who  was  spokesman  of  the  deputa 
tion,  that  he  had  long  since  answered  such  propositions.  He 
alone  could  deal  with  his  subjects.  He  was  like  the  woman 
before  Solomon  ;  he  would  have  all  the  child  or  none  of  it.45 
Rather  than  dismember  his  kingdom  he  would  lose  the  whole. 
He  asked  them  what  they  considered  him  to  be.  They  answered 
that  they  knew  his  rights,  but  that  the  Parisians  had  different 
opinions.  If  Paris  would  only  acknowledge  him  to  be  king 
there  could  be  no  more  question  of  war.  He  asked  them  if 
they  desired  the  King  of  Spain  or  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  for 
their  king,  and  bade  them  look  well  to  themselves.  The 
King  of  Spain  could  not  help  them,  for  he  had  too  much 
business  on  hand  ;  while  Mayenne  had  neither  means  nor 
courage,  having  been  within  three  leagues  of  them  for 
three  weeks  doing  nothing.  Neither  king  nor  duke  should 
have  that  which  belonged  to  him,  of  that  they  might  be 
assured.46  He  told  them  he  loved  Paris  as  his  capital,  as  his 
eldest  daughter.  If  the  Parisians  wished  to  see  the  end  of  their 
miseries  it  was  to  him  they  should  appeal,  not  to  the  Spaniard 
nor  to  the  Duke  of  Mayenne.  By  the  grace  of  God  and  the 
swords  of  his  brave  gentlemen  he  would  prevent  the  King  of 
Spain  from  making  a  colony  of  France  as  he  had  done  of 
Brazil.  He  told  the  commissioners  that  they  ought  to  die  of 
shame  that  they,  born  Frenchmen,  should  have  so  forgotten 
their  love  of  country  and  of  liberty  as  thus  to  bow  the  head 
to  the  Spaniard,  and — while  famine  was  carrying  off  thousands 
of  their  countrymen  before  their  eyes — to  be  so  cowardly  as 
not  to  utter  one  word  for  the  public  welfare  from  fear  of 
offending  Cardinal  Gaetano,  Mendoza,  and  Moreo.47  He  said 
that  he  longed  for  a  combat  to  decide  the  issue,  and  that  h( 
had  charged  Count  de  Brissac  to  tell  Mayenne  that  he  would 
give  a  finger  of  his  right  hand  for  a  battle,  and  two  for  a 


45  W.  Lyly  to  Sir  E.  Stafford, 
1590.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 


46  Ibid.     Compare  De  Thou,  xi.  97. 

47  De  Thou,  ubi  sup. 


68  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXI II. 

general  peace.48  He  knew  and  pitied  the  sufferings  of  Paris, 
but  the  horrors  now  raging  there  were  to  please  the  King  of 
Spain.  That  monarch  had  told  the  Duke  of  Parma  to  trouble 
himself  but  little  about  the  Netherlands  so  long  as  he  could 
preserve  for  him  his  city  of  Paris.  But  it  was  to  lean  on  a 
broken  reed  to  expect  support  from  this  old,  decrepit  king? 
whose  object  was  to  dismember  the  flourishing  kingdom  of 
France,  and  to  divide  it  among  as  many  tyrants  as  he  had  sent 
viceroys  to  the  Indies.49  The  crown  was  his  own  birthright. 
Were  it  elective  he  should  receive  the  suffrages  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  electors.  He  hoped  soom  to  drive  those  red-crossed 
foreigners  out  of  his  kingdom.  Should  he  fail,  they  would  end 
by  expelling  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  and  all  the  rest  who  had 
called  them  in,  and  Paris  would  become  the  theatre  of  the 
bloodiest  tragedy  ever  yet  enacted.50  The  king  then  ordered 
Sir  Roger  Williams  to  see  that  a  collation  was  prepared  for  the 
deputies,  and  the  veteran  Welshman  took  occasion  to  indulge 
in  much  blunt  conversation  with  the  guests.  He  informed 
them  that  he,  Mr.  Sackville,  and  many  other  strangers  were 
serving  the  king  from  the  hatred  they  bore  the  Spaniards  and 
Mother  League,  and  that  his  royal  mistress  had  always  8000 
Englishmen  ready  to  maintain  the  cause. 

While  the  conferences  were  going  on,  the  officers  and 
soldiers  of  the  besieging  army  thronged  to  the  gate,  and  had 
much  talk  with  the  townsmen.  Among  others,  time-honoured 
La  Noue  with  the  iron  arm  stood  near  the  gate  and 
harangued  the  Parisians.  "We  are  here,"  said  he,  "five 
thousand  gentlemen ;  we  desire  your  good,  not  your  ruin. 
We  will  make  you  rich  :  let  us  participate  in  your  labour 
and  industry.  Undo  not  yourselves  to  serve  the  ambition  of 
a  few  men/'  The  townspeople  hearing  the  old  warrior  dis 
coursing  thus  earnestly,  asked  who  he  was.  When  informed 
that  it  was  La  Noue  they  cheered  him  vociferously,  and 
applauded  his  speech  with  the  greatest  vehemence.61  Yet  La 
Noue  was  the  foremost  Huguenot  that  the  sun  shone  upon, 
and  the  Parisians  were  starving  themselves  to  death  out  of 
*  De  Thou,  ubi  sup.  «  Ibid.  50  Ibid.  51  lily's  letter  before  cit<4 


1590.  STATE  OF  PARIS.  69 

hatred  to  heresy.  After  the  collation  the  commissioners  were 
permitted  to  go  from  the  camp  in  order  to  consult  Mayenne. 

Such  then  was  the  condition  of  Paris  during  that  memorable 
Bummer  of  tortures.  What  now  were  its  hopes  of  deliverance 
out  of  this  Gehenna  ?  The  trust  of  Frenchmen  was  in  Philip 
of  Spain,  whose  legions,  under  command  of  the  great  Italian 
chieftain,  were  daily  longed  for  to  save  them  from  rendering 
obedience  to  their  lawful  prince. 

For  even  the  king  of  straw — the  imprisoned  cardinal — was 
Jiow  dead,  and  there  was  not  even  the  effigy  of  any  other 
sovereign  than  Henry  of  Bourbon  to  claim  authority  in 
France.  Mayenne,  in  the  course  of  long  interviews  with  the 
Duke  of  Parma  at  Conde  and  Brussels,  had  expressed  his 
desire  to  see  Philip  king  of  France,  and  had  promised  his 
best  efforts  to  bring  about  such  a  result.  In  that  case  he 
stipulated  for  the  second  place  in  the  kingdom  for  himself, 
together  with  a  good  rich  province  in  perpetual  sovereignty, 
and  a  large  sum  of  money  in  hand.  Should  this  course  not 
run  smoothly,  he  would  be  willing  to  take  the  crown  himself, 
in  which  event  he  would  cheerfully  cede  to  Philip  the  sove 
reignty  of  Brittany  and  Burgundy,  besides  a  selection  of 
cities  to  be  arranged  for  at  a  later  day.  Although  he  spoke 
of  himself  with  modesty,  said  Alexander,  it  was  very  plain 
that  he  meant  to  arrive  at  the  crown  himself.52  Well  had  the 
Bearnese  alluded  to  the  judgment  of  Solomon.  Were  not 
children,  thus  ready  to  dismember  their  mother,  as  foul  and 
unnatural  as  the  mother  who  would  divide  her  child  ? 

And  what  was  this  dependence  on  a  foreign  tyrant  really 
worth  ?  As  we  look  back  upon  those  dark  days  with  the 
light  of  what  was  then  the  almost  immediate  future  turned 
full  and  glaring  upon  them,  we  find  it  difficult  to  exaggerate 
the  folly  of  the  chief  actors  in  those  scenes  of  crime.  Did 
not  the  penniless  adventurer,  whose  keen  eyesight  and  wise 
recklessness  were  passing  for  hallucination  and  foolhardiness 
in  the  eyes  of  his  contemporaries,  understand  the  game  he  was 
playing  better  than  did  that  profound  thinker,  that  mysterious 
82  Parma  to  Philip,  20  May,  1590.  (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 


70  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII. 

but  infallible  politician,  who  sat  in  the  Escorial  and  made  the 
world  tremble  at  every  hint  of  his  lips,  every  stroke  of  his 
pen  ? 

The  Netherlands — that  most  advanced  portion  of  Philip's 
domain,  without  the  possession  of  which  his  conquest  of 
England  and  his  incorporation  of  France  were  but  childish 
visions,  even  if  they  were  not  monstrous  chimeras  at  best — 
were  to  be  in  a  manner  left  to  themselves,  while  their  con 
summate  governor  and  general  was  to  go  forth  and  conquer 
France  at  the  head  of  a  force  with  which  he  had  been  in 
vain  attempting  to  hold  those  provinces  to  their  obedience. 
At  that  very  moment  the  rising  young  chieftain  of  the 
Netherlands  was  most  successfully  inaugurating  his  career  of 
military  success.  His  armies  well  drilled,  well  disciplined, 
well  paid,  full  of  heart  and  of  hope,  were  threatening  their 
ancient  enemy  in  every  quarter,  while  the  veteran  legions  of 
Spain  and  Italy,  heroes  of  a  hundred  Flemish  and  Frisian 
battle-fields,  were  disorganised,  starving,  and  mutinous.  The 
famous  ancient  legion,  the  terzo  viejo,  had  been  disbanded  for 
its  obstinate  and  confirmed  unruliness.  The  legion  of  Man- 
rique,  sixteen  hundred  strong,  was  in  open  mutiny  at  Courtray. 
Farnese  had  sent  the  Prince  of  Ascoli  to  negotiate  with  them, 
but  his  attempts  were  all  in  vain.53  Two  years'  arrearages — to 
be  paid,  not  in  cloth  at  four  times  what  the  contractors  had 
paid  for  it,  but  in  solid  gold — were  their  not  unreasonable 
demands  after  years  of  as  hard  fighting  and  severe  suffering 
as  the  world  has  often  seen.  But  Philip,  instead  of  ducats  or 
cloth,  had  only  sent  orders  to  go  forth  and  conquer  a  new 
kingdom  for  him.  Yerdugo,  too,  from  Friesland  was  howling 
for  money,  garrotting  and  hanging  his  mutinous  veterans 
every  day,54  and  sending  complaints  and  most  dismal  fore 
bodings  as  often  as  a  courier  could  make  his  way  through  the 
enemy's  lines  to  Farnese's  headquarters.  And  Farnese,  on  his 
part,  was  garrotting  and  hanging  the  veterans.55 

63  Parma  to  Philip,  10  April,  1590.    (Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.) 

54  Same  to  same,  24  June,  1590.    (Ibid.) 

56  Same  to  same,  26  June  and  22  July,  1590.    (Ibid.) 


1590.  FALSE  COMPLAINTS  AGAINST   FARNESE.  71 

Alexander  did  not  of  course  inform  his  master  that  he  was 
a  mischievous  lunatic,  who  upon  any  healthy  principle  of 
human  government  ought  long  ago  to  have  been  shut  up 
from  all  communion  with  his  species.  It  was  very  plain,  how 
ever,  from  his  letters,  that  such  was  his  innermost  thought, 
had  it  been  safe,  loyal,  or  courteous  to  express  it  in  plain 
language. 

He  was  himself  stung  almost  to  madness  moreover  by  the 
presence  of  Commander  Moreo,  who  hated  him,  who  was  per 
petually  coming  over  from  France  to  visit  him,  who  was  a 
spy  upon  all  his  actions,  and  who  was  regularly  distilling  his 
calumnies  into  the  ears  of  Secretary  Idiaquez  and  of  Philip 
himself:56  The  king  was  informed  that  Farnese  was  working 
for  his  own  ends,  and  was  disgusted  with  his  sovereign  ;  that 
there  never  had  been  a  petty  prince  of  Italy  that  did  not  wish 
to  become  a  greater  one,  or  that  was  not  jealous  of  Philip's 
power,  and  that  there  was  not  a  villain  in  all  Christendom  but 
wished  for  Philip's  death.  Moreo  followed  the  prince  about 
to  Antwerp,  to  Brussels,  to  Spa,  whither  he  had  gone  to 
drink  the  waters  for  his  failing  health,  pestered  him,  lectured 
him,  pried  upon  him,  counselled  him,  enraged  him.  Alexander 
told  him  at  last  that  he  cared  not  if  the  whole  world  came  to 
an  end  so  long  as  Flanders  remained,  which  alone  had  been 
entrusted  to  him,  and  that  if  he  was  expected  to  conquer 
France  it  would  be  as  well  to  give  him  the  means  of  per 
forming  that  exploit.  So  Moreo  told  the  king  that  Alexander 
was  wasting  time  and  wasting  money,  that  he  was  the  cause 
of  Egmont's  overthrow,  and  that  he  would  be  the  cause  of 
the  loss  of  Paris  and  of  the  downfall  of  the  whole  French 
scheme  ;  for  that  he  was  determined  to  do  nothing  to  assist 
Mayenne,  or  that  did  not  conduce  to  his  private  advantage.57 

Yet  Farnese  had  been  not  long  before  informed  in  suf 
ficiently  plain  language,  and  by  personages  of  great  influ 
ence,  that  in  case  he  wished  to  convert  his  vice-royalty  of 
the  Netherlands  into  a  permanent  sovereignty,  he  might 

6«  Moreo  to  Idiaquez,  30  Jan.  1590.     (Arch,  de  Sim,  MS.) 
«'  Moreo  to  Philip,  2%  June,  1590,     Ibid., 


72  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII 

rely  on  the  assistance  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  and  perhaps  of 
Queen  Elizabeth.58  The  scheme  would  not  have  been  im 
practicable,  but  the  duke  never  listened  to  it  for  a  moment. 

If  he  were  slow  in  advancing  to  the  relief  of  starving, 
agonising  Paris,  there  were  sufficient  reasons  for  his  delay. 
Most  decidedly  and  bitterly,  but  loyally,  did  he  denounce 
the  madness  of  his  master's  course  in  all  his  communications 
to  that  master's  private  ear. 

He  told  him  that  the  situation  in  which  he  found  himself 
was  horrible.  He  had  no  money  for  his  troops,  he  had  not 
even  garrison  bread  to  put  in  their  mouths.  He  had  not  a 
single  stiver  to  advance  them  on  account.  From  Friesland, 
from  the  Khine  country,  from  every  quarter,  cries  of  distress 
were  rising  to  heaven,  and  the  lamentations  were  just.  He 
was  in  absolute  penury.  He  could  not  negotiate  a  bill  on 
the  royal  account,  but  had  borrowed  on  his  own  private 
security  a  few  thousand  crowns  which  he  had  given  to  his 
soldiers.  He  was  pledging  his  jewels  and  furniture  like  a 
bankrupt,  but  all  was  now  in  vain  to  stop  the  mutiny  at 
Courtray.  If  that  went  on  it  would  be  of  most  pernicious 
example,  for  the  whole  army  was  disorganised,  malcontent, 
and  of  portentous  aspect.  "  These  things,"  said  he,  "  ought 
not  to  surprise  people  of  common  understanding,  for  without 
money,  without  credit,  without  provisions,  and  in  an  ex 
hausted  country,  it  is  impossible  to  satisfy  the  claims,  or  even 
to  support  the  life  of  the  army/'59  When  he  sent  the  Flemish 
cavalry  to  Mayenne  in  March,  it  was  under  the  impression 
that  with  it  that  prince  would  have  maintained  his  reputation 
and  checked  the  progress  of  the  Bearnese  until  greater  rein 
forcements  could  be  forwarded.  He  was  now  glad  that  no 
larger  number  had  been  sent,  for  all  would  have  been  sacri 
ficed  on  the  fatal  field  of  Ivry.60 

The   country  around   him  was   desperate,   believed  itself 
abandoned,  and  was  expecting  fresh  horrors  every  day.     He 

58  Duplessis  to  Buzanval.    Mem.  et  I  14  March,  24  March,   30  March,  19 
Corresp.  de  Duplessis  Mornay,  iv.  270.    April  1590.    (Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.) 

59  Parma  to  Philip,  30  Jan.  20  Feb.  ]      co  Ibid. 


1590.  UNREASONABLE  DEMANDS  OF  PHILIP.  73 

had  been  obliged  to  remove  portions  of  the  garrisons  at 
Deventer  and  Zutphen  purely  to  save  them  from  starving 
and  desperation.  Every  day  he  was  informed  by  his  garrisons 
that  they  could  feed  no  longer  on  fine  words  or  hopes,  for 
in  them  they  found  no  sustenance.61 

But  Philip  told  him  that  he  must  proceed  forthwith  to 
France,  where  he  was  to  raise  the  siege  of  Paris,  and  occupy 
Calais  and  Boulogne  in  order  to  prevent  the  English  from 
sending  succour  to  the  Bearnese,  and  in  order  to  facilitate 
his  own  designs  on  England.  Every  effort  was  to  be  made 
before  the  Bearnese  climbed  into  the  seat.  The  Duke  of 
Parma  was  to  talk  no  more  of  difficulties,  but  to  conquer 
them  ; 62  a  noble  phrase  on  the  battle  field,  but  comparatively 
easy  of  utterance  at  the  writing-desk  ! 

At  last,  Philip  having  made  some  remittances,  miserably 
inadequate  for  the  necessities  of  the  case,  but  sufficient  to 
repress  in  part  the  mutinous  demonstrations  throughout  the 
army,  Farnese  addressed  himself  with  a  heavy  heart  to  the 
work  required  of  him.  He  confessed  the  deepest  apprehen 
sions  of  the  result  both  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  France. 
He  intimated  a  profound  distrust  of  the  French,  who  had 
ever  been  Philip's  enemies,  and  dwelt  on  the  danger  of 
leaving  the  provinces,  unable  to  protect  themselves,  badly 
garrisoned,  and  starving.  "It  grieves  me  to  the  soul,  it  cuts 
me  to  the  heart/'  he  said,  "to  see  that  your  Majesty  com 
mands  things  which  are  impossible,  for  it  is  our  Lord  alone 
that  can  work  miracles.  Your  Majesty  supposes  that  with 
the  little  money  you  have  sent  me,  I  can  satisfy  all  the  sol 
diers  serving  in  these  provinces,  settle  with  the  Spanish  and 
the  German  mutineers — because,  if  they  are  to  be  used  in  the 
expedition,  they  must  at  least  be  quieted — give  money  to 
Mayenne  and  the  Parisians,  pay  retaining  wages  (wartgeld) 
to  the  German  Riders  for  the  protection  of  these  provinces, 
and  make  sure  of  the  maritime  places  where  the  same 
mutinous  language  is  held  as  at  Courtray.  The  poverty,  th 

61  Parma  to  Philip,  30  Jan.  20  Feb.  14  March,  24  March,  30  March,  19 
April  1590.     (Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.)     62  Philip  to  Parma,  20  June,  1590.     Ibid. 


7i  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII 

discontent,  and  the  desperation  of  this  unhappy  country/'  he 
added,  "have  been  so  often  described  to  your  Majesty  that  I 
have  nothing  to  add.  I  am  hanging  and  garrotting  my 
veterans  everywhere,  only  because  they  have  rebelled  for 
want  of  pay  without  committing  any  excess.  Yet  under  these 
circumstances  I  am  to  march  into  France  with  twenty 
thousand  troops — the  least  number  to  effect  anything  withal. 
I  am  confused  and  perplexed  because  the  whole  world  is 
exclaiming  against  me,  and  protesting  that  through  my 
desertion  the  country  entrusted  to  my  care  will  come  to  utter 
perdition.  On  the  other  hand,  the  French  cry  out  upon  me 
that  I  am  the  cause  that  Paris  is  going  to  destruction,  and 
with  it  the  Catholic  cause  in  France.  Every  one  is  pursuing 
his  private  ends.  It  is  impossible  to  collect  a  force  strong 
enough  for  the  necessary  work.  Paris  has  reached  its  ex 
treme  unction,  and  neither  Mayenne  nor  any  one  of  the 
confederates  has  given  this  invalid  the  slightest  morsel  to 
support  her  till  your  Majesty's  forces  should  arrive."63 

He  reminded  his  sovereign  that  the  country  around  Paris 
was  eaten  bare  of  food  and  forage,  and  yet  that  it  was  quite 
out  of  the  question  for  him  to  undertake  the  transportation  of 
supplies  for  his  army  all  the  way — supplies  from  the  starving 
Netherlands  to  starving  France.  Since  the  king  was  so 
peremptory,  he  had  nothing  for  it  but  to  obey,  but  he  vehe 
mently  disclaimed  all  responsibility  for  the  expedition,  and, 
in  case  of  his  death,  he  called  on  his  Majesty  to  vindicate  his 
honour,  which  his  enemies  were  sure  to  assail.64 

The  messages  from  Mayenne  becoming  daily  more  pressing, 
Farnese  hastened  as  much  as  possible  those  preparations 
which  at  best  were  so  woefully  inadequate,  and  avowed  his 
determination  not  to  fight  the  Bearnese  if  it  were  possible  to 
avoid  an  action.  He  feared,  however,  that  with  totally  in 
sufficient  forces  he  should  be  obliged  to  accept  the  chances  of 
an  engagement.65 

With  twelve  thousand  foot  and  three  thousand  horse  Far 
es  Parma  to  Philip,  22  July,  1590.     (Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.) 
«  Ibid.  e5  Same  to  same,  23  July,  1590.     Ibid. 


1590.  EXPEDITION  FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF  PARIS.  75 

nese  left  the  Netherlands  in  the  beginning  of  August,  and 
arrived  on  the  3rd  of  that  month  at  Valenciennes.  His  little 
army,  notwithstanding  his  bitter  complaints,  was  of  imposing 
appearance.65  The  archers  and  halberdiers  of  his  bodyguard 
were  magnificent  in  taffety  and  feathers  and  surcoats  of 
cramoisy  velvet.  Four  hundred  nobles  served  in  the  cavalry. 
Arenberg  and  Barlaymont  and  Chimay,  and  other  grandees 
of  the  Netherlands,  in  company  with  Ascoli  and  the  sons  of 
Terranova  and  Pastrana,  and  many  more  great  lords  of  Italy 
and  Spain  were  in  immediate  attendance  on  the  illustrious 
captain.  The  son  of  Philip's  Secretary  of  State,  Idiaquez, 
and  the  nephew  of  the  cardinal-legate,  Gaetano,  were  among 
the  marshals  of  the  camp.67 

Alexander's  own  natural  authority  and  consummate  powers 
of  organisation  had  for  the  time  triumphed  over  the  disin 
tegrating  tendencies  which,  it  had  been  seen,  were  everywhere 
so  rapidly  destroying  the  foremost  military  establishment  of 
the  world.  Nearly  half  his  forces,  both  cavalry  and  infantry, 
were  Netherlanders  ;  for  —  as  if  there  were  not  graves 
enough  in  their  own  little  territory — those  Flemings,  Wal 
loons,  and  Hollanders  were  destined  to  leave  their  bones  on 
both  sides  of  every  well-stricken  field  of  that  age  between 
liberty  and  despotism.  And  thus  thousands  of  them  had 
now  gone  forth  under  the  banner  of  Spain  to  assist  their 
own  tyrant  in  carrying  out  his  designs  upon  the  capital  of 
France,  and  to  struggle  to  the  death  with  thousands  of  their 
own  countrymen  who  were  following  the  fortunes  of  the 
Bearnese.  Truly  in  that  age  it  was  religion  that  drew  the 
boundary  line  between  nations. 

The  army  was  divided  into  three  portions.  The  vanguard 
was  under  the  charge  of  the  Netherland  General,  Marquis  of 
Renty.  The  battalia  was  commanded  by  Farnese  in  person, 
and  the  rearguard  was  entrusted  to  that  veteran  Netherlander, 
La  Motte,  now  called  the  Count  of  Everbeck.  Twenty  pieces 
of  artillery  followed  the  last  division.68  At  Valenciennes 


65  Parma  to  Philip,  28  Aug.  1590. 


Ibid. 


67  Bor,    III.    xviii.    535.      Coloma, 


iii.  47.  Bentivoglio,  P.  II.  lib.  iv.  340 
Bor,  Coloma,  ubi  sup.    Doudini, 


76 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.XXQL 


Parnese  remained  eight  days,  and  from  this  place  Count 
Charles  Mansfeld  took  his  departure  in  a  great  rage — resign 
ing  his  post  as  chief  of  artillery  because  La  Motte  had  re 
ceived  the  appointment  of  general-marshal  of  the  camp  — 
and  returned  to  his  father,  old  Peter  Ernest  Mansfeld,  who 
was  lieutenant-governor  of  the  Netherlands  in  Parma's 
absence.69 

Leaving  Valenciennes  on  the  llth,  the  army  proceeded  by 
way  of  Quesney,  Guise,  Soissons,  Fritemilon  to  Meaux.  At 
this  place,  which  is  ten  leagues  from  Paris,  Farnese  made  his 
junction,  on  the  22nd  of  August,  with  Mayenne,  who  was  at 
the  head  of  six  thousand  infantry — one  half  of  them  Ger 
mans  under  Cobalto,  and  the  other  half  French — and  of 
two  thousand  horse.70 

On  arriving  at  Meaux,  Alexander  proceeded  straightway 
to  the  cathedral,  and  there,  in  presence  of  all,  he  solemnly 
swore  that  he  had  not  come  to  France  in  order  to  conquer 
that  kingdom  or  any  portion  of  it,  in  the  interests  of  his 
master,  but  only  to  render  succour  to  the  Catholic  cause  and 
to  free  the  friends  and  confederates  of  his  Majesty  from  vio 
lence  and  heretic  oppression.71  Time  was  to  show  the  value 
of  that  oath. 

Here  the  deputation  from  Paris — the  Archbishop  of  Lyons 
and  his  colleagues,  whose  interview  with  Henry  has  just  been 
narrated — were  received  by  the  two  dukes.  They  departed, 
taking  with  them  promises  of  immediate  relief  for  the  starving 
city.  The  allies  remained  five  days  at  Meaux,  and  leaving 
that  place  on  the  27th,  arrived  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Chelles,  on  the  last  day  but  one  of  the  summer.  They  had 
a  united  force  of  five  thousand  cavalry  and  eighteen  thousand 
foot.72 

The  summer  of  horrors  was  over,  and  thus  with  the  first 


ii.  300,  seqq.  De  Thou,  t.  Ixi.  lib.  97, 
p.  183,  seqq.  Bentivoglio,  P.  II.  lib.  iv. 
340,  seqq.  Meteren,  xvi  293,  seqq. 

69  Letters  of  Mansfeld  to  Philip  and 
to   Parma,  11   Aug.  1590.     (Arch,  de 
Sim-  MS.) 

70  L.Q  sucedjdo  a   este   felioissimo 


exercito  despues  que  entro  en  Francia 
hasta  el  3  de  Octubre.  Arch,  de  Si- 
mancas  MS.  Parma  to  Philip,  28  Aug. 
1590.  Ibid.  7i  Coloma,  iii.  47™. 

7^  Lo  sucedido,  &c.,  vM  sup.  Parma's 
letter  last  cited. 


1590.  MEETING  OF  HENRY  AND  FARNESE.  77 

days  of  autumn  there  had  come  a  ray  of  hope  for  the  proud 
city  which  was  lying  at  its  last  gasp.  When  the  allies  came 
in  sight  of  the  monastery  of  Chelles  they  found  themselves  in 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  Bearnese. 

The  two  great  captains  of  the  age  had  at  last  met  face  to 
face.  They  were  not  only  the  two  first  commanders  of  their 
time,  but  there  was  not  a  man  in  Europe  at  that  day  to  be 
at  all  compared  with  either  of  them.  The  youth,  concerning 
whose  earliest  campaign  an  account  will  be  given  in  the  fol 
lowing  chapter,  had  hardly  yet  struck  his  first  blow.  Whether 
that  blow  was  to  reveal  the  novice  or  the  master  was  soon  to 
be  seen.  Meantime  in  1590  it  would  have  been  considered  a 
foolish  adulation  to  mention  the  name  of  Maurice  of  Nassau 
in  the  same  breath  with  that  of  Navarre  or  of  Farnese. 

The  scientific  duel  which  was  now  to  take  place  was  likely 
to  task  the  genius  and  to  bring  into  full  display  the  peculiar 
powers  and  defects  of  the  two  chieftains  of  Europe.  Each 
might  be  considered  to  be  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  but  Alex 
ander,  who  was  turned  of  forty-five,  was  already  broken  in 
health,  while  the  vigorous  Henry  was  eight  years  younger, 
and  of  an  iron  constitution.  Both  had  passed  their  lives  in 
the  field,  but  the  king,  from  nature,  education,  and  the  force 
of  circumstances,  preferred  pitched  battles  to  scientific  com 
binations,  while  the  duke,  having  studied  and  practised  his 
art  in  the  great  Spanish  and  Italian  schools  of  warfare,  was 
rather  a  profound  strategist  than  a  professional  fighter,  al 
though  capable  of  great  promptness  and  intense  personal 
energy  when  his  judgment  dictated  a  battle.  Both  were 
born  with  that  invaluable  gift  which  no  human  being  can 
acquire,  authority,  and  both  were  adored  and  willingly  obeyed 
by  their  soldiers,  so  long  as  those  soldiers  were  paid  and  fed. 

The  prize  now  to  be  contended  for  was  a  high  one.  Alex 
ander's  complete  success  would  tear  from  Henry's  grasp  the 
first  city  of  Christendom,  now  sinking  exhausted  into  his 
hands,  and  would  place  France  in  the  power  of  the  Holy 
League  and  at  the  feet  of  Philip.  Another  Ivry  would 
shatter  the  confederacy,  and  carry  the  king  in  triumph  to 


78  ME  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHA*».  XXIII 

his  capital  and  his  ancestral  throne.  On  the  approach  of  the 
combined  armies  under  Parma  and  Mayenne,  the  king  had 
found  himself  most  reluctantly  compelled  to  suspend  the 
siege  of  Paris.  His  army,  which  consisted  of  sixteen  thousand 
foot  and  five  thousand  horse,  was  not  sufficiently  numerous 
to  confront  at  the  same  time  the  relieving  force  and  to  con 
tinue  the  operations  before  the  city.73  So  long,  however,  as 
he  held  the  towns  and  bridges  on  the  great  rivers,  and 
especially  those  keys  to  the  Seine  and  Marne,  Corbeil  and 
Lagny,  he  still  controlled  the  life-blood  of  the  capital,  which 
indeed  had  almost  ceased  to  flow. 

On  the  31st  August  he  advanced  towards  the  enemy.  Sir 
31  Aug.  Edward  Stafford,  Queen  Elizabeth's  ambassador,  ar- 
1590.  rived  at  St.  Denis  in  the  night  of  the  30th  August. 
At  a  very  early  hour  next  morning  he  heard  a  shout  under  his 
window,  and  looking  down  beheld  King  Henry  at  the  head  of 
his  troops,  cheerfully  calling  out  to  his  English  friend  as  he 
passed  his  door.  "  Welcoming  us  after  his  familiar  manner," 
said  Stafford,  "  he  desired  us,  in  respect  of  the  battle  every  hour 
expected,  to  come  as  his  friends  to  see  and  help  him,  and  not 
to  treat  of  anything  which  afore  we  meant,  seeing  the  pre 
sent  state  to  require  it,  and  the  enemy  so  near  that  we  might 
well  have  been  interrupted  in  half-an-hour's  talk,  and  neces 
sity  constrained  the  king  to  be  in  every  corner,  where  for 
the  most  part  we  follow  him."  74  That  day  Henry  took  up 
his  headquarters  at  the  monastery  of  Chelles,  a  fortified  place 
within  six  leagues  of  Paris,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Marne. 
His  army  was  drawn  up  in  a  wide  valley  somewhat  encum 
bered  with  wood  and  water,  extending  through  a  series  of 
beautiful  pastures  towards  two  hills  of  moderate  elevation. 
Lagny,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  was  within  less  than  a 
league  of  him  on  his  right  hand.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
hills,  hardly  out  of  cannon-shot,  was  the  camp  of  the  allies. 
Henry,  whose  natural  disposition  in  this  respect  needed  no 
prompting,  was  most  eager  for  a  decisive  engagement.  The 

73  De  Thou,  ubi  sup. 

74  Stafford  to  Burghley,  **,  1590.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 


1500.  ANXIETY  FOR  A  DECISIVE  BATTLE.  79 

circumstances  imperatively  required  it  of  him.  His  infantry 
consisted  of  Frenchmen,  Netherlander,  English,  Germans, 
Scotch  ;  but  of  his  cavalry  four  thousand  were  French  nobles, 
serving  at  their  own  expense,  who  came  to  a  battle  as  to  a 
banquet,  but  who  were  capable  of  riding  off  almost  as  rapidly, 
should  the  feast  be  denied  them.  They  were  volunteers, 
bringing  with  them  rations  for  but  a  few  days,  and  it  could 
hardly  be  expected  that  they  would  remain  as  patiently  as 
did  Parma's  veterans,  who,  now  that  their  mutiny  had  been 
appeased  by  payment  of  a  portion  of  their  arrearages,  had 
become  docile  again.  All  the  great  chieftains  who  sur 
rounded  Henry,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant  —  Montpensier, 
Nevers,  Soissons,  Conti,  the  Birons,  Lavradin,  d'Aumont, 
Tremouille,  Turenne,  Chatillon,  La  Noue  —  were  urgent  for 
the  conflict,  concerning  the  expediency  of  which  there  could 
indeed  be  no  doubt,  while  the  king  was  in  raptures  at  the 
opportunity  of  dealing  a  decisive  blow  at  the  confederacy  of 
foreigners  and  rebels  who  had  so  long  defied  his  authority 
and  deprived  him  of  his  rights. 

Stafford  came  up  with  the  king,  according  to  his  cordial 
invitation,  on  the  same  day,  and  saw  the  army  all  drawn  up 
in  battle  array.  While  Henry  was  "  eating  a  morsel  in  an 
old  house/'  Turenne  joined  him  with  six  or  seven  hundred 
horsemen  and  between  four  and  five  thousand  infantry.  "They 
were  the  likeliest  footmen,"  said  Stafford,  "  the  best  coun 
tenanced,  the  best  furnished  that  ever  I  saw  in  my  life  ;  the 
most  part  of  them  old  soldiers  that  had  served  under  the 
king  for  the  Religion  all  this  while." 

The  envoy  was  especially  enthusiastic,  however,  in  regard 
to  the  French  cavalry.  "  There  are  near  six  thousand 
horse,"  said  he,  "  whereof  gentlemen  above  four  thousand., 
about  twelve  hundred  other  French,  and  eight  hundred 
reiters.  I  never  saw,  nor  I  think  never  any  man  saw,  in 
France  such  a  company  of  gentlemen  together  so  well 
horsed  and  so  well  armed."75 


«  Stafford  to  Burghley,  '  Bt  ,  1590.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

VOL.  II—  4 


80 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXIII. 


Henry  sent  a  herald  to  the  camp  of  the  allies,  formally 
challenging  them  to  a  general  engagement,  and  expressing  a 
hope  that  all  differences  might  now  be  settled  by  the  ordeal 
of  battle,  rather  than  that  the  sufferings  of  the  innocent 
people  should  be  longer  protracted.76 

Farnese,  on  arriving  at  Meaux,  had  resolved  to  seek  the 
enemy  and  take  the  hazards  of  a  stricken  field.  He  had  mis 
givings  as  to  the  possible  result,  but  he  expressly  announced 
this  intention  in  his  letters  to  Philip,  and  Mayenne  confirmed 
him  in  his  determination.77  Nevertheless,  finding  the  enemy 
so  eager  and  having  reflected  more  maturely,  he  saw  no 
reason  for  accepting  the  chivalrous  cartel.  As  commander- 
in-chief — for  Mayenne  willingly  conceded  the  supremacy 
which  it  would  have  been  absurd  in  him  to  dispute — he 
accordingly  replied  that  it  was  his  custom  to  refuse  a  combat 
when  a  refusal  seemed  advantageous  to  himself,  and  to  offer 
battle  whenever  it  suited  his  purposes  to  fight.  When  that 
moment  should  arrive  the  king  would  find  him  in  the  field. 
And,  having  sent  this  courteous,  but  unsatisfactory  answer  to 
the  impatient  Bearnese,78  he  gave  orders  to  fortify  his  camp, 
which  was  already  sufficiently  strong.  Seven  days  long  the 
two  armies  lay  face  to  face — Henry  and  his  chivalry  chafing 
in  vain  for  the  longed-for  engagement — and  nothing  occurred 
between  those  forty  or  fifty  thousand  mortal  enemies,  en 
camped  within  a  mile  or  two  of  each  other,  save  trifling 
skirmishes  leading  to  no  result.79 

At  last  Farnese  gave  orders  for  an  advance.  Renty,  com 
mander  of  the  vanguard,  consisting  of  nearly  all  the  cavalry, 
was  instructed  to  move  slowly  forward  over  the  two  hills,  and 
descending  on  the  opposite  side,  to  deploy  his  forces  in  two 
great  wings  to  the  right  and  left.  He  was  secretly  directed 
in  this  movement  to  magnify  as  much  as  possible  the  ap- 


16  Bor,  Coloma,  Dondini,  De  Thou, 
Bentivoglio,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 

77  Parma  to  Philip,  28  Aug.  1590. 
(Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.) 

78  Coloma,   Bentivoglio,   De  Thou, 
ubi  wp. 

79  Alexander  estimated  the  forces 


of  Henry  at  14,000  foot  and  5000 
horse.  Stafford  placed  them  at  17,000 
foot  and  6000  horse.  Letters  cited. 
The  united  forces  of  Mayenne  and 
Farnese,  as  we  have  seen,  amounted 
to  18,000  foot  and  5000  horse. 


1590.  PREPARATION   FOR  ATTACK.  81 

parent  dimensions  of  his  force.  Slowly  the  columns  moved 
over  the  hills.  Squadron  after  squadron,  nearly  all  of  them 
lancers,  with  their  pennons  flaunting  gaily  in  the  summer 
wind,  displayed  themselves  deliberately  and  ostentatiously  in 
the  face  of  the  Royalists.  The  splendid  light-horse  of  Basti, 
the  ponderous  troopers  of  the  Flemish  bands  of  ordnance 
under  Chimay  and  Berlaymont,  and  the  famous  Albanian 
and  Italian  cavalry,  were  mingled  with  the  veteran  Leaguers 
of  France  who  had  fought  under  the  Balafre,  and  who  now 
followed  the  fortunes  of  his  brother  Mayenne.  It  was  an 
imposing  demonstration.80 

Henry  could  hardly  believe  his  eyes  as  the  much-coveted 
opportunity,  of  which  he  had  been  so  many  days  disappointed, 
at  last  presented  itself,  and  he  waited  with  more  than  his 
usual  caution  until  the  plan  of  attack  should  be  developed 
by  his  great  antagonist.  Parma,  on  his  side,  pressed  the  hand 
of  Mayenne  as  he  watched  the  movement,  saying  quietly, 
"  We  have  already  fought  our  battle  and  gained  the  victory/'81 
He  then  issued  orders  for  the  whole  battalia — which,  since 
the  junction,  had  been  under  command  of  Mayenne,  Farnese 
reserving  for  himself  the  superintendence  of  the  entire  army — 
to  countermarch  rapidly  towards  the  Marne  and  take  up  a 
position  opposite  Lagny.  La  Motte,  with  the  rearguard, 
was  directed  immediately  to  follow.  The  battalia  had  thus 
become  the  van,  the  rearguard  the  battalia,  while  the  whole 
cavalry  corps  by  this  movement  had  been  transformed  from 
the  vanguard  into  the  rear.  Renty  was  instructed  to  protect 
his  manoeuvres,  to  restrain  the  skirmishing  as  much  as  pos 
sible,  and  to  keep  the  commander-in-chief  constantly  informed 
of  every  occurrence.  In  the  night  he  was  to  entrench  and 
fortify  himself  rapidly  and  thoroughly,  without  changing  his 
position. 

Under  cover  of  this  feigned  attack,  Farnese  arrived  at  the 
river  side  on  the  15th  September,  1590,  seized  an  15 
open  village   directly   opposite    Lagny,   which  was 

80  Bor,  Coloma,  Bentivoglio,  Dondini,  De  Thou,  Meteren, 
81  Bentivoglio,  toe.  tit, 

VOL,  III, — Gr 


82  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XXIII. 

connected  with  it  by  a  stone  bridge,  and  planted  a  battery 
of  nine  pieces  of  heavy  artillery  directly  opposite  the  town. 
Lagny  was  fortified  in  the  old-fashioned  manner,  with  not 
very  thick  walls,  and  without  a  terreplain.  Its  position,  how 
ever,  and  its  command  of  the  bridge,  seemed  to  render  an 
assault  impossible,  and  De  la  Fin,  who  lay  there  with  a  garrison 
of  twelve  hundred  French,  had  no  fear  for  the  security  of  tfo 
place.  But  Farnese,  with  the  precision  and  celerity  whicr 
characterized  his  movements  on  special  occasions,  had  thrown 
pontoon  bridges  across  the  river  three  miles  above,  and  sent  a 
considerable  force  of  Spanish  and  Walloon  infantry  to  the 
other  side.  These  troops  were  ordered  to  hold  themselves 
ready  for  an  assault,  so  soon  as  the  batteries  opposite  should 
effect  a  practicable  breach.  The  next  day  Henry,  recori- 
rioitering  the  scene,  saw,  with  intense  indignation,  that  ho 
had  been  completely  out-generalled.  Lagny,  the  key  to  the 
Manic,  by  holding  which  he  had  closed  the  door  on  nearly 
all  the  food  supplies  for  Paris,  was  about  to  be  wrested  from 
him.  What  should  he  do  ?  Should  he  throw  himself  across 
the  river  and  rescue  the  place  before  it  fell  ?  This  was 
not  to  be  thought  of  even  by  the  audacious  Bearnese.  In 
the  attempt  to  cross  the  river,  under  the  enemy's  fire,  he 
was  likely  to  lose  a  large  portion  of  his  army.  Should 
he  fling  himself  upon  Renty's  division  which  had  so  osten 
tatiously  offered  battle  the  day  before  ?  This  at  least  might 
be  attempted,  although  not  so  advantageously  as  would  have 
been  the  case  on  the  previous  afternoon.  To  undertake  this 
was  the  result  of  a  rapid  council  of  generals.  It  was  too  late. 
Renty  held  the  hills  so  firmly  entrenched  and  fortified  that 
it  was  an  idle  hope  to  carry  them  by  assault.  He  might 
hurl  column  after  column  against  those  heights,  and  pass  the 
day  in  seeing  his  men  mowed  to  the  earth  without  result. 

His  soldiers,  magnificent  in  the  open  field,  could  not  be 
relied  upon  to  carry  so  strong  a  position  by  sudden  storm, 
and  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost.  He  felt  the  enemy  a  little. 
There  was  some  small  skirmishing,  and  while  it  was  going 
on,  Farnese  opened  a  tremendous  fire  across  the  river  upon 


1500.  CAPTURE  OF  LAGNY.  83 

Lagny.  The  weak  walls  soon  crumbled,  a  breach  was  effected, 
the  signal  for  assault  was  given,  and  the  troops,  posted  on  the 
other  side,  after  a  brief  but  sanguinary  struggle,  overcame  all 
resistance,  and  were  masters  of  the  town.  The  whole  gar 
rison,  twelve,  hundred  strong,  was  butchered,82  and  the  city 
thoroughly  sacked  ;  for  Farnese  had  been  brought  up  in  tho 
old-fashioned  school  of  Alva  and  Julian  Romero  and  Com 
mander  Requesens. 

Thus  Lagny  was  seized  before  the  eyes  of  Henry,  who 
was  forced  to  look  helplessly  on  his  great  antagonist's 
triumph.*3  He  had  come  forth  in  full  panoply  and  abounding 
confidence  to  offer  battle.  He  was  foiled  of  his  combat,  arid 
he  had  lost  the  prize.  Never  was  blow  more  successfully 
parried,  a  counter-stroke  more  ingeniously  planted.  The 
bridges  of  Charenton  and  St.  Maur  now  fell  into  Farnese's 
hands  without  a  contest.  In  an  incredibly  short  space 
of  time  provisions  and  munitions  were  poured  into  the 
starving  city,  two  thousand  boat-loads  arriving  in  a  single 
day.  Paris  was  relieved.84  Alexander  had  made  his  demon 
stration,  and  solved  the  problem.  He  had  left  the  Nether 
lands  against  his  judgment,  but  he  had  at  least  accomplished 
his  French  work  as  none  but  he  could  have  done  it.  The 
king  was  now  in  worse  plight  than  ever.86  His  army  fell  to 
pieces.  His  cavaliers,  cheated  of  their  battle,  and  having 
neither  food  nor  forage,  rode  off  by  hundreds  every  day. 
"  Our  state  is  such,"  said  Stafford,  on  the  16th  September, 
"  and  so  far  unexpected  and  wonderful,  that  I  am  almost 
ashamed  to  write,  because  methinks  everybody  should  think 


82  Coloma,  lot.  cit. 

»»  Ooloma,  DeThpu,  Dondini,Benti- 
voglio,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 

M  Ibid. 

86  "  I  dare  assure  you  this  king  run 
neth  as  hard  a  fortune  as  ever  he  did 
in  his  life,"  said  Stafford,  adding 


Frenchmen's  hearts  would  have  en 
dured)  what  mischief  will  follow  to  us ; 
and  therefore  in  the  meantime,  while 
they  may  be  provided  for,  if  there  be 
not  present  order  given  to  send  men 
into  Flanders  to  make  a  present  re 
tractive  for  the  Prince  of  Parma,  I  do 


somewhat  cynically,  "  If  with  his  loss  j  not  only  doubt,  but  I  do  assure  my- 
was  lost  nothing  I  would  care  but  self  that  we  shall  not  have  leisure  to 
little,  though  somewhat  for  Chris-  I  tarry  here,  or  expect  the  g<x>d  that  the 


tianity,  but  it  makoth  my  heart  bleed 
to  think  if  the  Spaniard  grow  here  (as 
he  beginneth  to  settle,  and  that  deep- 
Jier  than  I  could  ever  have  believed 


helps  out  of  Germany  may  bring  here 
after."    Stafford  to  Burghley,  ~~~ 
1590.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 


84  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXII t 

I  dream.  Myself  seeing  of  it  methinketh  that  I  dream.  For, 
my  lord,  to  see  an  army  such  a  one  I  think  as  I  shall  never 
see  again — especially  for  horsemen  and  gentlemen — to  take 
a  mind  to  disband  upon  the  taking  of  such  a  paltry  thing  as 
Lagny,  a  town  no  better  indeed  than  Kochester,  it  is  a  thing 
so  strange  to  me  that  seeing  of  it  I  can  scarce  believe  it. 
They  make  their  excuses  of  their  want,  which  I  know  indeed 
is  great — for  there  were  few  left  with  one  penny  in  their 
purses — but  yet  that  extremity  could  not  be  such  but  that 
they  might  have  tarried  ten  days  or  fifteen  at  the  most 

that  the  king  desired  of  them From  six  thousand 

horse  that  we  were  and  above,  we  are  come  to  two  thousand — 
and  I  do  not  see  an  end  of  our  leave-takers,  for  those  be  hourly. 

"  The  most  I  can  see  we  can  make  account  of  to  tarry  are 
the  Viscount  Turenne's  troops,  and  Monsieur  de  Chatillon's, 
and  our  Switzers,  and  Lansquenettes,  which  make  very  near 
five  thousand.  The  first  that  went  away,  though  he  sent  word 
to  the  king  an  hour  before  he  would  tarry,  was  the  Count 
Soissons,  by  whose  parting  on  a  sudden  and  without  leave- 
taking,  we  judge  a  discontentment/'86 

The  king's  army  seemed  fading  into  air.  Making  virtue 
of  necessity  he  withdrew  to  St.  Denis,  and  decided  to  dis 
band  his  forces,  reserving  to  himself  only  a  flying  camp  with 
which  to  harass  the  enemy  as  often  as  opportunity  should  offer. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  Bearnese  had  been  thoroughly 
out-generalled.  "  It  was  not  God's  will,"  said  Stafford,  who 
had  been  in  constant  attendance  upon  Henry  through  the 
whole  business  ;  "we  deserved  it  not ;  for  the  king  might  as 
easily  have  had  Paris  as  drunk,  four  or  five  times.  And 
at  the  last,  if  he  had  not  committed  those  faults  that  children 
would  not  have  done,  only  with  the  desire  to  fight  and  give 
the  battle  (which  the  other  never  meant),  he  had  had  it  in 
the  Duke  of  Parma's  sight  as  he  took  Lagny  in  ours." 8:  He 
had  been  foiled  of  the  battle  on  which  he  had  set  his  heart, 
and  in  which  he  felt  confident  of  overthrowing  the  great 
captain  of  the  age,  and  trampling  the  League  under  his  feet. 

*  Stafford  to  Burghley,^  Sept.  1590.     (S.  P.  Office  MS.)  8T  Ibid. 


1590.  ATTEMPTED   ESCALADE.  85 

His  capital  just  ready  to  sink  exhausted  into  his  hands  had 
been  wrested  from  his  grasp,  and  was  alive  with  new  hope 
and  new  defiance.  The  League  was  triumphant,  his  own 
army  scattering  to  the  four  winds.  Even  a  man  of  high 
courage  and  sagacity  might  have  been  in  despair.  Yet  never 
were  the  magnificent  hopefulness,  the  wise  audacity  of 
Henry  more  signally  manifested  than  now  when  he  seemed 
most  blundering  and  most  forlorn.  His  hardy  nature  ever 
met  disaster  with  so  cheerful  a  smile  as  almost  to  perplex 
disaster  herself. 

Unwilling  to  relinquish  his  grip  without  a  last  effort,  he 
resolved  on  a  midnight  assault  upon  Paris.  Hoping  that  the 
joy  at  being  relieved,  the  unwonted  feasting  which  had  suc 
ceeded  the  long  fasting,  and  the  consciousness  of  security  from 
the  presence  of  the  combined  armies  of  the  victorious  League, 
would  throw  garrison  and  citizens  off  their  guard,  he  came 
into  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Faubourgs  St.  Jacques,  St. 
Germain,  St.  Marcel,  and  St.  Michel  on  the  night  of  9th 
September.  A  desperate  effort  was  made  to  escalade  the 
walls  between  St.  Jacques  and  St.  Germain.  It  was  foiled, 
not  by  the  soldiers  nor  the  citizens,  but  by  the  sleepless 
Jesuits,  who,  as  often  before  during  this  memorable  siege,  had 
kept  guard  on  the  ramparts,  and  who  now  gave  the  alarm.88 
The  first  assailants  were  hurled  from  their  ladders,  the  city 
was  roused,  and  the  Duke  of  Nemours  was  soon*  on  the  spot, 
ordering  burning  pitch  hoops,  stones,  and  other  missiles  to  be 
thrown  down  upon  the  invaders.  The  escalade  was  baffled  ; 
yet  once  more  that  night,  just  before  dawn,  the  king  in 
person  renewed  the  attack  on  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain. 
The  faithful  Stafford  stood  by  his  side  in  the  trenches,  and 
was  witness  to  his  cool  determination,  his  indomitable  hope. 
La  Noue  too  was  there,  and  was  wounded  in  the  leg — an 
accident  the  results  of  which  were  soon  to  cause  much  weep 
ing  through  Christendom.89  Had  one  of  those  garlands  of 
blazing  tar  which  all  night  had  been  fluttering  from  the  walls 

88  "  Acudieron  los  primeros  a  la  muralla  los  padres  Jesuitas,  guiados  por  el 
padre  Francisco  Xuares  Espaiiol,"  &c.     Coloma,  iii.  51.       89  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


86 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXIII. 


of  Paris  alighted  by  chance  on  the  king's  head  there  might 
have  been  another  history  of  France.  The  ladders,  too, 
proved  several  feet  too  short,  and  there  were  too  few  of 
them.  Had  they  been  more  numerous  and  longer,  the  tale 
might  have  been  a  different  one.  As  it  was,  the  king  was 
forced  to  retire  with  the  approaching  daylight.90 

The  characteristics  of  the  great  commander  of  the  Hugue 
nots  and  of  the  Leaguers'  chieftain  respectively  were  well 
illustrated  in  several  incidents  of  this  memorable  campaign. 
Farnese  had  been  informed  by  scouts  and  spies  of  this 
intended  assault  by  Henry  on  the  walls  of  Paris.  With  his 
habitual  caution  he  discredited  the  story.91  Had  he  believed 
it,  he  might  have  followed  the  king  in  overwhelming  force 
and  taken  him  captive.  The  penalty  of  Henry's  unparalleled 
boldness  was  thus  remitted  by  Alexander's  exuberant  dis 
cretion. 

Soon  afterwards  Farnese  laid  siege  to  Corbeil.  This  little 
place — owing  to  the  extraordinary  skill  and  determination  of 
its  commandant,  Kigaut,  an  old  Huguenot  officer,  who  had 
fought  with  La  Noue  in  Flanders — resisted  for  nearly  four 
weeks.  It  was  assaulted  at  last,  Kigaut  killed,  the  garrison 
of  one  thousand  French  soldiers  put  to  the  sword,  and  the 
town  sacked.  With  the  fall  of  Corbeil  both  the  Seine  and 
Marne  were  re-opened.92 

Alexander  then  made  a  visit  to  Paris,  where  he  was  received 


90  Coloma,  Bentivoglio,  Dondini,  De 
Thou,  Meteren,  ubi  sup.  "  The  king 
to  stay  awhile,  his  troops  together  had 
an  enterprise  on  Paris  this  day 
se'night  at  night,  and,  with  some  in 
telligence  that  he  said  he  had  in  it 
which  I  could  perceive  no  token  of, 
had  an  enterprise  to  take  it  by  esca 
lade,  and  to  that  purpose  had  6000 
footmen  and  1200  horse  that  passed 
the  bridge  that  he  had  made  at 
Gonfolar  with  boats.  The  king  him 
self  was  in  the  enterprise,  and  I  with 
him,  and  in  the  ditch  with  him, 
though  when  he  told  me  the  manner 
I  saw  it  impossible,  yet  I  went  with 
him  because  he  should  not  say  I  was 
against  it  for  fear.  But  when  we  came 
there  our  ladders  were  too  short  by 


five  foot,  the  larme  in  the  town  an 
hour  before  and  no  word  of  any  intel 
ligence,  and  so  we  retired  without 
Paris,  which  I  dare  assure  you  the 
king  might  have  had  about  five  times 
within  these  five  months,  but  he  is  too 
good  a  king,  and  loveth  his  subjects 
too  well  that  hate  him  deadly.  There 
was  upon  the  return  of  that  enterprise 
no  stay,  but  everybody  would  be  gone, 
and  the  king,  seeing  that  there  was 
no  remedy,  gave  them  leave  on  pro 
mise  of  return."  Stafford  to  Burgh- 
ley,  Sept.  ~  1590.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

91  Coloma,  iii.  51V0. 

92  Coloma,  iii.  51,  seqq.     Bentivog 
lio,  Dondini,  De  Thou,  Meteren,  u5f 


1590.  DEATH  OF  SIXTHS  V.  87 

with  great  enthusiasm.  The  legate,  whose  efforts  and  whose 
money  had  so  much  contributed  to  the  successful  29  August, 
defence  of  the  capital,  had  returned  to  Italy  to  159°- 
participate  in  the  election  of  a  new  pope.  For  the  "  Hugue 
not  pope/'93  Sixtus  V.,  had  died  at  the  end  of  August,  having 
never  bestowed  on  the  League  any  of  his  vast  accumulated 
treasures  to  help  it  in  its  utmost  need.  It  was  not  surprising 
that  Philip  was  indignant,  and  had  resorted  to  menace  of 
various  kinds  against  the  holy  father,  when  he  found  him 
swaying  so  perceptibly  in  the  direction  of  the  hated  Bearnese. 
Of  course  when  he  died  his  complaint  was  believed  to  be 
Spanish  poison.  In  those  days,  none  but  the  very  obscure 
were  thought  capable  of  dying  natural  deaths,  and  Philip  was 
esteemed  too  consummate  an  artist  to  allow  so  formidable  an 
adversary  as  Sixtus  to  pass  away  in  God's  time  only.  Cer 
tainly  his  death  was  hailed  as  matter  of  great  rejoicing  by 
the  Spanish  party  in  Rome,  and  as  much  ignominy  bestowed 
upon  his  memory  as  if  he  had  been  a  heretic  ;  while  in  Paris 
his  decease  was  celebrated  with  bonfires  and  other  marks 
of  popular  hilarity.94 

To  circumvent  the  great  Huguenot's  reconciliation  with  the 
Roman  Church  was  of  course  an  indispensable  portion  of 
Philip's  plan  ;  for  none  could  be  so  dull  as  not  to  perceive 
that  the  resistance  of  Paris  to  its  heretic  sovereign  would 
cease  to  be  very  effective,  so  soon  as  the  sovereign  had  ceased 
to  be  heretic.  It  was  most  important  therefore  that  the  suc 
cessor  of  Sixtus  should  be  the  tool  of  Spain.  The  leading 
confederates  were  well  aware  of  Henry's  intentions  to  renounce 
the  reformed  faith,  and  to  return  to  the  communion  of  Rome 
whenever  he  could  formally  accomplish  that  measure.  The 
crafty  Bearnese  knew  full  well  that  the  road  to  Paris  lay 
through  the  gates  of  Rome.  Yet  it  is  proof  either  of  the  privacy 
with  which  great  public  matters  were  then  transacted,  or  of  the 
extraordinary  powers  of  deceit  with  which  Henry  was  gifted, 

93  "  At  Paris  the  pope  is  accounted 
a  Huguenot."   Lyly  to  Walsingham, 


April  ~  1590.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 


14 


94  Stafford  to  Burghley,  ^  Sept. 
1590.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.)  De  Thou, 
t.  xi.  lib.  97,  pp.  270-273. 


88  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII. 

that  the  leaders  of  protestantism  were  still  hoodwinked  in 
regard  to  his  attitude.  Notwithstanding  the  embassy  of 
Luxembourg,  and  the  many  other  indications  of  the  king's 
intentions,  Queen  Elizabeth  continued  to  regard  him  as  the 
great  champion  of  the  reformed  faith.  She  had  just  sent  him 
an  emerald,  which  she  had  herself  worn,  accompanied  by  the 
expression  of  her  wish  that  the  king  in  wearing  it  might  never 
strike  a  blow  without  demolishing  an  enemy,  and  that  in  his 
farther  progress  he  might  put  all  his  enemies  to  rout  and 
confusion.  "  You  will  remind  the  king,  too,"  she  added, 
"  that  the  emerald  has  this  virtue,  never  to  break  so  long  as 
faith  remains  entire  and  firm."95 

And  the  shrewd  Stafford,  who  was  in  daily  attendance  upon 
him,  informed  his  sovereign  that  there  were  no  symptoms  of 
wavering  on  Henry's  part.  "  The  Catholics  here,"  said  he, 
"  cry  hard  upon  the  king  to  be  a  Catholic  or  else  that  he  is 
lost,  and  they  would  persuade  him  that  for  all  their  calling 
in  the  Spaniards,  both  Paris  and  all  other  towns  will  yield  to 
him,  if  he  will  but  assure  them  that  he  will  become  a  Catholic. 
For  my  part,  I  think  they  would  laugh  at  him  when  he  had 
done  so,  and  so  I  find  he  believeth  the  same,  if  he  had  mind 
to  it,  which  I  find  no  disposition  in  him  unto  it."93  The  not 
very  distant  future  was  to  show  what  the  disposition  of  the  bold 
Gascon  really  was  in  this  great  matter,  and  whether  he  was 
likely  to  reap  nothing  but  ridicule  from  his  apostasy,  should 
it  indeed  become  a  fact.  Meantime  it  was  the  opinion  of  the 
wisest  sovereign  in  Europe,  and  of  one  of  the  most  adroit 
among  her  diplomatists,  that  there  was  really  nothing  in 
the  rumours  as  to  the  king's  contemplated  conversion. 

It  was,  of  course,  unfortunate  for  Henry  that  his  staunch 
friend  and  admirer  Sixtus  was  no  more.  But  English  diplo 
macy  could  do  but  little  in  Borne,  and  men  were  trembling 
with  apprehension  lest  that  arch-enemy  of  Elizabeth,  that 


95  «  Vous  ferez  souvenir  au  roi  que 
Tesmeraude  a  ceste  vertu  de  ne  point 
rompre  (a  ce  que  Ton  diet)  tant  que  la 
foy  demeure  entiere  et  ferine."  Queen 
to  the  French  Ambassador,  "from 
Oatlands,  on  a  Saturday  night,  after  | 


her  coming  from  hunting."    13  Aug. 
1590.     (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

96   Stafford    to    Burghley,  ^   Sept, 
1590.    Ibid. 


1590.  ELECTION  OF  A  NEW  POPE.  89 

devoted  friend  of  Philip,  the  English  Cardinal  Allen,  should 
be  elected  to  the  papal  throne.  "Great  ado  is  made  in 
Kome,"  said  Stafford,  "by  the  Spanish  ambassador,  by  all 
corruptions  and  ways  that  may  be,  to  make  a  pope  that  must 
needs  depend  and  be  altogether  at  the  King  of  Spain's  devo 
tion.  If  the  princes  of  Italy  put  not  their  hands  unto  it,  no 
doubt  they  will  have  their  wills,  and  I  fear  greatly  our 
villanous  Allen,  for,  in  my  judgment,  I  can  comprehend  no 
man  more  with  reason  to  be  tied  altogether  to  the  King  of 
Spain's  will  than  he.  I  pray  God  send  him  either  to  God  or  the 
Devil  first.  An  evil-minded  Englishman,  tied  to  the  King  of 
Spain  by  necessity,  finding  almost  four  millions  of  money,  is  a 
dangerous  beast  for  a  pope  in  this  time."97 

Cardinal  Allen  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  His  candi 
dacy  was  not  successful,  and,  after  the  brief  reign — thirteen 
days  long — of  Urban  VII.,  Sfondrato  wore  the  triple  tiara 
with  the  title  of  Gregory  XIV.  Before  the  year  closed,  that 
pontiff  had  issued  a  brief  urging  the  necessity  of  extirpating 
heresy  in  France,  and  of  electing  a  Catholic  king,  and  assert 
ing  his  determination  to  send  to  Paris — that  bulwark  of  the 
Catholic  faith — not  empty  words  alone  but  troops,  to  be  paid 
fifteen  thousand  crowns  of  gold  each  month,  so  long  as  the  city 
should  need  assistance.98  It  was  therefore  probable  that  the 
great  leader  of  the  Huguenots,  now  that  he  had  been  defeated 
by  Farnese,  and  that  his  capital  was  still  loyal  to  the  League, 
would  obtain  less  favour — however  conscientiously  he  might 
instruct  himself — from  Gregory  XIV.  than  he  had  begun  to 
find  in  the  eyes  of  Sixtus  after  the  triumph  of  Ivry. 

Parma  refreshed  his  army  by  a  fortnight's  repose,  and  early 
in  November  determined  on  his  return  to  the  Netherlands. 
The  Leaguers  were  aghast  at  his  decision,  and  earnestly 
besought  him  to  remain.  But  the  duke  had  given  them  back 
their  capital,  and  although  this  had  been  accomplished  without 
much  bloodshed  in  their  army  or  his  own,  sickness  was  now 
making  sad  ravages  among  his  troops,  and  there  was  small 
supply  of  food  or  forage  for  such  large  forces  as  had  now  been 
«  MS.  letter  last  cited.  »  De  Thou,  t.  xi.  lib.  97,  p.  343. 


90  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIII. 

accumulated  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Paris.  Moreover,  dis 
sensions  were  breaking  out  between  the  Spaniards,  Italians, 
and  Netherlanders  of  the  relieving  army  with  their  French 
allies.  The  soldiers  and  peasants  hated  the  foreigners  who 
came  there  as  victors,  even  although  to  assist  the  Leaguers  in 
overthrowing  the  laws,  government,  and  nationality  of  France. 
The  stragglers  and  wounded  on  Farnese's  march  were  killed 
by  the  country  people  in  considerable  numbers,  and  it  was  a 
pure  impossibility  for  him  longer  to  delay  his  return  to  the 
provinces  which  so  much  against  his  will  he  had  deserted. 

He  marched  back  by  way  of  Champagne  rather  than  by 
that  of  Picardy,  in  order  to  deceive  the  king.  Scarcely  had 
he  arrived  in  Champagne  when  he  heard  of  the  retaking  of 
Lagny  and  Corbeil.  So  soon  as  his  back  was  turned,  the 
League  thus  showed  its  impotence  to  retain  the  advantage 
which  his  genius  had  won.  Corbeil,  which  had  cost  him  a 
month  of  hard  work,  was  recaptured  in  two  days.  Lagny  fell 
almost  as  quickly.  Earnestly  did  the  confederates  implore  him 
to  return  to  their  rescue,  but  he  declined  almost  contemptuously 
to  retrace  his  steps.  His  march  was  conducted  in  the  same  order 
and  with  the  same  precision  which  had  marked  his  advance. 
Henry,  with  his  flying  camp,  hung  upon  his  track,  harassing 
him  now  in  front,  now  in  rear,  now  in  flank.  None  of  the 
skirmishes  were  of  much  military  importance.  A  single 
cavalry  combat,  however,  in  which  old  Marshal  Biron  was 
nearly  surrounded  and  was  in  imminent  danger  of  death  or 
capture,  until  chivalrously  rescued  by  the  king  in  person  at 
the  head  of  a  squadron  of  lancers,  will  always  possess  romantic 
interest."  In  a  subsequent  encounter,  near  Baroges  on  the 
Vesle,  Henry  had  sent  Biron  forward  with  a  few  companies  of  I 
horse  to  engage  some  five  hundred  carabineers  of  Farnese  on 
their  march  towards  the  frontier,  and  had  himself  followed 
close  upon  the  track  with  his  usual  eagerness  to  witness  or 
participate  in  every  battle.  Suddenly  Alphonse  Corse,  who 

99  Bentivoglio,  P.  II.  lib.  v.  348,  349.  Dondini,  ii.  363,  seqq.  Coloma,  iii.  52, 
seqq.  Report  of  the  King's  actions  by  Grimstone,  23-28  Nov.  1590.  (S.  P. 
Office  MS.) 


1590. 


RESULT  OF  FARNESE'S  EXPEDITION. 


91 


rode  at  Henry's  side,  pointed  out  to  him,  not  more  than  a 
hundred  paces  off,  an  officer  wearing  a  felt  hat,  a  great  ruff, 
and  a  little  furred  cassock,  mounted  on  a  horse  without 
armour  or  caparisons,  galloping  up  and  down  and  brandishing 
his  sword  at  the  carabineers  to  compel  them  to  fall  back. 
This  was  the  Duke  of  Parma,  and  thus  the  two  great  cham 
pions  of  the  Huguenots  and  of  the  Leaguers — the  two  foremost 
captains  of  the  age — had  met  face  to  face.100  At  that  moment 
La  Noue,  riding  up,  informed  the  king  that  he  had  seen  the 
whole  of  the  enemy's  horse  and  foot  in  battle  array,  and 
Henry,  suspecting  the  retreat  of  Farnese  to  be  a  feint  for  the 
purpose  of  luring  him  on  with  his  small  force  to  an  attack, 
gave  orders  to  retire  as  soon  as  possible.101 

At  Guise,  on  the  frontier,  the  duke  parted  with  Mayenne, 
leaving  with  him  an  auxiliary  force  of  four  thousand  foot  and 
five  hundred  horse,  which  he  could  ill  spare.  He  then  re 
turned  to  Brussels,  which  city  he  reached  on  the  4th  4  Dec. 
December,  filling  every  hotel  and  hospital  with  his  1590. 
sick  soldiers,  and  having  left  one-third  of  his  numbers  behind 
him.  He  had  manifested  his  own  military  skill  in  the  adroit 
and  successful  manner  in  which  he  had  accomplished  the 
relief  of  Paris,  while  the  barrenness  of  the  result  from  the 
whole  expedition  vindicated  the  political  sagacity  with  which 
he  had  remonstrated  against  his  sovereign's  infatuation. 

Paris,  with  the  renewed  pressure  on  its  two  great  arteries 
at  Lagny  and  Corbeil,  soon  fell  into  as  great  danger  as  before  ; 
the  obedient  Netherlands  during  the  absence  of  Farnese  had 
been  sinking  rapidly  to  ruin,  while  on  the  other  hand,  great 
progress  and  still  greater  preparations  in  aggressive  warfare 
had  been  made  by  the  youthful  general  and  stadholder  of  the 
Republic.102 


1(*>  Grimstone's  letter.  MS.  last 
cited.  Compare  Coloma,  Dondini, 
Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup. 

i"1  Ibid. 

102  Coloma,  Dondini,  Bentivoglio, 
ubi  mp.  De  Thou,  t.  xi.  lib.  p.  97, 205, 


seqq.  Lo  sucedido,  &c.  (Arch,  de 
Sim.  MS.)  Parma  to  Philip,  3  and 
21  Oct.  1590.— Ibid.  Same  to  same, 
19  Nov.  1590.— Ibid.  Same  to  same, 
28  Nov.  1590.— Ibid.  Same  to  same, 
31  Dec.  1590.— Ibid 


92  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Prince  Maurice  —  State  of  the  Republican  army —  Martial  science  of  the  period 
—  Reformation  of  the  military  system  by  Prince  Maurice  —  His  military 
genius  —  Campaign  in  the  Netherlands  —  The  fort  and  town  of  Zutphen 
taken  by  the  States'  forces  —  Attack  upon  Deventer  —  Its  capitulation  — 
Advance  on  Groningen,  Delfzyl,  Opslag,  Yementil,  Steenwyk,  and  other 
places  —  Farnese  besieges  Fort  Knodsenburg  —  Prince  Maurice  hastens  to 
its  relief —  A  skirmish  ensues  resulting  in  the  discomfiture  of  the  Spanish 
and  Italian  troops  —  Surrender  of  Hulst  and  Nymegen  —  Close  of  military 
operations  of  the  year. 

WHILE  the  events  revealed  in  the  last  chapter  had  been 
occupying  the  energies  of  Farnese  and  the  resources  of  his 
sovereign,  there  had  been  ample  room  for  Prince  Maurice  to 
mature  his  projects,  and  to  make  a  satisfactory  beginning  in 
the  field.  Although  Alexander  had  returned  to  the  Nether 
lands  before  the  end  of  the  year  1590,  and  did  not  set  forth 
on  his  second  French  campaign  until  late  in  the  following 
year,  yet  the  condition  of  his  health,  the  exhaustion  of  his 
funds,  and  the  dwindling  of  his  army,  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  render  any  effectual  opposition  to  the  projects  of  the 
youthful  general. 

For  the  first  time  Maurice  was  ready  to  put  his  theories 
and  studies  into  practice  on  an  extensive  scale.  Compared 
with  modern  armaments,  the  warlike  machinery  to  be  used 
for  liberating  the  republic  from  its  foreign  oppressors  would 
seem  almost  diminutive.  But  the  science  and  skill  of  a 
commander  are  to  be  judged  by  the  results  he  can  work 
out  with  the  materials  within  reach.  His  progress  is  to  be 
measured  by  a  comparison  with  the  progress  of  his  contem 
poraries — coheirs  with  him  of  what  Time  had  thus  far 
bequeathed. 

The  regular  army  of  the  republic,  as  reconstructed,  was 


1590.  CONDITION  OF  THE   STATES'  ARMY.  93 

but  ten  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse,  but  it  was  ca 
pable  of  being  largely  expanded  by  the  trainbands  of  the  cities, 
well  disciplined  and  enured  to  hardship,  and  by  the  levies  of 
German  reiters  and  other  foreign  auxiliaries  in  such  numbers 
as  could  be  paid  for  by  the  hard-pressed  exchequer  of  the 
provinces. 

To  the  state-council,  according  to  its  original  constitution, 
belonged  the  levying  and  disbanding  of  troops,  the  conferring 
of  military  offices,  and  the  supervision  of  military  operations 
by  sea  and  land.  It  was  its  duty  to  see  that  all  officers  made 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  Provinces. 

The  course  of  Leicester's  administration,  and  especially 
the  fatal  treason  of  Stanley  and  of  York,  made  it  seem  im 
portant  for  the  true  lovers  of  their  country  to  wrest  from  the 
state-council,  where  the  English  had  two  seats,  all  political 
and  military  power.  And  this,  as  has  been  seen,  was  prac 
tically  but  illegally  accomplished.  The  silent  revolution  by 
which  at  this  epoch  all  the  main  attributes  of  government 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  States-General — acting  as  a 
league  of  sovereignties — has  already  been  indicated.  The 
period  during  which  the  council  exercised  functions  conferred 
on  it  by  the  States-General  themselves  was  brief  and  evan 
escent.  The  jealousy  of  the  separate  provinces  soon  prevented 
the  state-council — a  supreme  executive  body  entrusted  with 
the  general  defence  of  the  commonwealth — from  causing 
troops  to  pass  into  or  out  of  one  province  or  another  without 
a  patent  from  his  Excellency  the  Prince,  not  as  chief  of  the 
whole  army,  but  as  governor  and  captain-general  of  Holland, 
or  Gelderland,  or  Utrecht,  as  the  case  might  be. 

The  highest  military  office  in  the  Netherlands  was  that  of 
captain-general  or  supreme  commander.  This  quality  was 
from  earliest  times  united  to  that  of  stadholder,  who  stood,  as 
his  title  implied,  in  the  place  of  the  reigning  sovereign,  whether 
count,  duke,  king,  or  emperor.  After  the  foundation  of  the  Re 
public  this  dynastic  form,  like  many  others,  remained,  and  thus 
Prince  Maurice  was  at  first  only  captain-general  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland,  and  subsequently  of  Gelderland,  Utrecht,  and 


94  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV. 

Overyssel,  after  he  had  been  appointed  stadholder  of  those 
three  provinces  in  1590  on  the  death  of  Count  Nieuwenaar. 
However  much  in  reality  he  was  general-in-chief  of  the 
army,  he  never  in  all  his  life  held  the  appointment  of 
captain-general  of  the  Union. 

To  obtain  a  captain's  commission  in  the  army,  it  was  neces 
sary  to  have  served  four  years,  while  three  years'  service  was 
the  necessary  preliminary  to  the  post  of  lieutenant  or  ensign. 
Three  candidates  were  presented  by  the  province  for  each 
office,  from  whom  the  stadholder  appointed  one.  The  com 
missions,  except  those  of  the  highest  commanders,  were  made 
out  in  the  name  of  the  States-General,  by  advice  and  consent 
of  the  council  of  state.  The  oath  of  allegiance,  exacted  from 
soldiers  as  well  as  officers,  mentioned  the  name  of  the  particu 
lar  province  to  which  they  belonged,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
States-General.1  It  thus  appears  that,  especially  after 
Maurice's  first  and  successful  campaigns,  the  supreme  autho 
rity  over  the  army  really  belonged  to  the  States-General,  and 
that  the  powers  of  the  state-council  in  this  regard  fell,  in  the 
course  of  four  years,  more  and  more  into  the  back-ground, 
and  at  last  disappeared  almost  entirely.  During  the  active 
period  of  the  war,  however,  the  effect  of  this  revolution  was 
in  fact  rather  a  greater  concentration  of  military  power  than 
its  dispersion,  for  the  States-General  meant  simply  the  province 
of  Holland.  Holland  was  the  republic. 

keningen  door  Lodewijk  Mulder,  Ka- 
pitein  der  Infanterie.  's  Gravenhage 
Martinus  Nyhoff,  1862,  pp.  xlvi.  xlvii. 
All  lovers  of  Dutch  history  must  sin 
cerely  rejoice  that  this  valuable  con 
temporary  manuscript  is  at  last  in 
course  of  publication,  and  that  it  is  in 
the  hands  of  so  accomplished  and  able 
an  editor.  I  am  under  the  deepest 
obligations  to  Captain  Mulder  for  the 
information  derived,  in  regard  to  the 
military  history  of  this  epoch  in  the 
Netherlands,from  his  learned  and  lucid 
introduction,  and  in  drawing  largely 


1  For  example,  the  oath  for  a 
soldier  of  Holland  was  :  —  I  promise 
and  swear  to  the  States-General  of  the 
United  Netherlands  who  remain  by 
the  Union,  and  by  the  maintenance  of 
the  reformed  religion,  and  also  to  the 
knights,  nobles,  and  regents  (magis 
trates),  of  the  countship  and  province 
of  Holland  representing  the  States  of 
said  province,  and  therewith  to  the 
States  of  the  other  provinces  in  which 
I  may  be  employed,  and  also  to  the 
regents  of  the  cities  as  well  within  as 
without  the  province  of  Holland  where 
I  may  be  placed  in  garrison  to  be  faith 
ful  and  true.  See  '  Journaal  van  An- 
thonis  Duyck'  (1591-1602):  uitge- 
geven  op  Last  van  het  Departement 
ran  Oorlog,  met  Inleiding  en  Aantee- 


ng 

and  almost  exclusively  from  this  source 
in  the  first  part  of  the  present  chapter, 
I  desire  to  express  my  thanks  in  the 
warmest  manner. 


1590.  MILITARY  ORGANISATION.  95 

The  organisation  of  the  infantry  was  very  simple.  The 
tactical  unit  was  the  company.  A  temporary  combination  of 
several  companies  made  a  regiment,  commanded  by  a  colonel 
or  lieutenant-colonel,  but  for  such  regiments  there  was  no 
regular  organisation.  Sometimes  six  or  seven  companies 
were  thus  combined,  sometimes  three  times  that  number,  but 
the  strength  of  a  force,  however  large,  was  always  estimated 
by  the  number  of  companies,  not  of  regiments.2 

The  normal  strength  of  an  infantry  company,  at  the  begin 
ning  of  Maurice's  career,  may  be  stated  at  one  hundred  and 
thirteen,  commanded  by  one  captain,  one  lieutenant,  one 
ensign,  and  by  the  usual  non-commissioned  officers.  Each 
company  was  composed  of  musketeers,  harquebusseers,  pike- 
men,  halberdeers,  and  buckler-men.  Long  after  portable 
firearms  had  come  into  use,  the  greater  portion  of  foot  sol 
diers  continued  to  be  armed  with  pikes,  until  the  introduction 
of  the  fixed  bayonet  enabled  the  musketeer  to  do  likewise  the 
duty  of  pikeman.  Maurice  was  among  the  first  to  appreciate 
the  advantage  of  portable  firearms,  and  he  accordingly  in 
creased  the  proportion  of  soldiers  armed  with  the  musket  in 
his  companies.  In  a  company  of  a  hundred  and  thirteen, 
including  officers,  he  had  sixty-four  armed  with  firelocks  to 
thirty  carrying  pikes  and  halberds.  As  before  his  time  the 
proportion  between  the  arms  had  been  nearly  even,  he  thus 
more  than  doubled  the  number  of  firearms.3 

Of  these  weapons  there  were  two  sorts,  the  musket  and  the 
harquebus.  The  musket  was  a  long,  heavy,  unmanageable 
instrument.  When  fired  it  was  placed  upon  an  iron  gaffle 
or  fork,  which  the  soldier  carried  with  him,  and  stuck  before 
him  into  the  ground.  The  bullets  of  the  musket  were  twelve 
to  the  pound.4 

The  harquebus — or  hak-bus,  hook-gun,  so  called  because  of 
the  hook  in  the  front  part  of  the  barrel  to  give  steadiness  in 
firing — was  much  lighter,  was  discharged  from  the  hand,  and 
carried  bullets  of  twenty-four  to  the  pound.  Both  weapons 
had  matchlocks.5 

2  Mulder,  Inleiding,  1.  li.       *Tbid.  II  lii.       •*  Ibid.  liv.      5  Ibid,  liv.-lix. 


96  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XXIV. 

The  pike  was  eighteen  feet  long  at  least,  and  pikemen  as 
well  as  halberdsmen  carried  rapiers.6 

There  were  three  buckler-men  to  each  company,  intro 
duced  by  Maurice  for  the  personal  protection  of  the  leader  of 
the  company.  The  prince  was  often  attended  by  one  himself, 
and,  on  at  least  one  memorable  occasion,  was  indebted  to  this 
shield  for  the  preservation  of  his  life.7 

The  cavalry  was  divided  into  lancers  and  carabineers.  The 
unit  was  the  squadron,  varying  in  number  from  sixty  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty,  until  the  year  1591,  when  the  regular  com 
plement  of  the  squadron  was  fixed  at  one  hundred  and 
twenty.8 

As  the  use  of  cavalry  on  the  battle-field  at  that  day,  or  at 
least  in  the  Netherlands,  was  not  in  rapidity  of  motion,  nor  in 
severity  of  shock — the  attack  usually  taking  place  on  a  trot 
— Maurice  gradually  displaced  the  lance  in  favour  of  the 
carbine.9  His  troopers  thus  became  rather  mounted  infantry 
than  regular  cavalry. 

The  carbine  was  at  least  three  feet  long,  with  wheel-locks, 
and  carried  bullets  of  thirty  to  the  pound.10 

The  artillery  was  a  peculiar  organisation.  It  was  a  guild 
of  citizens,  rather  than  a  strictly  military  force  like  the 
cavalry  and  infantry.  The  arm  had  but  just  begun  to  develope 
itself,  and  it  was  cultivated  as  a  special  trade  by  the  guild  of 
the  holy  Barbara  existing  in  all  the  principal  cities.  Thus  a 
municipal  artillery  gradually  organised  itself,  under  the  direc 
tion  of  the  gun-masters  (bus-meesters),  who  in  secret  laboured 
at  the  perfection  of  their  art,  and  who  taught  it  to  their  ap 
prentices  and  journeymen,  as  the  principles  of  other  crafts 
were  conveyed  by  master  to  pupil.  This  system  furnished  a 
powerful  element  of  defence  at  a  period  when  every  city  had 
in  great  measure  to  provide  for  its  own  safety.11 

In  the  earlier  campaigns  of  Maurice  three  kinds  of  artillery 
were  used  ;  the  whole  cannon  (kartow)  of  forty-eight  pounds  ; 
the  half-cannon,  or  twenty-four  pounder,  and  the  field-piece 

6  Mudler,  liv.-lix.  7  Ibid.  8  Ibid-  9  Ibid. 

10  Ibid.  n  Ibid,  lix.-lxxiv. 


1590.  IMPROVEMENTS   IN  MARTIAL  SCIENCE.  97 

carrying  a  ball   of  twelve  pounds.     The  two  first  were  called 
battering  pieces  or  siege-guns.     All  the  guns  were  of  bronze.12 

The  length  of  the  whole  cannon  was  about  twelve  feet ;  its 
weight  one  hundred  and  fifty  times  that  of  the  ball,  or  about 
seven  thousand  pounds.  It  was  reckoned  that  the  whole 
kartow  could  fire  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  shots  in  an 
hour.  Wet  hair  cloths  were  used  to  cool  the  piece  after  every 
ten  or  twelve  discharges.  The  usual  charge  was  twenty 
pounds  of  powder.13 

The  whole  gun  was  drawn  by  thirty-one  horses,  the  half- 
cannon  by  twenty- three.14 

The  field-piece  required  eleven  horses,  but  a  regular  field- 
artillery,  as  an  integral  part  of  the  army,  did  not  exist,  and 
was  introduced  in  much  later  times.  In  the  greatest  pitched 
battle  ever  fought  by  Maurice,  that  of  Nieuport,  he  had  but 
six  field-pieces.15 

The  prince  also  employed  mortars  in  his  sieges,  from  which 
were  thrown  grenades,  hot  shot,  and  stones  ;  but  no  greater 
distance  was  reached  than  six  hundred  yards.  Bomb-shells 
were  not  often  used  although  they  had  been  known  for  a 
century.16 

Before  the  days  of  Maurice  a  special  education  for  en 
gineers  had  never  been  contemplated.  Persons  Who  had 
privately  acquired  a  knowledge  of  fortification  and  similar 
branches  of  the  science  were  employed  upon  occasion,  but 
regular  corps  of  engineers  there  were  none.  The  prince 
established  a  course  of  instruction  in  this  profession  at  the 
University  of  Leyden,  according  to  a  system  drawn  up  by  the 
celebrated  Stevinus.17 

Doubtless  the  most  important  innovation  of  the  prince,  and 
the  one  which  required  the  most  energy  to  enforce,  was  the 
use  of  the  spade.  His  soldiers  were  jeered  at  by  the  enemy 
as  mere  boors  and  day  labourers  who  were  dishonouring 
themselves  and  their  profession  by  the  use  of  that  implement 
instead  of  the  sword.  Such  a  novelty  was  a  shock  to  all  the 

12  Mulder,  lix.-lxxiv.  13  Ibid.  "Ibid.  "Ibid. 

16  Ibid.  "  Ibid,  Ixxiv.-lxxix. 

VOL.  III. — H 


98  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV 

military  ideas  of  the  age,  and  it  was  only  the  determination 
and  vigour  of  the  prince  and  of  his  cousin  Lewis  William 
that  ultimately  triumphed  over  the  universal  prejudice.18 

The  pay  of  the  common  soldier  varied  from  ten  to  twenty 
florins  the  month,  but  every  miner  had  eighteen  florins,  and, 
when  actually  working  in  the  mines,  thirty  florins  monthly. 
Soldiers  used  in  digging  trenches  received,  over  and  above 
their  regular  pay,  a  daily  wage  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  styvers, 
or  nearly  a  shilling  sterling.19 

Another  most  wholesome  improvement  made  by  the  prince 
was  in  the  payment  of  his  troops.  The  system  prevailing  in 
every  European  country  at  that  day,  by  which  Governments 
were  defrauded  and  soldiers  starved,  was  most  infamous.  The 
soldiers  were  paid  through  the  captain,  who  received  the  wages 
of  a  full  company,  when  perhaps  not  one-third  of  the  names 
on  the  muster-roll  were  living  human  beings.  Accordingly 
two-thirds  of  all  the  money  stuck  to  the  officer's  fingers,  and 
it  was  not  thought  a  disgrace  to  cheat  the  Government  by 
dressing  and  equipping  for  the  day  a  set  of  ragamuffins, 
caught  up  in  the  streets  for  the  purpose,  and  made  to  pass 
muster  as  regular  soldiers.20 

These  passe-volants,  or  scarecrows,  were  passed  freely 
about  ffom  one  company  to  another,  and  the  indecency  of 
the  fraud  was  never  thought  a  disgrace  to  the  colours  of  the 
company. 

Thus,  in  the  Armada  year,  the  queen  had  demanded  that  a 
portion  of  her  auxiliary  force  in  the  Netherlands  should  be  sent 
to  England.  The  States  agreed  that  three  thousand  of  these 
English  troops,  together  with  a  few  cavalry  companies,  should 
go,  but  stipulated  that  two  thousand  should  remain  in  the 
provinces.  The  queen  accepted  the  proposal,  but  when  the 
two  thousand  had  been  counted  out,  it  appeared  that  there 
was  scarcely  a  man  left  for  the  voyage  to  England.  Yet 
every  one  of  the  English  captains  had  claimed  full  pay  for 
his  company  from  her  Majesty's  exchequer.21 

18  Reyd,  ix.  180,  seqq.  19  Mulder,  ubi  *wp. 

90  Ibid,  xciv.  xcv.  81  Ibid,  xcix. 


1590.  IMPROVEMENTS  IN  MARTIAL  SCIENCE.  99 

Against  this  tide  of  peculation  and  corruption  the 
strenuous  Maurice  set  himself  with  heart  and  soul,  and  there 
is  no  doubt  that  to  his  reformation  in  this  vital  matter  much 
of  his  military  success  was  owing.  It  was  impossible  that 
roguery  and  venality  should  ever  furnish  a  solid  foundation 
for  the  martial  science. 

To  the  student  of  military  history  the  campaigns  and  sieges 
of  Maurice,  and  especially  the  earlier  ones,  are  of  great  im 
portance.  There  is  no  doubt  whatever,  that  the  youth  who 
now,  after  deep  study  and  careful  preparation,  was  measuring 
himself  against  the  first  captains  of  the  age,  was  founding  the 
great  modern  school  of  military  science.  It  was  in  this 
Netherland  academy,  and  under  the  tuition  of  its  consummate 
professor,  that  the  commanders  of  the  seventeenth  century 
not  only  acquired  the  rudiments,  but  perfected  themselves 
in  the  higher  walks  of  their  art.  Therefore  the  siege  opera 
tions,  in  which  all  that  had  been  invented  by  modern  genius, 
or  rescued  from  the  oblivion  which  had  gathered  over  ancient 
lore  during  the  more  vulgar  and  commonplace  practice  of 
the  mercenary  commanders  of  the  day  was  brought  into  suc 
cessful  application,  must  always  engage  the  special  attention 
of  the  military  student. 

To  the  general  reader,  more  interested  in  marking  the 
progress  of  civilisation  and  the  advance  of  the  people  in 
the  path  of  development  and  true  liberty,  the  spectacle  of  the 
young  stadholder's  triumphs  has  an  interest  of  another  kind. 
At  the  moment  when  a  thorough  practical  soldier  was  most 
needed  by  the  struggling  little  commonwealth,  to  enable  it 
to  preserve  liberties  partially  secured  by  its  unparalleled  sacri 
fices  of  blood  and  treasure  during  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and 
to  expel  the  foreign  invader  from  the  soil  which  he  had  so 
long  profaned,  it  was  destined  that  a  soldier  should  appear. 

Spade  in  hand,  with  his  head  full  of  Koman  castrametation 
and  geometrical  problems,  a  prince,  scarce  emerged  from  boy 
hood,  presents  himself  on  that  stage  where  grizzled  Mansfelds, 
drunken  Hohenlos,  and  truculent  Verdugos  have  been  so  long 
enacting  that  artless  military  drama  which  consists  of  hard 


100  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV. 

knocks  and  wholesale  massacres.  The  novice  is  received 
with  universal  hilarity.  But  although  the  machinery  of  war 
varies  so  steadily  from  age  to  age  that  a  commonplace 
commander  of  to-day,  rich  in  the  spoils  of  preceding  time, 
might  vanquish  the  Alexanders,  and  Csesars,  and  Frederics, 
with  their  antiquated  enginry,  yet  the  moral  stuff  out  of 
which  great  captains,  great  armies,  great  victories  are  created, 
is  the  simple  material  it  was  in  the  days  of  Sesostris  or 
Cyrus.  The  moral  and  physiological  elements  remain 
essentially  the  same  as  when  man  first  began  to  walk  up  and 
down  the  earth  and  destroy  his  fellow-creatures. 

To  make  an  army  a  thorough  mowing-machine,  it  then 
seemed  necessary  that  it  should  be  disciplined  into  complete 
mechanical  obedience.  To  secure  this,  prompt  payment  of 
wages  and  inexorable  punishment  of  delinquencies  were  in 
dispensable.  Long  arrearages  were  now  converting  Farnese's 
veterans  into  systematic  marauders  ;  for  unpaid  soldiers  in 
every  age  and  country  have  usually  degenerated  into  high 
waymen,  and  it  is  an  impossibility  for  a  sovereign,  with 
the  strictest  intentions,  to  persist  in  starving  his  soldiers 
and  in  killing  them  for  feeding  themselves.  In  Maurice's 
little  army,  on  the  contrary,  there  were  no  back-wages  and 
no  thieving.  At  the  siege  of  Delfzyl  Maurice  hung  two  of 
his  soldiers  for  stealing,  the  one  a  hat  and  the  other  a  poniard, 
from  the  townsfolk,  after  the  place  had  capitulated.22  At  the 
siege  of  Hulst  he  ordered  another  to  be  shot,  before  the  whole 
camp,  for  robbing  a  woman.23  This  seems  sufficiently  harsh, 
but  war  is  not  a  pastime  nor  a  very  humane  occupation.  The 
result  was,  that  robbery  disappeared,  and  it  is  better  for  all 
that  enlisted  men  should  be  soldiers  rather  than  thieves.  To 
secure  the  ends  which  alone  can  justify  war — and  if  the 
Netherlander  engaged  in  defending  national  existence  and 
human  freedom  against  foreign  tyranny  were  not  justifiable 
then  a  just  war  has  never  been  waged — a  disciplined  army 
is  vastly  more  humane  in  its  operations  than  a  band  of 
brigands.  Swift  and  condign  punishments  by  the  law-martial? 
89  Beyd,  ix.  171,  *8  Van  der  Kemp,  112. 


1590.  IMPROVEMENTS  IN  MARTIAL  SCIENCE.  101 

for  even  trifling  offences,  is  the  best  means  of  discipline  yet 
devised. 

To  bring   to   utmost  perfection  the  machinery  already  in 
existence,  to  encourage  invention,  to  ponder  the  past  with  a 
practical  application  to  the  present,  to  court  fatigue,  to  scorn 
pleasure,  to  concentrate  the  energies  on  the  work  in  hand,  to 
cultivate  quickness  of  eye  and  calmness  of  nerve  in  the  midst  of 
danger,  to  accelerate  movements,  to  economise  blood  even  at 
the  expense  of  time,  to  strive  after  ubiquity  and  omniscience 
in   the  details  of  person   and  place,  these  were  the  charac 
teristics  of  Maurice,  and  they  have  been  the  prominent  traits 
of  all  commanders  who  have  stamped  themselves  upon  their 
age.     Although  his  method  of  war-making  differed  as  far  as 
possible   from   that   of  the   Bearnese,   yet   the  two  had   one 
quality  in   common,   personal  insensibility  to   fear.     But  in 
the  case  of  Henry,  to  confront  danger  for  its  own  sake  was 
in  itself  a  pleasure,  while  the  calmer  spirit  of  Maurice  did 
not  so  much  seek  the  joys  of  the  combat  as  refuse  to  desist 
from  scientific  combinations  in  the  interests  of  his  personal 
safety.     Very  frequently,  in  the  course  of  his  early  campaigns, 
the  prince  was  formally  and  urgently  requested  by  the  States- 
General  not  to  expose  his  life  so  recklessly,  and  before  he  had 
passed  his  twenty-fifth  year  he  had  received  wounds  which, 
but  for  fortunate  circumstances,  would  have  proved  mortal, 
because  he  was  unwilling  to  leave  special  operations  on  which 
much  was  depending  to  other  eyes  than  his  own.     The  details 
of  his  campaigns  are,  of  necessity,  the  less    interesting    to 
a  general  reader  from  their  very  completeness.     Desultory 
or  semi-civilised  warfare,  where  the  play  of  the  human  passions 
is  distinctly  visible,  where  individual  man,  whether  in  buff 
jerkin  or  Milan  coat  of  proof,  meets  his  fellow  man  in  close 
mortal  combat,  where  men  starve  by  thousands  or  are  massa 
cred  by  town-fulls,  where  hamlets  or  villages  blaze  throughout 
whole  districts  or  are  sunk  beneath  the  ocean — scenes  of  rage? 
hatred,   vengeance,   self-sacrifice,    patriotism,  where    all  the 
virtues  and  vices  of  which  humanity  is  capable  stiide  to  and 
fro  in  their  most  violent  colours  and  most  colossal  shape — • 


102  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV. 

where  man  in  a  moment  rises  almost  to  divinity,  or  sinks 
beneath  the  beasts  of  the  field — such  tragical  records  of  which 
the  sanguinary  story  of  mankind  is  full— and  no  portion  of 
them  more  so  than  the  Netherland  chronicles — appeal  more 
vividly  to  the  imagination  than  the  neatest  solution  of 
mathematical  problems.  Yet,  if  it  be  the  legitimate  end 
of  military  science  to  accomplish  its  largest  purposes  at  the 
least  expense  of  human  suffering  ;  if  it  be  progress  in  civili 
sation  to  acquire  by  scientific  combination  what  might  be 
otherwise  attempted,  and  perhaps  vainly  attempted,  by  in 
finite  carnage,  then  is  the  professor  with  his  diagrams,  standing 
unmoved  amid  danger,  a  more  truly  heroic  image  than  Coeur- 
de-Lion  with  his  battle-axe  or  Alva  with  his  truncheon. 

The  system — then  a  new  one — which  'Maurice  introduced  to 
sustain  that  little  commonwealth  from  sinking  of  which  he 
had  become  at  the  age  of  seventeen  the  predestined  chief, 
was  the  best  under  the  circumstances  that  could  have  been 
devised.  Patriotism  the  most  passionate,  the  most  sublime, 
had  created  the  republic.  To  maintain  its  existence 
against  perpetual  menace  required  the  exertion  of  perpe 
tual  skill. 

Passionless  as  algebra,  the  genius  of  Maurice  was  ready  for 
the  task.  Strategic  points  of  immense  value,  important  cities 
and  fortresses,  vital  river-courses  and  communications — which 
foreign  tyranny  had  acquired  during  the  tragic  past  with  a 
patient  iniquity  almost  without  a  parallel,  and  which 
patriotism  had  for  years  vainly  struggled  to  recover — were 
the  earliest  trophies  and  prizes  of  his  art.  But  the  details  of 
his  victories  may  be  briefly  indicated,  for  they  have  none 
of  the  picturesqueness  of  crime.  The  sieges  of  Naarden, 
Harlem,  Leyden,  were  tragedies  of  maddening  interest,  but 
the  recovery  of  Zutphen,  Deventer,  Nymegen,  Groningen, 
and  many  other  places — all  important  though  they  were — 
was  accomplished  with  the  calmness  of  a  consummate  player, 
who  throws  down  on  the  table  the  best  half  dozen  invincible 
cards  which  it  thus  becomes  superfluous  to  play. 

There  were  several  courses  open  to  the  prince  before  taking 


1590.  MILITARY  GENIUS  OF  PRINCE  MAURICE.  103 

the  field.  It  was  desirable  to  obtain  control  of  the  line  of  the 
Waal,  by  which  that  heart  of  the  republic — Holland — would 
be  made  entirely  secure.  To  this  end,  Gertruydenberg — 
lately  surrendered  to  the  enemy  by  the  perfidy  of  the  English 
man  Wingfield,  to  whom  it  had  been  entrusted — Bois  le  Due, 
and  Nymegen  were  to  be  wrested  from  Spain. 

It  was  also  important  to  hold  the  Yssel,  the  course  of  which 
river  led  directly  through  the  United  Netherlands,  quite  to 
the  Zuyder  Zee,  cutting  off  Friesland,  Groningen,  and  Gel- 
derland  from  their  sister  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zeeland. 
And  here  again  the  keys  to  this  river  had  been  lost  by 
English  treason.  The  fort  of  Zutphen  and  the  city  of 
Deventer  had  been  transferred  to  the  Spaniard  by  Roland 
York  and  Sir  William  Stanley,24  in  whose  honour  the 
republic  had  so  blindly  confided,  and  those  cities  it  was  now 
necessary  to  reduce  by  regular  siege  before  the  communica 
tions  between  the  eastern  and  western  portions  of  the  little 
commonwealth  could  ever  be  established. 

Still  farther  in  the  ancient  Frisian  depths,  the  memorable 
treason  of  that  native  Netherlander,  the  high-born  Benneberg, 
had  opened  the  way  for  the  Spaniard's  foot  into  the  city  of 
Groningen.  Thus  this  whole  important  province — with  its 
^capital — long  subject  to  the  foreign  oppressor,  was  garrisoned 
with  his  troops. 

Verdugo,  a  veteran  officer  of  Portuguese  birth,  who  had 
risen  from  the  position  of  hostler25  to  that  of  colonel  and 
royal  stadholder,  commanded  in  Friesland.  He  had  in  vain 
demanded  reinforcements  and  supplies  from  Farnese,  who 
most  reluctantly  was  obliged  to  refuse  them  in  order  that  he 
might  obey  his  master's  commands  to  neglect  everything  for 
the  sake  of  the  campaign  in  France. 

And  Verdugo,  stripped  of  all  adequate  forces  to  protect  his 
important  province,  was  equally  destitute  of  means  for  feeding 
the  troops  that  were  left  to  him.  "  I  hope  to  God  that  I  may 
do  my  duty  to  the  king  and  your  Highness,"  he  cried,  "  but  I 
find  myself  sold  up  and  pledged  to  such  an  extent  that  I  am 
24  Vol  II.  of  this  work,  chap.  xiii.  25  Reyd,  ix.  172. 


104  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVI. 

poorer  than  when  I  was  a  soldier  at  four  crowns  a  month. 
And  everybody  in  the  town  is  as  desperate  as  myself."  K 

Maurice,  after  making  a  feint  of  attacking  Gertruydenberg 
and  Bois  le  Due,  so  that  Farnese  felt  compelled,  with  consider 
able  difficulty,  to  strengthen  the  garrison  of  those  places, 
came  unexpectedly  to  Arnhem  with  a  force  of  nine  thousand 
foot  and  sixteen  hundred  horse.  He  had  previously  and  with 
great  secrecy  sent  some  companies  of  infantry  under  Sir 
Francis  Vere  to  Doesburg. 

On  the  23rd  May  (1591)  five  peasants  and  six  peasant 
23  May,  women  made  their  appearance  at  dawn  of  day  before 
1591.  the  chief  guard-house  of  the  great  fort  in  the  Bad- 
meadow  (Vel-uwe),  opposite  Zutphen;  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Yssel.  It  was  not  an  unusual  occurrence.  These  boors  and 
their  wives  had  brought  baskets  of  eggs,  butter,  and  cheese, 
for  the  garrison,  and  they  now  set  themselves  quietly  down 
on  the  ground  before  the  gate,  waiting  for  the  soldiers  of  the 
garrison  to  come  out  and  traffic  with  them  for  their  supplies. 
Yery  soon  several  of  the  guard  made  their  appearance,  and 
began  to  chaffer  with  the  peasants,  when  suddenly  one  of  the 
women  plucked  a  pistol  from  under  her  petticoats  and  shot 
dead  the  soldier  who  was  cheapening  her  eggs.  The  rest  of 
the  party,  transformed  in  an  instant  from  boors  to  soldiers, 
then  sprang  upon  the  rest  of  the  guard,  overpowered  and 
bound  them,  and  took  possession  of  the  gate.  A  considerable 
force,  which  had  been  placed  in  ambush  by  Prince  Maurice 
near  the  spot,  now  rushed  forward,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the 
great  fort  of  Zutphen  was  mastered  by  the  States'  forces  with 
out  loss  of  a  man.  It  was  a  neat  and  perfectly  successful 
stratagem.27 

Next   day   Maurice  began   the  regular  investment  of  the 

24  Ma     C^'     ^n  t^1C  ^th,   Count  Lewis  William  arrived 

with     some     Frisian     companies.      On    the    27th, 

Maurice  threw  a  bridge  of  boats  from  the  Bad-meadow  side, 

across  the  river  to  the  Weert  before  the  city.     On  the  28th 

26  Groen  v.  Prinsterer.     (Archives,  &c.,  II.  Serie  i.  128.) 

27  Meteren,  xv.  298.     Bor  III.  xxviii.  560,  562. 


1591.  FORT  OP  ZUTPHEN  TAKEN.  105 

he  had  got  batteries,  mounting  thirty-two  guns,  into  position, 
commanding  the  place  at  three  points.  On  the  30th 
the  town  capitulated.  Thus  within  exactly  one 
week  from  the  firing  of  the  pistol  shot  by  the  supposed 
butterwoman,  this  fort  and  town,  which  had  so  long  resisted 
the  efforts  of  the  States,  and  were  such  important  possessions 
of  the  Spaniards,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Maurice.  The  terms 
of  surrender  were  easy.  The  city  being  more  important  than 
its  garrison,  the  soldiers  were  permitted  to  depart  with  bag 
and  baggage.  The  citizens  were  allowed  three  days  to 
decide  whether  to  stay  under  loyal  obedience  to  the  States- 
General,  or  to  take  their  departure.  Those  who  chose  to 
remain  were  to  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  citizens  of  the 
United  Provinces.28 

But  very  few  substantial  citizens  were  left,  for  such  had 
been  the  tyranny,  the  misery,  and  the  misrule  during  the 
long  occupation  by  a  foreign  soldiery  of  what  was  once  a 
thriving  Dutch  town,  that  scarcely  anybody  but  paupers 
and  vagabonds  were  left.  One  thousand  houses  were  ruined 
and  desolate.  It  is  superfluous  to  add  that  the  day  of  its 
restoration  to  the  authority  of  the  Union  was  the  beginning 
of  its  renewed  prosperity. 

Maurice,  having  placed  a  national  garrison  in  the  place, 
marched  the  same  evening  straight  upon  Deventer,  seven 

miles  farther  down  the  river,  without  pausing  to 

30  May 
sleep  upon  his  victory.     His  artillery  and  munitions 

were  sent  rapidly  down  the  Yssel. 

Within  five  days  he  had  thoroughly  invested  the  city,  and 
brought  twenty-eight  guns  to  bear  upon  the  weakest  part 
of  its  defences. 

It  was  a  large,  populous,  well-built  town,  once  a  wealthy 
member  of  the  Hanseatic  League,  full  of  fine  build 
ings,  both  public  and  private,  the  capital  of  the  rich  and 
fertile  province  of  Overyssel,  and  protected  by  a  strong  wall 
and  moat — as  well-fortified  a  place  as  could  be  found 
in  the  Netherlands.29  The  garrison  consisted  of  fourteen 

*8  Bor,  Meteren,  ubi  sup.     Duyck,  6-14          29  Guicciardini,  in  wee. 


106  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV. 

hundred  Spaniards  and  Walloons,  under  the  command  of 
Count  Herman  van  den  Berg,  first  cousin  of  Prince  Maurice. 

No  sooner  had  the  States  army  come  before  'the  city  than 
a  Spanish  captain  observed — "We  shall  now  have  a  droll 
siege — cousins  on  the  outside,  cousins  on  the  inside.  There 
will  be  a  sham  fight  or  two,  and  then  the  cousins  will  make 
it  up,  and  arrange  matters  to  suit  themselves."30 

Such  hints  had  deeply  wounded  Van  den  Berg,  who  was  a 
fervent  Catholic,  and  as  loyal  a  servant  to  Philip  II.  as  he 
could  have  been,  had  that  monarch  deserved,  by  the  laws  of 
nature  and  by  his  personal  services  and  virtues,  to  govern  all 
the  swamps  of  Friesland.  He  slept  on  the  gibe,  having 
ordered  all  the  colonels  and  captains  of  the  garrison  to  attend 
at  solemn  mass  in  the  great  church  the  next  morning.  He 
there  declared  to  them  all  publicly  that  he  felt  outraged  at 
the  suspicions  concerning  his  fidelity,  and  after  mass  he  took 
the  sacrament,  solemnly  swearing  never  to  give  up  the  city 
or  even  to  speak  of  it  until  he  had  made  such  resistance  that 
he  must  be  carried  from  the  breach.  So  long  as  he  could 
stand  or  sit  he  would  defend  the  city  entrusted  to  his  care.31 

The  whole  council  who  had  come  from  Zutphen  to  Maurice's 
camp  were  allowed  to  deliberate  concerning  the  siege.  The 
enemy  had  been  seen  hovering  about  the  neighbourhood  in 
considerable  numbers,  but  had  not  ventured  an  attempt  to 
throw  reinforcements  into  the  place.  Many  of  the  counsellors 
argued  against  the  siege.  It  was  urged  that  the  resistance 
would  be  determined  and  protracted,  and  that  the  Duke  of 
Parma  was  sure  to  take  the  field  in  person  to  relieve  so  im 
portant  a  city,  before  its  reduction  could  be  effected. 

But  Maurice  had  thrown  a  bridge  across  the  Yssel  above 
and  another  below  the  town,  had  carefully  and  rapidly  taken 
measures  in  the  success  of  which  he  felt  confident,  and  now 
declared  that  it  would  be  cowardly  and  shameful  to  abandon 
an  enterprise  so  well  begun. 

The  city  had  been  formally  summoned  to  surrender,  and  a 
calm  but  most  decided  refusal  had  been  returned. 

so  Reyd,  ix.  169. 


1591.  ATTACK   ON    DEVENTER.  r  97 

On   the  9th  June  the    batteries  began   playing,  and  after 
four  thousand  six  hundred  shots  a  good  breach  had    9  June, 
been  effected  in  the  defences  along  the  Kaye — an    1591 
earthen  work  lying  between  two  strong  walls  of  masonry. 

The  breach  being  deemed  practicable,  a  storm  was  ordered. 
To  reach  the  Kaye  it  was  necessary  to  cross  a  piece  of  water 
called  the  Haven,  over  which  a  pontoon  bridge  was  hastily 
thrown.  There  was  now  a  dispute  among  the  English,  Scotch, 
and  Netherlander  for  precedence  in  the  assault.  It  was 
ultimately  given  to  the  English,  in  order  that  the  bravery  of 
that  nation  might  now  on  the  same  spot  wipe  out  the  disgrace 
inflicted  upon  its  name  by  the  treason  of  Sir  William  Stanley. 
The  English  did  their  duty  well  and  rushed  forward  merrily, 
but  the  bridge  proved  too  short.  Some  sprang  over  and 
pushed  boldly  for  the  breach.  Some  fell  into  the  moat 
and  were  drowned.  Others,  sustained  by  the  Netherlander 
under  Solms,  Meetkerke,  and  Brederode,  effected  their 
passage  by  swimming,  leaping,  or  wading,  so  that  a  resolute 
attack  was  made.  Herman  van  den  Berg  met  them  in 
the  breach  at  the  head  of  seven  companies.  The  defenders 
were  most  ferocious  in  their  resistance.  They  were  also 
very  drunk.  The  count  had  placed  many  casks  of  Khenish 
and  of  strong  beer  within  reach,  and  ordered  his  soldiers  to 
drink  their  fill  as  they  fought.32  He  was  himself  as  vigorous 
in  his  potations  as  he  was  chivalrous  with  sword  and  buckler. 
Two  pages  and  two  lieutenants  fell  at  his  side,  but  still  he 
fought  at  the  head  of  his  men  with  a  desperation  worthy  of 
his  vow,  until  he  fell  wounded  in  the  eye  and  was  carried 
from  the  place.  Notwithstanding  this  disaster  to  the  com 
mander  of  the  town,  the  assailants  were  repulsed,  losing  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  in  killed  and  wounded — Colonel 
Meetkerke  and  his  brother,  two  most  valuable  Dutch  officers, 
among  them.33 


32  Reyd,  ix.  169. 

33  Ibid.     Bor,  III.  xxviii.  563,  564. 
Meteren,    xvi.    298.      Duyck,   20,  21. 
Colonel  Nicolas  Meetkerke  died  of  his 


veteran  soldier,  and  had  distinguished 
himself  in  the  English-Dutch  expedi 
tion,  under  Essex,  against  Portugal  in 
1587.  His  elder  brother  Antony  had 


wounds  in  this  assault.     He  was  less  been  killed  before    Zutphen  fort  in 
than  thirty  years  of  age,  but  already  a  i  1586.      Hia    two     younger    brother* 


V08  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  OHAP.  XXIV. 

During  the  whole  of  the  assault,  a  vigorous  cannonade  had 
been  kept  up  upon  other  parts  of  the  town,  and  houses  and 
church-towers  were  toppling  down  in  all  directions.  Mean 
while  the  inhabitants — for  it  was  Sunday — instead  of  going  to 
service  were  driven  towards  the  breach  by  the  serjeant-major, 
a  truculent  Spaniard,  next  in  command  to  Van  den  Berg,  who 
ran  about  the  place  with  a  great  stick,  summoning  the  Dutch 
burghers  to  assist  the  Spanish  garrison  on  the  wall.34  It  was 
thought  afterwards  that  this  warrior  would  have  been  better 
occupied  among  the  soldiers,  at  the  side  of  his  commander. 

A  chivalrous  incident  in  the  open  field  occurred  during  the 
assault.  A  gigantic  Albanian  cavalry  officer  came  prancing 
out  of  Deventer  into  the  spaces  between  the  trenches,  defying 
any  officer  in  the  States'  army  to  break  a  lance  with  him. 
Prince  Maurice  forbade  any  acceptance  of  the  challenge,  but 
Lewis  van  der  Cathulle,  son  of  the  famous  Kyhove  of  Ghent, 
unable  to  endure  the  taunts  and  bravado  of  this  champion,  at 
last  obtained  permission  to  encounter  him  in  single  combat. 
They  met  accordingly  with  much  ceremony,  tilted  against 
each  other,  and  shivered  their  lances  in  good  style,  but  with 
out  much  effect.  The  Albanian  then  drew  a  pistol.  Cathulle 
had  no  weapon  save  a  cutlass,  but  with  this  weapon  he  suc 
ceeded  in  nearly  cutting  off  the  hand  which  held  the  pistol. 
He  then  took  his  enemy  prisoner,  the  vain-glorious  challenger 
throwing  his  gold  chain  around  his  conqueror's  neck  in  token 
of  his  victory.  Prince  Maurice  caused  his  wound  to  be  bound 
up  and  then  liberated  him,  sending  him  into  the  city  with  a 
message  to  the  governor.35 

During   the  following   night   the   bridge,  over  which  the 


Baldwin  and  Adolph,  were  both  in  the 
army.  Adolph  was  shot  through  the 
body  in  this  same  storming  party  in 
which  Nicholas  was  killed,  but  seems 
to  have  recovered.  They  were  the 
sons  of  Adolph  Meetkerke,  formerly 
president  of  Flanders,  who,  on  account 
of  his  participation  in  Leicester's  at 
tempt  upon  Leyden  (see  vol.  II.  of  this 
work,  chap,  xvii.)  was  a  refugee  in 
England.  See  Mulder's  note  to 


Duyck,  p.  20.    See  note,  p.  599. 

How  much  does  the  brief  martial 
record  of  these  four  brothers  in  this 
war  of  Dutch  burghers  for  national 
existence  remind  us  of  the  simple  but 
heroic  annals  of  many  a  family  of  our 
own  countrymen  in  the  great  war  now 
waging  for  the  same  object!  (1863). 

34  Reyd,  ubi  sup. 

35  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


1501.  CAPITULATION  OF  DEVENTER  109 

assailants  had  nearly  forced  their  way  into  the  town,  was 
vigorously  attacked  by  the  garrison,  but  Count  Lewis  William, 
in  person,  with  a  chosen  band  defended  it  stoutly  till  morning, 
beating  back  the  Spaniards  with  heavy  loss  in  a  sanguinary 
midnight  contest.36 

Next  morning  there  was  a  unanimous  outcry  on  the  part  of 
the  besieged  for  a  capitulation.  It  was  obvious  that,  June  10, 
with  the  walls  shot  to  ruins  as  they  had  been,  the  159 1. 
place  was  no  longer  tenable  against  Maurice's  superior 
forces.  A  trumpet  was  sent  to  the  prince  before  the  dawn 
of  day,  and  on  the  10th  of  June,  accordingly,  the  place 
capitulated.37 

It  was  arranged  that  the  garrison  should  retire  with  arms 
and  baggage  whithersoever  they  chose.  Van  den  Berg 
stipulated  nothing  in  favour  of  the  citizens,  whether  through 
forgetfulness  or  spite  does  not  distinctly  appear.  But 
the  burghers  were  received  like  brothers.  No  plunder 
was  permitted,  no  ransom  demanded,  and  the  city  took 
its  place  among  its  sisterhood  of  the  United  Provinces.3* 
Van  den  Berg  himself  was  received  at  the  prince's  head" 
quarters  with  much  cordiality.  He  was  quite  blind ; 
but  his  wound  seemed  to  be  the  effect  of  exterior  contu 
sions,  and  he  ultimately  recovered  the  sight  of  one  eye. 
There  was  much  free  conversation  between  himself  and  his 
cousins  during  the  brief  interval  in  which  he  was  their 
guest. 

"  I've  often  told  Verdugo,"  said  he,  "  that  the  States  had 
no  power  to  make  a  regular  siege,  nor  to  come  with  proper 
artillery  into  the  field,  and  he  agreed  with  me.  But  we  were 
both  wrong,  for  I  now  see  the  contrary." 

To  which  Count  Lewis  William  replied  with  a  laugh :  "  My 
dear  cousin,  I've  observed  that  in  all  your  actions  you  were 
in  the  habit  of  despising  us  Beggars,  and  I  have  said  that  you 
would  one  day  draw  the  shortest  straw  in  consequence.  I'm 
glad  to  hear  this  avowal  from  your  own  lips." 

36  Bor,  ubi  sup. 

37  Ibid.     Meteren,  Reyd,  ubi  sup.    Duyck,  20-25.    Parma  to  Philip,  10  June, 
1591.    (Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.)  38Ibid. 


110 


THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXIV. 


Herman  attempted  no  reply  but  let  the  subject  drop, 
seeming  to  regret  baving  said  so  much.39 

Soon  afterwards  he  was  forwarded  by  Maurice  in  his  own 
coach  to  UlfF,  where  he  was  attended  by  the  prince's  body 
physician  till  he  was  re-established  in  health.40 

Thus  within  ten  days  of  his  first  appearance  before  its  walls, 
the  city  of  Deventer,  and  with  it  a  whole  province,  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  Maurice.  It  began  to  be  understood  that 
the  young  pedant  knew  something  about  his  profession,  and 
that  he  had  not  be.en  fagging  so  hard  at  the  science  of  war  for 
nothing.41 

•  The  city  was  in  a  sorry  plight  when  the  States  took  pos 
session  of  it.  As  at  Zutphen,  the  substantial  burghers  had 
wandered  away,  and  the  foreign  soldiers  bivouacking  there  so 
long  had  turned  the  stately  old  Hanseatic  city  into  a  brick 
and  mortar  wilderness.  Hundreds  of  houses  had  been  demo 
lished  by  the  garrison,  that  the  iron  might  be  sold  and  the 
woodwork  burned  for  fuel ;  for  the  enemy  had  conducted 
himself  as  if  feeling  in  his  heart  that  the  occupation  could 
not  be  a  permanent  one,  and  as  if  desirous  to  make  the  place 
as  desolate  as  possible  for  the  Beggars  when  they  should 
return.42 

The  dead  body  of  the  traitor  York,  who  had  died  and  been 
buried  in  Deventer,  was  taken  from  the  tomb,  after  the  cap 
ture  of  the  city,  and  with  the  vulgar  ferocity  so  characteristic 
of  the  times,  was  hung,  coffin  and  all,  on  the  gibbet  for  the 
delectation  of  the  States'  soldiery.43 

Maurice,  having  thus  in  less  than  three  weeks  recovered 
two  most  important  cities,  paused  not  an  instant  in  his  career 
but  moved  at  once  on  Groningen.  There  was  a  strong 
pressure  put  upon  him  to  attempt  the  capture  of  Nymegen, 


89  Reyd,  ubi  sup. 

40  Bor,  uM  sup. 

41  Turenne  (Due  de  Bouillon)  was 
excessively  enthusiastic.     "  Je  ne  vous 
scauroy  dire  la  joie,"  he  wrote  to  Count 
John  the  Elder,  "que  j  'ay  de  1'hon- 
neur  que  Aionsieur  le  Comte  Maurice 
votre  nepveu  a  acquis  en  la  prise  de 


Zutphen  et  Deventer.  II  a  efface  en 
huict  jours  la  reputation  que  le  Due 
de  Parme  a  acquis  en  dix  ans,  et  faict 
bien  paraistre  que  la  vertu  et  gene- 
rosite  de  sa  Maison  est  immortelle." 
Groen  v.  Prinsterer.  (Archives,  II.  S. 
i.  169.)  <2  Reyd  vU  sup 

43  Bor,  Reyd,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


1501.  SIEGE  OF  GRONINGEN.  Ill 

but  the  understanding  with  the  Frisian  stadholders  and  his 
troops  had  been  that  the  enterprise  upon  Groningen  should 
follow  the  reduction  of  Deventer. 

On  the  26th  June   Maurice   appeared  before   Groningen. 
Next  day,  as  a  precautionary  step,  he  moved  to  the    ??9june' 
right  and  attacked  the  strong  city  of  Delfzyl.     This 
place  capitulated  to  him  on  the  2nd  July.     The  fort    2  July, 
of  Opslag  surrendered  on  the  7th  July.     He  then 
moved  to  the  west  of  Groningen,  and  attacked  the    7  July, 
forts  of  Yementil  and  Lettebaest,  which  fell  into  his 
hands  on  the  llth  July.     He  then  moved  along  the  Nyenoort 
through  the  Seven  Wolds  and  Drenthe  to  Steenwyk,  before 
which  strongly  fortified  city  he  arrived  on  the  15th 
July.4*  15  Julr- 

Meantime,  he  received  intercepted  letters  from  Verdugo  to 
the  Duke  of  Parma,  dated  19th  June  from  Groningen.  In 
these,  the  Spanish  stadholder  informed  Farnese  that  the 
enemy  was  hovering  about  his  neighbourhood,  and  that  it 
would  be  necessary  for  the  duke  to  take  the  field  in  person 
in  considerable  force,  or  that  Groningen  would  be  lost,  and 
with  it  the  Spanish  forces  in  the  province.  He  enclosed  a 
memorial  of  the  course  proper  to  be  adopted  by  the  duke  for 
his  relief.45 

Notwithstanding  the  strictness  by  which  Philip  had  tied  his 
great  general's  hands,  Farnese  felt  the  urgency  of  the  situa 
tion.46  By  the  end  of  June,  accordingly,  although  full  of  his 
measures  for  marching  to  the  relief  of  the  Leaguers  in  Nor 
mandy,  he  moved  into  Gelderland,  coming  by  way  of  Xanten, 
Kees,  and  neighbouring  places.  Here  he  paused  for  a  moment 
perplexed,  doubting  whether  to  take  the  aggressive  in  Gelder 
land  or  to  march  straight  to  the  relief  of  Groningen.  He 
decided  that  it  was  better  for  the  moment  to  protect  the  line 
of  the  Waal.  Shipping  his  army  accordingly  into  the  Bata- 
vian  Island  or  Good-meadow  (Bet-uwe),  which  lies  between 

44  Bor,  III.  xxviii.  566-569.      Meteren,  xvii.  298,  299.      Reyd,  ix.  169-172. 
Duyck,  25-34. 
46  Bor,  ubi  sup.  568.  **  Bor,  ubi  sup.  570,  seqq.    Meteren,  ubi  sup. 

VOL,  II— s 


112  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV. 

the  two  great  horns  of  the  Khine,  he  laid  siege  to  Fort  Knod- 
senburg,  which  Maurice  had  built  the  year  before,  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Waal  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  Nymegen. 
Farnese,  knowing  that  the  general  of  the  States  was  occu 
pied  with  his  whole  army  far  away  to  the  north,  and  sepa 
rated  from  him  by  two  great  rivers,  wide  and  deep,  and  by 
the  whole  breadth  of  that  dangerous  district  called  the 
Foul-meadow  (Vel-uwe),  and  by  the  vast  quagmire  known  as 
the  Rouvenian  morass,  which  no  artillery  nor  even  any 
organised  forces  had  ever  traversed47  since  the  beginning  of 
the  world,  had  felt  no  hesitation  in  throwing  his  army  in 
boats  across  the  Waal.  He  had  no  doubt  of  reducing  a  not 
very  powerful  fortress  long  before  relief  could  be  brought  to  it, 
and  at  the  same  time  of  disturbing  by  his  presence  in  Batavia 
the  combinations  of  his  young  antagonist  in  Friesland  and 
Groningen.48 

So  with  six  thousand  foot  and  one  thousand  horse,49  Alex 
ander  came  before  Knodsenburg.  The  news  reached  Maurice 
at  Steenwyk  on  the  15th  July.  Instantly  changing  his 
plans,  the  prince  decided  that  Farnese  must  be  faced  at  once, 
and,  if  possible,  driven  from  the  ground,  thinking  it  more 
important  to  maintain,  by  concentration,  that  which  had 
already  been  gained,  than  to  weaken  and  diffuse  his  forces 
in  insufficient  attempts  to  acquire  more.  Before  two  days 
had  passed,  he  was  on  the  march  southward,  having  left 
Lewis  William  with  a  sufficient  force  to  threaten  Groningen. 
Coming  by  way  of  Hasselt  Zwol  to  Deventer,  he  crossed 
18  July,  the  Yssel  on  a  bridge  of  boats  on  the  18th  of  July, 
1591.  an(i  proceeded  to  Arnhem.50  His  army,  although 
excessively  fatigued  by  forced  marches  in  very  hot  weather, 
over  nearly  impassable  roads,  was  full  of  courage  and  cheer 
fulness,  having  learned  implicit  confidence  in  their  commander. 
20  July.  On  the  20th  he  was  at  Arnhem.  On  the  22nd  his 
22  July,  bridge  of  boats  was  made,  and  he  had  thrown  his  little 


47  Van  der  Kemp,  i.  111. 

48  Bor,  Meteren,  uU  sup.    Parma  to  Philip,  24  July,  1591  .     (Arch,  de  Sim. 
MS.)  49  Parma's  letter  last  cited.  *°  Bor,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


1591.  SIEGE  OF  GRONINGEN.  113 

army  across  the  Rhine  into  Batavia,  and  entrenched  himself 
with  his  six  thousand  foot  and  fourteen  hundred  horse  in 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Farnese — Foul-meadow  and 
Good-meadow,  dyke,  bog,  wold,  and  quagmire,  had  been  suc 
cessfully  traversed,  and  within  one  week  of  his  learning  that 
the  great  viceroy  of  Philip  had  reached  the  Batavian  island, 
Maurice  stood  confronting  that  famous  chieftain  in  battle-array. 

On  the  22nd  July,  Farnese,  after  firing  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five  shots  at  Fort  Knodsenburg,  ordered  an 
assault,   expecting    that    so    trifling  a   work   could 
hardly  withstand  a  determined  onslaught  by  his  veterans.     To 
his  surprise  they  were  so  warmly  received  that  two  hundred 
of  the  assailants  fell  at  the  first  onset,  and  the  attack  was 
most  conclusively  repulsed.51 

And  now  Maurice  had  appeared  upon  the  scene,  determined 
to  relieve  a  place  so  important  for  his  ulterior  de-  24Juiy, 
signs.  On  the  24th  July  he  sent  out  a  small  but  1591< 
picked  force  of  cavalry  to  reconnoitre  the  enemy.  They  were 
attacked  by  a  considerable  body  of  Italian  and  Spanish  horse 
from  the  camp  before  Knodsenburg,  including  Alexander's 
own  company  of  lancers  under  Nicelli.  The  States  troops 
fled  before  them  in  apparent  dismay  for  a  little  distance, 
hotly  pursued  by  the  royalists,  until,  making  a  sudden  halt, 
they  turned  to  the  attack,  accompanied  by  five  fresh  com 
panies  of  cavalry  and  a  thousand  musketeers,  who  fell  upon 
the  foe  from  all  directions.  It  was  an  ambush,  which  had 
been  neatly  prepared  by  Maurice  in  person,  assisted  by 
Sir  Francis  Vere.  Sixty  of  the  Spaniards  and  Italians  were 
killed  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners,  including  Captaia 
Nicelli,  taken,  while  the  rest  of  the  party  sought  safety  in 
ignominious  flight.52  This  little  skirmish,  in  which  ten 
companies  of  the  picked  veterans  of  Alexander  Farnese 
had  thus  been  utterly  routed  before  his  eyes,  did  much  to 
inspire  the  States  troops  with  confidence  in  themselves  and 
their  leader.53 

61  Bor,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 

62  Bor,  Meteren,  ubi  sup.    Groen  v.  Prinsterer.    (Archives,  II.  &  i.  ! 
M  Duyck,  38,  39.    Bor,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 

VOL  III.— I 


114  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV 

Parma  was  too  experienced  a  campaigner,  and  had  too 
quick  an  eye,  not  to  recognise  the  error  which  he  had  com 
mitted  in  placing  the  dangerous  river  Waal,  without  a  bridge, 
between  himself  and  his  supplies.  He  had  not  dreamed  that 
his  antagonist  would  be  capable  of  such  celerity  of  movement 
as  he  had  thus  displayed,  and  his  first  business  now  was  to 
extricate  himself  from  a  position  which  might  soon  become 
fatal.  Without  hesitation,  he  did  his  best  to  amuse  the  enemy, 
in  front  of  the  fort,  and  then  passed  the  night  in  planting 
batteries  upon  the  banks  of  the  river,  under  cover  of  which 
he  succeeded  next  day  in  transporting  in  ferry-boats  his 
whole  force,  artillery  and  baggage,  to  the  opposite  shore, 
without  loss,  and  with  his  usual  skill.54 

He  remained  but  a  short  time  in  Nymegen,  but  he  was 
hampered  by  the  express  commands  of  the  king.  Moreover, 
his  broken  health  imperatively  required  that  he  should  once 
more  seek  the  healing  influence  of  the  waters  of  Spa,  before 
setting  forth  on  his  new  French  expedition.  Meanwhile, 
although  he  had  for  a  time  protected  the  Spanish  possessions 
in  the  north  by  his  demonstration  in  Gelderland,  it  must  be 
confessed  that  the  diversion  thus  given  to  the  plans  of 
Maurice  was  but  a  feeble  one. 

Having  assured  the  inhabitants  of  Nymegen  that  he  would 

watch  over  the  city  like  the  apple  of  his  eye,55  he 

took  his  departure  on  the  4th  of  August  for  Spa. 

He  was    accompanied    on  his  journey  by  his  son,   Prince 

Ranuccio,  just  arrived  from  Italy. 

After  the  retreat  of  Farnese,  Maurice  mustered  his  forces 
at  Arnhem,  and  found  himself  at  the  head  of  seven  thousand 
foot  and  fifteen  hundred  horse.  It  was  expected  by  all  the 
world  that,  being  thus  on  the  very  spot,  he  would  forthwith 
proceed  to  reduce  the  ancient,  wealthy,  imperial  city  of 


64  Duyck,  41.  "We  may  thank 
God  Almighty,"  says,  under  date  of 
27  July,  the  faithful  journalist  of  these 
transactions,  "  that  He  has  so  guided 
our  affairs  that  the  Duke  of  Parma, 
whom  hardly  any  cities  or  provinces 


fore  has  usurped  the  title  of  the  great 
Alexander,  now  with  great  shame  and 
loss  has  been  obliged  to  retreat  from 
before  the  single  fort  of  Knodsenburg." 
Compare  Bor,  Meteren,  iM  sup.  Vaq 
der  Kemp,  i.  111.  Colonia,  iv.  74 vo. 


could  hitherto  resist,  and  who  there- 1      **  Meteren,  xvi,  299,  30Q. 


1591.  SURRENDER  OF  HULST.  115 

Nymegen.  The  garrison  and  burghers  accordingly  made 
every  preparation  to  resist  the  attack,  disconcerted  as  they 
were,  however,  by  the  departure  of  Parma,  and  by  the 
apparent  incapacity  of  Verdugo  to  bring  them  effectual 
relief. 

But  to  the  surprise  of  all  men,  the  States  forces  suddenly 
disappeared  from  the  scene,  having  been,  as  it  were,  spirited 
away  by  night-time,  along  those  silent  watery  highways  and 
crossways  of  canal,  river,  and  estuary — the  military  advantages 
of  which  to  the  Netherlands,  Maurice  was  the  first  thoroughly 
to  demonstrate.     Having  previously  made  great  preparations 
of  munitions  and  provisions  in  Zeeland,  the  young  general, 
who  was  thought  hard  at  work  in  Gelderland,  suddenly,  pre 
sented  himself,  on  the  19th  September,  before  the    ^  ^  t 
gates  of  Hulst,  on  the  border  of  Zeeland  and  Brabant. 
It  was  a  place  of  importance  from  its  situation,  its  possession 
by  the   enemy  being  a  perpetual   thorn  in  the  side   of  the 
States,  and  a  constant  obstacle  to  the  plans  of  Maurice.     His 
arrangements  having  been  made  with  the  customary 
neatness,  celerity,  and  completeness,  he  received  the 
surrender  of  the  city  on  the  fifth  day  after  his  arrival.56 

Its  commander,  Castillo,  could  offer  no  resistance,  and 
was  subsequently,  it  is  said,  beheaded  by  order  of  the  Duke 
of  Parma  for  his  negligence.57  The  place  is  but  a  dozen 
miles  from  Antwerp,  which  city  was  at  the  very  moment 
keeping  great  holiday  and  outdoing  itself  in  magnificent 
festivals  in  honour  of  young  Eanuccio.58  The  capture  of 
Hulst  before  his  eyes  was  a  demonstration  quite  unex 
pected  by  the  prince,  and  great  was  the  wrath  of  old  Mon- 
dragon,  governor  of  Antwerp,  thus  bearded  in  his  den.  The 
veteran  made  immediate  preparations  for  chastising  the 
audacious  Beggars  of  Zeeland  and  their  pedantic  young 
commander,  but  no  sooner  had  the  Spaniards  taken  the 
field  than  the  wily  foe  had  disappeared  as  magically  as  he 
had  come. 

M  Meteren,  ubi  sup.    Bor,  uU  sup.  574.     Duyck,  48-58. 
57  Meterexi,  id*  *U-  58 


116  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV. 

The  Flemish  earth  seemed  to  hare  bubbles  as  the  water 
hath,  and  while  Mondragon  was  beating  the  air  in  vain  on 
the  margin  of  the  Scheld,  Maurice  was  back  again  upon  .the 
Waal,  horse,  foot,  and  artillery,  bag,  baggage,  and  munition, 
and  had  fairly  set  himself  down  in  earnest  to  besiege  Nymegen, 
before  the  honest  burghers  and  the  garrison  had  finished 
drawing  long  breaths  at  their  recent  escape.  Between  the  14th 
14-16  Oct.  and  16th  October  he  had  bridged  the  deep,  wide, 
1591.  and  rapid  river,  had  transported  eight  thousand  five 
hundred  infantry  and  sixteen  companies  of  cavalry  to  the 
southern  side,  had  entrenched  his  camp  and  made  his  ap 
proaches,  and  had  got  sixty-eight  pieces  of  artillery  into  three 
positions  commanding  the  weakest  part  of  the  defences  of  the 
city  between  the  Falcon  Tower  and  the  Hoender  gate.59  The 
fort  of  Knodsenburg  was  also  ready  to  throw  hot  shot  across  the 
river  into  the  town.  Not  a  detail  in  all  these  preparations 
escaped  the  vigilant  eye  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  and  again 
and  again  was  he  implored  not  so  recklessly  to  expose  a  life 
already  become  precious  to  his  country.  On  the  20th 
October,  Maurice  sent  to  demand  the  surrender  of 
the  city.  The  reply  was  facetious  but  decisive. 

The  prince  was  but  a  young  suitor,  it  was  said,  and  the 
city  a  spinster  not  so  lightly  to  be  won.  A  longer  courtship 
and  more  trouble  would  be  necessary.60 

Whereupon  the  suitor  opened  all  his  batteries  without 
further  delay,  and  the  spinster  gave  a  fresh  example  of  the 
inevitable  fate  of  talking  castles  and  listening  ladies. 

Nymegen,   despite   her    saucy  answer  on   the  20th,   sur 
rendered    on    the    21st.      Belief   was    impossible, 
21  Oct.       __  .  .  _  .  _ 

Neither   Parma,  now  on  his  way  to   France,  nor 

Verdugo,  shut  up  in  Friesland,  could  come  to  the  rescue  of 
the  place,  and  the  combinations  of  Maurice  were  an  inexorable 
demonstration. 

The  terms  of  the  surrender  were  similar  to  those  accorded 
to  Zutphen  and  Deventer.  In  regard  to  the  religious  point 
it  was  expressly  laid  down  by  Maurice  that  the  demand  for 

*»  Meteren,  xvi.  300.    Bor,  xxviii.  575.     Duyck,  59-67.     60  Meteren,.  uU  sup. 


1591.  CAPTURE  OF  NYMEGEN.  H7 

permission  to  exercise  publicly  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
should  be  left  to  the  decision  of  the  States-General.61 

And  thus  another  most  important  city  had  been  added  to 
the  domains  of  the  republic.  Another  triumph  was  inscribed 
on  the  record  of  the  young  commander.  The  exultation  was 
very  great  throughout  the  United  Netherlands,  and  heart 
felt  was  the  homage  rendered  by  all  classes  of  his  countrymen 
to  the  son  of  William  the  Silent. 

Queen  Elizabeth  wrote  to  congratulate  him  in  warmest 
terms  on  his  great  successes,  and  even  the  Spaniards  began 
to  recognise  the  merits  of  the  new  chieftain.  An  intercepted 
letter  from  Verdugo,  who  had  been  foiled  in  his  efforts  to 
arrest  the  career  of  Maurice,  indicated  great  respect  for  his 
prowess.  "  I  have  been  informed,"  said  the  veteran,  "  that 
Count  Maurice  of  Nassau  wishes  to  fight  me.  Had  I  the  op 
portunity  I  assure  you  that  I  should  not  fail  him,  for  even  if  ill 
luck  were  my  portion,  I  should  at  least  not  escape  the  honour  of 
being  beaten  by  such  a  personage.  I  beg  you  to  tell  him  so  with 
my  affectionate  compliments.  Yours,  FRANCIS  VERDUGO."62 

These  chivalrous  sentiments  towards  Prince  Maurice  had 
not  however  prevented  Verdugo  from  doing  his  best  to 
assassinate  Count  Lewis  William.  Two  Spaniards  had  been 
arrested  in  the  States  camp  this  summer,  who  came  in  as 
deserters,  but  who  confessed  "with  little,  or  mostly  without 
torture/'  that  they  had  been  sent  by  their  governor  and 
colonel  with  instructions  to  seize  a  favourable  opportunity  to 
shoot  Lewis  William  and  set  fire  to  his  camp.  But  such 
practices  were  so  common  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  com 
manders  as  to  occasion  no  surprise  whatever.63 

It  will  be  remembered  that  two  years  before,  the  famous 
Martin  Schenk  had  come  to  a  tragic  end  at  Nymegen.64  He 
had  been  drowned,  fished  up,  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  ; 
after  which  his  scattered  fragments,  having  been  exposed  on 
all  the  principal  towers  of  the  city,  had  been  put  in  pickle 
and  deposited  in  a  chest.  They  were  now  collected  and 


61  Meteren,   Bor,  Duyck,   ubi  sup. 
Van  der  Kemp,  i.  113. 

62  Bor,  ubi  sup.  578. 


63  Groen  v.  Prinsterer.     (Archives, 
II.  Serie  i.  148.) 

**  Vol.  II.  of  this  work,  chap.  xx. 


118  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIV. 

buried  triumphantly  in  the  tomb  of  the  Dukes  of  Gelderland. 
Thus  the  shade  of  the  grim  freebooter  was  at  last  appeased.65 

The  government  of  the  city  was  conferred  upon  Count 
Lewis  William,  with  Gerard  de  Jonge  as  his  lieutenant.  A 
substantial  garrison  was  placed  in  the  city,  and,  the  season 
being  now  far  advanced,  Maurice  brought  the  military  opera 
tions  of  the  year,  saving  a  slight  preliminary  demonstration 
against  Gertruydenberg,  to  a  close.66  He  had  deserved  and 
attained  considerable  renown.  He  had  astonished  the 
leisurely  war-makers  and  phlegmatic  veterans  of  the  time, 
both  among  friends  and  foes,  by  the  unexampled  rapidity  of 
his  movements  and  the  concentration  of  his  attacks.  He  had 
carried  great  waggon  trains  and  whole  parks  of  siege  artillery 
— the  heaviest  then  known — over  roads  and  swamps  which 
had  been  deemed  impassable  even  for  infantry.  He  had 
traversed  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  republic  in  a  single 
campaign,  taken  two  great  cities  in  Overyssel,  picked  up  cities 
and  fortresses  in  the  province  of  Groningen,  and  threatened 
its  capital,  menaced  Steenwyk,  relieved  Knodsenburg  though 
besieged  in  person  by  the  greatest  commander  of  the  age, 
beaten  the  most  famous  cavalry  of  Spain  and  Italy  under  the 
eyes  of  their  chieftain,  swooped  as  it  were  through  the  air 
upon  Brabant,  and  carried  off  an  important  city  almost  in  the 
sight  of  Antwerp,  and  sped  back  again  in  the  freezing  weather 
of  early  autumn,  with  his  splendidly  served  and  invincible 
artillery,  to  the  imperial  city  of  Nymegen,  which  Farnes6 
had  sworn  to  guard  like  the  apple  of  his  eye,  and  which,  with 
consummate  skill,  was  forced  out  of  his  grasp  in  five  days. 

"  Some  might  attribute  these  things  to  blind  fortune/'  says 
an  honest  chronicler  who  had  occupied  important  posts  in  the 
service  of  the  prince  and  of  his  cousin  Lewis  William,  "  but 
they  who  knew  the  prince's  constant  study  and  laborious 
attention  to  detail,  who  were  aware  that  he  never  committed 
to  another  what  he  could  do  himself,  who  saw  his  sobriety, 
vigilance,  his  perpetual  study  and  holding  of  council  with 
Count  Lewis  William  (himself  possessed  of  all  these  good 

**  Bor,  ubi  sup.  w  Bor,  Meteren,  Duyck,  ubi  twf 


1591. 


SUCCESSFUL  CAMPAIGN  OF  PRINCE  MAURICE. 


119 


gifts,  perhaps  even  in  greater  degree),  and  who  never  found 
him  seeking,  like  so  many  other  commanders,  his  own  ease 
and  comfort,  would  think  differently."  67 


67  Reyd,  ix.  175. 

It  is  indeed  impossible  to  regard  the 
simple,  earnest,  genial,  valorous,  and 
studious  character  of  Lewis  William 
without  affection.  His  private  letters 


gies  and  their  means  to  emulate  the 
example  set  them  by  their  predeces 
sors.  Nor  can  I  refrain  in  this  con 
nection  from  citing  the  noble  language 
in  which  the  patriarch  of  the  Nassaus, 


are  charming.  In  the  intervals  of  his  Count  John  the  Elder,  urged  upon  his 
busy  campaignings,  he  found  time  not  {  sons  and  nephews  the  necessity  of 
only  for  his  own  studies,  but  also  for  |  establishing  a  system  of  common 
superintending  the  education  of  his  i  schools  in  the  United  Provinces — an 
two  younger  brothers.  It  had  at  first  !  institution  which,  when  adopted  in 
been  proposed  that  they  should  go  to  I  that  commonwealth,  became  a  source 
an  English  university,  but  old  Count  of  incalculable  good,  and  which,  trans- 
John  objected  to  the*  expense,  and  to  |  planted  in  the  next  generation  by  Eng- 
the  luxurious  habits  which  they  would  i  lish  pilgrims  from  Leyden  to  Massa 
there.  He  liked  not  the  chusetts,  and  vastly  developed  in 
the  virgin  soil  of  America,  has  long 
been  the  chief  safeguard  and  the 


encounter 
"mores"  of  the 


young    English  no 
bles,  he  said,  while  he  denounced  in 


vehement  language  the  drunkenness  i  peculiar  glory  of  our  own  republic. 


and  profligacy  of  the  Germans.  It 
was  now  decided  that  Count  Lewis 
William  should  take  charge  of  them 
himself :  "  As  there  is  no  good  oppor 
tunity  for  them  at  Dillenburg,"  he 
wrote  to  his  father,  "  and  as  the  ex 
pense  of  Leyden  seems  too  great,  it  is 


"  You  must  urge  upon  the  States-Ge 
neral,"  said  the  only  surviving  brother 
of  William  the  Silent,  "  that  they,  ac 
cording  to  the  example  of  the  Pope 
and  the  Jesuits,  should  establish  free 
schools  where  children  of  quality  as 
well  as  of  poor  families,  for  a  very 


me.      Although    living  is  very  dear 
here,  and   my  housekeeping  is  very 


better  that  they  should  remain  with  j  small  sum,  could  be  well  and  chris- 

tianly  educated  and  brought  up.  This 
would  be  the  greatest  and  most  useful 

hard  upon  me,  yet  are  my  young  bro-  j  work,  and  the  highest  service  that  you 

thers,  and  their  good  education,  on  i  could    ever  accomplish  for  God  and 

which  their  weal  and  woe  depend,  so 

dear  to  me  that  I  will  take  charge  of 


them  with  all  my  heart.  In  this  case 
your  grace  will  please  send  them  a 
learned  preceptor,  and  pay  for  his 
salary  and  for  my  brothers'  clothing. 
For  the  rest  I  will  provide  ;  and  I  will 
myself  be  their  tutor  in  reading  and 
studying,  in  which  I  exercise  myself 
as  much  as  I  have  opportunity  to  do, 
and  I  will  take  them  with  me  to  the 
field  whenever  there  is  anything  to 
see  there,  and  anything  going  on 
against  the  enemy."  Groen  v.  Prins- 
terer.  (Archives,  II.  S.  i.  149,  227, 
131,  144.) 

This  was  the  stuff  out  of  which  the 
Nassaus  were  made.  William  the 
Silent  and  his  three  brethren  had 
already  laid  down  their  lives  for  the 
commonwealth  which  he  had  founded, 
and  now  there  were  his  son  and 
nine  more  of  the  race  in  arms  for 
its  defence,  or  devoting  all  their  ener- 


Christianity,  and  especially  for  the 
Netherlands  themselves.  ...  In 
summa,  one  may  jeer  at  this  as  popish 


trickery,  and  undervalue  it  as  one  will, 
there  still  remains  in  the  work  an  in 
expressible  benefit.  Soldiers  and  pa 
triots  thus  educated,  with  a  true  know 
ledge  of  God  and  a  Christian  con 
science  :  item,  churches  and  schools, 
good  libraries,  books  and  printing- 
are  better  than  all  armies,  ar 


senals,  armouries,  munitions,  alliances, 
and  treaties  that  can  be  had  or  ima 
gined  in  the  world Pray 

urge  upon  his  Grace  (Prince  Maurice), 
in  cousinly  and  friendly  manner,  that 
he  should  not  shrink  from  nor  find 
shame  or  difficulty  in  these  things,  nor 
cease,  under  invocation  of  Divine  aid, 
from  reflecting  on  them,  and  further 
ing  them  with  earnest  diligence." 
Groen  v.  Prinsterer.  (Archives,  II.  S, 
i.  Letter  95,  p  210  seqq.) 


120  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

War  in  Brittany  and  Normandy  —  Death  of  La  Noue  —  Religious  and 
political  persecution  in  Paris  —  Murder  of  President  Brisson,  Larcher, 
and  Tardif  —  The  sceptre  of  France  offered  to  Philip  —  The  Duke  of 
Mayenne  punishes  the  murderers  of  the  magistrates  —  Speech  of  Henry's 
envoy  to  the  States-General  —  Letter  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Henry  — 
Siege  of  Rouen  —  Farnese  leads  an  army  to  its  relief — The  king  is 
wounded  in  a  skirmish  —  Siege  of  Rue  by  Farnese  —  Henry  raises  the 
siege  of  Rouen  —  Siege  of  Caudebec  —  Critical  position  of  Farnese  and 
his  army  —  Victory  of  the  Duke  of  Mercosur  in  Brittany. 

AGAIN  the  central  point  towards  which  the  complicated 
events  to  be  described  in  this  history  gravitate  is  found  on 
the  soil  of  France.  Movements  apparently  desultory  and 
disconnected — as  they  may  have  seemed  to  the  contempo 
raneous  observer,  necessarily  occupied  with  the  local  and 
daily  details  which  make  up  individual  human  life — are 
found  to  be  necessary  parts  of  a  whole,  when  regarded  with 
that  breadth  and  clearness  of  vision  which  is  permitted  to 
human  beings  only  when  they  can  look  backward  upon  that 
long  sequence  of  events  which  make  up  the  life  of  nations 
and  which  we  call  the  Past.  It  is  only  by  the  anatomical 
study  of  what  has  ceased  to  exist  that  we  can  come  thoroughly 
to  comprehend  the  framework  and  the  vital  conditions  of  that 
which  lives.  It  is  only  by  patiently  lifting  the  shroud  from 
the  Past  that  we  can  enable  ourselves  to  make  even  wide 
guesses  at  the  meaning  of  the  dim  Present  and  the  veiled 
Future.  It  is  only  thus  that  the  continuity  of  human  history 
reveals  itself  to  us  as  the  most  important  of  scientific  facts. 

If  ever  commonwealth  was  apparently  doomed  to  lose  that 
national  existence  which  it  had  maintained  for  a  brief  period 
at  the  'expense  of  infinite  sacrifice  of  blood  and  treasure,  it  was 
the  republic  of  the  United  Netherlands  in  the  period  imme 
diately  succeeding  the  death  of  William  the  Silent.  Domestic 


1591.  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.  121 

treason,  secession  of  important  provinces,  religious  hatred, 
foreign  intrigue,  and  foreign  invasion — in  such  a  sea  of  troubles 
was  the  republic  destined  generations  long  to  struggle.  Who 
but  the  fanatical,  the  shallow-minded,  or  the  corrupt  could 
doubt  the  inevitable  issue  of  the  conflict  ?  Did  not  great  sages 
and  statesmen  whose  teachings  seemed  so  much  wiser  in  their 
generation  than  the  untaught  impulses  of  the  great  popular 
heart,  condemn  over  and  over  again  the  hopeless  struggles 
and  the  atrocious  bloodshed  which  were  thought  to  disgrace 
the  age,  and  by  which  it  was  held  impossible  that  the  cause 
of  human  liberty  should  ever  be  advanced  ? 

To  us  who  look  back  from  the  vantage  summit  which 
humanity  has  reached — thanks  to  the  toil  and  sacrifices  of 
those  who  have  preceded  us — it  may  seem  doubtful  whether 
a  premature  peace  in  the  Netherlands,  France,  and  England 
would  have  been  an  unmitigated  blessing,  however  easily  it 
might  have  been  purchased  by  the  establishment  all  over 
Europe  of  that  holy  institution  called  the  Inquisition,  and 
by  the  tranquil  acceptance  of  the  foreign  domination  of 
Spain. 

If,  too,  ever  country  seemed  destined  to  the  painful  process 
of  national  vivisection  and  final  dismemberment,  it  was  France. 
Its  natural  guardians  and  masters,  save  one,  were  in  secret 
negotiation  with  foreign  powers  to  obtain  with  their  assistance 
a  portion  of  the  national  territory  under  acknowledgment  of 
foreign  supremacy.  There  was  hardly  an  inch  of  French  soil 
that  had  not  two  possessors.  In  Burgundy  Baron  Biron  was 
battling  against  the  Viscount  Tavannes  ;  in  the  Lyonese  and 
Dauphiny  Marshal  des  Digiueres  was  fighting  with  the 
Dukes  of  Savoy  and  Nemours  ;  in  Provence,  Epernon  was 
resisting  Savoy  ;  in  Languedoc,  Oons table  Montmorency  con 
tended  with  the  Duke  of  Joyeuse  ;  in  Brittany,  the  Prince  of 
Dombes  was  struggling  with  the  Duke  of  Mercoeur. 

But  there  was  one  adventurer  who  thought  he  could  show 
a  better  legal  title  to  the  throne  of  France  than  all  the  doctors 
of  the  Sorbonne  could  furnish  to  Philip  II.  and  his  daughter, 
and  who  still  trusted,  through  all  the  disasters,  which  pursued 


122  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXY 

him,  and  despite  the  machinations  of  venal  warriors  and  men 
dicant  princes,  to  his  good  right  and  his  good  sword,  and  to 
something  more  potent  than  hoth,  the  cause  of  national  unity; 
His  rehuke  to  the  intriguing  priests  at  the  interview  of  St. 
Denis,  and  his  reference  to  the  judgment  of  Solomon,  formed 
the  text  to  his  whole  career. 

The  brunt  of  the  war  now  fell  upon  Brittany  and  Nor 
mandy.  Three  thousand  Spaniards  under  Don  John  de 
Aquila  had  landed  in  the  port  of  Blavet  which  they  had  for 
tified,  as  a  stronghold  on  the  coast.1  And  thither,  to  defend 
the  integrity  of  that  portion  of  France,  which,  in  Spanish 
hands,  was  a  perpetual  menace  to  her  realm,  her  crown,  even 
to  her  life,  Queen  Elizabeth  had  sent  some  three  thousand 
Englishmen,  under  commanders  well  known  to  France  and 
the  Netherlands.  There  was  black  Norris  again  dealing 
death  among  the  Spaniards  and  renewing  his  perpetual 
squabbles  with  Sir  Roger  Williams.  There  was  that  doughty 
Welshman  himself,  truculent  and  caustic  as  ever  and  as  ready 
with  sword  or  pen,  foremost  in  every  mad  adventure  or  every 
forlorn  hope,  criticising  with  sharpest  tongue  the  blunders 
and  shortcomings  of  friend  and  foe,  and  devoting  the  last 
drop  in  his  veins  with  chivalrous  devotion  to  his  Queen. 
"  The  world  cannot  deny,"  said  he,  "  that  any  carcase  living 
ventured  himself  freer  and  oftener  for  his  prince,  state,  and 
friends  than  I  did  mine.  There  is  no  more  to  be  had  of  a 
poor  beast  than  his  skin,  and  for  want  of  other  means  I  never 
respected  mine  in  the  least  respect  towards  my  sovereign's 
service,  or  country."2  And  so  passing  his  life  in  the  saddle 


1  Coloma,  iv.  61 vo. 

2  Williams  to  Burghley,  Feb.    15, 
1592.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

A  most  brilliant  combat  had  re 
cently  occurred  before  Dieppe,  in 
which  Sir  Roger,  at  the  head  of  six 
hundred  men — four  hundred  of  them 
English — had  attacked  two  full  regi 
ments  of  the  League  in  their  entrench 
ments,  and  routed  them  utterly,  with 
the  loss  of  five  hundred  killed  and 
wounded,  four  hundred  prisoners,  and 
sustaining  but  little  lorn  himself.  The 


achievement  seems  an  extraordinary 
one,  but  is  vouched  for  by  the  Go 
vernor  of  Dieppe,  on  whose  authority 
it  was  communicated  by  the  French 
ambassador  in  London  to  the  Queen : 
"Glory  to  God  and  to  the  said  Sir 
Williams,"  said  the  ambassador, "  who 
has  not  belied  by  this  action  the  good 
opinion  that  all  good  people  of  both 
nations  had  of  him  this  long  time,  and 
has  shown  us  that  the  English  of  our 
day  have  not  degenerated  from  the 
ancient  virtue  of  their  fathers."  Beau- 


1591. 


SIR  ROGER  WILLIAMS. 


123 


and  under  fire,  yet  finding  leisure  to  collect  the  materials  for, 
and  to  complete  the  execution  of,  one  of  the  most  valuable  and 
attractive  histories  of  the  age,  the  bold  Welshman  again  and 
again  appears,  wearing  the  same  humorous  but  truculent 
aspect  that  belonged  to  him  when  he  was  wont  to  run  up 
and  down  in  a  great  morion  and  feathers  on  Flemish  battle 
fields,  a  mark  for  the  Spanish  sharp-shooters. 

There,  too,  under  the  banner  of  the  Bearnese,  that  other 
historian  of  those  sanguinary  times,  who  had  fought  on  almost 
every  battle-field  where  tyranny  and  liberty  had  sought  to 
gmite  each  other  dead,  on  French  or  Flemish  soil,  and  who 

Besides  other  speeches,  although  not 
flattering,  I  am  assured  honest,  I  told 
his  Majesty,  Sir,  if  you  will  have  the 
world  to  confess  you  as  great  a  captain 
as  yourself,  and  all  we  here  think  you 
to  be,  you  must  recover  or  at  least 
save  your  seaports,  rather  than  those 
bicocques,  or  places  of  small  import 
ance  in  respect  of  them,  else  your  best 
friends  will  despair  of  your  govern 
ment,  and  in  short  time  not  able  to 
succour  you  for  want  of  ports  to  land 
your  necessaries."  Williams  to  the 
Queen,  from  Dieppe,  4  June  1591. 
(S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

And  again  : — "  Doth  the  king  pros 
per,  your  Majesty  and  estate  must 
needs  flourish,  for  the  wars  will  rest  all 
on  him.  Doth  he  decay,  your  Majesty 
must  needs  maintain  his  wars,  or  in  a 
short  time  fight  of  yourself,  not  only 
against  the  Spanish,  but  against  all 
the  League,  the  which  will  increase 
daily,  for  all  the  mercenaries  will  fol 
low  the  fortunate,  I  mean  the  victori 
ous.  Doth  the  Spanish  ruin  this  king. 
Holland  and  Zeeland  will  be  founa 
good  cheap,  and  England  in  that  case 
I  pray  God  never  to  see  it.  Therefore, 
most  sacred  Sovereign,  a  penny  to  save 
a  pound  is  well  bestowed,  and  to  ruin 
a  suburb  to  save  a  city  is  done  to  good 
purpose.  My  meaning  is  better  to 
spend  part  of  your  wealth  and  subjects 
than  to  hazard  the  whole.  This  king 
is  on  making  or  marring,  resolving 
only  on  your  Majesty's  succour.  Hav 
ing  it,  he  doubts  nothing  to  take 
Rouen."  Williams  to  the  Queen,  9 
June,  1591.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 


voir  la  Nocle  to  Burghley,  May  24, 
1591.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

No  one  gave  better  or  blunter  ad 
vice  to  both  Queen  and  King  than 
this  hard  -  fighting,  sharp  -  writing 
Welshman.  No  one  insisted  more 
earnestly  than  he  did  on  the  entire 
union  in  interest  and  danger  of  Eliza 
beth,  Henry,  and  the  Dutch  Republic  ; 
and  that  every  battle  gained  in  Brit 
tany,  Normandy,  or  the  Netherlands, 
was  a  blow  struck  in  immediate  de 
fence  of  England's  very  existence. — 
"  Therefore,  Sacred  Majesty,"  wrote 
Williams,  "if  you  can,  help  the  King 
to  take  Rouen.  If  he  be  in  Rouen, 
your  Majesty  may  be  assured  this 
king  is  on  his  horseback  in  such  sort 
that  all  Spain  and  their  confederators 
will  shake  and  dare  think  on  nothing 
else  but  how  to  prevent  him.  Then 
shall  he  be  well  able  to  maintain  him 
self,  and  your  Majesty's  purse  be  well 
spared,  but  doth  he  not  take  Rouen, 
and  the  Spaniards  enter  into  these 
parts,  as  Villars  and  Tavannes  doth 
demand  them,  then  be  assured  all  the 
charges  of  these  wars  must  be  on 
your  Majesty,  for  the  poor  king  shall 
not  be  able  to  pay  500  soldiers.  If  he 
should  be  beaten,  be  assured  in  few 
months  to  fight  for  the  English  ports, 
in  such  sort  that  I  pray  God  I  may 
never  see  it.  I  fear  I  angered  the 
king.  If  he  be  doing  me  right,  your 
Majesty  and  the  world  found  me  ever 
his  servant  to  the  uttermost  of  my 
power.  I  found  him  sometimes  speak 
ing  he  would  besiege  Pontoise,  some 
times  Sancy  in  Champagne,  and  how 
he  should  join  with  the  Almayn  army. 


124  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV 

had  prepared  his  famous  political  and  military  discourses  in 
a  foul  dungeon  swarming  with  toads  and  rats  and  other  vil 
lainous  reptiles  to  which  the  worse  than  infernal  tyranny  of 
Philip  II.  had  consigned  him  for  seven  years  long  as  a 
prisoner  of  war — the  brave  and  good  La  Noue,  with  the  iron 
arm,  hero  of  a  hundred  combats,  was  fighting  his  last  fight. 
At  the  siege  of  Lamballe  in  Brittany,  he  had  taken  off  hip 
casque  and  climbed  a  ladder  to  examine  the  breach  effected 
by  the  batteries.  An  arquebus  shot  from  the  town  grazed 
his  forehead,  and,  without  inflicting  a  severe  wound,  stunned 
him  so  much  that  he  lost  his  balance  and  fell  head  foremost 
towards  the  ground  ;  his  leg,  which  had  been  wounded  at  the 
midnight  assault  upon  Paris,  where  he  stood  at  the  side  of 
King  Henry,  caught  in  the  ladder  and  held  him  suspended. 
His  head  was  severely  bruised,  and  the  contusions  and  shock 
to  his  war-worn  frame  were  so  great  that  he  died  after  linger 
ing  eighteen  days. 

His  son  de  Teligny,  who  in  his  turn  had  just  been  ex 
changed  and  released  from  the  prison  where  he  had  lain  since 
his  capture  before  Antwerp,  had  hastened  with  joy  to  join  his 
father  in  the  camp,  but  came  to  close  his  eyes.  The  veteran 
caused  the  chapter  in  Job  on  the  resurrection  of  the  body  to 
be  read  to  him  on  his  death-bed,  and  died  expressing  his  firm 
faith  in  a  hereafter.  Thus  passed  away,  at  the  age  of  sixty, 
on  the  4th  August,  1591,  one  of  the  most  heroic  spirits  of 
France.  Prudence,  courage,  experience,  military  knowledge 
both  theoretic  and  practical,  made  him  one  of  the  first  cap 
tains  of  the  age,  and  he  was  not  more  distinguished  for  his 
valour  than  for  the  purity  of  his  life,  and  the  moderation, 
temperance,  and  justice  of  his  character.3  The  Prince  of 
Dombes,  in  despair  at  his  death,  raised  the  siege  of  Lam 
balle. 

There  was  yet  another  chronicler,  fighting  among  the 
Spaniards,  now  in  Brittany,  now  in  Normandy,  and  now  in 
Flanders,  and  doing  his  work  as  thoroughly  with  his  sword  as 
afterwards  with  his  pen,  Don  Carlos  Coloma;  captain  of 

3  De  Thou,  t.  xi.  lib.  97,  pp.  397,398. 


1591.  PARTIZANS    OF  PHILIP   IN  PARIS.  125 

cavalry,  afterwards  financier,  envoy,  and  historian.  For  it 
was  thus  that  those  writers  prepared  themselves  for  their 
work.  They  were  all  actors  in  the  great  epic,  the  episodes  of 
which  they  have  preserved.  They  lived  and  fought,  and 
wrought  and  suffered  and  wrote.  Kude  in  tongue,  aflame 
with  passion,  twisted  all  awry  by  prejudice,  violent  in  love 
and  hate,  they  have  left  us  narratives  which  are  at  least  full 
of  colour  and  thrilling  with  life. 

Thus  Netherlander,  Englishmen,  and  Frenchmen  were 
again  mingling  their  blood  and  exhausting  their  energies  on 
a  hundred  petty  battle-fields  of  Brittany  and  Normandy  ;  but 
perhaps  to  few  of  those  hard  fighters  was  it  given  to  dis 
cern  the  great  work  which  they  were  slowly  and  painfully 
achieving. 

In  Paris  the  League  still  maintained  its  ascendancy. 
Henry,  having  again  withdrawn  from  his  attempts  to  reduce 
the  capital,  had  left  the  sixteen  tyrants  who  governed  it  more 
leisure  to  occupy  themselves  with  internal  politics.  A  net 
work  of  intrigue  was  spread  through  the  whole  atmosphere  of 
the  place.  The  Sixteen,  sustained  by  the  power  of  Spain 
and  Rome,  and  fearing  nothing  so  much  as  the  return  of 
peace,  by  which  their  system  of  plunder  would  come  to  an 
end,  proceeded  with  their  persecution  of  all  heretics,  real  or 
supposed,  who  were  rich  enough  to  offer  a  reasonable  chance 
of  spoil.  The  soul  of  all  these  intrigues  was  the  new  legate, 
Sega,  bishop  of  Piacenza.  Letters  from  him  to  Alexander 
Farnese,  intercepted  by  Henry,  showed  a  determination  to 
ruin  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  and  Count  Belin  governor  of  Paris, 
whom  he  designated  as  Colossus  and  Renard,  to  extirpate 
the  magistrates,  and  to  put  Spanish  partizans  in  their  places, 
and  in  general  to  perfect  the  machinery  by  which  the  autho 
rity  of  Philip  was  to  be  established  in  France.  He  was  per 
petually  urging  upon  that  monarch  the  necessity  of  spending 
more  money  among  his  creatures  in  order  to  carry  out  these 
projects.4 

Accordingly  the  attention  of   the   Sixteen  had  been  di< 
4  De  Thou,  438,  439. 


126  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

rected  to  President  Brisson,  who  had  already  made  himself 
so  dangerously  conspicuous  by  his  resistance  to  the  insolent 
assumption  of  the  cardinal-legate.  This  eminent  juris-consult 
had  succeeded  Pomponne  de  Bellievre  as  first  president  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris.  He  had  been  distinguished  for  talent, 
learning,  and  eloquence  as  an  advocate,  and  was  the  author 
of  several  important  legal  works.  His  ambition  to  fill  the 
place  of  first  president  had  caused  him  to  remain  in  Paris 
after  its  revolt  against  Henry  III.  He  was  no  Leaguer,  and, 
since  his  open  defiance  of  the  ultra- Catholic  party,  he  had 
been  a  marked  man — doomed  secretly  by  the  confederates 
who  ruled  the  capital.  He  had  fondly  imagined  that  he 
could  govern  the  Parisian  populace  as  easily  as  he  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  influencing  the  Parliament  or  directing  his 
clients.  He  expected  to  restore  the  city  to  its  obedience  to 
the  constituted  authorities.  He  hoped  to  be  himself  the 
means  of  bringing  Henry  IV.  in  triumph  to  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors.  He  found,  however,  that  a  revolution  was  more 
difficult  to  manage  than  a  law  case,  and  that  the  confederates 
of  the  Holy  League  were  less  tractable  than  his  clients  had 
usually  been  found. 

On  the  night  of  the  14th  November,  1591,  he  was  seized 

14  Nov.     on   tlic   bridge    St.    Michel,    while   on  his  way  to 

1591.      Parliament,  and  was  told  that  he  was  expected  at 

the  Hotel  de  Ville.     He  was  then  brought  to  the  prison  of  the 

little  Chatelet. 

Hardly  had  he  been  made  secure  in  the  dimly-lighted 
dungeon,  when  Crome,  a  leader  among  the  Parisian  populace, 
made  his  appearance,  accompanied  by  some  of  his  confede 
rates,  and  dressed  in  a  complete  suit  of  mail.  He  ordered  the 
magistrate  to  take  off  his  hat  and  to  kneel.  He  then  read 
a  sentence  condemning  him  to  death.  Profoundly  astonished, 
Brisson  demanded  to  know  of  what  crime  he  was  accused, 
and  under  what  authority.  The  answer  was  a  laugh,  and  an 
assurance  that  he  had  no  time  to  lose.  He  then  begged  that 
at  least  he  might  be  imprisoned  long  enough  to  enable  him 
to  complete  a  legal  work  on  which  he  was  engaged,  and  which., 


1591.  EXECUTION  OF  THE  MAGISTRATES.  127 

by  his  premature  death,  would  be  lost  to  the  commonwealth. 
This  request  produced  no  doubt  more  merriment  than  his 
previous  demands.  His  judges  were  inflexible,  and  allowed 
him  hardly  time  to  confess  himself.  He  was  then  hanged  in 
his  dungeon.5 

Two  other  magistrates,  Larcher  and  Tardif,  were  executed 
in  the  same  way,  in  the  same  place,  and  on  the  same  night. 
The  crime  charged  against  them  was  having  spoken  in  a 
public  assembly  somewhat  freely  against  the  Sixteen,  and 
having  aided  in  the  circulation  in  Paris  of  a  paper  drawn  up 
by  the  Duke  of  Nevers,  filled  with  bitterness  against  the 
Lorraine  princes  and  the  League,  and  addressed  to  the 
late  Pope  Sixtus.6 

The  three  bodies  were  afterwards  gibbeted  on  the  Greve 
in  front  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  exposed  for  two  days  to 
the  insults  and  fury  of  the  populace. 

This  was  the  culminating  point  of  the  reign  of  terror  in 
Paris.  Never  had  the  sixteen  tyrants,  lords  of  the  market- 
halls,  who  governed  the  capital  by  favour  of  and  in  the  name 
of  the  populace,  seemed  more  omnipotent.  As  representatives 
or  plenipotentiaries  of  Madam  League  they  had  laid  the  crown 
at  the  feet  of  the  King  of  Spain,  hoping  by  still  further  drafts 
on  his  exchequer  and  his  credulity  to  prolong  indefinitely 
their  own  ignoble  reign.  The  extreme  democratic  party, 
which  had  hitherto  supported  the  House  of  Lorraine,  and  had 
seemed  to  idolize  that  family  in  the  person  of  the  great 
Balafre,  now  believed  themselves  possessed  of  sufficient  power 
to  control  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  and  all  his  adherents.  They 
sent  the  Jesuit  Claude  Mathieu  with  a  special  memorial  to 
Philip  II.  That  monarch  was  implored  to  take  the  sceptre 
of  France,  and  to  reign  over  them,  inasmuch  as  they  most 
willingly  threw  themselves  into  his  arms.7  They  assured  him 
that  all  reasonable  people,  and  especially  the  Holy  League, 
wished  him  to  take  the  reins  of  Government,  on  condition  of 

6  De  Thou,  442, 443.  «  Ibid. 

1  Arch,    de  Simancas  (Paris)  B.  71,  — '  cited  by  Capefigue,  Hist,  de  la 
Ligue,  &c.  vi.  64,  seqq. 


128  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

exterminating  heresy  throughout  the  kingdom  by  force  of 
arms,  of  publishing  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  of  establishing 
everywhere  the  Holy  Inquisition — an  institution  formidable 
only  to  the  wicked  and  desirable  for  the  good.  It  was  sug 
gested  that  Philip  should  not  call  himself  any  longer  King  of 
Spain  nor  adopt  the  title  of  King  of  France,  but  that  he 
should  proclaim  himself  the  Great  King,  or  make  use  of  some 
similar  designation,  not  indicating  any  specialty  but  importing 
universal  dominion. 

Should  Philip,  however,  be  disinclined  himself  to  accept  the 
monarchy,  it  was  suggested  that  the  young  Duke  of  Guise, 
son  of  the  first  martyr  of  France,  would  be  the  most  appro 
priate  personage  to  be  honoured  with  the  hand  of  the  legiti 
mate  Queen  of  France,  the  Infanta  Clara  Isabella. 

But  the  Sixteen  were  reckoning  without  the  Duke  of 
Mayenne.  That  great  personage,  although  an  indifferent 
warrior  and  an  utterly  unprincipled  and  venal  statesman, 
was  by  no  means  despicable  as  a  fisherman  in  the  troubled 
waters  of  revolution.  He  knew  how  to  manage  intrigues 
with  both  sides  for  his  own  benefit.  Had  he  been  a  bachelor 
he  might  have  obtained  the  Infanta  and  shared  her  prospective 
throne.  Being  encumbered  with  a  wife  he  had  no  hope  of 
becoming  the  son-in-law  of  Philip,  and  was  determined  that 
his  nephew  Guise  should  not  enjoy  a  piece  of  good  fortune 
denied  to  himself.  The  escape  of  the  young  duke  from 
prison  had  been  the  signal  for  the  outbreak  of  jealousies 
between  uncle  and  nephew,  which  Parma  and  other  agents 
had  been  instructed  by  their  master  to  foster  to  the  utmost. 
"  They  must  be  maintained  in  such  disposition  in  regard  to 
me/'  he  said,  "  that  the  one  being  ignorant  of  my  relations  to 
the  other,  both  may  without  knowing  it  do  my  win." 10 

But  Mayenne,  in  this  grovelling  career  of  self-seeking,  in 
this  perpetual  loading  of  dice  and  marking  of  cards,  which 
formed  the  main  occupation  of  so  many  kings  and  princes  of 

»  Arch,  de  Simancas  (Paris)  B.  72,  -—  •  Ibid.  p.  123. 

10  Arch,  de  Simancas  (Paris)  57,  — >  cited  by  Capefigue,  vi  193. 


1591.  POLICY  OP  MAYENNE.  129 

the  period,  and  which  passed  for  Machiavellian  politics,  was  a 
fair  match  for  the  Spanish  king  and  his  Italian  viceroy.  He 
sent  President  Jeannin  on  special  mission  to  Philip,  asking 
for  two  armies,  one  to  be  under  his  command,  the  other 
under  that  of  Farnese,  and  assured  him  that  he  should  he 
king  himself,  or  appoint  any  man  he  liked  to  the  vacant 
throne.  Thus  he  had  secured  one  hundred  thousand  crowns 
a  month  to  carry  on  his  own  game  withal.  u  The  maintenance 
of  these  two  armies  costs  me  261,000  crowns  a  month/'  said 
Philip  to  his  envoy  Ybarra.11 

And  what  was  the  result  of  all  this  expenditure  of  money 
of  all  this  lying  and  counter-lying,  of  all  this  frantic  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  most  powerful  monarch  of  the  age  to  obtain 
property  which  did  not  belong  to  him — the  sovereignty  of  a 
great  kingdom,  stocked  with  a  dozen  millions  of  human 
beings — of  all  this  endless  bloodshed  of  the  people  in  the 
interests  of  a  high-born  family  or  two,  of  all  this  infamous 
brokerage  charged  by  great  nobles  for  their  attempts  to 
transfer  kingdoms  like  private  farms  from  one  owner  to 
another  ?  Time  was  to  show.  Meanwhile  men  trembled 
at  the  name  of  Philip  II.,  and  grovelled  before  him  as  the 
incarnation  of  sagacity,  high  policy,  and  king-craft. 

But  Mayenne,  while  taking  the  brokerage,  was  less  anxious 
about  the  transfer.  He  had  fine  instinct  enough  to  suspect 
that  the  Bearnese,  outcast  though  he  seemed,  might  after  all 
not  be  playing  so  desperate  a  game  against  the  League  as  it 
was  the  fashion  to  suppose.  He  knew  whether  or  not  Henry 
was  likely  to  prove  a  more  fanatical  Huguenot  in  1592  than 
he  had  shown  himself  twenty  years  before  at  the  Bartholomew 
festival.  And  he  had  wit  enough  to  foresee  that  the  "  instruc 
tion"  which  the  gay  free-thinker  held  so  cautiously  in  his 
fingers  might  perhaps  turn  out  the  trump  card.  A  bold, 
valorous  Frenchman  with  a  flawless  title,  and  washed  whiter 
than  snow  by  the  freshet  of  holy  water,  might  prove  a  more 
formidable  claimant  to  the  allegiance  of  Frenchmen  than  a 

11  Ibid.  57,^,  ibid 
VOL.  III. — K 


130  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

foreign  potentate,  even  though  hacked  by  all  the  doctors  of 
the  Sorbonne. 

The  murder  of  President  Brisson  and  his  colleagues  by  the 
confederates  of  the  sixteen  quarters,  was  in  truth  the  beginning 
of  the  end.  What  seemed  a  proof  of  supreme  power  was  the 
precursor  of  a  counter-revolution,  destined  ere  long  to  lead 
farther  than  men  dreamed.  The  Sixteen  believed  themselves 
omnipotent.  Mayenne  being  in  their  power,  it  was  for  them 
to  bestow  the  crown  at  their  will,  or  to  hold  it  suspended  in 
air  as  long  as  seemed  best  to  them.  They  felt  no  doubt  that 
all  the  other  great  cities  in  the  kingdom  would  follow  the 
example  of  Paris. 

But  the  lieutenant-general  of  the  realm  felt  it  time  for 
him  to  show  that  his  authority  was  not  a  shadow — that  he 
was  not  a  pasteboard  functionary  like  the  deceased  cardinal- 
king,  Charles  X.  The  letters  entrusted  by  the  Sixteen  to 
Claude  Mathieu  were  intercepted  by  Henry,  and,  very  pro 
bably,  an  intimation  of  their  contents  was  furnished  to 
Mayenne.  At  any  rate,  the  duke,  who  lacked  not  courage 
nor  promptness  when  his  own  interests  were  concerned,  who 
felt  his  authority  slipping  away  from  him,  now  that  it  seemed 
the  object  of  the  Spaniards  to  bind  the  democratic  party  to 
themselves  by  a  complicity  in  crime,  hastened  at  once  to  Paris, 
determined  to  crush  these  intrigues  and  to  punish  the  mur 
derers  of  the  judges.12  The  Spanish  envoy  Ybarra,  proud, 
excitable,  violent,  who  had  been  privy  to  the  assassinations, 
and  was  astonished  that  the  deeds  had  excited  indignation 
and  fury  instead  of  the  terror  counted  upon,  remonstrated 
with  Mayenne,  intimating  that  in  times  of  civil  commotion  it 
was  often  necessary  to  be  blind  and  deaf. 

In  vain.     The  duke  carried  it  with  a  high  and  firm  hand. 
4  Dec.    He  arrested  the  ringleaders,  and  hanged  four  of  them 
1591.     in  the  basement  of  the  Louvre  within   twenty  days 
after  the  commission  of  their  crime.     The  energy  was  well- 
timed  and  perfectly  successful.     The  power  of  the  Sixteen  was 
struck  to  the  earth  at  a  blow.     The  ignoble  tyrants  became 
18  De  Thou,  xi.  446. 


1591.  HENRY'S  ENVOY  AT  THE  HAGUE.  131 

in  a  moment  as  despicable  as  they  had  been  formidable  and 
insolent.  Crome,  more  fortunate  than  many  of  his  fellows, 
contrived  to  make  his  escape  out  of  the  kingdom.13 

Thus  Mayenne  had  formally  broken  with  the  democratic 
party,  so  called — with  the  market-halls  oligarchy.  In  thus 
doing,  his  ultimate  rupture  with  the  Spaniards  was  fore 
shadowed.  The  next  combination  for  him  to  strive  for  would 
be  one  to  unite  the  moderate  catholics  and  the  Bearnese. 
Ah  !  if  Henry  would  but  "instruct"  himself  out  of  hand, 
what  a  game  the  duke  might  play  ! 

The  burgess-party,  the  mild  royalists,  the  disgusted  portion 
of  the  Leaguers,  coalescing  with  those  of  the  Huguenots 
whose  fidelity  might  prove  stanch  even  against  the  religious 
apostasy  contemplated  by  their  chief — this  combination  might 
prove  an  over-match  for  the  ultra-leaguers,  the  democrats, 
and  the  Spaniards.  The  king's  name  would  be  a  tower  of 
strength  for  that  "  third  party/'  which  began  to  rear  its  head 
very  boldly  and  to  call  itself  "  Politica."  Madam  League 
might  succumb  to  this  new  rival  in  the  fickle  hearts  of  the 
French. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1591,  Buzanval  had  presented 
his  credentials  to  the  States-General  at  the  Hague  26  Jan. 
as  envoy  of  Henry  IV.  In  the  speech  which  he  1591. 
made  on  this  occasion  he  expressed  the  hope  that  the  mission 
of  the  Viscount  Turenne,  his  Majesty's  envoy  to  England  and 
to  the  Netherlands,  had  made  known  the  royal  sentiments 
towards  the  States  and  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  king  with 
their  energetic  sympathy  and  assistance.  It  was  notorious,  said 
Buzanval,  that  the  King  of  Spain  for  many  years  had  been 
governed  by  no  other  motive  than  to  bring  all  the  rest  of 
Christendom  under  his  dominion,  while  at  the  same  time  he 
forced  upon  those  already  placed  under  his  sceptre  a  violent 
tyranny,  passing  beyond  all  the  bounds  that  God,  nature,  and 
reason  had  set  to  lawful  forms  of  government.  In  regard  to 
nations  born  under  other  laws  than  his,  he  had  used  the  pretext 
of  religion  for  reducing  them  to  servitude.  The  wars  stirred  up 

13  De  Thou,  xi.  447,  448. 


132  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

by  his  family  in  Germany,  and  his  recent  invasion  of  England, 
were  proofs  of  this  intention,  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  all 
men.  Still  more  flagrant  were  his  machinations  in  the  present 
troubles  of  France.  Of  his  dealings  with  his  hereditary  realms, 
the  condition  of  the  noble  provinces  of  the  Netherlands,  once  so 
blooming  under  reasonable  laws,  furnished  a  sufficient  illus 
tration.  You  see,  my  masters,  continued  the  envoy,  the  subtle 
plans  of  the  Spanish  king  and  his  counsellors  to  reach  with  cer 
tainty  the  object  of  their  ambition.  They  have  reflected  that 
Spain,  which  is  the  outermost  corner  of  Europe,  cannot  con 
veniently  make  war  upon  other  Christian  realms.  They  have 
seen  that  a  central  position  is  necessary  to  enable  them  to 
stretch  their  arms  to  every  side.  They  have  remembered  that 
princes  who  in  earlier  days  were  able  to  spread  their  wings  over 
all  Christendom  had  their  throne  in  France,  like  Charles  the 
Great  and  his  descendants.  Therefore  the  king  is  now  earnestly 
bent  on  seizing  this  occasion  to  make  himself  master  of  France. 
The  death  of  the  late  king  (Henry  III.)  had  no  sooner  occurred, 
than — as  the  blood  through  great  terror  rushes  from  the 
extremities  and  overflows  the  heart — they  here  also,  fearing 
to  lose  their  opportunity  and  astonished  at  the  valour  of  our 
present  king,  abandoned  all  their  other  enterprises  in  order  to 
pour  themselves  upon  France.14 

Buzanval  further  reminded  the  States  that  Henry  had 
received  the  most  encouraging  promises  from  the  protestant 
princes  of  Germany,  and  that  so  great  a  personage  as  the 
Viscount  Turenne,  who  had  now  gone  thither  to  reap  the  fruit 
of  those  promises,  would  not  have  been  sent  on  such  a  mission 
except  that  its  result  was  certain.  The  Queen  of  England, 
too,  had  promised  his  Majesty  most  liberal  assistance. 

It  was  not  necessary  to  argue  as  to  the  close  connection 
between  the  cause  of  the  Netherlands  and  that  of  France. 
The  king  had  beaten  down  the  mutiny  of  his  own  subjects, 
and  repulsed  the  invasion  of  the  Dukes  of  Savoy  and  of 
Lorraine.  In  consideration  of  the  assistance  promised  by 
Germany  and  England — for  a  powerful  army  would  be  at  the 
H  Bor,  III.  xxviii.  551,  553. 


1591.  SPEECH  OF  HENRY'S  ENVOY.  133 

command  of  Henry  in  the  spring — it  might  be  said  that 
the  Netherlands  might  repose  for  a  time  and  recruit  their 
exhausted  energies,  under  the  shadow  of  these  mighty  pre 
parations.15 

"  I  do  not  believe,  however/'  said  the  minister,  "  that  you 
will  all  answer  me  thus.  The  faint-hearted  and  the  inexpe 
rienced  might  flatter  themselves  with  such  thoughts,  and 
seek  thus  to  cover  their  cowardice,  but  the  zealous  and  the 
courageous  will  see  that  it  is  time  to  set  sail  on  the  ship,  now 
that  the  wind  is  rising  so  freshly  and  favourably. 

"For  there  are  many  occasions  when  an  army  might  be 
ruined  for  want  of  twenty  thousand  crowns.  What  a  pity  if 
a  noble  edifice,  furnished  to  the  roof- tree,  should  fall  to  decay 
for  want  of  a  few  tiles.  No  doubt  your  own  interests  are 
deeply  connected  with  our  own.  Men  may  say  that  our  pro 
posals  should  be  rejected  on  the  principle  that  the  shirt  is 
nearer  to  the  skin  than  the  coat,  but  it  can  be  easily  proved 
that  our  cause  is  one.  The  mere  rumour  of  this  army  will 
prevent  the  Duke  of  Parma  from  attacking  you.  His  forces 
will  be  drawn  to  France.  He  will  be  obliged  to  intercept  the 
crash  of  this  thunderbolt.  The  assistance  of  this  army  is 
worth  millions  to  you,  and  has  cost  you  nothing.  To  bring 
France  into  hostility  with  Spain  is  the  very  policy  that 
you  have  always  pursued  and  always  should  pursue  in  order 
to  protect  your  freedom.  You  have  always  desired  a  war 
between  France  and  Spain,  and  here  is  a  fierce  and  cruel  one 
in  which  you  have  hazarded  nothing.  It  cannot  come  to  an 
end  without  bringing  signal  advantages  to  yourselves. 

"You  have  always  desired  an  alliance  with  a  French 
sovereign,  and  here  is  a  firm  friendship  offered  you  by  our 
king,  a  natural  alliance. 

"  You  know  how  unstable  are  most  treaties  that  are  founded 
on  shifting  interests,  and  do  not  concern  the  freedom  of  bodies 
and  souls.  The  first  are  written  with  pen  upon  paper,  and 
are  generally  as  light  as  paper.  They  have  no  roots  in  the 
heart.  Those  founded  on  mutual  assistance  on  trying  ocoa- 

18  Bor,  III.  xxviii.  551,  552 


134  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

sions  have  the  perpetual  strength  of  nature.  They  bring 
always  good  and  enduring  fruit  in  a  rich  soil  like  the  heart 
of  our  king  ;  that  heart  which  is  as  heautiful  and  as  pure  from 
all  untruth  as  the  lily  upon  his  shield. 

"  You  will  derive  the  first  profits  from  the  army  thus  raised. 
From  the  moment  of  its  mustering  under  a  chief  of  such 
experience  as  Turenne,  it  will  absorb  the  whole  attention  of 
Spain,  and  will  draw  her  thoughts  from  the  Netherlands 
to  France." 

All  this  and  more  in  the  same  earnest  manner  did  the 
envoy  urge  upon  the  consideration  of  the  States-General, 
concluding  with  a  demand  of  100,000  florins  as  their  con-* 
tribution  towards  the  French  campaign.16 

His  eloquence  did  not  fall  upon  unwilling  ears  ;  for  the 
9  May,  States-General,  after  taking  time  to  deliberate, 
1591.  replied  to  the  propositions  by  an  expression  of  the 
strongest  sympathy  with,  and  admiration  for,  the  heroic 
efforts  of  the  King  of  France.  Accordingly,  notwithstanding 
their  own  enormous  expenses,  past  and  present,  and  their 
strenuous  exertions  at  that  very  moment  to  form  an  army  of 
foot  and  horse  for  the  campaign,  the  brilliant  results  of  which 
have  already  been  narrated,  they  agreed  to  furnish  the 
required  loan  of  100,000  florins  to  be  repaid  in  a  year,  besides 
six  or  seven  good  ships  of  war  to  co-operate  with  the  fleets  of 
England  and  France  upon  the  coasts  of  Normandy.17  And 
the  States  were  even  better  than  their  word. 

Before  the  end  of  autumn  of  the  year  1591,  Henry  had 
laid  siege  to  Kouen,  then  the  second  city  of  the  kingdom. 
To  leave  much  longer  so  important  a  place — dominating,  as 
it  did,  not  only  Normandy  but  a  principal  portion  of  the 
maritime  borders  of  France — under  the  control  of  the  League 
and  of  Spain  was  likely  to  be  fatal  to  Henry's  success.  It 
was  perfectly  sound  in  Queen  Elizabeth  to  insist  as  she  did, 
with  more  than  her  usual  imperiousness  towards  her  excel 
lent  brother,  that  he  should  lose  no  more  time  before 
reducing  that  city.  It  was  obvious  that  Rouen  in  the  hands 
"  Bor,  III.  xxviii.  551,  552.  17  Ibid.  552,  553. 


1591  ELIZABETH'S  ADVICE  TO   HENRY.  135 

of  her  arch-enemy  was  a  perpetual  menace  to  the  safety  of 
her  own  kingdom.  It  was  therefore  with  correct  judgment,  as 
well  as  with  that  high-flown  gallantry  so  dear  to  the  heart  of 
Elizabeth,  that  her  royal  champion  and  devoted  slave  assured 
her  of  his  determination  no  longer  to  defer  obeying  her  com 
mands  in  this  respect. 

The  queen  had  repeatedly  warned  him  of  the  necessity  of 
defending  the  maritime  frontier  of  his  kingdom,  and  she  was 
not  sparing  of  her  reproaches  that  the  large  sums  which  she 
expended  in  his  cause  had  been  often  ill  bestowed.  Her 
criticisms  on  what  she  considered  his  military  mistakes  were 
not  few,  her  threats  to  withdraw  her  subsidies  frequent. 
"Owning  neither  the  East  nor  the  West  Indies,"  she  said, 
"  we  are  unable  to  supply  the  constant  demands  upon  us  ;  and 
although  we  have  the  reputation  of  being  a  good  housewife, 
it  does  not  follow  that  we  can  be  a  housewife  for  all  the 
world." 18  She  was  persistently  warning  the  king  of  an  attack 
upon  Dieppe,  and  rebuking  him  for  occupying  himself  with 
petty  enterprises  to  the  neglect  of  vital  points.  She  expressed 
her  surprise  that  after  the  departure  of  Parma,  he  had  not 
driven  the  Spaniards  out  of  Brittany,  without  allowing  them 
to  fortify  themselves  in  that  country.  "I  am  astonished," 
she  said  to  him,  "  that  your  eyes  are  so  blinded  as  not  to  see 
this  danger.  Kemember,  my  dear  brother,"  she  frankly 
added,  athat  it  is  not  only  France  that  I  am  aiding,  nor  are 
my  own  natural  realms  of  little  consequence  to  me.  Believe 
me,  if  I  see  that  you  have  no  more  regard  to  the  ports  and 
maritime  places  nearest  to  us,  it  will  be  necessary  that  my 
prayers  should  serve  you  in  place  of  any  other  assistance, 
because  it  does  not  please  me  to  send  my  people  to  the 
shambles  where  they  may  perish  before  having  rendered  you 
any  assistance.  I  am  sure  the  Spaniards  will  soon  besiege 
Dieppe.  Beware  of  it,  and  excuse  my  bluntness,  for  if  in  the 
beginning  you  had  taken  the  maritime  forts,  which  are  the 
very  gates  of  your  kingdom,  Paris  would  not  have  been  so 
well  furnished,  and  other  places  nearer  the  heart  of  the 
18  queen  to  the  Duke  d'Esperaon,  19  Feb.  1593,  (S,  P,  Office 


136 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXV. 


kingdom  would  not  have  received  so  much  foreign  assistance, 
without  which  the  others  would  have  soon  been  vanquished. 
Pardon  my  simplicity  as  belonging  to  my  own  sex  wishing  to 
give  a  lesson  to  one  who  knows  better,  but  my  experience  in 
government  makes  me  a  little  obstinate  in  believing  that  I 
am  not  ignorant  of  that  which  belongs  to  a  king,  and  I  per 
suade  myself  that  in  following  my  advice  you  will  not  fail  to 
conquer  your  assailants."19 

Before  the  end  of  the  year  Henry  had  obtained  control  of 
the  Seine,  both  above  and  below  the  city,  holding  Pont 
de  1'Arche  on  the  north — where  was  the  last  bridge  across 
the  river ;  that  of  Kouen,  built  by  the  English  when  they 
governed  Normandy,  being  now  in  ruins — and  Caudebec  on 
the  south  in  an  iron  grasp.  Several  war-vessels  sent  by  the 
Hollanders,  according  to  the  agreement  with  Buzanval3  cruised 
in  the  north  of  the  river  below  Caudebec,  and  rendered  much 
service  to  the  king  in  cutting  off  supplies  from  the  beleaguered 
place,  while  the  investing  army  of  Henry,  numbering  twenty- 
five  thousand  foot — inclusive  of  the  English  contingent, 
and  three  thousand  Netherlander — and  ten  thousand  ca 
valry,  nearly  all  French,  was  fast  reducing  the  place  to  ex 
tremities. 

Parma,  as  usual,  in  obedience  to  his  master's  orders,  but 


i9  Queen  to  the  King  of  France,  7 
March,  1592.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.  in 
French,  in  her  own  hand.)  "  The 
poor  king,"  said  Umton,  "  must  be 
miraculously  defended  by  God,  or  else 
he  cannot  long  subsist.  He  wanteth 
means  and  has  need  of  miracles,  and 
without  herMaj  esty's  upholding  would 
quickly  perish.  She  only  giveth  life 
to  his  actions  and  terror  to  his  ene 
mies  "  To  Burghley,  from  Dieppe,  15 
March,  1592.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

"  Knowing,"  said  Sir  Robert  Cecil, 
"  that  no  place  in  all  France,  no,  not 
Paris  itself,  was  of  more  importance 
to  be  recovered  than  Rouen  and  New- 
haven,  the  Queen  levied  and  sent  over 
troops  with  such  speed  as  the  like  has 
seldom  been  seen,  being  performed 
within  twenty  days,  sending  also  a 
nobleman  of  her  own  realm  to  conduct 


them,  but  how  contrarily  the  King 
took  another  course  to  seek  other 
towns  and  places,  and  to  permit  her 
M.'s  forces  to  remain  about  Dieppe 
almost  two  months  without  any  use 
but  to  spend  her  M.'s  money,  and  to 
waste  her  people,  and  instead  of  be 
sieging  of  Rouen,  suffered  it  to  be  vic 
tualled,  manned,  and  fortified  in  such 
sort  as  experience  hath  taught  the 
King  how  difficult,  or  rather  how  de^ 
sperate,  it  hath  been  as  yet  to  recover 

it And  of  this  error  hath 

followed  the  opportunity  of  tho  Duke 
of  Parma's  entering  with  so  mighty  an 
army,  and  the  King's  professed  disa 
bility  to  fight  with  him."  Mr.Wilkes's 
Instructions  to  the  French  King  ;  the 
whole  in  Sir  R.  Cecil's  handwriting  ; 
19  March,  1592.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 


1592.  COMPLAINTS  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  PARMA.  137 

entirely  against  his  own  judgment,  had  again  left  the  rising 
young  general  of  the  Netherlands  to  proceed  from  one  triumph 
to  another,  while  he  transferred  beyond  the  borders  of  that 
land  which  it  was  his  first  business  to  protect,  the  whole 
weight  of  his  military  genius  and  the  better  portion  of  his 
well-disciplined  forces. 

Most  bitterly  and  indignantly  did  he  express  himself,  both 
at  the  outset  and  during  the  whole  progress  of  the  expedition, 
concerning  the  utter  disproportions  between  the  king's  means 
and  aims.  The  want  of  money  was  the  cause  of  wholesale 
disease,  desertion,  mutiny,  and  death  in  his  slender  army. 
Such  great  schemes  as  his  master's  required,  as  he  per 
petually  urged,  liberality  of  expenditure  and  measures  of 
breadth.  He  protested  that  he  was  not  to  blame  for  the  ruin 
likely  to  come  upon  the  whole  enterprise.  He  had  besought, 
remonstrated,  reasoned  with  the  king  in  vain.  He  had  seen 
his  beard  first  grow,  he  said,  in  the  king's  service,  .and  he  had 
grown  gray  in  that  service,  but  rather  than  be  kept  longer  in 
such  a  position,  without  money,  men,  or  means  to  accomplish 
the  great  purposes  on  which  he  was  sent,  he  protested  that 
he  would  abandon  his  office  and  retire  into  the  woods  to  feed 
on  roots.20  Repeatedly  did  he  implore  his  master  for  a  large 
and  powerful  army  ;  for  money  and  again  money.  The  royal 
plans  should  be  enforced  adequately  or  abandoned  entirely. 
To  spend  money  in  small  sums,  as  heretofore,  was  only  throw 
ing  it  into  the  sea.21 

It  was  deep  in  the  winter  however  before  he  could  fairly 
come  to  the  rescue  of  the  besieged  city.     Towards    january 
the  end  of  January,  1592,  he  moved  out  of  Hainault,      1592- 
and  once  more  made  his  junction  at  Guise  with  the  Duke  of 
Mayenne.     At  a  review  of  his  forces  on  16th  January,  1592, 
Alexander  found  himself  at  the  head  of  thirteen  thousand 
five  hundred   and   sixteen   infantry  and  four  thousand  and 
sixty-one  cavalry.     The  Duke  of  Mayenne's  army,  for  pay 
ment  of  which  that  personage  received  from  Philip  100,000 

80  Parma  to  Philip,  11  March,  1592.     "Que  antes  me  determinaria  a  reco 
germe  en  un  bosque  a  comer  raices."     (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)         21  Ibid. 


138  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

dollars  a  month,  besides  10,000  dollars  a  month  for  his  own 
pocket,  ought  to  have  numbered  ten  thousand  foot  and  three 
thousand  horse,  according  to  contract,  but  was  in  reality 
much  less.22 

The  Duke  of  Montemarciano,  nephew  of  Gregory  XIV.. 
had  brought  two  thousand  Swiss,  furnished  by  the  pontiff  to 
the  cause  of  the  League,  and  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  had  sent 
his  kinsmen,  the  Counts  Chaligny  and  Vaudemont,  with  a 
force  of  seven  hundred  lancers  and  cuirassiers.23 

The  town  of  Fere  was  assigned  in  pledge  to  Farnese  to 
hold  as  a  convenient  mustering-place  and  station  in  proximity 
to  his  own  borders,  and,  as  usual,  the  chief  command  over  the 
united  armies  was  placed  in  his  hands.  These  arrangements 
concluded,  the  allies  moved  slowly  forward  much  in  the  same 

22  From  a  statement  in  the  Archives  of  Simancas,  dated  25  Nov.  1591,  it 
appears  that  the  force  called  the  "  greater  army  of  France  "  (el  ejercito  mayoi 
de  Francia),  provided  by  Philip,  and  under  command  of  Farnese,  was  com. 
posed  of — 

Infantry        23,512      Costing  per  month      $115,981 

Cavalry         4,969  „  „  44,505 

Other  expenses  of  the  army,  in 
cluding  $12,629  per  month  for 
artillery  ;  salaries,  of  which 
the  Duke  of  Parma'swas  $3600 
per  month,  and  other  contin 
gencies  „  „  42,321 

Besides  a  large  monthly  sum  for 

secret  military  service.  • 

Thus  the  whole  force  was    . .      28,481  men,  costing  per  month  $202,807 
But  there  were  7681  wanting  to 
the  number  determined  upon, 
which  addedwould  givetotalof   7,681 

36,162  men,  costing  per  month  $250,871 
The  force  included — of  Spanish  infantry         . .         . .         . .         6,078  men. 

German        „  11,518    „ 

The  rest  being  Walloons  and  Italians. 

The  lesser  army  of  France  (ejercito  menor  de  Francia)  was  stated  at — 

10,000  foot costing  per  month    $49,912 

3,000  horse  „  „  49,750 

Total ..  99,662, 

and  was  commanded  by  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  but  paid  by  the  King  of  Spain. 

To  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  in  person,  according  to  order,  $10,000  per  month. 
— ("  A  la  persona  del  Duque  de  Umena  conforme  la  orden.") 

The  total  of  the  King's  army  in  the  Netherlands  was  stated  at  29,233  men, 
at  a  monthly  cost  of  $149,187  ;  but  there  was  a  large  number  wanting.  The 
total  force  of  the  three  armies  paid  for  by  Philip  was  intended  to  be  86,561 
men,  at  a  monthly  cost  of  $542,428. 

83  De  Thou,  t.  xi.  452,  seqq.    Bentivoglio,  P.  II.  lib.  vi.  p.  356-369. 


1592.  SIEGE  OP  ROUEN.  139 

order  as  in  the  previous  year.  The  young  Duke  of  Guise,  who 
had  just  made  his  escape  from  the  prison  of  Tours,  where  he 
had  been  held  in  durance  since  the  famous  assassination  of 
his  father  and  uncle,  and  had  now  come  to  join  his  uncle 
Mayenne,  led  the  vanguard.  Ranuccio,  son  of  the  duke,  rode 
also  in  the  advance,  while  two  experienced  commanders, 
Yitry  and  De  la  Chatre,  as  well  as  the  famous  Marquis  del 
Vasto,  formerly  general  of  cavalry  in  the  Netherlands,  who 
had  been  transferred  to  Italy  but  was  now  serving  in  the 
League's  army  as  a  volunteer,  were  associated  with  the  young 
princes.  Parma,  Mayenne,  and  Montemarciano  rode  in  the 
battalia,  the  rear  being  under  command  of  the  Duke  of 
Aumale  and  the  Count  Chaligny.  Wings  of  cavalry  pro 
tected  the  long  trains  of  wagons  which  were  arranged  on 
each  flank  of  the  invading  army.  The  march  was  very  slow, 
it  being  Farnese's  uniform  practice  to  guard  himself  scrupu 
lously  against  any  possibility  of  surprise  and  to  entrench 
himself  thoroughly  at  nightfall.24 

By  the  middle  of  February  they  reached  the  vicinity  of 
Aumale  in  Picardy.  Meantime  Henry,  on  the  news  of  the 
advance  of  the  relieving  army,  had  again  the  same  problem 
to  solve  that  had  been  presented  to  him  before  Paris  in  the 
summer  of  1590.  Should  he  continue  in  the  trenches,  pressing 
more  and  more  closely  the  city  already  reduced  to  great 
straits  ?  Should  he  take  the  open  field  against  the  invaders 
and  once  more  attempt  to  crush  the  League  and  its  most 
redoubtable  commander  in  a  general  engagement  ?  Biron 
strenuously  advised  the  continuance  of  the  siege.  Turenne, 
now,  through  his  recent  marriage  with  the  heiress,  called  Due 
de  Bouillon,  great  head  of  the  Huguenot  party  in  France, 
counselled  as  warmly  the  open  attack.  Henry,  hesitating 
more  than  was  customary  with  him,  at  last  decided  on  a 
middle  course.  The  resolution  did  not  seem  a  very  wise  one, 
but  the  king,  who  had  been  so  signally  out-generalled  in  the 
preceding  campaign  by  the  great  Italian,  was  anxious  to 
avoid  his  former  errors,  and  might  perhaps  fall  into  as. 
24  Bentivoglio,  ulri,  sug  De  Thou,  ubi  sup.  Poadini,  iii,  474,  seqq. 


140  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

great  ones  by  attempting  two  inconsistent  lines  of  action. 
Leaving  Biron  in  command  of  the  infantry  and  a  portion  of 
the  horse  to  continue  the  siege,  he  took  the  field  himself 
with  the  greater  part  of  the  cavalry,  intending  to  intercept 
and  harass  the  enemy  and  to  prevent '  his  manifest  purpose 
of  throwing  reinforcements  and  supplies  into  the  invested 
city. 

Proceeding  to  Neufchatel  and  Aumale,  he  soon  found  him 
self  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Leaguers,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  skirmishing  began.  At  this  time,  on  a  memorable 
occasion,  Henry,  forgetting  as  usual  in  his  eagerness  for  the 
joys  of  the  combat  that  he  was  not  a  young  captain  of  cavalry 
with  his  spurs  to  win  by  dashing  into  every  mad  adventure 
that  might  present  itself,  but  a  king  fighting  for  his  crown, 
with  the  welfare  of  a  whole  people  depending  on  his  fortunes, 
thought  proper  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  a  handful  of 
troopers  to  reconnoitre  in  person  the  camp  of  the  Leaguers. 
Starting  with  five  hundred  horse,  and  ordering  Lavardin  and 
Givry  to  follow  with  a  larger  body,  while  the  Dukes  of  Nevers 
and  Longueville  were  to  move  out,  should  it  prove  necessary, 
in  force,  the  king  rode  forth  as  merrily  as  to  a  hunting  party, 
drove  in  the  scouts  and  pickets  of  the  confederated  armies, 
and,  advancing  still  farther  in  his  investigations,  soon  found 
himself  attacked  by  a  cavalry  force  of  the  enemy  much 
superior  to  his  own.  A  skirmish  began,  and  it  was  necessary 
for  the  little  troop  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat,  fighting  as  it  ran. 
It  was  not  long  before  Henry  was  recognised  by  the  enemy, 
and  the  chase  became  all  the  more  lively  ;  George  Basti,  the 
famous  Albanian  trooper,  commanding  the  force  which 
pressed  most  closely  upon  the  king.  The  news  spread  to  the 
camp  of  the  League  that  the  Bearnese  was  the  leader  of  the 
skirmishers.  Mayenne  believed  it,  and  urged  the  instant 
advance  of  the  flying  squadron  and  of  the  whole  vanguard. 
Farnese  refused.  It  was  impossible  that  the  king  should  be 
there,  he  said,  doing  picket  duty  at  the  head  of  a  company. 
It  was  a  clumsy  ambush  to  bring  on  a  general  engagement 
in  the  open  fleld?  and  he  was  not  to  be  drawn  out  of  his 


1592. 


NARROW  ESCAPE  OP  THE  KING. 


141 


trenches  into  a  trap  by  such  a  shallow  device.  A  French 
captain,  who  by  command  of  Henry  had  purposely  allowed 
himself  to  be  taken,  informed  his  captors  that  the  skirmishers 
were  in  reality  supported  by  a  heavy  force  of  infantry.  This 
suggestion  of  the  ready  Bearnese  confirmed  the  doubts  of 
Alexander.  Meantime  the  skirmishing  steeplechase  went  on 
before  his  eyes.  The  king  dashing  down  a  hill  received  an 
arquebus  shot  in  his  side,  but  still  rode  for  his  life.  Lavardin 
and  Givry  came  to  the  rescue,  but  a  panic  seized  their  fol 
lowers  as  the  rumour  flew  that  the  king  was  mortally 
wounded — was  already  dead — so  that  they  hardly  brought  a 
sufficient  force  to  beat  back  the  Leaguers.  Givry's  horse  was 
soon  killed  under  him,  and  his  own  thigh  crushed  ;  Lavardin 
was  himself  dangerously  wounded.  The  king  was  more  hard 
pressed  than  ever,  men  were  falling  on  every  side  of  him, 
when  four  hundred  French  dragoons — as  a  kind  of  musketeers 
who  rode  on  hacks  to  the  scene  of  action  but  did  their  work 
on  foot,  were  called  at  that  day — now  dismounted  and  threw 
themselves  between  Henry  and  his  pursuers.  Nearly  every 
man  of  them  laid  down  his  life,  but  they  saved  the  king's. 
Their  vigorous  hand  to  hand  fighting  kept  off  the  assailants 
until  Nevers  and  Longueville  received  the  king  at  the  gates 
of  Aumale  with  a  force  before  which  the  Leaguers  were  fain  to 
retreat  as  rapidly  as  they  had  come.26 


25  Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup.  Dondini, 
Hi.  480-494.  Coloma,  v.  81,  seqq., 
who  gives  the  date  of  this  remarkable 
skirmish  as  Feb.  16,  while  Umton 
furnishes  a  description  of  the  affair  in 
his  letter  of  ~-  Both  were  present 


on  the  ground. 

"  The  king  was  most  unhappily  shot 
into  the  lowest  part  of  his  reins,  which 
did  nothing  amaze  him,  and  he  not 
withstanding,  with  great  resolution, 
comforted  the  rest,  and  made  his  re 
treat  .......   The  shot    entered 

with  obliquity  downwards  into  the 
flesh,  and  not  directly  into  the  body, 
so  that  great  hope  is  received  of  his 
short  recovery,  and  the  surgeon  is  of 
opinion  that  no  vital  part  is  offended." 
Umton  (who  made  the  whole  cam 


paign  with  the  King)  to  Burghley, 
2{^,  1592.    (S.  P.  Office  MS) 

Sir  E.  Stafford,  who  died  towards 
the  end  of  1590,  was  succeeded  as 
ambassador  to  Henry  IV.  by  Sir 
Henry  Umton,  or  Umpton,  son  of  Sir 
Edward  Umpton,  by  Anne,  relict  of 
John  Dudley,  Earl  of  Warwick,  and 
eldest  daughter  of  Edward  Seymour, 
Duke  of  Somerset.  In  the  spring  of 
this  year  he  challenged  the  Duke  of 
Guise  for  speaking  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
"  impudently,  lightly,  and  overboldly, 
whose  sacred  person  he  represented." 
He  proposed  to  meet  the  Duke  with 
whatever  arms  he  should  choose,  and 
on  horseback  or  foot.  "  Nor  would  1 
have  you  to  think,"  said  the  envoy, 
"  any  inequality  of  person  between  us, 


142  I'tfE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

In  this  remarkable  skirmish  of  Aumale  the  opposite  quali 
ties  of  Alexander  and  of  Henry  were  signally  illustrated.  The 
king,  by  his  constitutional  temerity,  by  his  almost  puerile 
love  of  confronting  danger  for  the  danger's  sake,  was  on  the 
verge  of  sacrificing  himself  with  all  the  hopes  of  his  house 
and  of  the  nobler  portion  of  his  people  for  an  absolute  nothing  ; 
while  the  duke,  out  of  his  superabundant  caution,  peremp 
torily  refused  to  stretch  out  his  hand  and  seize  the  person  of 
his  great  enemy  when  directly  within  his  grasp.  Dead  or 
alive,  the  Bearnese  was  unquestionably  on  that  day  in  the 
power  of  Farnese,  and  with  him  the  whole  issue  of  the  cam 
paign  and  of  the  war.  Never  were  the  narrow  limits  that 
separate  valour  on  the  one  side  and  discretion  on  the  other 
from  unpardonable  lunacy  more  nearly  effaced  than  on  that 
occasion. 

When  would  such  an  opportunity  occur  again  ? 

The  king's  wound  proved  not  very  dangerous,  although  for 
many  days  troublesome,  and  it  required,  on  account  of  his 
general  state  of  health,  a  thorough  cure.  Meantime  the 
royalists  fell  back  from  Aumale  and  Neufchatel,  both  of  which 
places  were  at  once  occupied  by  the  Leaguers. 

In  pursuance  of  his  original  plan,  the  Duke  of  Parma  ad 
vanced  with  his  customary  steadiness  and  deliberation  towards 
Kouen.  It  was  his  intention  to  assault  the  king's  army  in 
its  entrenchments  in  combination  with  a  determined  sortie 
to  be  made  by  the  besieged  garrison.  His  preparations  for 
the  attack  were  ready  on  the  26th  February,  when  he  sud 
denly  received  a  communication  from  De  Villars,  who  had 
thus  far  most  ably  and  gallantly  conducted  the  defence  of 
the  place,  informing  him  that  it  was  no  longer  necessary  to 
make  a  general  attack.  On  the  day  before  he  had  made  a 
sally  from  the  four  gates  of  the  city,  had  fallen  upon  the 

I  being  issued  of  as  great  a  race  and  i  that  lives  in  all  France."    Nothing 
noble  house  every  way  as  yourself,    came  of  the  challenge.     Umpton  died 


.  If  you  consent  not  to  meet 
me,  I  will  hold  you,  and  cause  you  to 
be  generally  held,  for  the  errantest 
coward,  and  most  slanderous  slave 


four  years  afterwards  in  the  French 
King's  camp  at  La  Fere,  8  July,  1596. 
Vide  Fuller's  Worthies,  vol.  i.  pp.  91. 
92  (ed.  1811). 


1592.  COUNT  CttALlGNY  MADE  PRISONER.  143 

besiegers  in  great  force,  had  wounded  Biron  and  killed  six 
hundred  of  his  soldiers,  had  spiked  several  pieces  of  artillery 
and  captured  others  which  he  had  successfully  brought  into 
the  town,  and  had  in  short  so  damaged  the  enemy's  works 
and  disconcerted  him  in  all  his  plans,  that  he  was  confident 
of  holding  the  place  longer  than  the  king  could  afford  to 
stay  in  front  of  him.26  All  he  wished  was  a  moderate  rein 
forcement  of  men  and  munitions.  Farnese  by  no  means  sym 
pathized  with  the  confident  tone  of  Yillars  nor  approved 
of  his  proposition.  He  had  come  to  relieve  Rouen  and  to 
raise  the  siege,  and  he  preferred  to  do  his  work  thoroughly. 
Mayenne  was  however  most  heartily  in  favour  of  taking  the 
advice  of  Villars.  He  urged  that  it  was  difficult  for  the 
Bearnese  to  keep  an  army  long  in  the  field,  still  more  so  in 
the  trenches.  Let  them  provide  for  the  immediate  wants  of 
the  city  ;  then  the  usual  process  of  decomposition  would  soon 
be  witnessed  in  the  ill-paid,  ill-fed,  desultory  forces  of  the 
heretic  pretender. 

Alexander  deferred  to  the  wishes  of  Mayenne,  although 
against  his  better  judgment.  Eight  hundred  infantry  were 
successfully  sent  into  Rouen.  The  army  of  the  League  then 
countermarched  into  Picardy  near  the  confines  of  Artois.27 

They  were  closely  followed  by  Henry  at  the  head  of  his 
cavalry,  and  lively  skirmishes  were  of  frequent  occurrence. 
In  a  military  point  of  view  none  of  these  affairs  were  of  con 
sequence,  but  there  was  one  which  partook  at  once  of  the 
comic  and  the  pathetic.  For  it  chanced  that  in  a  cavalry 
action  of  more  than  common  vivacity  the  Count  Chaligny 
found  himself  engaged  in  a  hand  to  hand  conflict  with  a  very 
dashing  swordsman,  who,  after  dealing  and  receiving  many 
severe  blows,  at  last  succeeded  in  disarming  the  count  and 
taking  him  prisoner.  It  was  the  fortune  of  war,  and,  but  a 
few  days  before,  might  have  been  the  fate  of  the  great  Henry 
himself.  But  Chaligny's  mortification  at  his  captivity  became 

56  Parma  to  Philip,  11  March,  1592.  (  27  Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup.  Dondini, 
'Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.)  Compare  Benti-  I  iii.  497-630.  Coloma,  v.  85-95.  Me, 
voglio,  ubi  sup.  De  Thou,  xi.  470,  teren,  xvi.  302,  303.  Bor.  III.  xxviii 
*eqq.  ''  616-620. 

VOL.  II— 6 


144  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

intense  when  he  discovered  that  the  knight  to  whom  he  had 
surrendered  was  no  other  than  the  king's  jester.28  That  he, 
a  chieftain  of  the  Holy  League,  the  long-descended  scion  of 
the  illustrious  house  of  Lorraine,  brother  of  the  great  Duke 
of  Mercosur,  should  become  the  captive  of  a  Huguenot  buffoon 
seemed  the  most  stinging  jest  yet  perpetrated  since  fools  had 
come  in  fashion.  The  famous  Chicot — who  was  as  fond  of  a 
battle  as  of  a  gibe,  and  who  was  almost  as  reckless  a  rider  as 
his  master — proved  on  this  occasion  that  the  cap  and  bells 
could  cover  as  much  magnanimity  as  did  the  most  chivalrous 
crest.  Although  desperately  wounded  in  the  struggle  which 
dad  resulted  in  his  triumph,  he  generously  granted  to  the 
Count  his  freedom  without  ransom.  The  proud  Lorrainer 
returned  to  his  Leaguers  and  the  poor  fool  died  afterwards  of 
his  wounds.29 

The  army  of  the  allies  moved  through  Picardy  towards  the 
confines  of  Artois,  and  sat  down  leisurely  to  beleaguer  Kue, 
a  low-lying  place  on  the  banks  and  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Somme,  the  only  town  in  the  province  which  still  held  for  the 
king.  It  was  sufficiently  fortified  to  withstand  a  good  deal 
of  battering,  and  it  certainly  seemed  mere  trifling  for  the 
great  Duke  of  Parma  to  leave  the  Netherlands  in  such  con 
fusion,  with  young  Maurice  of  Nassau  carrying  everything 
before  him,  and  to  come  all  the  way  into  Normandy  in  order, 
with  the  united  armies  of  Spain  and  the  League,  to  besiege 
the  insignificant  town  of  Kue. 

And  this  was  the  opinion  of  Farnese,  but  he  had  chosen 
throughout  the  campaign  to  show  great  deference  to  the 
judgment  of  Mayenne.  Meantime  the  month  of  March  wore 
away,  and  what  had  been  predicted  came  to  pass.  Henry's 
forces  dwindled  away  as  usual.  His  cavaKers  rode  off  to 
forage  for  themselves,  when  their  battles  were  denied  them, 
and  the  king  was  now  at  the  head  of  not  more  than  sixteen 
thousand  foot  and  five  thousand  horse.  On  the  other  hand 
the  Leaguers'  army  had  been  melting  quite  as  rapidly.  With 

M  De  Thou,  ubi  wp.  468.  Umton  to  Burghley,  a  Feb.  1592.  (S.  P.  Offica 
MS.)  29  De  Thou,  loc.  cit. 


1592.  SIEGE  OF  RUE.  145 

the  death  of  Pope  Sfondrato,  his  nephew  Montemarciano  had 
disappeared  with  his  two  thousand  Swiss  ;  while  the  French 
cavalry  and  infantry,  ill-fed  and  uncomfortable,  were  dimi 
nishing  daily.  Especially  the  Walloons,  Flemings,  and  other 
Netherlander  of  Parma's  army,  took  advantage  of  their  prox 
imity  to  the  borders  and  escaped  in  large  numbers  to  their 
own  homes.  It  was  but  meagre  and  profitless  campaigning 
on  both  sides  during  those  wretched  months  of  winter  and 
early  spring,  although  there  was  again  an  opportunity  for  Sir 
Roger  Williams,  at  the  head  of  two  hundred  musketeers  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pikemen,  to  make  one  of  his  brilliant 
skirmishes  under  the  eye  of  the  Bearnese.  Surprised  and 
without  armour,  he  jumped,  in  doublet  and  hose,  on  horse 
back,  and  led  his  men  merrily  against  five  squadrons  of 
Spanish  and  Italian  horse,  and  six  companies  of  Spanish  in 
fantry  ;  singled  out  and  unhorsed  the  leader  of  the  Spanish 
troopers,  and  nearly  cut  off  the  head  of  the  famous 
Albanian  chief  G-eorge  Basti  with  one  swinging  blow  of  his 
sword.  Then,  being  reinforced  by  some  other  English  com 
panies,  he  succeeded  in  driving  the  whole  body  of  Italians 
and  Spaniards,  with  great  loss,  quite  into  their  entrenchments. 
"  The  king  doth  commend  him  very  highly/'  said  Umton, 
"  and  doth  more  than  wonder  at  the  valour  of  our  nation.  I 
never  heard  him  give  .  more  honour  to  any  service  nor  to  any 
man  than  he  doth  to  Sir  Roger  Williams  and  the  rest,  whom 
he  held  as  lost  men,  and  for  which  he  has  caused  public 
thanks  to  be  given  to  God."  M 

At  last  Villars,  who  had  so  peremptorily  rejected  assist* 
ance  at  the  end  of  February,  sent  to  say  that  if  he  were  not 
relieved  by  the  middle  of  April  he  should  be  obliged  to  sur 
render  the  city.  If  the  siege  were  not  raised  by  the  twen 
tieth  of  the  month  he  informed  Parma,  to  his  profound 
astonishment,  that  Rouen  would  be  in  Henry's  hands.31 

In  effecting  this  result  the  strict  blockade  maintained  by 
the  Dutch  squadron  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  the  reso- 

30  Umton  to  Burghley,  21  April,  1592.     (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 
51  Bentivoglio,  Dondini,  Coloroa,  Meteren,  Bor,  uty  sup, 

VOL,  in,— L 


146 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP  XXV. 


lute  manner  in  which  those  cruisers  dashed  at  every  vessel 
attempting  to  bring  relief  to  Rouen,  were  mainly  instrumental. 
As  usual  with  the  stern  Hollanders  and  Zeelanders  when 
engaged  at  sea  with  the  Spaniards,  it  was  war  to  the  knife. 
Early  in  April  twelve  large  vessels,  well  armed  and  manned, 
attempted  to  break  the  blockade.  A  combat  ensued,  at  the 
end  of  which  eight  of  the  Spanish  ships  were  captured,  two 
were  sunk,  and  two  were  set  on  fire  in  token  of  victory,  every 
man  on  board  of  all  being  killed  and  thrown  into  the  sea. 
Queen  Elizabeth  herself  gave  the  first  news  of  this  achieve 
ment  to  the  Dutch  envoy  in  London.  "  And  in  truth,"  said 
he,  "  her  Majesty  expressed  herself,  in  communicating  these 
tidings,  with  such  affection  and  extravagant  joy  to  the  glory 
and  honour  of  our  nation  and  men-of-war's-men,  that  it  won 
derfully  delighted  me,  and  did  me  good  into  my  very  heart 
to  hear  it  from  her."  32 

Instantly  Farnese  set  himself  to  the  work  which,  had  he 
followed  his  own  judgment,  would  already  have  been  accom 
plished.  Henry  with  his  cavalry  had  established  himself  at 
Dieppe  and  Arques,  within  a  distance  of  five  or  six  leagues 
from  the  infantry  engaged  in  the  siege  of  Rouen.  Alexander 
saw  the  profit  to  be  derived  from  the  separation  between  the 
different  portions  of  the  enemy's  forces,  and  marched  straight 
upon  the  enemy's  entrenchments.  He. knew  the  disadvantage 
of  assailing  a  strongly  fortified  camp,  but  believed  that  by  a 
well-concerted,  simultaneous  assault  by  Villars  from  within 
and  the  Leaguers  from  without,  the  king's  forces  would  be 
compelled  to  raise  the  siege  or  be  cut  up  in  their  trenches. 

But  Henry  did  not  wait  for  the  attack.  He  had  changed 
his  plan,  and,  for  once  in  his  life,  substituted  extreme  caution 
for  his  constitutional  temerity.  Neither  awaiting  the  assault 
upon  his  entrenchments  nor  seeking  his  enemy  in  the  open 
field,  he  ordered  the  whole  camp  to  be  broken  up,  and  on  the 
20th  of  April  raised  the  siege.33 


32  Noel  de  Caron  to  the  States- 
General,  22  April,  1592.  (Hague 
Archives  MS.) 


33  Ibid.  Parma  to  Philip,  25  April, 
1592.  (Arch,  de  Siraancas  MS.)  Same 
to  same,  2  June,  1592.  Ibid. 


1592.  RELIEF  OF  ROUEN.  147 

Farnese  marched  into  Rouen,  where  the  Leaguers  were 
received  with  tumultuous  joy,  and  this  city,  most  important 
for  the  purposes  of  the  League  and  for  Philip's  ulterior 
designs,  was  thus  wrested  from  the  grasp  just  closing  upon  it. 
Henry's  main  army  now  concentrated  itself  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  Dieppe,  but  the  cavalry  under  his  immediate  superin 
tendence  continued  to  harass  the  Leaguers.  It  was  now 
determined  to  lay  siege  to  Caudebec,  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Seine,  three  leagues  below  Rouen ;  the  possession  of  this 
place  by  the  enemy  being  a  constant  danger  and  difficulty  to 
Rouen,  whose  supplies  by  the  Seine  were  thus  cut  off. 

Alexander,  as  usual,  superintended  the  planting  of  the 
batteries  against  the  place.  He  had  been  suffering  during 
the  whole  campaign  with  those  dropsical  ailments  which 
were  making  life  a  torture  to  him  ;  yet  his  indomitable  spirit 
rose  superior  to  his  physical  disorders,  and  he  wrought  all 
day  long  on  foot  or  on  horseback,  when  he  seemed  only  fit  to 
be  placed  on  his  bed  as  a  rapid  passage  to  his  grave.  On  this 
occasion,  in  company  with  the  Italian  engineer  Properzio,  he 
had  been  for  some  time  examining  with  critical  nicety  the 
preliminaries  for  the  siege,  when  it  was  suddenly  observed 
by  those  around  him  that  he  was  growing  pale.  It  then 
appeared  that  he  had  received  a  musket-ball  between  the 
wrist  and  the  elbow,  and  had  been  bleeding  profusely  ;  but 
had  not  indicated  by  a  word  or  the  movement  of  a  muscle 
that  he  had  been  wounded,  so  intent  was  he  upon  carrying 
out  the  immediate  task  to  which  he  had  set  himself.  It  was 
indispensable,  however,  that  he  should  now  take  to  his  couch. 
The  wound  was  not  trifling,  and  to  one  in  his  damaged  and 
dropsical  condition  it  was  dangerous.  Fever  set  in,  with  symp 
toms  of  gangrene,  and  it  became  necessary  to  entrust  the 
command  of  the  League  to  Mayenne.34  But  it  was  hardly  con 
cealed  from  Parma  that  the  duke  was  playing  a  double  game. 
Prince  Ranuccio,  according  to  his  father's  express  wish,  was 
placed  provisionally  at  the  head  of  the  Flemish  forces.  This 

34  Bentivoglio,  Dondini,  Coloma,  De  Thou,  Meteren,  Bor,  vM  sup.     (Letter 
of  Parma  last  cited.) 


148  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CIIAP.  XXV. 

was  conceded,  however,  with  much  heart-burning,  and  with 
consequences  easily  to  be  imagined. 

Meantime  Caudebec  fell  at  once.  Henry  did .  nothing  to 
relieve  it,  and  the  place  could  offer  but  slight  resistance  to 
the  force  arrayed  against  it.  The  bulk  of  the  king's  army 
was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Dieppe,  where  they  had  been 
recently  strengthened  by  twenty  companies  of  Netherlander 
and  Scotchmen  brought  by  Count  Philip  Nassau.85  The 
League's  headquarters  were  in  the  village  of  Yvetot,  capital 
of  the  realm  of  the  whimsical  little  potentate  so  long  renowned 
under  that  name.36 

The  king,  in  pursuance  of  the  plan  he  had  marked  out  for 
3  May,  himself,  restrained  his  skirmishing  more  than  was 
1592.  his  wont.  Nevertheless  he  lay  close  to  Yvetot.  His 
cavalry,  swelling  and  falling  as  usual  like  an  Alpine  torrent,  had 
now  filled  up  its  old  channels  again,  for  once  more  the  mountain 
chivalry  had  poured  themselves  around  their  king.  With  ten 
thousand  horsemen  he  was  now  pressing  the  Leaguers,  from  time 
to  time,  very  hard,  and  on  one  occasion  the  skirmishing  be 
came  so  close  and  so  lively  that  a  general  engagement  seemed 
imminent.  Young  Kanuccio  had  a  horse  shot  under  him, 
and  his  father — suffering  as  he  was — had  himself  dragged  out 
of  bed  and  brought  on  a  litter  into  the  field,  where  he  was  set 
on  horseback,  trampling  on  wounds  and  disease,  and,  as  it 
were,  on  death  itself,  that  he  might  by  his  own  unsurpassed 
keenness  of  eye  and  quickness  of  resource  protect  the  army 
which  had  been  entrusted  to  his  care.  The  action  continued 
all  day ;  young  Bentivoglio,  nephew  of  the  famous  cardinal, 
historian  and  diplomatist,  receiving  a  bad  wound  in  the  leg, 
as  he  fought  gallantly  at  the  side  of  Kanuccio.  Carlo 
Coloma  also  distinguished  himself  in  the  engagement.  Night 
separated  the  combatants  before  either  side  had  gained  a 
manifest  advantage,  and  on  the  morrow  it  seemed  for  the 
interest  of  neither  to  resume  the  struggle.37 

The  field  where  this   campaign  was   to  be  fought  was  a 

»  Bor,  III.  xxviii.  604.  36  De  Thou,  xi.  481,  seqq. 

87  Bentivoglio,  Dondini,  Coloma,  Meteren,  Bor,  De  Thou,  ubi  su&. 


1592.  DANGEROUS  POSITION  OP  FARNESE.  149 

narrow  peninsula  enclosed  between  the  sea  and  the  rivers 
Seine  and  Dieppe.38  In  this  peninsula,  called  the  Land  of 
Caux,  it  was  Henry's  intention  to  shut  up  his  enemy.  Farnese 
had  finished  the  work  that  he  had  been  sent  to  do,  and  was 
anxious,  as  Henry  was  aware,  to  return  to  the  Nether 
lands.  Kouen  was  relieved,  Caudebec  had  fallen.  There 
was  not  food  or  forage  enough  in  the  little  peninsula  to 
feed  both  the  city  and  the  whole  army  of  the  League. 
Shut  up  in  this  narrow  area,  Alexander  must  starve  or  sur 
render.  His  only  egress  was  into  Picardy  and  so  home  to 
Artois,  through  the  base  of  the  isosceles  triangle  between 
the  two  rivers  and  on  the  borders  of  Picardy.  On  this  base 
Henry  had  posted  his  whole  army.  Should  Farnese  assail 
him,  thus  provided  with  a  strong  position  and  superiority  of 
force,  defeat  was  certain.  Should  he  remain  where  he  was, 
he  must  inevitably  starve.  He  had  no  communications  with 
the  outside.  The  Hollanders  lay  with  their  ships  below 
Caudebec,  blockading  the  river's  mouth  and  the  coast.  His 
only  chance  of  extrication  lay  across  the  Seine.  But  Alex 
ander  was  neither  a  bird  nor  a  fish,  and  it  was  necessary,  so 
Henry  thought,  to  be  either  the  one  or  the  other  to  cross  that 
broad,  deep,  and  rapid  river,  where  there  were  no  bridges, 
and  where  the  constant  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide  made  trans 
portation  almost  impossible  in  face  of  a  powerful  army  in  rear 
and  flank.  Farnese' s  situation  seemed  desperate,  while  the 
shrewd  Bearnese  sat  smiling  serenely,  carefully  watching  at 
the  mouth  of  the  trap  into  which  he  had  at  last  inveigled  his 
mighty  adversary.  Secure  of  his  triumph,  he  seemed  to  have 
changed  his  nature,  and  to  have  become  as  sedate  and  wary 
as,  by  habit,  he  was  impetuous  and  hot. 

And  in  truth  Farnese  found  himself  in  very  narrow  quarters. 
There  was  no  hay  for  his  horses,  no  bread  for  his  men.  A 
penny  loaf  was  sold  for  two  shillings.  A  jug  of  water  was  worth 
a  crown.  As  for  meat  or  wine,  they  were  hardly  to  be  dreamed 
of.39  His  men  were  becoming  furious  at  their  position.  They 

38  The  stream,  the  mouth  of  "rhich  is  at  Dieppe,  was  then  called  by  th« 
same  name  as  the  town.  39  Bor,  III.  xxviii.  619. 


150  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

had  enlisted  to  fight,  not  to  starve,  and  they  murmured  that 
it  was  better  for  an  army  to  fall  with  weapons  in  its  hands 
than  to  drop  to  pieces  hourly  with  the  enemy  looking  on  and 
enjoying  their  agony. 

It  was  obvious  to  Farnese  that  there  were  but  two  ways  out 
of  his  dilemma.  He  might  throw  himself  upon  Henry — 
strongly  entrenched  as  he  was,  and  with  much  superior  forces 
to  his  own,  upon  ground  deliberately  chosen  for  himself — 
defeat  him  utterly,  and  march  over  him  back  to  the  Nether 
lands.  This  would  be  an  agreeable  result ;  but  the  under 
taking  seemed  difficult,  to  say  the  least.  Or  he  might  throw 
his  army  across  the  Seine  and  make  his  escape  through  the 
isle  of  France  and  Southern  Picardy  -back  to  the  so-called 
obedient  provinces.  But  it  seemed  hopeless  without  bridges 
or  pontoons  to  attempt  the  passage  of  the  Seine. 

There  was,  however,  no  time  left  for  hesitation.  Secretly 
he  took  his  resolution  and  communicated  it  in  strict  confidence 
to  Mayenne,  to  Eanuccio,  and  to  one  or  two  other  chiefs.  He 
came  to  Caudebec,  and  there,  close  to  the  margin  of  the  river, 
he  threw  up  a  redoubt.  On  the  opposite  bank,  he  constructed 
another.  On  both  he  planted  artillery,  placing  a  force  of 
eight  hundred  Netherlander  under  Count  Bossu  in  the  one, 
and  an  equal  number  of  the  same  nation,  Walloons  chiefly, 
under  Barlotte  in  the  other.  He  collected  all  the  vessels, 
flatboats,  wherries,  and  rafts  that  could  be  found  or  put 
together  at  Rouen,  and  then  under  cover  of  his  forts  he 
transported  all  the  Flemish  infantry,  and  the  Spanish,  French, 
and  Italian  cavalry,  during  the  night  of  22nd  May  to  the 
22  May,  opposite  bank  of  the  Seine.  Next  morning  he  sent 
1592.  up  all  the  artillery  together  with  the  Flemish 
cavalry  to  Rouen,  where,  making  what  use  he  could  by  tem 
porary  contrivances  of  the  broken  arches  of  the  broken  bridge, 
in  order  to  shorten  the  distance  from  shore  to  shore,  he 
managed  to  convey  his  whole  army  with  all  its  trains  across 
the  river.40 

40  Bentivoglio,  Dondini,  Coloma,  De  Thou,  Bor?  Meteren,  ubi  sup.     Letter 
of  Parma,  last  cited, 


1592.  ESCAPE  OF  FARNESE  AND  HIS  ARMY.  151 

A  force  was  left  behind,  up  to  the  last  moment,  to  engage 
in  the  customary  skirmishes,  and  to  display  themselves  as 
largely  as  possible  for  the  purpose  of  imposing  upon  the  enemy. 
The  young  Prince  of  Parma  had  command  of  this  rearguard. 
The  device  was  perfectly  successful.  The  news  of  the  move 
ment  was  not  brought  to  the  ears  of  Henry  until  after  it  had 
been  accomplished.  When  the  king  reached  the  shore  of  the 
Seine,  he  saw  to  his  infinite  chagrin  and  indignation  that 
the  last  stragglers  of  the  army,  including  the  garrison  of  the 
fort  on  the  right  bank,  were  just  ferrying  themselves  across 
under  command  of  Eanuccio.41 

Furious  with  disappointment,  he  brought  some  pieces  of 
artillery  to  bear  upon  the  triumphant  fugitives.  Not  a  shot 
told,  and  the  Leaguers  had  the  satisfaction  of  making  a  bon 
fire  in  the  king's  face  of  the  boats  which  had  brought  them 
over.  Then,  taking  up  their  line  of  march  rapidly  inland, 
they  placed  themselves  completely  out  of  the  reach  of  the 
Huguenot  guns. 

Henry  had  a  bridge  at  Pont  de  1'Arche,  and  his  first 
impulse  was  to  pursue  with  his  cavalry,  but  it  was  obvious  that 
his  infantry  could  never  march  by  so  circuitous  a  route  fast 
enough  to  come  up  with  the  enemy,  who  had  already  so  pro 
digious  a  stride  in  advance.42 

There  was  no  need  to  disguise  it  to  himself.  Henry  saw 
himself  for  the  second  time  out-generalled  by  the  consummate 
Farnese.  The  trap  was  broken,  the  game  had  given  him  the 
slip.  The  manner  in  which  the  duke  had  thus  extricated 
himself  from  a  profound  dilemma,  in  which  his  fortunes  seemed 
hopelessly  sunk,  has  usually  been  considered  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  exploits  of  his  life.43 

Precisely  at  this  time,  too,  ill  news  reached  Henry  from 
Brittany  and  the  neighbouring  country.  The  Princes  Conti 
and  Dombes  had  been  obliged,  on  the  13th  May,  1592,  to 
raise  the  siege  of  Craon,  in  consequence  of  the  advance  of 
the  Duke  of  Mercoeur,  with  a  force  of  seven  thousand  men.44 

41  Bentivoglio,  Dondini,  Coloma,  De  Thou,  Bor,  Meteren,  ubi  sup.      49  Ibid. 
43  Ibid.        «  Umton  to  Burghley,  24  May,  1592,  0.  S.     (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 


152  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

They  numbered,  including  lanzknechts  and  the  English  con 
tingent,  about  half  as  many,  and  before  they  could  effect 
their  retreat,  were  attacked  by  Mercoeur,  and  utterly  routed. 
The  English,  who  alone  stood  to  their  colours,  were  nearly  all 
cut  to  pieces.  The  rest  made  a  disorderly  retreat,45  but  were 
ultimately,  with  few  exceptions,  captured  or  slain.  The  duke, 
following  up  his  victory,  seized  Chateau  Grontier  and  La  Val, 
important  crossing  places  on  the  river  Mayenne,  and  laid  siege 
to  Mayenne,  capital  city  of  that  region.  The  panic,  spread 
ing  through  Brittany  and  Maine,  threatened  the  king's  cause 
there  with  complete  overthrow,  hampered  his  operations  in 
Normandy,  and  vastly  encouraged  the  Leaguers.  It  became 
necessary  for  Henry  to  renounce  his  designs  upon  Kouen,  and 
the  pursuit  of  Parma,  and  to  retire  to  Vernon,  there  to  occupy 
himself  with  plans  for  the  relief  of  Brittany.  In  vain  had  the 
Earl  of  Essex,  whose  brother  had  already  been  killed  in 
the  campaign,  manifested  such  headlong  gallantry  in  that 
country  as  to  call  forth  the  sharpest  rebukes  from  the  admiring 
but  anxious  Elizabeth.  The  handful  of  brave  Englishmen 
who  had  been  withdrawn  from  the  Netherlands,  much  to  the 
dissatisfaction  of  the  States-General,  in  order  to  defend  the 
coasts  of  Brittany,  would  have  been  better  employed  under 
Maurice  of  Nassau.  So  soon  as  the  heavy  news  reached  the 
king,  the  faithful  Umton  was  sent  for.  "  He  imparted 
the  same  unto  me/'  said  the  envoy,  "with  extraordinary 
passion  and  discontent.  He  discoursed  at  large  of  his  miserable 
estate,  of  the  factions  of  his  servants,  and  of  their  ill-disposi 
tions,  and  then  required  my  opinion  touching  his  course  for 
Brittany,  as  also  what  further  aid  he  might  expect  from  her 
Majesty  ;  alleging  that  unless  he  were  presently  strengthened 
by  England  it  was  impossible  for  him  longer  to  resist  the 
greatness  of  the  King  of  Spain,  who  assailed  his  country  by 
Brittany,  Languedoc,  the  Low  Countries  by  the  Duke  of 
Saxony  and  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  and  so  ended  his  speech 
passionately."46  Thus  adjured,  Sir  Henry  spoke  to  the  king 
firmly  but  courteously,  reminding  him  how,'  contrary  to 
46  Umton  to  Burghley,  24  May,  1592,  O.  S.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.)  46  Ibid 


1592.  COUNSEL   OF  THE  ENGLISH  AMBASSADOR.  153 

English  advice,  he  had  followed  other  counsellors  to  the 
neglect  of  Brittany,  and  had  broken  his  promises  to  the  queen. 
He  concluded  by  urging  him  to  advance  into  that  country  in 
person,  but  did  not  pledge  himself  on  behalf  of  her  Majesty 
to  any  further  assistance.  "  To  this,"  said  Umton,  "  the  king 
gave  a  willing  ear,  and  replied,  with  many  thanks,  and  with 
out  disallowing  of  anything  that  I  alleged,  yielding  many 
excuses  of  his  want  of  means,  not  of  disposition,  to  provide  a 
remedy,  not  forgetting  to  acknowledge  her  Majesty's  care 
of  him  and  his  country,  and  especially  of  Brittany,  excusing 
much  the  bad  disposition  of  his  counsellors,  and  inclining 
much  to  my  motion  to  go  in  person  thither,  especially  because 
he  might  thereby  give  her  Majesty  better  satisfaction  ;  .  .  .  . 
and  protesting  that  he  would  either  immediately  himself 
make  war  there  in  those  parts  or  send  an  army  thither.  I 
do  not  doubt,"  added  the  ambassador,  "  but  with  good  handling 
her  Majesty  may  now  obtain  any  reasonable  matter  for  the 
conservation  of  Brittany,  as  also  for  a  place  of  retreat  for 
the  English,  and  I  urge  continually  the  yielding  of  Brest  into 
her  Majesty's  hands,  whereunto  I  find  the  king  well  inclined, 
if  he  might  bring  it  to  pass."47 

Alexander  passed  a  few  days  in  Paris,  where  he  was 
welcomed  with  much  cordiality,  recruiting  his  army  for  a 
brief  period  in  the  land  of  Brie,  and  then — broken  in  health 
but  entirely  successful — he  dragged  himself  once  more  to 
Spa  to  drink  the  waters.  He  left  an  auxiliary  force  with 
Mayenne,  and  promised — infinitely  against  his  own  wishes — 
to  obey  his  master's  commands  and  return  again  before  the 
winter  to  do  the  League's  work.48 

And  thus  Alexander  had  again  solved  a  difficult  problem. 
He  had  saved  for  his  master  and  for  the  League  the  second 
city  of  France  and  the  whole  coast  of  Normandy.  Eouen 
had  been  relieved  in  masterly  manner  even  as  Paris 
had  been  succoured  the  year  before.  He  had  done  this, 
although  opposed  by  the  sleepless  energy  and  the  exu 
berant  valour  of  the  quick-witted  Navarre,  and  although 

«7  Umton  to  Burghley,  24  May,  1592,  O.  S.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.)  *•  Jbid. 


154  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

encumbered  by  the  assistance  of  the  ponderous  Duke  of 
Mayenne.  His  military  reputation,  through  these  two  famous 
reliefs  and  retreats,  grew  greater  than  ever. 

No  commander  of  the  age  was  thought  capable  of  doing 
what  he  had  thus  done.  Yet,  after  all,  what  had  he  accom 
plished  ?  Did  he  not  feel  in  his  heart  of  hearts  that 
he  was  but  a  strong  and  most  skilful  swimmer  struggling 
for  a  little  while  against  an  ocean-tide  which  was  steadily 
sweeping  him  and  his  master  and  all  their  fortunes  far  out 
into  the  infinite  depths  ? 

Something  of  this  breathed  ever  in  his  most  secret  utter 
ances.  But,  so  long  as  life  was  in  him,  his  sword  and  his 
genius  were  at  the  disposal  of  his  sovereign,  to  carry  out  a 
series  of  schemes  as  futile  as  they  were  nefarious. 

For  us,  looking  back  upon  the  Past,  which  was  then  the 
Future,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  remorselessly  the  great  current 
of  events  was  washing  away  the  system  and  the  personages 
seeking  to  resist  its  power  and  to  oppose  the  great  moral 
principles  by  which  human  affairs  in  the  long  run  are  inva 
riably  governed.  Spain  and  Kome  were  endeavouring  to 
obliterate  the  landmarks  of  race,  nationality,  historical  institu 
tions,  and  the  tendencies  of  awakened  popular  conscience, 
throughout  Christendom,  and  to  substitute  for  them  a  dead 
level  of  conformity  to  one  regal  and  sacerdotal  despotism. 

England,  Holland,  the  Navarre  party  in  France,  and  a  con 
siderable  part  of  Germany  were  contending  for  national  unity 
and  independence,  for  vested  and  recorded  rights.  Much 
farther  than  they  themselves  or  their  chieftains  dreamed  those 
millions  of  men  were  fighting  for  a  system  of  temperate 
human  freedom  ;  for  that  emancipation  under  just  laws  from 
arbitrary  human  control,  which  is  the  right — however 
frequently  trampled  upon — of  all  classes,  conditions,  and 
races  of  men  ;  and  for  which  it  is  the  instinct  of  the  human 
race  to  continue  to  struggle  under  every  disadvantage,  and 
often  against  all  hope,  throughout  the  ages,  so  long  as  the 
very  principle  of  humanity  shall  not  be  extinguished  in  those 
who  have  been  created  after  their  Maker's  image. 


^592.    PROGRESS  OF  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  FREEDOM.    155 

It  may  safely  be  doubted  whether  the  great  Queen,  the 
Bearnese,  Alexander  Farnese,  or  his  master,  with  many  of 
their  respective  adherents,  differed  very  essentially  from  each 
other  in  their  notions  of  the  right  divine  and  the  right  of  the 
people.  But  history  has  shown  us  which  of  them  best  under 
stood  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  had  the  keenest  instinct  to 
keep  themselves  in  the  advance  by  moving  fastest  in  the  direc 
tion  whither  it  was  marshalling  all  men.  There  were  many 
earnest,  hard-toiling  men  in  those  days,  men  who  believed  in 
the  work  to  which  they  devoted  their  lives.  Perhaps,  too, 
the  devil- worshippers  did  their  master's  work  as  strenuously 
and  heartily  as  any,  and  got  fame  and  pelf  for  their  pains. 
Fortunately,  a  good  portion  of  what  they  so  laboriously 
wrought  for  has  vanished  into  air;  while  humanity  has  at 
least  gained  something  from  those  who  deliberately  or  in- 
gtinctively  conformed  themselves  to  her  eternal  laws. 


156  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVI. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Return  of  Prince  Maurice  to  the  siege  of  Steenwyck  —  Capitulation  of  the 
besieged  —  Effects  of  the  introduction  of  mining  operations  —  Maurice 
besieges  Coeworden  —  Verdugo  attempts  to  relieve  the  city,  but  fails  — 
The  city  capitulates,  and  Prince  Maurice  retreats  into  winter  quarters. 

WHILE  Farnese  had  thus  been  strengthening  the  bulwarks  of 
Philip's  universal  monarchy  in  that  portion  of  his  proposed 
French  dominions  which  looked  towards  England,  there  had 
been  opportunity  for  Prince  Maurice  to  make  an  assault  upon 
the  Frisian  defences  of  this  vast  realm.  It  was  difficult  to 
make  half  Europe  into  one  great  Spanish  fortification, 
guarding  its  every  bastion  and  every  point  of  the  curtain, 
without  far  more  extensive  armaments  than  the  "  Great  King/' 
as  the  Leaguers  proposed  that  Philip  should  entitle  himself, 
had  ever  had  at  his  disposal.  It  might  be  a  colossal 
scheme  to  stretch  the  rod  of  empire  over  so  large  a  portion  of 
the  earth,  but  the  dwarfish  attempts  to  carry  the  design  into 
execution  hardly  reveal  the  hand  of  genius.  It  is  astonish 
ing  to  contemplate  the  meagre  numbers  and  the  slender 
funds  with  which  this  world-empire  was  to  be  asserted  and 
maintained.  The  armies  arrayed  at  any  important  point 
hardly  exceeded  a  modern  division  or  two ;  while  the 
resources  furnished  for  a  year  would  hardly  pay  in  later  days 
for  a  few  weeks'  campaign. 

When  Alexander,  the  first  commander  of  his  time,  moved 
out  of  Flanders  into  France  with  less  than  twenty  thousand 
men,  he  left  most  vital  portions  of  his  master's  hereditary 
dominions  so  utterly  unprotected  that  it  was  possible  to  attack 
them  with  a  handful  of  troops.  The  young  disciple  of  Simon 
Stevinus  now  resumed  that  practical  demonstration  of  his 
principles  which  had  been  in  the  previous  year  so  well  begun. 


1592.  RETURN  OF  MAURICE  TO  STEENWYCK.  157 

On  the  28th  May,  1592,  Maurice,  taking  the  field  with  six 
thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse,  came  once     28  May, 
more    before   Steenwyck.     It  will  be  remembered        1592. 
that  he  had  been  obliged  to  relinquish  the  siege  of  this  place 
in  order  to  confront  the  Duke  of  Parma  in  July,  1591,  at 
Nymegen. 

The  city — very  important  from  its  position,  being  the  key 
to  the  province  of  Drenthe  as  well  as  one  of  the  safeguards  of 
Friesland — had  been  besieged  in  vain  by  Count  Renneberg 
after  his  treasonable  surrender  of  Groningen,  of  which  he  was 
governor,  to  the  Spaniards,  but  had  been  subsequently  sur 
prised  by  Tassis.  Since  that  time  it  had  held  for  the  king. 
Its  fortifications  were  strong,  and  of  the  best  description  known 
at  that  day.  Its  regular  garrison  was  sixteen  companies  of 
foot  and  some  cavalry  under  Antoine  de  Quocqueville, 
military  governor.  Besides  these  troops  were  twelve  hundred 
Walloon  infantry,  commanded  by  Lewis,  youngest  Count  van 
den  Berg,  a  brave  lad  of  eighteen  years,  with  whom  were  the 
lord  of  Waterdyck  and  other  Netherland  nobles.1 

To  the  military  student  the  siege  may  possess  importance 
as  marking  a  transitional  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  be 
leaguering  science.  To  the  general  reader,  as  in  most  of  the 
exploits  of  the  young  Poliorcetes,  its  details  have  but  slender 
interest.  Perhaps  it  was  here  that  the  spade  first  vindicated 
its  dignity,  and  entitled  itself  to  be  classed  as  a  military 
weapon  of  value  along  with  pike  and  arquebus.  It  was  here 
that  the  soldiers  of  Maurice,  burrowing  in  the  ground  at  ten 
stuyvers  a  day,  were  jeered  at  by  the  enemy  from  the  battle 
ments  as  boors  and  ditchers,  who  had  forfeited  their  so  May,' 
right  to  be  considered  soldiers — but  jeered  at  for  the  9  June, 
last  time. 

From  30th  May  to  9th  June  the  prince  was  occupied  in 
throwing  up  earthworks  on  the  low  grounds  in  order  to  bring 
his  guns  into  position.     On  the  13th  June  he  began 
to  batter  with  forty-five  pieces,  but  effected  little 

1  Bor,  III.  xxviii.  628-633.     Meteren,  xvi.  304,  305.     Reyd,  ix.  177-180. 
Coloma,  v.  99,  100. 


158  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV. 

more  than  to  demolish  some  of  the  breast-works.  He  threw 
hot  shot  into  the  town  very  diligently,  too,  but  did  small 
damage.  The  cannonading  went  on  for  nearly  a  week,  but 
the  practice  was  so  very  indifferent — notwithstanding  the 
protection  of  the  blessed  Barbara  and  the  tuition  of  the  bus- 
masters — that  the  besieged  began  to  amuse  themselves  with 
these  empty  and  monotonous  salvos  of  the  honourable  Artil 
lery  Guild.  When  all  this  blazing  and  thundering  had 
led  to  no  better  result  than  to  convert  a  hundred  thousand 
good  Flemish  florins  into  noise  and  smoke,  the  thrifty 
Netherlanders  on  both  sides  of  the  walls  began  to  disparage 
the  young  general's  reputation.  After  all,  they  said,  the 
Spaniards  were  right  when  they  called  artillery  mere  espanta- 
vellacos  or  scare-cowards.  This  burrowing  and  bellowing 
must  at  last  give  place  to  the  old-fashioned  push  of  pike,  and 
then  it  would  be  seen  who  the  soldiers  were.  Observations 
like  these  were  freely  made  under  a  flag  of  truce  ;  for  on  the 
19th  June — notwithstanding  their  contempt  for  the 
espanta-vellacos — the  besieged  had  sent  out  a  de 
putation  to  treat  for  an  honourable  surrender.  Maurice 
entertained  the  negotiators  hospitably  in  his  own  tent,  but 
the  terms  suggested  to  him  were  inadmissible.  Nothing  came 
of  the  conference  therefore  but  mutual  criticisms,  friendly 
enough,  although  sufficiently  caustic. 

Maurice  now  ceased  cannonading,  and  burrowed  again  for 
ten  days  without  interruption.  Four  mines,  leading  to  dif 
ferent  points  of  the  defences,  were  patiently  constructed,  and 
two  large  chambers  at  the  terminations,  neatly  finished  off 
and  filled  respectively  with  five  thousand  and  twenty-five 
hundred  pounds  of  powder,  were  at  last  established  under  two 
of  the  principal  bastions.3 

During  all  this  digging  there  had  been  a  couple  of  sorties 
in  which  the  besieged  had  inflicted  great  damage  on  their 
enemy,  and  got  back  into  the  town  with  a  few  prisoners, 
having  lost  but  six  of  their  own  men.4  Sir  Francis  Vere  had 

2  Reyd,  ubi  sup.  \     4  Ibid.      Coloma    says  that    three 

3  Bor,  Meteren,  Reyd,  Coloma,  vbi   hundred  of  the  besiegers  were  killed 
sup.  in  this  sally. 


2592.  ASSAULT  AND  CAPITULATION.  159 

been  severely  wounded  in  the  leg,  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  keep 
his  bed  during  the  rest  of  the  siege.  Verdugo,  too,  had  made  a 
feeble  attempt  to  reinforce  the  place  with  three  hundred  men, 
sixty  or  seventy  of  whom  had  entered,  while  the  rest  had 
been  killed  or  captured.5  On  such  a  small  scale  was  Philip's 
world-empire  contended  for  by  his  stadholder'  in  Friesland  ; 
yet  it  was  certainly  not  the  fault  of  the  stout  old  Portu 
guese.  Verdugo  would  rather  have  sent  thirty  thousand 
men  to  save  the  front  door  of  his  great  province  than  three 
hundred.  But  every  available  man — and  few  enough  of 
them  they  were — had  been  sent  out  of  the  Netherlands, 
to  defend  the  world-empire  in  its  outposts  of  Normandy  and 
Brittany. 

This  was  Philip  the  Prudent's  system  for  conquering  the 
world,  and  men  looked  upon  him  as  the  consummation  of 
kingcraft. 

On  the  3rd  July  Maurice  ordered  his  whole  force  to  be  in 
readiness  for  the  assault.  The  mines  were  then  sprung. 
The  bastion  of  the  east  gate  was  blown  to  ruins.  The 
mine  under  the  Gast-Huys  bulwark,  burst  outwardly,  and 
buried  alive  many  Hollanders  standing  ready  for  the  assault.6 
At  this  untoward  accident  Maurice  hesitated  to  give  the  signal 
for  storming  the  breach,  but  the  panic  within  the  town  was  so 
evident  that  Lewis  William  lost  no  time  in  seizing  the  over 
thrown  eastern  bulwark,  from  the  ruins  of  which  he  looked 
over  the  whole  city.7  The  other  broken  bastion  was  likewise 
easily  mastered,  and  the  besieged,  seeing  the  storm  about  to 
burst  upon  them  with  irresistible  fury,  sent  a  trumpet.  Mean 
time  Maurice,  inspecting  the  effects  of  the  explosion  and  pre= 
paring  for  the  assault,  had  been  shot  through  the  left  cheek. 
The  wound  was  not  dangerous,  and  the  prince  extracted  the 
bullet  with  his  own  hand,8  but  the  change  of  half  an  inch 
would  have  made  it  fatal.  He  was  not  incapacitated — after 
his  wound  had  been  dressed,  amidst  the  remonstrances 


6  Bor,  Meteren,  Reyd,  Coloma,  ubi  i      8  Ibid.    Letter  of  John  the  Younger 
sup.  to  his  father,  in  Groen  v.  Prineterer 

*  Ibid.  '  Ibid.      !  (Archives  II.  s.  i.  198.) 


160  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVI 

of  his  friends  for  his  temerity— from  listening  to  the  proposi 
tions  of  the  city.  They  were  refused,  for  the  prince  was  sure 
af  having  his  town  on  his  own  terms. 

Next  day  he  permitted  the  garrison  to  depart ;  the 
officers  and  soldiers  promising  not  to  serve  the 
y'  King  of  Spain  on  the  Netherland  side  of  the  Khine 
for  six  months.  They  were  to  take  their  baggage,  but  to  leave 
arms,  flags,  munitions,  and  provisions.  Both  Maurice  and 
Lewis  William  were  for  insisting  on  sterner  conditions,  but 
the  States'  deputies  and  members  of  the  council  who  were 
present,  as  usual,  in  camp  urged  the  building  of  the  golden 
bridge.  After  all,  a  fortified  city,  the  second  in  importance 
after  Groningen  of  all  those  regions,  was  the  real  prize  con 
tended  for.  The  garrison  was  meagre  and  much  reduced 
during  the  siege.  The  fortifications,  of  masonry  and  earth 
work  combined,  were  nearly  as  strong  as  ever.  Saint  Bar 
bara  had  done  them  but  little  damage,  but  the  town  itself 
was  in  a  sorry  plight.  Churches  and  houses  were  nearly  all 
shot  to  pieces,  and  the  inhabitants  had  long  been  dwelling  in 
the  cellars.  Two  hundred  of  the  garrison  remained,  severely 
wounded,  in  the  town  ;  three  hundred  and  fifty  had  been 
killed,  among  others  the  young  cousin  of  the  Nassaus,  Count 
Lewis  van  den  Berg.  The  remainder  of  the  royalists 
marched  out,  and  were  treated  with  courtesy  by  Maurice, 
who  gave  them  an  escort,  permitting  the  soldiers  to  retain 
their  side-arms,  and  furnishing  horses  to  the  governor. 

In  the  besieging  army  five  or  six  hundred  had  been  killed 
and  many  wounded,  but  not  in  numbers  bearing  the  same 
proportion  to  the  slain  as  in  modern  battles.9 

The  siege  had  lasted  forty-four  days.  When  it  was  over, 
and  men  came  out  from  the  town  to  examine  at  leisure  the 

9  At  least  this  is  the  testimony  of  i  were  so  many  wounded  that  not  5000 
all  the  Dutch  historians,  but — as  has  i  were  left  unhurt  in  their  camp,  out  of 
been  the  case  in  all  sieges  and  battles  10,000  with  which  the  siege  began, 
since  men  began  to  besiege  and  to  fight  j  On  the  other  hand,  according  to  the 
battles — the  evidence  given  by  the  two  same  authority,  the  besieged  had  lost 
sides  is  in  almost  direct  conflict.  but  150  killed,  and  a  few  more  than 

According  to  Coloma,  thirteen  hun-  that  number  wounded  :  f.  99V0.  But 
dred  of  the  besiegers  had  been  killed  |  we  have  seen  that  the  whole  of  the 
outright  during  the  assaults,  and  there  i  besieging  army  amounted  only  to  800(X 


1502.  SIEGE  OF  COEWORDEN. 

prince's  camp  and  his  field  of  operations,  they  were  astounded 
at  the  amount  of  labor  performed  in  so  short  a  time.  The 
oldest  campaigners  confessed  that  they  never  before  had 
understood  what  a  siege  really  was,  and  they  began  to  con 
ceive  a  higher  respect  for  the  art  of  the  engineer  than  they 
had  ever  done  before.  "  Even  those  who  were  wont  to  rail 
at  science  and  labour,"  said  one  who  was  present  in  the  camp 
of  Maurice,  "  declared  that  the  siege  would  have  been  a  far 
more  arduous  undertaking  had  it  not  been  for  those  two 
engineers,  Joost  Matthes  of  Alost,  and  Jacob  Kemp  of 
Goreum.  It  is  high  time  to  take  from  soldiers  the  false 
notion  that  it  is  shameful  to  work  with  the  spade  ;  an  error 
which  was  long  prevalent  among  the  Netherlander®,  and  still 
prevails  among  the  French,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the 
king's  affairs,  as  may  be  seen  in  his  sieges."  10 

Certainly  the  result  of  Henry's  recent  campaign  before 
Rouen  had  proved  sufficiently  how  much  better  it  would  have 
been  for  him  had  there  been  some  Dutch  Joost s  and  Jacobs 
with  their  picks  and  shovels  in  his  army  at  that  critical 
period.  They  might  perhaps  have  baffled  Parma  as  they 
had  done  Verdugo. 

Without  letting   the  grass  grow  under  his  feet,  Maurice 
now  led  his   army  from   Steenwyck   to  Zwol  and     26  July, 
arrived  on  the  26th  July  before  Coeworden.  1592. 

This  place,  very  strong  by  art  and  still  stronger  by  nature, 
was  the  other  key  to  all  north  Netherland — Friesland, 
Groningen,  and  Drenthe.  Should  it  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  republic  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  Spaniards  to 
retain  much  longer  the  rich  and  important  capital  of  all  that 
country,  the  city  of  Groningen.  Coeworden  lay  between  two 
vast  morasses,  one  of  which — the  Bourtange  swamp — ex 
tended  some  thirty  miles  to  the  bay  of  the  Dollart ;  while  the 
other  spread  nearly  as  far  in  a  westerly  direction  to  the 
Zuyder  Zee.  Thus  these  two  great  marshes  were  a  frame — 
an  almost  impassable  barrier — by  which  the  northern  third 
of  the  whole  territory  of  the  republic  was  encircled  and  de- 

10  Re  yd,  ubi  sup. 

VOL.  in. — M 


162  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV L 

fended.  Throughout  this  great  morass  there  was  not  a  hand- 
breadth  of  solid  ground — not  a  resting-place  for  a  human 
foot,  save  the  road  which  led  through  Coeworden.  This 
passage  lay  upon  a  natural  deposit  of  hard,  dry  sand,  inter 
posed  as  if  by  a  caprice  of  nature  between  the  two  swamps, 
and  was  about  half  a  mile  in  width.11 

The  town  itself  was  well  fortified,  and  Verdugo  had  been 
recently  strengthening  the  position  with  additional  earth 
works.12  A  thousand  veterans  formed  the  garrison  under 
command  of  another  Van  den  Berg,  the  Count  Frederic.13  It 
was  the  fate  of  these  sister's-children  of  the  great  founder  of 
the  republic  to  serve  the  cause  of  foreign  despotism  with 
remarkable  tenacity  against  their  own  countrymen,  and 
against  their  nearest  blood  relations.  On  many  conspicuous 
occasions  they  were  almost  as  useful  to  Spain  and  the 
Inquisition  as  the  son  and  nearly  all  the  other  kinsmen  of 
William  the  Silent  had  rendered  themselves  to  the  cause  of 
Holland  and  of  freedom. 

Having  thoroughly  entrenched  his  camp  before  Coeworden 
and  begun  the  regular  approaches,  Maurice  left  his  cousin 
Lewis  William  to  superintend  the  siege  operations  for  the 
moment,  and  advanced  towards  Ootmarsum,  a  frontier  town 
which  might  give  him  trouble  if  in  the  hands  of  a  relieving 
force.  The  place  fell  at  once,  with  the  loss  of  but  one  life  to 
the  States  army,  but  that  a  very  valuable  one  ;  General  de 
Famars,  one  of  the  original  signers  of  the  famous  Compromise, 
and  a  most  distinguished  soldier  of  the  republic,  having  been 
killed  before  the  gates. 

On  the  31st  July,  Maurice  returned  to  his  entrenchments. 
July  31,  The  enemy  professed  unbounded  confidence ;  Van 
1592.  den  Berg  not  doubting  that  he  should  be  relieved 
by  Verdugo,  and  Verdugo  being  sure  that  Van  den  Berg 
would  need  no  relief.  The  Portuguese  veteran  indeed 
was  inclined  to  wonder  at  Maurice's  presumption  in  attack 
ing  so  impregnable  a  fortress.  "  If  Coeworden  does  not 

11  Guicciardini  in  voce.    Reyd,  ix.  186,  seqq.  13  Ibid. 

18  Reyd,  ubi  sup.    Meteren,  xvi.  306.     Bor,  III.  xxviii.  639,  seqq. 


1592.  FORMAL  SUMMONS  TO  SURRENDER.  163 

hold/'    said  he,  "there  is   no   place  in  the  world  that  can 
hold."14 

Count  Peter  Ernest  was  still  acting  as  governor-general ; 
for  Alexander  Farnese,  on  returning  from  his  second  French 
campaign,  had  again  betaken  himself,  shattered  and  melan 
choly,  to  the  waters  of  Spa,  leaving  the  responsibility  for 
Netherland  affairs  upon  the  German  octogenarian.15  To  him, 
and  to  the  nonagenarian  Mondragon  at  Antwerp,  the  veteran 
Verdugo  now  called  loudly  for  aid  against  the  youthful 
pedant,  whom  all  men  had  been  laughing  at  a  twelvemonth 
or  so  before.  The  Macedonian  phalanx,  Simon  Stevinus  and 
delving  Dutch  boors — unworthy  of  the  name  of  soldiers — 
seemed  to  be  steadily  digging  the  ground  from  under  Philip's 
feet  in  his  hereditary  domains. 

What  would  become  of  the  world-empire,  where  was  the 
great  king — not  of  Spain  alone,  nor  of  France  alone — but  the 
great  monarch  of  all  Christendom,  to  plant  his  throne  securely, 
if  his  Frisian  strongholds,  his  most  important  northern  out 
posts,  were  to  fall  before  an  almost  beardless  youth  at  the 
head  of  a  handful  of  republican  militia  ? 

Verdugo  did  his  best,  but  the  best  was  little.  The  Spanish 
and  Italian  legions  had  been  sent  out  of  the  Netherlands 
into  France.  Many  had  died  there,  many  were  in  hospital 
after  their  return,  nearly  all  the  rest  were  mutinous  for  want 
of  pay. 

On  the  16th  August,  Maurice  formally  summoned  Coewor- 
den  to  surrender.  After  the  trumpeter  had  blown 
thrice,  Count  Van  den  Berg,  forbidding  all  others,  1592- 
came  alone  upon  the  walls  and  demanded  his  message.  "  To 
claim  this  city  in  the  name  of  Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau  and 
of  the  States-General,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Tell  him  first  to  beat  down  my  walls  as  flat  as  the  ditch/' 
said  Van  den  Berg,  "  and  then  to  bring  five  or  six  storms. 
Six   months  after  that  I  will  think  whether  I  will  send  a 
trumpet."16 
14  Reyd,  vM 


15  Parma  to  P.  E.  Mansfeld,  16  Aug.  1592.     Same  fo>  Philip,  24  Aug.  1592. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  16  Bor,  Reyd,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


164  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XX VI 

The  prince  proceeded  steadily  with  his  approaches,  but  he 
was  infinitely  chagrined  by  the  departure  out  of  his  camp  of 
Sir  Francis  Yere  with  his  English  contingent  of  three  regi 
ments,  whom  Queen  Elizabeth  had  peremptorily  ordered  to 
the  relief  of  King  Henry  in  Brittany. 

Nothing  amazes  the  modern  mind  so  much  as  the  exquisite 
paucity  of  forces  and  of  funds  by  which  the  world-empire  was 
fought  for  and  resisted  in  France,  Holland,  Spain,  and  Eng 
land.  The  scenes  of  war  were  rapidly  shifted — almost  like 
the  slides  of  a  magic-lantern — from  one  country  to  another  ; 
the  same  conspicuous  personages,  almost  the  same  individual 
armies,  perpetually  re-appearing  in  different  places,  as  if 
a  wild  phantasmagoria  were  capriciously  repeating  itself  to 
bewilder  the  imagination.  Essex,  and  Yere,  and  Eoger 
Williams,  and  Black  Norris — Yan  der  Does,  and  Admiral 
Nassau,  the  Meetkerks  and  Count  Philip — Farnese  and 
Mansfeld,  George  Basti,  Arenberg,  Berlaymont,  La  Noue 
and  Teligny,  Aquila  and  Coloma — were  seen  alternately 
fighting,  retreating,  triumphant,  beleaguering,  campaigning 
all  along  the  great  territory  which  extends  from  the  Bay  of 
Biscay  to  the  crags  of  Brittany,  and  across  the  narrow  seas  to 
the  bogs  of  Ireland,  and  thence  through  the  plains  of  Picardy 
and  Flanders  to  the  swamps  of  Groningen  and  the  frontiers 
of  the  Khine. 

This  was  the  arena  in  which  the  great  struggle  was  ever 
going  on,  but  the  champions  were  so  few  in  number  that  their 
individual  shapes  become  familiar  to  us  like  the  figures  of  an 
oft-repeated  pageant.  And  now  the  withdrawal  of  certain 
companies  of  infantry  and  squadrons  of  cavalry  from  the 
Spanish  armies  into  France,  had  left  obedient  Netherland 
too  weak  to  resist  rebellious  Netherland,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  withdrawal  of  some  twenty  or  thirty  companies  of 
English  auxiliaries — most  hard-fighting  veterans  it  is  true, 
but  very  few  in  number — was  likely  to  imperil  the  enterprise 
of  Maurice  in  Friesland. 

The  removal  of  these  companies  from  the  Low  Countries 
to  strengthen  the*  Bearnese  in  the  north  of  France_,  formed 


1502. 


EFFECT  OF  THE  WITHDRAWAL  OF  FORCES. 


165 


the  subject  of  much  bitter  diplomatic  conference  between  the 
States  and  England  ;  the  order  having  been  communicated 
by  the  great  queen  herself  in  many  a  vehement  epistle  and 
caustic  speech,  enforced  by  big,  manly  oaths.17 


17  The  cautionary  towns  required  to 
be  held  at  this  season  with  a  firm 
hand.  The  days  were  gone  when  the 
States  looked  up  to  the  representative 
of  the  Queen  as  a  "  Messiah,"  and  felt 
that  she  alone  sustained  them  from 
sinking  into  ruin.  A  series  of  victo 
ries  over  the  Spaniards,  and  the 
amazing  fatuity  of  the  Spanish  policy, 
had  given  them  vast  confidence  in 
themselves,  and  a  growing  contempt 
for  their  great  enemy.  They  did  not 
feel  themselves  entirely  dependent  on 
England,  but  considered  the  services 
rendered  by  each  country  to  the  other 
as  fairly  equal,  and  they  therefore  the 
more  keenly  resented  the  withdrawal 
of  troops  to  which  they  believed 
themselves  thoroughly  entitled  by 
their  contract.  It  was  an  infraction 
of  the  treaty,  in  their  opinion,  to  hold 
their  cities,  yet  to  send  the  English 
auxiliaries  into  France.  There  were 
rising  commotions  in  Flushing  and 
Ostend,  while  at  the  same  time  it  was 
felt  that  the  foreign  enemy  at  any 
moment  was  capable  of  making  a 
sudden  assault  on  those  most  vital 
places.  "  It  is  advertised  me  out  of 
England,"  said  Sir  Robert  Sidney, 
Governor  of  Flushing,  "  that  there  be 
some  men  of  war  that  say  that  Flush 
ing  may  be  kept  with  a  white  rod. 
I  know  not  whether  they  have  the 
Caducous  which  the  poets  write  that 
Mercury  had,  which  was  of  force  to 
bring  sleep  upon  all  men.  If  they 
have  not,  truly  they  little  know  this 
town,  oj  perhaps  will  not  say  what 
indeed  they  think,  being  not  in  their 
®wn  particular  interested  in  the  good 

or  ill  of   it The  burghers,   I 

confess,carry  themselves  very  honestly 
and  I  persuade  myself  that  the  queen 
hath  many  true  servants  among  them, 
notwithstanding  the  chief  way  to  keep 
them  still  honest  is  to  have  such  a 
garrison  as  may  pay  them  at  any  time 
the  price  of  doing  ill."  The  governor 
protested  that  twenty-two  companies 
of  135  men  each  was  not  a  stronger 
garrison  for  his  town  than  five  com 


panies  had  been  a  few  years  before. 
The  republican  sentiment  had  so 
much  displaced  the  feeling  of  depend 
ence  on  a  foreign  sovereign  that  the 
protectors  were  grown  to  appear  almost 
like  enemies.  Formerly  matters  were 
very  different.  "Then  was  the  name 
of  the  queen  reverenced  in  all  these 
countries,"  he  said,  "  as  of  another 
saviour  ;  and  there  wras  love  unto  her, 
and  unto  her  subjects,  swh  as  if  they 
had  been  all  of  one  nation.  The  Earl 
of  Leicester,  in  name  and  effect,  was 
Governour-General  of  the  whole  coun 
try.  My  brother  (Sir  Philip  Sidney) 
had,  joined  to  the  government  which 
now  I  have,  the  regiment  of  Zeeland, 
which  are  the  troops  from  which  this 
garrison  has  to  fear  most  any  sudden 
harm.  The  provinces  then  were  poor, 
and  ill  order  among  them,  and  the 
States  generally  hated  of  the  people. 
Every  day  a  town  lost,  the  King  of 
Spain's  army  mighty,  himself  entan 
gled  with  no  other  wars,  and  to  all 
these  harms  there  was  no  show  of 
hope  but  from  the  queen,  all  other 
princes  directly  shunning  their  alli 
ance.  The  people  saw  that  the 
queen's  taking  the  cause  in  hand,  and 
the  succour  she  gent,  had  been  the 
only  pillar  which,  after  the  loss  of 
Antwerp,  had  held  up  their  State  from 
utter  ruin,  which  bred  a  love  for  the 
queen,  and  a  fear  of  displeasing  her. 

All  this   has   since  been 

changed :  there  is  a  new  face  on  the 
State  and  people ;  the  governour- 
general  has  lost  all  authority  ;  all  the 
commandment  of  the  armies  is  in 
their  hands."  The  governour  then 
assigned  many  pregnant  reasons  for 
the  withdrawing  of  love  frcm  the 
English  and  their  queen  on  part  of 
the  Netherlanders,  prominent  among 
which  were  the  malpractices  of  the 
English  in  Campveer,  Medenblick,  and 
Gertruydenberg,  but  especially  the 
interference  by  the  English  cruisers 
with  their  sea-going  ships,  and  the 
frequent  piracies  committed  on  their 
merchantmen  by  her  Majesty's  navy. 


166 


THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXVI. 


Verdugo,  although  confident  in  the  strength  of  the  place, 
had  represented  to  Parma  and  to  Mansfeld  the  immense  im 
portance  of  relieving  Coeworden.  The  city,  he  said,  was  more 
valuable  than  all  the  towns  taken  the  year  before.  All 
Friesland  hung  upon  it,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  save 
Groningen  should  Coeworden  fall. 

Meantime  Count  Philip  Nassau  arrived  from  the  campaign 
in  France  with  his  three  regiments  which  he  threw  into 
garrison,  and  thus  set  free  an  equal  number  of  fresh  troops, 
which  were  forthwith  sent  to  the  camp  of  Maurice.18  The 
prince  at  the  same  time  was  made  aware  that  Verdugo  was 


"  The  hindrance  of  their  free  traffic," 
he  said,  "  and  the  despoiling  of  many 
of  their  ships  by  such  as  have  com 
mission  by  the  queen  to  go  to  sea,  are 
what  they  exclaim  against  extremely  " 
He  paid  *an  honest  tribute  to  the  na 
tional  unity  which  had  grown  up  in 
the  republic,  and  to  the  good  adminis 
tration  of  their  affairs.  "Now  are 
the  States  and  the  people  firmly 
united,"  he  said ;  "  the  soldiers  tho 
roughly  contented  by  the  good  go 
vernment  of  the  count  and  the 

good  payment  made  to  them 

The  fear  of  the  king  of  Spain  is 
almost  worn  out,  their  army  hav 
ing  now,  the  third  year,  almost 
without  opposition  kept  the  field." 
It  was  Sidney's  opinion  that  Coe 
worden  would  soon  fall,  after  which 
Groningen  would  become  untenable. 
Then,  without  additional  expense,  the 
States  would  be  able  to  take  the  field 
with  25,000  men,  with  which  they 
thought  themselves  quite  capable  of 
holding  the  king  of  Spain  in  play, 
especially  embarked  as  he  was  with 
England  and  France.  "  Yet  do  I  not 
think,"  he  added,  "that  the  States 
will  be  willing  to  have  the  English 
companies  drawn  away,  they  being, 
although  but  few,  a  great  part  of  the 
reputation  of  the  army  ;  neither  do  I 
think  that  they  would  yet  be  wil 
ling  to  have  the  contract  with  her 
Majesty  broken  off,  because  it  is  one  of 
the  principal  chains  that  holds  these 
provinces  in  union  together,  and  one 
of  the  best  graces  they  have  with  the 
princes  abroad  ;  and  because,  by  the 
amity  with  England,  they  have  the 


free  use  of  the  sea  by  which  they  live. 
Though  these  men  be  her  Majesty's 
subjects,   yet  in  respect  that  by  the 
contract  they  were  lent  unto  them, 
and  that  to  have  them  they  put  their 
towns  into  her  Majesty's  hands,  they 
think  they  may  challenge  a  great  right 
unto  them;    and  truly   I   was  in  a 
manner    asked  whether    the  queen, 
!  withdrawing  her  forces,  would   still 
|  retain  the  cautionary  towns."     Truly 
the  question  seemed  a  pertinent  one  ; 
and  it  would  have  been  difficult  for  an 
j  honest  man  to  explain  why  the  mort- 
j  gage  should  remain  when  the  loan 
i  was  withdrawn.     It  needed  no  Solo- 
j  mon  or  Daniel  to  decide  so  plain  a 
matter,  and  the  States  had  an  uncom 
fortable  habit  of    insisting  on  their 
rights,   even  in  the  very  face  of  the 
English  Queen.     "  These  men,  how 
simple   show  soever  they  bear  out- 
I  wardly,  have  hearts  high  enough," 
I  said  Sidney  ;  "  and  look  to  be  respected 
!  as  they  which  hold  themselves  chief 
I  rulers  of  the  provinces,  which  have  so 
long  maintained  war  against  the  king 
!  of  Spain,   and  truly  I  do  not  think 
I  that  secretly  anything  is  so  much  in- 
|  digested  by  them  as  the  little  respect 
as  they  imagine  is  had  of  them  in 
England,  and  herein   they  did  look 
I  that  her  Majesty  should  have  proceed 
ed  by  way  of  intreating  with  them, 
as  was  done  two  years  ago,  when  Sir 
John  Norris  led  the  first  troops  into 
i  Brittany."     Sidney  to  Burghley,   14 
July,  1592.     (S.  P.  Office  MS.)     Same 
to  same,  4  Aug.  1592.     (Ibid.) 
18  Bor,  Reyd,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


1592.  ATTACK  ON  MAURICE'S  CAMP.  167 

about  to  receive  important  succour,  and  he  was  advised  by  the 
deputies  of  the  States-General  present  at  his  headquarters  to 
send  out  his  German  Reiters  to  intercept  them.  Maurice 
refused.  Should  his  cavalry  be  defeated,  he  said,  his  whole 
army  would  be  endangered.  He  determined  to  await  within 
his  fortified  camp  the  attack  of  the  relieving  force. 

During  the  whole  month  of  August  he  proceeded  steadily 
with  his  sapping  and  mining.  By  the  middle  of  the  month 
his  lines  had  come  through  the  ditch,  which  he  drained  of 
Water  into  the  counterscarp.  By  the  beginning  of  September 
he  had  got  beneath  the  principal  fort,  which,  in  the  course 
of  three  or  four  days,  he  expected  to  blow  into  the  air.  The 
rainy  weather  had  impeded  his  operations  and  the  march  of 
the  relieving  army.  Nevertheless  that  army  was  at  last  ap 
proaching.  The  regiments  of  Mondragon,  Charles  Mansfeld, 
Gonzaga,  Berlaymont,  and  Arenberg  had  been  despatched  to 
reinforce  Verdugo.  On  the  23rd  August,  having 
crossed  the  Rhine  at  Rheinberg,  they  reached  Olfen 
in  the  country  of  Benthem,  ten  miles  from  Coeworden.  Here 
they  threw  up  rockets  and  made  other  signals  that  relief  was 
approaching  the  town.  On  the  3rd  of  September  Verdugo, 
with  the  whole  force  at  his  disposal,  amounting  to  four 
thousand  foot  and  eighteen  hundred  horse,  was  at  the  village 
of  Emblichen,  within  a  league  of  the  besieged  city.  That 
night  a  peasant  was  captured  with  letters  from  Verdugo  to 
the  Governor  of  Coeworden,  giving  information  that  he  in 
tended  to  make  an  assault  on  the  besiegers  on  the 
night  of  6th-7th  September. 

Thus  forewarned,  Maurice  took  the  best  precautions  and 
calmly  within  his  entrenchments  awaited  the  onslaught. 
Punctual  to  his  appointment,  Verdugo  with  his  whole  force, 
yelling  "  Victoria  !  Victoria  !"  made  a  shirt-attack,  or  cami- 
ciata — the  men  wearing  their  shirts  outside  their  armour  to 
distinguish  each  other  in  the  darkness — upon  that  portion  ovf 
the  camp  which  was  under  command  of  Hohenlo.  They 
were  met  with  determination  and  repulsed,  after  fighting  all 
night,  with  a  loss  of  three  hundred  killed  and  a  proportionate 


168 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXVI. 


number  of  wounded.  The  Netherlander  had  but  three  killed 
and  six  wounded.  Among  the  latter,  however,  was  Lewis 
William,  who  received  a  musket-ball  in  the  belly,  but  re 
mained  on  the  ground  until  the  enemy  had  retreated.  It 
was  then  discovered  that  his  wound  was  not  mortal — the 
intestines  not  having  been  injured — and  he  was  soon  about 
his  work  again.19  Prince  Maurice,  too,  as  usual,  incurred  the 
remonstrances  of  the  deputies  and  others  for  the  reckless 
manner  in  which  he  exposed  himself  wherever  the  fire  was 
hottest.20  He  resolutely  refused,  however,  to  permit  his 
cavalry  to  follow  the  retreating  enemy.  His  object  was 
Coeworden — a  prize  more  important  than  a  new  victory  over 
the  already  defeated  Spaniards  would  prove — and  this  object 
he  kept  ever  before  his  eyes. 

This  was  Verdugo's  first  and  last  attempt  to  relieve  the 
city.  He  had  seen  enough  of  the  young  prince's  tactics  and 
had  no  further  wish  to  break  his  teeth  against  those  scientific 
entrenchments.  The  Spaniards  at  last,  whether  they  wore 
their  shirts  inside  or  outside  their  doublets,  could  no  longer 
handle  the  Dutchmen  at  pleasure.  That  people  of  butter, 
as  the  iron  duke  of  Alva  was  fond  of  calling  the  Nether- 
landers,  were  grown  harder  with  the  pressure  of  a  twenty-five 
years'  war. 

Five  days  after  the  sanguinary  camiciata  the  besieged 
offered  to  capitulate.  The  trumpet  at  which  the  proud  Van 
den  Berg  had  hinted  for  six  months  later  arrived  on 
the  12th  September.  Maurice  was  glad  to  get  his 
town.  His  "  little  soldiers  "  did  not  insist,  as  the  Spaniards 
and  Italians  were  used  to  do  in  the  good  old  days,  on  un 
limited  murder,  rape,  and  fire,  as  the  natural  solace  and  reward 
of  their  labours  in  the  trenches.  Civilization  had  made  some 


19  Bor,  Reyd,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 
"  My  brother  William,"  wrote  Count 
John  to  his  father,  "  was  shot  in  the 
right  side,  so  that  the  ball  came  out 
again  near  the  navel ;  but,  thank  God, 
there  is  no  danger  of  his  life,  as  all 

the  barbers  agree After    he 

had  received  the  shot  he  remained 


more  than  an  hour  fighting  on  horse 
back  and  afoot  before  his  wound  was 
bound  up,  and  he  could  not  be  in 
duced  by  any  persuasion  to  leave  the 
ground." — Groen  v.  Prinsterer,  Ar 
chives,  II.  s.  i.  207,  208. 
20  Bor,  Reyd,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


1592. 


CAPITULATION  OF  COEWORDEN. 


169 


progress,  at  least  in  the  Netherlands.  Maurice  granted  good 
terms,  such  as  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  conceding  to  all 
captured  towns.  Van  den  Berg  was  courteously  received  by 
his  cousins,  as  he  rode  forth  from  the  place  at  the  head  of 
what  remained  of  his  garrison,  five  hundred  in  number,  with 
colours  flying,  matches  burning,  bullet  in  mouth,  and  with  all 
their  arms  and  baggage  except  artillery  and  ammunition,  and 
the  heroic  little  Lewis,  notwithstanding  the  wound  in  his 
belly,  got  on  horseback  and  greeted  him  with  a  cousinly 
welcome  in  the  camp.21 

The  city  was  a  most  important  acquisition,  as  already  suffi 
ciently  set  forth,  but  Queen  Elizabeth,  much  misinformed  on 
this  occasion,  was  inclined  to  undervalue  it.  She  wrote  accord 
ingly  to  the  States,  reproaching  them  for  using  all  that 
artillery  and  that  royal  force  against  a  mere  castle  and  earth- 
heap,  instead  of  attempting  some  considerable  capital,  or 
going  in  force  to  the  relief  of  Brittany.22  The  day  was  to 
come  when  she  would  acknowledge  the  advantage  of  not 
leaving  this  earth-heap  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniard.  Mean 
time,  Prince  Maurice — the  season  being  so  far  advanced — 
gave  the  world  no  further  practical  lessons  in  the  engineering 
science,  and  sent  his  troops  into  winter  quarters. 

These  were  the  chief  military  phenomena  in  France  and 
Flanders  during  three  years  of  the  great  struggle  to  establish 
Philip's  universal  dominion. 


J1  Bor,  Reyd,  Meteren. 

21  "  Hasardants  vos  gens  es  entre- 
prinses  incertaines  et  de  pen  de  con 
sequence  eu  esgard  que  le  poids  des 
affaires  qui  conscernent  le  bien  de 
notre  estat  et  du  votre  consiste  plus 
tost  a  empecher  la  perte  de  Bretagne, 


le  recouvrement  vous  devroit  estre 
beaucoup  plus  recommande  que  de 
vous  attaquer  a  ung  petit  chateau  tel 
qu'estCoevorden  ou  aultre  semblable." 
Queen  to  the  States-General,  23  July, 
1592.  (Hague  Archives  MS.) 


170  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVH. 


CHAPTER     XXVII. 

Negotiations  between  Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  States  —  Aspect  of  affair* 
between  England  and  the  Netherlands —  Complaints  of  the  Hollanders  on 
the  piratical  acts  of  the  English  —  The  Dutch  Envoy  and  the  English 
Government  —  Caron's  interview  with  Elizabeth  —  The  Queen  promises 
redress  of  grievances. 

IT  is  now  necessary  to  cast  a  glance  at  certain  negotiations 
on  delicate  topics  which  had  meantime  been  occurring  between 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  States. 

England  and  the  republic  were  bound  together  by  ties  so 
close  that  it  was  impossible  for  either  to  injure  the  other 
without  inflicting  a  corresponding  damage  on  itself.  Never 
theless  this  very  community  of  interest,  combined  with  a  close 
national  relationship — for  in  the  European  family  the  Nether- 
landers  and  English  were  but  cousins  twice  removed — with 
similarity  of  pursuits,  with  commercial  jealousy,  with  an 
intense  and  ever  growing  rivalry  for  that  supremacy  on  the 
ocean  towards  which  the  monarchy  and  the  republic  were  so 
earnestly  struggling,  with  a  common  passion  for  civil  and 
religious  freedom,  and  with  that  inveterate  habit  of  self-asser 
tion — the  healthful  but  not  engaging  attribute  of  all  vigorous 
nations — which  strongly  marked  them  both,  was  rapidly 
producing  an  antipathy  between  the  two  countries  which  time 
was  likely  rather  to  deepen  than  efface.  And  the  national 
divergences  were  as  potent  as  the  traits  of  resemblance  in 
creating  this  antagonism. 

The  democratic  element  was  expanding  itself  in  the 
republic  so  rapidly  as  to  stifle  for  a  time  the  oligarchical 
principle  which  might  one  day  be  developed  out  of  the  same 
matrix  ;  while,  despite  the  hardy  and  adventurous  spirit  which 
characterised  the  English  nation  throughout  all  its  grades, 
there  was  never  a  more  intensely  aristocratic  influence  in  the 


1592. 


ELIZABETH  AND  HER  COURTIERS. 


171 


world  than  the  governing  and  directing  spirit  of  the  England 
of  that  age. 

It  was  impossible  that  the  courtiers  of  Elizabeth  and  the 
burgher-statesmen  of  Holland  and  Friesland  should  sympathize 
with  each  other  in  sentiment  or  in  manner.  The  republicans 
in  their  exuberant  consciousness  of  having  at  last  got  rid  of 
kings  and  kingly  paraphernalia  in  their  own  land — for  since 
the  rejection  of  the  sovereignty  offered  to  France  and 
England  in  1585  this  feeling  had  become  so  predominant  as 
to  make  it  difficult  to  believe  that  those  offers  had  been  in 
reality  so  recent  —  were  insensibly  adopting  a  frankness, 
perhaps  a  roughness,  of  political  and  social  demeanour  which 
was  far  from  palatable  to  the  euphuistic  formalists  of  other 
countries. 

Especially  the  English  statesmen,  trained  to  approach 
their  sovereign  with  almost  Oriental  humility,  and  ac 
customed  to  exact  for  themselves  a  large  amount  of 
deference,1  could  ill  brook  the  free  and  easy  tone  occasionally 
adopted  in  diplomatic  and  official  intercourse  by  these  upstart 
republicans.  A  queen,  who  to  loose  morals,  imperious 
disposition,  and  violent  temper  united  as  inordinate  a  personal 
vanity  as  was  ever  vouchsafed  to  woman,  and  who  up  to  the 
verge  of  decrepitude  was  addressed  by  her  courtiers  in  the 
language  of  love-lorn  swain  to  blooming  shepherdess,2  could 

All  those  times  past,  the  loves,  the 
sighs,  the  sorrows,  the  desires,  can 
they  net  weigh  down  one  frail  misfor 
tune?  Cannot  one  drop  of  gall  be 
hidden  in  so  great  heaps  of  sweetness  ?" 
&c.  &c.  &c.  "  Do  with  me  now  there 
fore  what  you  list — I  am  weary  of 
life,"  &c.  &c.  &c.  Sir  W.  Raleigh  to 
Sir  R.  Cecil,  July,  1592.  (Murdin 
State  Papers,  ii.  657.)  Let  it  be  re 
membered  that  the  Venus,  nymph, 
goddess,  angel,  thus  adjured  for  pity, 
had  just  turned  her  sixtieth  year. 

The  Chevalier  Du  Maurier  relates 
in  his  memoirs  a  little  incident  which 
he  witnessed  when  residing  as  a  boy 
near  the  Hague,  his  father  being  then 
French  envoy  to  the  States  ;  and 
which  indicates  that  the  rustic  and 
uncourtly  independence  of  the  repub. 


1  The  Venetian  ambassador  Conta- 
rini  relates  that  in  the  reign  of  James 
I.  the  great  nobles  of  England  were 
served  at  table  by  lackeys  on  their 
knees. 

8  Take,  for  example,  among  a  thou 
sand  similar  effusions,  the  language 
used  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  at  exactly 
the  period  with  which  we  are  now 
occupied : — 

"  I  that  was  wont  to  behold  her 
riding  like  Alexander,  walking  like 
Venus,  the  gentle  wind  blowing  her 
fair  hair  about  her  pure  cheeks,  like  a 
nymph  ;  sometimes  sitting  in  the 
shade  like  a  goddess,  sometimes  sing 
ing  like  an  angel,  sometimes  playing 
like  Orpheus.  All  wounds  have  scars 
but  those  of  fantasy,  all  affections 
theirrelentingbutthoseof  womankind. 


172 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXVII. 


naturally  find  but  little  to  her  taste  in  the  hierarchy  of  Hans 
Brewer  and  Hans  Baker.  Thus  her  Majesty  and  her  courtiers, 
accustomed  to  the  faded  gallantries  with  which  the  serious 
affairs  of  State  were  so  grotesquely  intermingled,  took  it  ill 
when  they  were  bluntly  informed,  for  instance,  that  the  State 
council  of  the  Netherlands,  negotiating  on  Netherland  affairs, 
could  not  permit  a  veto  to  the  'representatives  of  the  queen, 
and  that  this  same  body  of  Dutchmen  discussing  their  own 
business  insisted  upon  talking  Dutch  and  not  Latin. 

It  was  impossible  to  deny  that  the  young  Stadholder  was 
a  gentleman  of  a  good  house,  but  how  could  the  insolence  of  a 
common  citizen  like  John  of  Olden-Barneveld  be  digested  ? 
It  was  certain  that  behind  those  shaggy,  overhanging  brows 
there  was  a  powerful  brain  stored  with  legal  and  historic  lore, 
which  supplied  eloquence  to  an  ever-ready  tongue  and  pen. 
Yet  these  facts,  difficult  to  gainsay,  did  not  make  the 
demands  so  frequently  urged  by  the  States-General  upon 
the  English  Government  for  the  enforcement  of  Dutch  rights 
and  the  redress  of  English  wrongs  the  more  acceptable. 

Bodley,  Gilpin,  and   the  rest  were  in  a  chronic  state  of 


licans  had  not  diminished  with  the 
lapse  of  a  few  more  years,  and  with 
the  corresponding  increase  of  popular 
wealth  and  strength  throughout  the 
commonwealth.  The  unlucky  elector 
palatine,  ex-king  of  Bohemia,  a  refu 
gee  in  Holland  since  the  battle  of 
Prague,  was  hunting  hares  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Du  Maurier's  house. 
In  the  ardour  of  the  chase,  Frederick, 
having  intruded  with  dogs  and  horses 
upon  the  turnip-field  of  a  wealthy 
peasant,  saw  himself  pursued  with 
loud  cries  by  the  incensed  proprietor, 
accompanied  by  a  very  big  farm-ser 
vant.  Both  were  armed  with  pitch 
forks,  and  the  farmer  himself  presented 
a  truly  respectable  as  well  as  formid 
able  appearance,  dressed  as  he  hap 
pened  to  be  in  his  holiday  suit  of 
black  Spanish  broadcloth,  with  an 
under  jacket  of  Florence  ratinet, 
adorned  with  massive  silver  buttons. 
Flourishing  his  pitchfork,  and  making 
no  other  salutation,  be  bawled  out, 
"  King  of  Bohemia,  King  of  Bohemia, 
What  do  you  mean  by  trampling  on 


my  turnips?  Don't  you  know  how 
much  pains  it  costs  to  plant  and  to 
weed  them?"  The  luckless  son-in- 
law  of  the  British  sovereign  had  no 
thing  for  it  but  to  apologise  for  the 
trespass,  and  to  beat  as  rapid  a  re 
treat  before  the  Dutch  farmer  as  he 
had  recently  done  before  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine  and  the  Emperor  Ferdinand. 
Memoires  de  Messire  Aubery  du  Mau. 
rier,  pp.  252,  253. 

Perhaps  it  was  as  well  for  the  pro 
gress  of  mankind — even  at  the  occa 
sional  sacrifice  of  courtesy  to  royalty  in 
difficulties — that  there  should  have 
been  a  corner  of  the  earth  where  tha 
theory  ofnaturalmastersandguardians 
for  the  people  had  already  received  so 
rude  a  shock  as  in  Holland,  and  where 
not  only  the  boor  but  the  boor's  tur 
nips  were  safe  from  being  trampled 
upon.  What  more  poignant  satire  on 
human  nature  than  is  contained  in  this 
very  English  word  boor !  The  builder, 
the  planter,  the  creator — the  Bauer 
in  short — is  made  to  be  identical  with 
the  vulgar  clown, 


1592.      DISSATISFACTION  AMONG  THE  NETHERLANDERS.       173 


exasperation  with  the  Hollanders,  not  only  because  of  their 
perpetual  complaints,  but  because  their  complaints  were 
perpetually  just. 

The  States-General  were  dissatisfied,  all  the  Netherlanders 
were  dissatisfied — and  not  entirely  without  reason — that  the 
English,  with  whom  the  republic  was  on  terms  not  only  of 
friendship  but  of  alliance,  should  burn  their  ships  on  the  high 
seas,  plunder  their  merchants,  and  torture  their  sea-captains 
in  order  to  extort  information  as  to  the  most  precious  portions 
of  their  cargoes.3  Sharp  language  against  such  malpractices 

3  "  Nommement  que  pardessus  ung  I  clairement    a  V.    M.  "  &c.    &c.    &c. 
nombre  infini   de  pilleries,  forces  et  I  States-General  to  the  Queen,  1  Nov. 
outrages,  certain    navire    de   Pierre 
Piateoz,  au  commencement  de  ce  mois 
venant  d'Espaigne  vers  ces  Provinces 


Unies  charge  d'une  grande  somme 
d'argent  et  marchandises  pracieuses  a 
ete  force,  prins  et  mene  a  Plymouth  par 
le  subject  de  V.  M.  le  Capitaine  Mar 
tin  Frobisher  avec  ung  aultre  navire 
charge  de  sel.  Lesquels  navires  sout 
tenus  comme  pour  bonne  prinse  soubs 
pretexte  premierement,  comme  nous 
entendons,  que  le  diet  Pierre  se  seroit 
mis  en  defence  contre  le  navire  de 
V.  M.  lequel  il  na  cegnu  ny  peu 
cognoistre  pour  le  grand  nombre  de  la 
diversite  des  navires  mesmes  des  pi 
rates  qui  journellement  s'aydant  en 
mer  du  nom  des  navires  et  gens  de 
V.  M.  forcent  et  pillent  les  navires  et 
marchandises  des  inhabitants  de  ce 
pays  soubs  toute  couleur  et  pretexte 
traictans  les  mariniers  de  toutes  sortes 
de  tourments.  Et  secondement  qu'ils 
disent  qu'en  iceux  deux  navires 
auroient  este  quelques  biens  et  mar 
chandises  appartenans  aux  Espagnols 
ou  autres  subjects  et  tenants  le  parti 
des  ennemis  :  le  tout  contre  la  verite  et 
dont  il  n'apparoistra  jamais  ainsi  que 
le  les  proprietaires  et  mariniers  disent. 
Ces  practiques  et  traverses  dont  ils 
usent  journellement  meme  par  me 
naces,  concussions  et  violences  pour 
fair  coiifesser  aux  bons  gens  ce  qu'on 
veuille  ou  de  les  constraindre  a  aban- 
donner  leurs  biens  et  marchandises 
ainsi  prinses,  sont  si  notoires  et  en  si 
grand  nombre  que  nous  tenons  tout 
certain  qu'elles  sont  assez  cognues  et 
decouvertes  et  indubitablement  appa- 
roistront  encores  avec  le  temps  plus 


1590.    (Hague  Archives  MS.) 

"II  n'y  a  chose  que  nous  faisons 
avecq  plus  de  regret  que  de  molester 
si  souventes  fois  V.  M.  par  nos  plainc- 
tes  a  1'endroict  des  doleances  des  mar- 
chants  de  ces  pays,  des  pilleries, 
dommages  et  exces  que  leur  font  con- 
tinuellement  en  mer  les  subjects 
d'lcelle  par  pure  force  et  violence  sans 
cause  ny  aulcune  raison,  au  lieu  de 
I'ordre  et  remede  qui  leur  avoit  este 
promis  et  asseure.  D'aultant  que  S(ja- 
vons  combien  cela  doibt  desplaire  a 
une  Princesse  Chretienne  et  droictu- 
riere  dont  V.  M.  est  si  renommee  par 
tout  le  monde.  Mais  comme  voyons 
les  diets  exces  s'accroistre  journelle 
ment  en  teiles  exorbitances  et  plus  ni 
moings  si  les  Anglais  s'estoient  de 
clares  ennemis  de  ces  pays  et  faisoient 
leur  equippaige  tout  expres  pour 
quant  nos  marchands  ruiner,  aussi  du 
tout  nostre  estat,  ou  du  moins  par  ce 
moyen  le  mettre  en  rage  et  desespoir 
du  peuple  ;  si  comme  nous  est  apparu 
par  verifications  legi times  et  aucten- 
tiques  que  le  24e  du  mois  de  Mai 
dernier  une  pinasse  nomine  le  Jeune 
Lion  ou  estoit  capitaine  ung  appelle 
Manser  et  deux  aultres  navires  Anglois 
dont  Fung  avoit  nom  Susan  et  estoit 
commande  par  le  capitaine  Henry,  ont 
sans  mot  sonnerfurieusement  attaque 
par  coups  d'artillerie  et  investie  ung 
navire  de  la  Veere  appelle  le  Griphon, 
qui  avoit  pour  marinier  Gole  Adrians- 
zoen,- parti  auparavant  de  St.  Lucas  et 
estoit  charge  de  grande  quantite  d'ar 
gent,  perles  et  conchenille  le  quel  ila 
ont  entierement  spolie  et  pille  apres 
qu'ils  avoient  faict  prisonniers  et 


174 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXVII. 


was  considered  but  proof  of  democratic  vulgarity.  Yet  it 
would  be  hard  to  maintain  that  Martin  Frobisher,  Mansfield, 
Grenfell,  and  the  rest  of  the  sea-kings,  with  all  their  dash  and 
daring  and  patriotism,  were  not  as  unscrupulous  pirates  as 
ever  sailed  blue  water,  or  that  they  were  not  apt  to  commit 
their  depredations  upon  friend  and  foe  alike. 

On  the  other  hand,  by  a  liberality  of  commerce  in  extra 
ordinary  contrast  with  the  practice  of  modern  times,  the 
Netherlander  were  in  the  habit  of  trading  directly  with 
the  arch-enemy  of  both  Holland  and  England,  even  in  the 
midst  of  their  conflict  with  him,  and  it  was  complained  of 
that  even  the  munitions  of  war  and  the  implements  of  navi 
gation  by  which  Spain  had  been  enabled  to  effect  its  foot-hold 
in  Brittany,  and  thus  to  threaten  the  English  coast,  were 
derived  from  this  very  traffic.4 


gehenne  inhumainement  plusieurs  de 
ceulx  qui  y  estoient  dedans,  les  con- 
traignants  de  signer  qu'ils  n'avoient 
prins  que  dix-sept  sacqs  d'argent  et 
huict  tonneaux  de  la  dicte  conchenille 
en  lieu  de  cent  et  quinze  sacqs,  toutes 
les  perles  et  conchenille  ;  non  obstant 
que  le  dit  maistre  marinier  leur  fait 
voir  qu'ils  estoient  de  la  Vere  et  que 
le  tout  appartenoit  a  des  marchands  de 
Zelande,"  &c.  &c.  &c.  States-General 
to  the  Queen,  26  June,  1592.  (Hague 
Archives  MS.) 

"  Outre  le  mescontement  que  les 
peuples  out  par  les  continuelles  larcins 
et  pilleries  de  la  mer  par  ou  ils  sont 
entierement  alien ez  del 'affection  quils 
souloient  porter  a  la  nation  Anglaise," 
&c.  &c.  &c.  Noel  de  Caron  to  the 
Lord  Treasurer,  July,  1592.  (Hague 
Archives  MS.) 

"  The  merchants  of  Middleburgh 
have  of  late  received  such  losses  as 
they  say  by  our  countrymen  that  her 
M.'s  letter  whereby  she  signifies  the 
release  of  four  ships  is  not  medicine 
strong  enough  any  way  to  appease 
their  griefs.  They  complain  of  two 
ships  taken  on  the  coast  of  Portugal 
worth  30,000?.  sterling,  and  the  same 
day  I  did  deliver  the  queen's  letter 
they  had  already  had  news  of  the 
taking  of  four  ships  more  going  out  of 
this  river  worth  as  they  say  as  much 
as  the  other  two.  These  actions  make 


them  almost  desperate,  as  I  will  write 
more  at  large  unto  yr  Lo.  :  upon 
the  return  of  the  deputies,  which 
they  of  Zeland  did  send  unto  Holld 
to  let  them  know  of  these  prisals, 

and  to  take  some  course  for  it 

I  am  assured  that  before  this  happened 
all  the  country  except  Amsterdam 
were  resolved  to  give  contentment 
unto  the  queen  touching  the  articles 
of  the  traffic.  What  they  will  now  do 
I  know  not,  for  these  things  have 
greatly  stirred  the  humours  here,  and 
if  it  be  continued,  not  unlikely  that 
some  inconvenience  may  happen  which 
in  my  opinion  were  good  for  her  M. 
to  foresee,  since  the  profit  comes  little, 
as  far  as  I  can  see,  to  herself,  and  the 
merchants  and  committee  of  these 
towns,  who  are  the  men  that  most  affect 
her  M.  and  her  service,  will  have 
their  hearts  alienated  from  her  if  they 
see  their  goods,  which  is  their  life, 
taken  from  them  by  her  M.'s  subjects, 
where  they  look  to  be  protected  by 
her."  Sir  R.  Sidney  to  Burghley,  29 
Oct.  1590.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

4  "  Touchant  ce  que  vous  debvriez 
prohiber  le  commerce  et  transports 
ment  de  vivres  et  munitions  d'icy  en 
Espagne.  Qui  est  une  chose  prac- 
tique  aussi  ouvertement  et  hardiment 
par  certains  marchands  de  Hollande  et 
Zelande  que  s'il  ny  avoit  point  d'ini- 
mitie  entre  les  Espaignols  et  eux. 


1592.        COMMERCE  BETWEEN  BELLIGERENT  POWERS. 


175 


The  Hollanders  replied  that,  according  to  their  contract 
with  England,  they  were  at  liberty  to  send  as  many  as  forty 
or  fifty  vessels  at  a  time  to  Spain  and  Portugal,  that  they  had 
never  exceeded  the  stipulated  number,  that  England  freely 
engaged  in  the  same  traffic  herself  with  the  common  enemy, 
that  it  was  not  reasonable  to  consider  cordage  or  dried  fish  or 
shooks  and  staves,  butter,  eggs,  and  corn  as  contraband  of 
war,  that  if  they  were  illegitimate  the  English  trade  was 
vitiated  to  the  same  degree,  and  that  it  would  be  utterly 
hopeless  for  the  provinces  to  attempt  to  carry  on  the  war, 
except  by  enabling  themselves,  through  the  widest  and  most 
unrestricted  foreign  commerce,  even  including  the  enemy's 
realms,  to  provide  their  nation  with  the  necessary  wealth  to 
sustain  so  gigantic  a  conflict.5 


Tellement  que  si  les  navires  du  Roy  en 
Biscaye  et  Gallice  Cales  et  aultres 
parties  meridionales  d'Espagne  n'eus- 
sent  point  este  fournis  1'an  passe  et  ce 
printems  de  poudre  et  de  cordage  par 
les  marchands  de  ces  pays  cy,  n'auroit 
pen  envoyer  aulcunes  forces  en  Bre 
tagne.  Or  sur  ces  vostres  procedures 
et  aultres  semblables  le  roy  de  France 
et  ses  conseillers,  le  Prince  Dombes 
son  lieutenant  en  Bretagne  et  son 
ambassadeur  en  Angleterre,  et  de  faict 
tous  hommes  en  general  tant  princes 
qu'aultres  qui  ont  la  commune  cause  en 
recommendation,  se  plaignent  grande- 
ment  tous  les  jours  et  addressent  leurs 
plaintes  a  S.  M.  presumans  qu'elle 
ayant  pris  la  protection  de  ces  pays  cy 
pourroit  et  debvroit  par  ses  moyens  et 
authorite  redresser  ung  si  notoire  des- 
ordre  pour  la  preservation  d'elle  mesme 
et  de  tous  ceux  qui  sont  touchez  en 
mesme  cas.  Mesmes  dans  ce  peu  de 
jours  ledict  Ambassadeur  a  informe 
S.  M.  d'une  grande  quantite  de  muni 
tions  porte  a  S.  Malo  et  Nantes  en 
Bretagne  et  de  plus  de  20  navires 
charges  de  ble  et  de  quelque  provision 

de  poudre Ces  actions  illi- 

cites  rendent  S.  M.  tellement  offensee 
qu'elle  pense  avoir  cause  de  se  repentir 
d'avoir  oncques  pris  la  defence  de  ces 
pays  centre  le  Roy  d'Espagne,  consi- 
derant  que  les  armes  et  les  forces 
d'Icelluy  par  beaucoup  d'annees  ont 
ete  entretenues  et  maintenues  en  ces 
VOL.  II— 7 


Pays  Bas  par  le  commun  transporte- 
ment  de  vivres  et  fourniture  de  guerre 
a  icelles  qui  s'est  faict  par  permission 
et  licence  d'icy,"  &c.  &c.  &c.  Bodley 
to  the  States-General,  2  June,  1591. 
(Hague  Archives,  MS.) 

"Quand  vous  aultres  pour  vos  advan 
tages  particuliers  laissez  fournir  de 
toutes  sortes  de  commodites  le  diet 
ennemi  commun  et  puissant,  et  a  ceste 
heure  mesme  que  pour  1'amour  de  vous 
nous  sommes  foreclose  de  tout  com 
merce  a,  la  ruine  totale  de  plusieurs  de 
nos  subjects,  lesquels  comme  ils  nous 
ont  este  plus  chers  que  la  vie  ainsi  ne 
pouvons  que  nous  ressentir  de  leurs 
plaintes  touchant  les  traffiques  qui  se 
font  journellement  soubz  des  noms 
empruntes  et  ^simulez,  ce  qui  s'est 
directement  decouvert,"  &c.  &c.  &c. 
Queen  to  the  States-General,  13  Feb. 
1593.  (Hague  Archives  MS.) 

5  "  Nous  n'avons  encore  peu  per 
suader  a  V.  M.  combien  le  transport 
de  quelques  vivres  ensemble  la  navi 
gation  et  trafficq  avecq  et  vers  le  pays 
de  West  importent  au  bien  et  conser 
vation  de  nostre  estat.  Car  ny  ayant 
mine  d'or  ni  d'autre  metal  es  diets  pays 
dont  Ton  pourroit  tirer  les  frais  d'icelle 
guerre,  d'aultre  part  1'affluence  annu- 
elle  que  Dieu  y  donne  de  beurre, 
fromage  et  quelques  autres  vivres,  y 
estant  par  Sa  divine  grace  si  abondante 
que  la  dixieme  part  ny  peult  estre 
consumee,  et  la  multitude  du  peuple 


176 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXVII. 


Here  were  ever  flowing  fountains   of  bitterest  discussion 


addonne  au  trafficque  et  manufacture 
y  estant  grande  et  si  independante 
que  faisant  tant  settlement  le  moindre 
semblant  de  les  y  vouloir  empescher, 
la  plus  grande  partie  d'iceux  s'en  de- 
partiroit  vers  les  pays  voisins  tirant 
quand  a  eulx  une  infinite  de  navires 
et  mariniers  comme  1'experience  a 
assez  montre  mesme  du  terns  du  dit 
feu  Monsr  le  Comte  de  Leycester  que 
nous  peult  on  imputer  que  les  bene- 
ficions  et  en  tirons  les  moyens  de  nostre 
conservation  ?  L'on  nous  objecte  que 
les  notres  vont  querir  les  grains  en 
Oostlande  et  les  meinent  vers  les  pays 
de  West  subjects  a  Fennemy,  qu' 
icelluy  s'en  nourrit  et  fortifie.  Nous 
le  croions,  mais  Ton  ne  nous  sauroit 
persuader  (encores  que  la  trafficq  des 
nostres  cessat)  que  ceulx  d'Oostlande 
vouldroient  ou  pourraient  laisser  perir 
1'abondance  des  grains  y  croissant  an- 
nuellemente  (qui  sont  presque  1'unic- 
que  moyen  de  leur  trafficq  et  soutien 
de  leur  vie)  et  que  sachant  qu'ail- 
leurs  y  en  auroit  disette  et  traitte,  eux 
et  autres  marchants  et  mariniers  de 
divers  royaumes  et  pays  ne  les  y  trans- 
portent  et  ny  a  apparence  de  la  leur 
pouvoir  empescher  (quant  ce  ne  servit 
que  pour  le  gaing  exorbitant  et  com- 
moditez  qu'ils  en  tirent)  non  plus  que 
d'empescher  le  Roy  d'Espagne  de  s'en 
faire  pouvoir  a  quelque  prix  que  ce 
fust  d'illecq  ou  d'ailleurs.  Et  depen 
dant  le  transport  de  grains  estrangers 
d'icy,  que  deviendra  si  grande  quantite 
qui  y  est  ?  puisque  par  le  grace  de 
Dieu  ces  pays  en  produisent  aultaiit  et 
plus  qu'il  en  fault  pour  la  nourriture 
des  inanans  d'iceulx.  Et  qui  croira 
qu'on  y  amenera  d'aultres  pour  y 
demourer  establiz  comme  en  ung  sacq 
en  peril  de  sy  gaster  .  .  .  Cepen- 
dant  cesseroient  les  convois  et  licentes 
d'entree  et  issue  (principal  revenu  de 
ces  pays)  et  les  marchants  et  mariniers 
qui  n'ont  aultre  moyen  de  vivre  et 
nourrir  leurs  femmes  et  enfans  se  trans- 
porteroient  avec  leur  navires  en  Dane- 
mark,Norweghen,  Hambourg,  Dansig, 
voire  memes  en  Pologne  et  ailleurs. 
....  Dont  ensuivroit  non  seulement 
tres  grande  diminution  des  imports  et 
autres  moyens  destines  pour  Fentre- 
tien  de  la  guerre,  mais  aussi  transport 
et-  alienation  des  navires  et  mariniers 


(principale  force  de  ces  pays) 

II  faut  que  ce  n'est  pas  par  gaiete  de 
coeur  que  toutes  nos  terres,  maisons 
rentes  et  aultres  bien  immeubles, 
mesmes  aussi  du  bestail,  nous  paions 
liberalement  une  grande  partie  du  fruit 
et  revenu  d'iceulx  et  que  de  nostre 
manger,  boire,  vestemens,  chauffage  et 
autres  consumptions  pardessus  le  prix 
nous  payons  pour  impots  presque  la 
valeur  d'icelles.  Et  toutes  fois  tout  cela 
n'est  bastant  pour  en  fournir  la  moitie 
des  frais  de  notre  ^guerre  sans  y  com- 
prendre  une  infinite  de  dettes  es  quelles 
le  pays  demeure  oblige  pardessus  tou 
tes  autres  charges,  que  les  provinces 
supportent  a  1'entretien  de  leurs  dic- 


inondations  des  rivieres  et  de  la  mer 
contre  lesquels  Us  soutiennent  aussi 

comme  une  continuelle  guerre 

II  est  evident  qu'il  importe  singuliere- 
ment  pour  la  conservation  de  ces  dits 
pays  et  service  de  la  cause  commune 
que  la  navigation  et  trafficque  des 
dits  vivres  demeurent  libres.  Et  sup- 
plions  tres  humblement  qu'il  plaise  a 
V.  M.  donner  Fordre  que  convient 
a  ce  que  au  dehors  et  contre  icelluy 
placcart  ladite  navigation  trafficq  et 
transport  ne  soient  par  ses  subjects 
aucunement  empeschez  ou  soubs 
quelque  pretex'te  que  ce  soit  retardes, 
mesmes  aussy  de  vouloir  relaxer  et 
indemner  ceux  qui  sont  encore  em- 
pesches  et  endommages,"  &c.  &c.  &c. 
States-General  to  the  Queen,  4  May, 
1592.  (Hague  Archives  MS.) 

"  Dat  de  staten  eens  met  haer  geac- 
cordeert  waren  dat  zy  maer  veertig  ofte 
vyftig  schepen  teffens  en  zouden  zen- 

den Nochtaens  dat  ick  haere 

Mat.  niochte  verzekeren  datter  geen 
vyftig  schepen  in  alle  de  vlote  naer 

Spagnien  en  wilden,  &c.  &c 

Want  ick  haer  verzekerde  dat  ons 
Land  (Got  lof)  treffelycke  Coepluyden 
hadde  die  t'  in  alien  eecken  van  der 
werelt  besochten.  Dat  selfs  haere 
natie  met  donse  in  Spaignien  traffic- 
queerde  ende  dat  donse  onder  de  na- 
men  van  de  Oosterlinghen  Deynen 
ende  andersints  moesten  trafficqueren, 
anders  dat  zy  in  groot  peryckel  waren 
als  zy  ontdekt  wierden,"  &c.  &c.  &c. 
Caron  to  the  States-General,  18  Nov. 
1592.  (Hague  Archives  MS.) 


1592.        THE  BRITISH  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE  STATES.  177 

and  recrimination.  It  must  be  admitted  however  that  there 
was  occasionally  an  advantage  in  the  despotic  and  summary 
manner  in  which  the  queen  took  matters  into  her  own  hands. 
It  was  refreshing  to  see  this  great  sovereign — who  was  so  well 
able  to  grapple  with  questions  of  State,  and  whose  very 
imperiousness  of  temper  impelled  her  to  trample  on  shallow 
sophistries  and  specious  technicalities — dealing  directly  with 
cases  of  piracy  and  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the  counsellors,  who 
in  that,  as  in  every  age,  were  too  prone  to  shove  by  inter 
national  justice  in  order  to  fulfil  municipal  forms. 

It  was,  however,  with  much  difficulty  that  the  envoy  of  the 
republic  was  able  to  obtain  a  direct  hearing  from  her  Majesty 
in  order  to  press  the  long  list  of  complaints  on  account  of  the 
English  piratical  proceedings  upon  her  attention.  He  inti 
mated  that  there  seemed  to  be  special  reasons  why  the  great 
ones  about  her  throne  were  disposed  to  deny  him  access  to 
the  queen,  knowing  as  they  did  in  what  intent  he  asked  for 
interviews.  They  described  in  strong  language  the  royal 
wrath  at  the  opposition  recently  made  by  the  States  to 
detaching  the  English  auxiliaries  in  the  Netherlands  for  the 
service  of  the  French  king  in  Normandy,  hoping  thereby 
to  deter  him  from  venturing  into  her  presence  with  a  list  of 
grievances  on  the  part  of  his  government.  "  I  did  my  best 
to  indicate  the  danger  incurred  by  such  transferring  of  troops 
at  so  critical  a  moment,"  said  Noel  de  Caron,  "  showing 
that  it  was  directly  in  opposition  to  the  contract  made  with 
her  Majesty.  But  I  got  no  answer  save  very  high  words  from 
the  Lord  Treasurer,  to  the  effect  that  the  States-General 
were  never  willing  to  agree  to  any  of  her  Majesty's  proposi 
tions,  and  that  this  matter  was  as  necessary  to  the  States' 
service  as  to  that  of  the  French  king.  In  effect,  he  said 
peremptorily  that  her  Majesty  willed  it  and  would  not 
recede  from  her  resolution."  6 

The  envoy  then  requested  an  interview  with  the  queen 
before  her  departure  into  the  country. 

6  "  In  effecte  zeyde  absolutelycken  dat  Haer  Mat.  die  begeerde,  ende  van 
der  resolutie  niet  soude  afstaen," — Caron  to  the  States-General,  30  July,  1593. 
(Hague  Archives  MS.) 
YQL.  III. — N 


V7S 


THE    UNITED   NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXVIL 


Next  day,  at  noon,  Lord  Burghley  sent  word  that  she  was 
28  July,  to  leave  between  five  and  six  o'clock  that  evening, 
1592.      and  that  the  minister  would  be  welcome  meantime 
at  any  hour. 

"  But  notwithstanding  that  I  presented  myself,"  said  Caron, 
"  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  I  was  unable  to  speak  to  her 
Majesty  until  a  moment  before  she  was  about  to  mount 
her  horse.  Her  language  was  then  very  curt.  She  persisted 
in  demanding  her  troops,  and  strongly  expressed  her  dissatis 
faction  that  we  should  have  refused  them  on  what  she  called  so 
good  an  occasion  for  using  them.  I  was  obliged  to  cut  my 
replies  very  short,  as  it  was  already  between  six  and  seven 
o'clock,  and  she  was  to  ride  nine  English  miles  to  the  place 
where  she  was  to  pass  the  night.  I  was  quite  sensible,  however, 
that  the  audience  was  arranged  to  be  thus  brief,  in  order  that  I 
should  not  be  able  to  stop  long  enough  to  give  trouble,  and 
perhaps  to  find  occasion  to  renew  our  complaints  touching  the 
plunderings  and  robberies  committed  upon  us  at  sea.  This 
is  what  some  of  the  great  personages  here,  without  doubt,  are 
afraid  of,  for  they  were  wonderfully  well  overhauled  in  my 
last  audience.  I  shall  attempt  to  speak  fco  her  again  before 
she  goes  very  deep  into  the  country." 7 

It  was  not  hcwever  before  the  end  of  the  year,  after  Caron 
had  made  a  voyage  to  Holland  and  had  returned,  that  he 
14  Nov.  was  able  to  bring  the  subject  thoroughly  before 
1592.  her  Majesty.  On  the  14th  November  he  had  pre 
liminary  interviews  with  the  Lord  High  Admiral  and  the 
Lord  Treasurer  at  Hampton  Court,  where  the  queen  was  then 
residing.  The  plundering  business  was  warmly  discussed 
between  himself  and  the  Admiral,  and  there  was  much 
quibbling  and  special  pleading  in  defence  of  the  practices 
which  had  created  so  much  irritation  and  pecuniary  loss  in 
Holland.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  talk  about  want  of  evi- 


1  Caron  to  the  States-General,  30 
July,  1592.  "Emmers  ick  hebbe  wel 
gevoelt  dat  deze  audientie  voor  my 
7/00  cort  geapposteert  was  omme  dat 
ick  haer  niet  te  lange  zoude  blyven 
troubleren  ende  mischien  occasie  cry- 


gen  om  onse  clagten  nopende  de 
plonderingen  ende  roverien  ter  zee  te 
vernyeuwen  twelck  sommige  groote 
allhier  zonder  twytfe1  vteesen.  Want 
zy  wonderly^k^n  7-ee^  overhaelt  wier- 
den  in  myne  leste  •audieiitie,"  &c.  &c. 


1592.  DISCUSSION  OF  COMPLAINTS.  179 

dence  and  conflict  of  evidence,  which,  to  a  man  who  felt  as 
sure  of  the  facts  and  of  the  law  as  the  Dutch  envoy  did — unless 
it  were  according  to  public  law  for  one  friend  and  ally  to 
plunder  and  burn  the  vessels  of  another  friend  and  ally — was 
not  encouraging  as  to  the  probable  issue  of  his  interview  with 
her  Majesty.  It  would  be  tedious  to  report  the  conversation 
as  fully  as  it  was  laid  by  Noel  de  Caron  before  the  States- 
General  ;  but  at  last  the  admiral  expressed  a  hope  that  the 
injured  parties  would  be  able  to  make  good  their  case.  At 
any  rate  he  assured  the  envoy  that  he  would  take  care  of 
Captain  Mansfield  for  the  present,  who  was  in  prison  with  two 
other  captains,  so  that  proceedings  might  be  had  against  them 
if  it  was  thought  worth  while.8 

Caron  answered  with  Dutch  bluntness.  "  I  recommended 
him  very  earnestly  to  do  this,"  he  said,  "  and  told  him 
roundly  that  this  was  by  all  means  necessary  for  the  sake  of 
his  own  honour.  Otherwise  no  man  could  ever  be  made 
to  believe  that  his  Excellency  was  not  seeking  to  get  his  own 
profit  out  of  the  affair.  But  he  vehemently  swore  and  pro 
tested  that  this  was  not  the  case." 9 

He  then  went  to  the  Lord  Treasurer's  apartment,  where  a 
long  and  stormy  interview  followed  on  the  subject  of  the 
withdrawal  of  the  English  troops.  Caron  warmly  insisted 
that  the  measure  had  been  full  of  danger  for  the  States  ;  that 
they  had  been  ordered  out  of  Prince  Maurice's  camp  at  a 
most  critical  moment  ;  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the  Stad- 
holder's  promptness  and  military  skill,  very  great  disasters  to 
the  common  cause  must  have  ensued  ;  and  that,  after  all, 
nothing  had  been  done  by  the  contingent  in  any  other  field, 
for  they  had  been  for  six  months  idle  and  sick,  without  ever 
reaching  Brittany  at  all. 

"  The  Lord  Treasurer,  who,   contrary  to  his  custom,"  said 


8  Caron  to  the   States-General,  18 
Nov.  1592.    (Hague  Archives  MS.) 

9  "Ick    hebbe     hem     tzelve    zeer 
ernstelycken    gerecommandeert  ende 


doen  gelooven  oft  zyne  E.  en  zoude 
willen  in  dese  zaecke  zyne  prouffit 
gedoen.  Zoo  hy  hoochelyken  swoer 
ende  protesteerde  dat  hy  niet  en 


dem  rondelyck  uitgeseyt  dat  zulcx  om  j  hadde  nochte  oock  en  zoude  willeu 
zyn  eerewille   allesints  betaerode  an- 'doen."     Ibid, 
dcrs  dat  men  nyemant  en  aoude  connen  1 


180  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIt 

the  envoy,  "  had  been  listening  thus  long  to  what  I  had  to  say, 
now  observed  that  the  States  had  treated  her  Majesty  very 
ill,  that  they  had  kept  her  running  after  her  own  troops 
nearly  half  a  year,  and  had  offered  no  excuse  for  their  pro 
ceedings."  10 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  repeat  the  arguments  by  which 
Caron  endeavoured  to  set  forth  that  the  English  troops, 
sent  to  the  Netherlands  according  to  a  special  compact,  for  a 
special  service,  and  for  a  special  consideration  and  equivalent, 
could  not  honestly  be  employed,  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the 
States-General,  upon  a  totally  different  service  and  in  another 
country.  The  queen  willed  it,  he  was  informed,  and  it  was 
ill-treatment  of  her  Majesty  on  the  part  of  the  Hollanders  to 
oppose  her  will.  This  argument  was  unanswerable. 

Soon  afterwards,  Caron  was  admitted  to  the  presence  of 
Elizabeth.  He  delivered,  at  first,  a  letter  from  the  States- 
General,  touching  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops.  The  queen 
instantly  broke  the  seal  and  read  the  letter  to  the  end. 
Coming  to  the  concluding  passage,  in  which  the  States 
observed  that  they  had  great  and  just  cause  highly  to  com 
plain  on  that  subject,  she  paused,  reading  the  sentences  over 
twice  or  thrice,  and  then  remarked  : 

"  Truly  these  are  comical  people.11  I  have  so  often  been 
complaining  that  they  refused  to  send  my  troops,  and  now  the 
States  complain  that  they  are  obliged  to  let  them  go.  Yet 
my  intention  is  only  to  borrow  them  for  a  little  while,  because 
I  can  give  my  brother  of  France  no  better  succour  than  by 
sending  him  these  soldiers,  and  this  I  consider  better  than 
if  I  should  send  him  four  thousand  men.  I  say  again,  I  am 
only  borrowing  them,  and  surely  the  States  ought  never  to 
make  such  complaints,  when  the  occasion  was  such  a  favour 
able  one,  and  they  had  received  already  sufficient  aid  from 
these  troops,  and  had  liberated  their  whole  country.  I  don't 
comprehend  these  grievances.  They  complain  that  I  with- 

made  his  report  to  the  States-General 


10  Caron  to  the   States-General,  18 
Nov.  1592.    (Hague  Archives  MS.) 

11  "  Voor  waer  zy  zyn  schacke  luy- 
den."     Ibid.     The    conversation   was 
of  course  in  French,  but  as  the  envoy 


in  Dutch,  it  is  not  possible  to  give  the 
exact  words  which  the  queen  used.  It 
may  be  rendered  crafty,  queer,  droll, 
cunning,  or  funny- 


1592  CARON'S  INTERVIEW   WITH  ELIZABETH.  181 

draw  my  people,  and  meantime  they  are  still  holding  them 
and  have  brought  them  ashore  again.  They  send  me  frivolous 
excuses  that  the  skippers  don't  know  the  road  to  my  islands, 
which  is,  after  all,  as  easy  to  find  as  the  way  to  Caen,  for  it  is 
all  one.  I  have  also  sent  my  own  pilots  ;  and  I  complain 
bitterly  that  by  making  this  difficulty  they  will  cause  the 
loss  of  all  Brittany.  They  run  with  their  people  far  away 
from  me,  and  meantime  they  allow  the  enemy  to  become 
master  of  all  the  coasts  lying  opposite  me.  But  if  it  goesN 
badly  with  me  they  will  rue  it  deeply  themselves." 12 

There  was  considerable  reason,  even  if  there  were  but  little 
justice,  in  this  strain  of  remarks.  Her  Majesty  continued  it 
for  some  little  time  longer,  and  it  is  interesting  to  see  the 
direct  and  personal  manner  in  which  this  great  princess 
handled  the  weightiest  affairs  of  state.  The  transfer  of  a 
dozen  companies  of  English  infantry  from  Friesland  to 
Brittany  was  supposed  to  be  big  with  the  fate  of  France, 
England,  and  the  Dutch  republic,  and  was  the  subject  of 
long  and  angry  controversy,  not  as  a  contested  point  of  prin 
ciple,  in  regard  to  which  numbers,  of  course,  are  nothing,  but 
as  a  matter  of  practical  and  pressing  importance. 

"  Her  Majesty  made  many  more  observations  of  this  nature," 
said  Caron,  "  but  without  getting  at  all  into  a  passion,  and,  in 
my  opinion,  her  discourse  was  sensible,  and  she  spoke  with 
more  moderation  than  she  is  wont  at  other  times."  13 

The  envoy  then  presented  the  second  letter  from  the 
States-General  in  regard  to  the  outrages  inflicted  on  the 
Dutch  merchantmen.  The  queen  read  it  at  once,  and  ex 
pressed  herself  as  very  much  displeased  with  her  people. 
She  said  that  she  had  received  similar  information  from 
Counsellor  Bodley,  who  had  openly  given  her  to  understand 
that  the  enormous  outrages  which  her  people  were  com 
mitting  at  sea  upon  the  Netherlanders  were  a  public  scandaL 
It  had  made  her  so  angry,  she  said,  that  she  knew  not  which 

discours  gewys    ende  veel    meerder 


"  Caron  to  the  States-General,  18 
Nov.  1592.  (Hague  Archives  MS.) 

13  "  Doch  sender  haer  eeiiighsints  te 
moveren,  dan  naer  myns  bedunkens 


moderatie  dan  zy  op  ander  tyden 
was  gewoon." 


182  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVII. 

way  to  turn.  She  would  take  it  in  hand  at  once,  for  she 
would  rather  make  oath  never  more  to  permit  a  single  ship 
of  war  to  leave  her  ports  than  consent  to  such  thieveries  and 
villanies.  She  told  Caron  that  he  would  do  well  to  have  his 
case  in  regard  to  these  matters  verified,  and  then  to  give  it 
into  her  own  hands,  since  otherwise  it  would  all  be  denied 
her  and  she  would  find  herself  unable  to  get  at  the  truth.14 

"  I  have  all  the  proofs  and  documents  of  the  merchants  by 
me,"  replied  the  envoy,  "  and,  moreover,  several  of  the  sea- 
captains  who  have  been  robbed  and  outraged  have  come  over 
with  me,  as  likewise  some  merchants  who  were  tortured  by 
burning  of  the  thumbs  and  other  kinds  of  torments/' 15 

This  disturbed  the  queen  very  much,  and  she  expressed 
her  wish  that  Caron  should  not  allow  himself  to  be  put  oif 
with  delays  by  the  council,  but  should  insist  upon  all  due 
criminal  punishment,  the  infliction  of  which  she  promised  in 
the  strongest  terms  to  order  ;  for  she  could  never  enjoy  peace 
of  mind,  she  said,  so  long  as  such  scoundrels  were  tolerated 
in  her  kingdom.16 

The  envoy  had  brought  with  him  a  summary  of  the  cases, 
with  the  names  of  all  the  merchants  interested,  and  a  list  of  all 
the  marks  on  the  sacks  of  money  which  had  been  stolen.  The 
queen  looked  over  it  very  carefully,  declaring  it  to  be  her 
intention  that  there  should  be  no  delays  interposed  in  the 
conduct  of  this  affair  by  forms  of  special  pleading,  but  that 

anders  men  tzelve  haer  al  ontkende 
ende  daer  geensints  tuschen  en  conste 
geraeken."  Caron  to  the  States- 
General,  18  Nov.  1592. 

15  "  Ick  zedye  aen  haere  Ma*  dat 
ick  alle  de  bewysen  ende  documenten 
van  de  coopluyden  by  my  hadde,  oyck 
mede  datter  eenige  schippers  die  men 
berooft  ende  geoultrageert  hadde  met 
my  waren  gecommen,oock  coopluyden 
die  men  deduymen  hadde  gebrant  ende 
andere  tormenten  van  pynigen  aen 
hadde  gedaen,  twelck  haer  oock  zeer 
ontstelde,"  &c.  &c.  &c.  Ibid. 


14  "Ende  haer  zeer  tonvreden  ge- 
houden  jegens  haer  volck,  seyde  oock 
diergelyck  verstaen  te  hebben  van  den 
Raetsheer  Bodley  die  haer  opentlycken 
adverteerde  dat  het  een  open  schan- 
dael  was  te  verstaen  d'enorme  stuk- 
ken  die  haer  volck  ter  zee  op  de 
onsen  waren  doende,  twelck  (soo  sy 
seyde)  haer  zoo  tornich  gemaeckt 
hadde  datse  niet  wiste  waer  haer 
keeren,datse  oock  eens  voor  haer  zoude 
nemen  ende  liever  versweren  nimmer- 
meer  meer  te  consenteren  eenich  schip 
van  oorlogen  te  laten  uitgaen  dan 
occasie  van  zulkce  dievereyen  ende 
schelmeryen  te  consenteren,  dat  ick 
daeromme  wel  zoude  doen  myn  zaecke 
in  dit  regard  te  doen  verifieren,  ende 
t'zelve  haer  in  handen  te  geven,  want 


fi 


16  "  Seggende  dat  zy  ingerustiche 
niet  conde  geleven  als  men  zulc 
schelmen  in  haer  Rycke  langer  zoude 
verdragen."    Ibid. 


1592. 


THE  QUEEN'S  PROMISE  OF  REDRESS. 


183 


speedy  cognizance  should  be  taken  of  the  whole,  and  that  the 
property  should  forthwith  be  restored.17 

She  then  sent  for  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  whom  she  directed  to 
go  at  once  and  tell  his  father,  the  Lord  Treasurer,  that  he 
was  to  assist  Caron  in  this  affair  exactly  as  if  it  were  her  own. 
It  was  her  intention,  she  said,  that  her  people  were  in  no  wise 
to  trouble  the  Hollanders  in  legitimate  mercantile  pursuits. 
She  added  that  it  was  not  enough  for  her  people  to  say 
that  they  had  only  been  seizing  Spaniards'  goods  and  money, 
but  she  meant  that  they  should  prove  it,  too,  or  else  they 
should  swing  for  it,18 

Caron  assured  her  Majesty  that  he  had  no  other  commission 
from  his  masters  than  to  ask  for  justice,  and  that  he  had  no 
instructions  to  claim  Spanish  property  or  enemy's  goods.  He 
had  brought  sufficient  evidence  with  him,  he  said,  to  give  her 
Majesty  entire  satisfaction. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  pursue  the  subject  any  farther.  The 
great  nobles  still  endeavoured  to  interpose  delays,  and  urged 
the  propriety  of  taking  the  case  before  the  common  courts 
of  law.  Caron,  strong  in  the  support  of  the  queen,  insisted 
that  it  should  be  settled,  as  her  Majesty  had  commanded, 
by  the  council,  and  it  was  finally  arranged  that  the  judge  of 
admiralty  should  examine  the  evidence  on  both  sides,  and 
then  communicate  the  documents  at  once  to  the  Lord  Trea 
surer.  Meantime  the  money  was  to  be  deposited  with  certain 
aldermen  of  London,  and  the  accused  parties  kept  in  prison. 
The  ultimate  decision  was  then  to  be  made  by  the  council, 
"  not  by  form  of  process  but  by  commission  thereto  ordained."19 
In  the  course  of  the  many  interviews  which  followed  between 
the  Dutch  envoy  and  the  privy  counsellors,  the  Lord  Admiral 


17  Caron  to  the   States-General,  18 
Nov.  1592.    (Hague  Archives  MS.) 

18  "  Dede  dien  volgende  roupen  Sir 
Robert   Cecil  die  zy  belaste  aen  den 
Tresorier  zynen  vader  te  gaen  zeggen 
dat   hy  my  hierinne  zoude  assisteren 
al  oft  haer  eygen  zaecke  waere,  want 
haere  intentie  (zoo  zy  zeyde)  niet  en 
was  dat  men   ons  eenigsins  in    onse 
coophandelinge  soude  troubleren  als 


wy  daerinne  op  recht  handelden. 
Seyde  oock  dat  haer  niet  genoeck  en 
was  dat  haer  volck  zeyde  dat  se 
Spaignaerts  gelt  ende  goet  geattra- 
peert  hadden,  maer  verstont  dat  zy 
tzelve  zouden  doen  blycken  ofte  met 
haren  hals  betaelen."  Ibid. 

19  Ibid.  Also  Caron  to  States-Ge 
neral,  12  Dec.  1592.  (Hague  Archives 
MS.) 


184  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXVII. 

stated  that  an  English  merchant  residing  in  the  Netherlands 
had  sent  to  offer  him  a  present  of  two  thousand  pounds  ster 
ling,  in  case  the  affair  should  be  decided  against  the  Hol 
landers.  He  communicated  the  name  of  the  individual  to 
Caron,  under  seal  of  secrecy,  and  reminded  the  Lord  Treasurer 
that  he  too  had  seen  the  letter  of  the  Englishman.  Lord 
Burghlcy  observed  that  he  remembered  the  fact  that  certain 
letters  had  been  communicated  to  him  by  the  Lord  Admiral, 
but  that  he  did  not  know  from  whence  they  came,  nor  any 
thing  about  the  person  of  the  writer.20 

The  case  of  the  plundered  merchants  was  destined  to  drag 
almost  as  slowly  before  the  council  as  it  might  have  done  in 
the  ordinary  tribunals,  and  Caron  was  "  kept  running/'  as  he 
expressed  it,  "  from  the  court  to  London,  and  from  London  to 
the  court,"  and  it  was  long  before  justice  was  done  to  the 
sufferers.21  Yet  the  energetic  manner  in  which  the  queen 
took  the  case  into  her  own  hands,  and  the  intense  indignation 
with  which  she  denounced  the  robberies  and  outrages  which 
had  been  committed  by  her  subjects  upon  her  friends  and 
allies,  were  effective  in  restraining  such  wholesale  piracy  in 
the  future. 

On  the  whole,  however,  if  the  internal  machinery  is  exa 
mined  by  which  the  masses  of  mankind  were  moved  at  this 
epoch  in  various  parts  of  Christendom,  we  shall  not  find 
much  reason  to  applaud  the  conformity  of  Governments  to  the 
principles  of  justice,  reason,  or  wisdom. 

20  "Den  grooten  Admirael  began  I  willen  ontdecken,  zal  daeromme  synen 
wederomme  te  seggen  van  zyne  adver- 
tentien  die  hy  op  dit  stuck  selfs  liadde 
ff  eery  gen  uit  Zeelant,  dat  eenige  Coop- 
Iiiyden  hem  liadden  doen  presenteren 
twee  duysent  pondsterlincx,  seggende 
totten  grooten  Tresorier  dat  hy  hem 
selfs  de  brieven  hadde  gecommuni- 
ceert  die  darop  antwoorde  wel  brieven 
gesien  te  hebben,  maer  wiste  niet  van 
wiens  die  quamen  doerdien  hy  den 


naem  hier  naergelaten  worden,  ter 
wylen  ick  oock  twelve  alsoo  beloofde, 
maer  hocht  ans  adviseren  zulcke  ordre 
daerinno  te  stellen  als  den  dienst  van 
denlandewel  is  verheyschende.  Den 
Admirael  zeyde  oock  dathy  wel  wiste 
dat  den  zelven  Coopman  alreede  der- 
waerts  over  in  dangierehadde  geweest, 
twelck  my  dede  antwoorden  dat  hy 
dan  voer  dees  tyt  voor  sulcx  most 


persoon  die  dezelve  gescreven  hadde :  wesen  bekant."  Report  of  Caron  to 
niet  en  kende,  vraegde  daeromme  van  i  the  States-General.  10  Dec.  1592. 
wat  natie  hy  was,  den  Admirael  zeyde  (Hague  Archives  MS.) 


dat  het  een  Engelsch  Coopman  was 
die  hy  oock  noemde.  Doch  dede  my 
erst  belooven  dat  ick  hem  niet  en  zoude 


21  Letters  and  reports    of    Caron, 
passim.    Ibid. 


1592.  CHARACTER  OF  PHILIP.  185 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

Influence  of  the  rule  and  character  of  Philip  II.  —  Heroism  of  the  sixteenth 
century  —  Contest  for  the  French  throne  —  Character  and  policy  of  the 
Duke  of  Mayenne  —  Escape  of  the  Duke  of  Guise  from  Castle  Tours  —  Pro, 
positions  for  the  marriage  of  the  Infanta  —  Plotting  of  the  Catholic  party 
—  Grounds  of  Philip's  pretensions  to  the  crown  of  France  —  Motives  of 
the  Duke  of  Parma  maligned  by  Commander  Moreo  —  He  justifies  him. 
self  to  the  king  —  View  of  the  private  relations  between  Philip  and  the 
Duke  of  Mayenne  and  their  sentiments  towards  each  other  —  Disposition  of 
the  French  politicians  and  soldiers  towards  Philip  —  Peculiar  commer 
cial  pursuits  of  Philip  —  Confused  state  of  affairs  in  France  —  Treachery  of 
Philip  towards  the  Duke  of  Parma  —  Recall  of  the  duke  to  Spain  —  His 
sufferings  and  death. 

THE  People — which  has  been  generally  regarded  as  some 
thing  naturally  below  its  rulers,  and  as  born  to  be  protected 
and  governed,  paternally  or  otherwise,  by  an  accidental  selec 
tion  from  its  own  species,  which  by  some  mysterious  process 
has  shot  up  much  nearer  to  heaven  than  itself— is  often 
described  as  brutal,  depraved,  self-seeking,  ignorant,  pas 
sionate,  licentious,  and  greedy. 

It  is  fitting,  therefore,  that  its  protectors  should  be  distin 
guished,  at  great  epochs  of  the  world's  history,  by  an  absence 
of  such  objectionable  qualities. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  if  the  world  had  waited 
for  heroes — during  the  dreary  period  which  followed  the  ex 
pulsion  of  something  that  was  called  Henry  III.  of  France 
from  the  gates  of  his  capital,  and  especially  during  the  time 
that  followed  hard  upon  the  decease  of  that  embodiment  of 
royalty — its  axis  must  have  ceased  to  turn  for  a  long  succes 
sion  of  years.  The  Bearnese  was  at  least  alive,  and  a  man. 
He  played  his  part  with  consummate  audacity  and  skill ;  but 
alas  for  an  epoch  or  a  country  in  which  such  a  shape — notwith 
standing  all  its  engaging  and  even  commanding  qualities — • 
is  looked  upon  as  an  incarnation  of  human  greatness  ! 


186  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIH, 

But  the  chief  mover  of  all  things — so  far  as  one  man  can 
be  prime  mover — was  still  the  diligent  scribe  who  lived  in 
the  Escorial.  It  was  he  whose  high  mission  it  was  to  blow 
the  bellows  of  civil  war,  and  to  scatter  curses  over  what  had 
once  been  the  smiling  abodes  of  human  creatures,  throughout 
the  leading  countries  of  Christendom.  The  throne  of  France 
was  vacant,  nominally  as  well  as  actually,  since  the  year 
1589.  During  two-and-twenty  years  preceding  that  epoch 
he  had  scourged  the  provinces,  once  constituting  the  richest 
and  most  enlightened  portions  of  his  hereditary  domains, 
upon  the  theory  that  without  the  Spanish  Inquisition  no 
material  prosperity  was  possible  on  earth,  nor  any  entrance 
permitted  to  the  realms  of  bliss  beyond  the  grave.  Had 
every  Netherlander  consented  to  burn  his  Bible,  and  to  be 
burned  himself  should  he  be  found  listening  to  its  holy  pre 
cepts  if  read  to  him  in  shop,  cottage,  farm-house,  or  castle  ; 
and  had  he  furthermore  consented  to  renounce  all  the  liberal 
institutions  which  his  ancestors  had  earned,  in  the  struggle 
of  centuries,  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows  and  the  blood  of 
their  hearts  ;  his  benignant  proprietor  and  master,  who  lived 
at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  would  have  consented  at  almost  any 
moment  to  peace.  His  arms  were  ever  open.  Let  it  not  be 
supposed  that  this  is  the  language  of  sarcasm  or  epigram. 
Stripped  of  the  decorous  sophistications  by  which  human 
beings  are  so  fond  of  concealing  their  naked  thoughts  from 
each  other,  this  was  the  one  simple  dogma  always  propounded 
by  Philip.  Grimace  had  done  its  worst,  however,  and  it  was 
long  since  it  had  exercised  any  power  in  the  Netherlands. 
The  king  and  the  Dutchmen  understood  each  other ;  and 
the  plain  truths  with  which  those  republicans  answered  the 
imperial  proffers  of  mediation,  so  frequently  renewed,  were 
something  new,  and  perhaps  not  entirely  unwholesome  in 
diplomacy. 

It  is  not  an  inviting  task  to  abandon  the  comparatively 
healthy  atmosphere  of  the  battle-field,  the  blood-stained  swamp, 
the  murderous  trench — where  human  beings,  even  if  com 
muning  only  by  bullets  and  push  of  pike,  were  at  least 


1592.  HEROISM  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.  187 

dealing  truthfully  with  each  other — and  to  descend  into  those 
subterranean  regions  where  the  effluvia  of  falsehood  becomes 
almost  too  foul  for  ordinary  human  organisation. 

Heroes  in  those  days,  in  any  country,  there  were  few. 
William  the  Silent  was  dead.  De  la  Noue  was  dead.  Du- 
plessis-Mornay  was  living,  but  his  influence  over  his  royal 
master  was  rapidly  diminishing.  Cecil,  Hatton,  Essex, 
Howard,  Raleigh,  James  Croft,  Valentine  Dale,  John  Norris, 
Roger  Williams,  the  "  Virgin  Queen"  herself — does  one  of 
these  chief  agents  in  public  affairs,  or  do  all  of  them  together, 
furnish  a  thousandth  part  of  that  heroic  whole  which  the 
England  of  the  sixteenth  century  presents  to  every  imagina 
tion  ?  Maurice  of  Nassau — excellent  soldier  and  engineer  as 
he  had  already  proved  himself — had  certainly  not  developed 
much  of  the  heroic  element,  although  thus  far  he  was  walking 
straightforward  like  a  man,  in  the  path  of  duty,  with  the 
pithy  and  substantial  Lewis  William  ever  at  his  side.  Olden- 
Barneveld — tough  burgher-statesman,  hard-headed,  indomi 
table  man  of  granite — was  doing  more  work,  and  doing  it 
more  thoroughly,  than  any  living  politician,  but  he  was  cer 
tainly  not  of  the  mythological  brotherhood  who  inhabit  the 
serene  regions  of  space  beyond  the  moon.  He  was  not  the 
son  of  god  or  goddess,  destined,  after  removal  from  this 
sphere,  to  shine  with  planetary  lustre,  among  other  constella 
tions,  upon  the  scenes  of  mortal  action.  Those  of  us  who  are 
willing  to  rise — or  to  descend  if  the  phrase  seems  wiser — to 
the  idea  of  a  self-governing  people  must  content  ourselves, 
for  this  epoch,  with  the  fancy  of  a  hero-people  and  a  people- 
king. 

A  plain  little  republic,  thrusting  itself  uninvited  into  the 
great  political  family-party  of  heaven-anointed  sovereigns  and 
long-descended  nobles,  seemed  a  somewhat  repulsive  pheno 
menon.  It  became  odious  and  dangerous  when  by  the  blows 
it  could  deal  in  battle,  the  logic  it  could  chop  in  council, 
it  indicated  a  remote  future  for  the  world,  in  which  right- 
divine  and  regal  paraphernalia  might  cease  to  be  as  effective 
stage-properties  as  they  had  always  been  considered. 


188  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVI1L 

Yet  it  will  be  difficult  for  us  to  find  the  heroic  individua 
lised  very  perceptibly  at  this  period,  look  where  we  may. 
Already  there  seemed  ground  for  questioning  the  comfortable 
fiction  that  the  accidentally  dominant  families  and  castes 
were  by  nature  wiser,  better,  braver  than  that  much-contemned 
entity,  the  People.  What  if  the  fearful  heresy  should  gain 
ground  that  the  People  was  at  least  as  wise,  honest,  and 
brave  as  its  masters  ?  What  if  it  should  become  a  recognised 
fact  that  the  great  individuals  and  castes,  whose  wealth  and 
station  furnished  them  with  ample  time  and  means  for  per 
fecting  themselves  in  the  science  of  government,  were  rather 
devoting  their  leisure  to  the  systematic  filling  of  their  own 
pockets  than  to  the  hiving  up  of  knowledge  for  the  good  of 
their  fellow  creatures  ?  What  if  the  whole  theory  of  here 
ditary  superiority  should  suddenly  exhale  ?  What  if  it  were 
found  out  that  we  were  all  fellow-worms  together,  and  that 
those  which  had  crawled  highest  were  not  necessarily  the 
least  slimy  ? 

Meantime  it  will  be  well  for  us,  in  order  to  understand  what 
is  called  the  Past,  to  scrutinise  somewhat  closely  that  which 
was  never  meant  to  be  revealed.  To  know  the  springs  which 
once  controlled  the  world's  movements,  one  must  ponder  the 
secret  thoughts,  purposes,  aspirations,  and  baffled  attempts  of 
the  few  dozen  individuals  who  once  claimed  that  world  in 
fee  simple.  Such  researches  are  not  in  a  cheerful  field  ;  for 
the  sources  of  history  are  rarely  fountains  of  crystal,  bubbling 
*  nrough  meadows  of  asphodel.  Vast  and  noisome  are  the  many 
sewers  which  have  ever  run  beneath  decorous  Christendom. 

Some  of  the  leading  military  events  in  France  and  Flan 
ders,  patent  to  all  the  world,  which  grouped  themselves 
about  the  contest  for  the  French  throne,  as  the  central  point 
in  the  history  of  Philip's  proposed  world-empire,  have  already 
been  indicated. 

It  was  a  species  of  triangular  contest — so  far  as  the  chief 
actors  were  concerned — for  that  vacant  throne.  Philip, 
Mayenne,  Henry  of  Navarre,  with  all  the  adroitness  which 
each  possessed,  were  playing  for  the  splendid  prize. 


1592.  CONTEST  FOR  THE  THRONE  OF  FRANCE.  189 

Of  Philip  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak.  The  preceding 
volumes  of  this  work  have  been  written  in  vain,  if  the  reader 
has  not  obtained  from  irrefragable  testimony — the  monarch's 
own  especially — a  sufficient  knowledge  of  that  human  fetish 
before  which  so  much  of  contemporary  humanity  grovelled. 

The  figure  of  Navarre  is  also  one  of  the  most  familiar 
shapes  in  history. 

As  for  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  he  had  been,  since  the  death 
of  his  brother  the  Balafre,  ostensible  leader  of  the  League, 
and  was  playing,  not  without  skill,  a  triple  game. 

Firstly,  he  hoped  for  the  throne  for  himself. 

Secondly,  he  was  assisting  the  King  of  Spain  to  obtain  that 
dignity. 

Thirdly,  he  was  manoeuvring  in  dull,  dumb,  but  not  ineffec 
tive  manner,  in  favour  of  Navarre. 

So  comprehensive  and  self-contradictory  a  scheme  would 
seem  to  indicate  an  elasticity  of  principle  and  a  fertility  of 
resource  not  often  vouchsafed  to  man. 

Certainly  one  of  the  most  pregnant  lessons  of  history  is 
furnished  in  the  development  of  these  cabals,  nor  is  it,  in  this 
regard,  of  great  importance  whether  the  issue  was  to  prove 
them  futile  or  judicious.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  now,  that  when 
those  vanished  days  constituted  the  Present — the  vital  atmo 
sphere  of  Christendom — the  world's  affairs  were  controlled  by 
those  plotters  and  their  subordinates,  and  it  is  therefore  desi 
rable  for  us  to  know  what  manner  of  men  they  were,  and  how 
they  played  their  parts. 

Nor  should  it  ever  be  forgotten  that  the  leading  moti  .re 
with  all  was  supposed  to  be  religion.  It  was  to  maintain  the 
supremacy  of  the  Roman  Church,  or  to  vindicate,  to  a  cer 
tain  extent,  liberty  of  conscience,  through  the  establishment 
of  a  heterodox  organisation,  that  all  these  human  beings  of 
various  lineage  and  language  throughout  Christendom  had 
been  cutting  each  other's  throats  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Mayenne  was  not  without  courage  in  the  field  when  he 
found  himself  there,  but  it  was  observed  of  him  that  he  spent 
more  time  at  table  than  the  Bearnese  in  sleep,  and  that  he 


190  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIII 

was  so  fat  as  to  require  the  assistance  of  twelve  men  to  put 
him  in  the  saddle  again  whenever  he  fell  from  his  horse. 
Yet  slow  fighter  as  he  was,  he  was  a  most  nimble  intriguer. 
As  for  his  private  character,  it  was  notoriously  stained  with 
every  vice,  nor  was  there  enough  of  natural  intelligence  or 
superior  acquirement  to  atone  for  his  crapulous,  licentious, 
shameless  life.  His  military  efficiency  at  important  emer 
gencies  was  impaired  and  his  life  endangered  by  vile  diseases. 
He  was  covetous  and  greedy  beyond  what  was  considered 
decent  even  in  that  cynical  age.  He  received  subsidies  and 
alms  with  both  hands  from  those  who  distrusted  and  despised 
him,  but  who  could  not  eject  him  from  his  advantageous 
position. 

He  wished  to  arrive  at  the  throne  of  France.  As  son  of 
Francis  of  Guise,  as  brother  of  the  great  Balafre,  he  con 
sidered  himself  entitled  to  the  homage  of  the  fish  women  and 
the  butchers'  halls.  The  constitution  of  the  country  in  that 
age  making  a  People  impossible,  the  subtle  connection  be 
tween  a  high-born  intriguer  and  the  dregs  of  a  populace, 
which  can  only  exist  in  societies  of  deep  chasms  and  preci 
pitous  contrasts,  was  easily  established. 

The  duke's  summary  dealing  with  the  sixteen  tyrants  of 
Paris  in  the  matter  of  the  president's  murder  had,  however, 
loosened  his  hold  on  what  was  considered  the  democracy ; 
but  this  was  at  the  time  when  his  schemes  were  silently 
swinging  towards  the  Protestant  aristocracy  ;  at  the  moment 
when  Politica  was  taking  the  place  of  Madam  League  in  his 
secret  affections.  Nevertheless,  so  long  as  there  seemed  a 
chance,  he  was  disposed  to  work  the  mines  for  his  own  benefit. 
His  position  as  lieutenant-general  gave  him  an  immense  ad 
vantage  for  intriguing  with  both  sides,  and — in  case  his  aspi 
rations  for  royalty  were  baffled — for  obtaining  the  highest 
possible  price  for  himself  in  that  auction  in  which  Philip  and 
the  Bearnese  were  likely  to  strain  all  their  resources  in  out 
bidding  each  other. 

On  one  thing  his  heart  was  fixed.  His  brother's  son  should 
at  least  not  secure  the  golden  prize  if  he  could  prevent  it.  The 


1592.  CHARACTER  OF  MAYENNE.  191 

young  Duke  of  Guise,  who  had  been  immured  in  Castle  Tours 
since  the  famous  murder  of  his  father  and  uncle,  had  made  his 
escape  by  a  rather  neat  stratagem.  Having  been  allowed  some 
liberty  for  amusing  himself  in  the  corridors  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  his  apartment,  he  had  invented  a  game  of  hop,  skip, 
and  jump  up  stairs  and  down,  which  he  was  wont  to  play  with 
the  soldiers  of  the  guard,  as  a  solace  to  the  tediousness  of  con 
finement.  One  day  he  hopped  and  skipped  up  the  staircase 
with  a  rapidity  which  excited  the  admiration  of  the  com 
panions  of  his  sport,  slipped  into  his  room,  slammed  and 
bolted  the  doors,  and  when  the  guard,  after  in  vain  waiting  a 
considerable  time  for  him  to  return  and  resume  the  game,  at 
last  forced  an  entrance,  they  found  the  bird  flown  out  of 
window.  Kope-ladders,  confederates,  fast-galloping  post- 
horses  did  the  rest,  and  at  last  the  young  duke  joined  his 
affectionate  uncle  in  camp,  much  to  that  eminent  relative's 
discomfiture.1  Philip  gave  alternately  conflicting  instruc 
tions  to  Farnese — sometimes  that  he  should  encourage 
the  natural  jealousy  between  the  pair  ;  sometimes  that  he 
should  cause  them  to  work  harmoniously  together  for  the 
common  good — that  common  good  being  the  attainment  by 
the  King  of  Spain  of  the  sovereignty  of  France. 

But  it  was  impossible,  as  already  intimated,  for  Mayenne 
to  work  harmoniously  with  his  nephew.  The  Duke  of  Guise 
might  marry  with  the  Infanta  and  thus  become  King  of 
France  by  the  grace  of  God  and  Philip.  To  such  a  consum 
mation  in  the  case  of  his  uncle  there  stood,  as  we  know,  an 
insuperable  obstacle  in  the  shape  of  the  Duchess  of  Mayenne. 
Should  it  come  to  this  at  last,  it  was  certain  that  the  Duke 
would  make  any  and  every  combination  to  frustrate  such  a 
scheme.  Meantime  he  kept  his  own  counsel,  worked  ami 
cably  with  Philip,  Parma,  and  the  young  duke,  and  received 
money  in  overflowing  measure,  and  poured  into  his  bosom, 
from  that  Spanish  monarch  whose  veterans  in  the  Nether 
lands  were  maddened  by  starvation  into  mutiny. 

Philip's  plans  were  a  series  of  alternatives.  France  he 
De  Thou,  xi. 


192  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIIL 

regarded  as  the  property  of  his  family.  Of  that  there  could 
be  no  doubt  at  all.  He  meant  to  put  the  crown  upon  his 
own  head,  unless  the  difficulties  in  the  way  should  prove 
absolutely  insuperable.  In  that  case  he  claimed  France  and 
all  its  inhabitants  as  the  property  of  his  daughter.  The  Salic 
law  was  simply  a  pleasantry,  a  bit  of  foolish  pedantry,  an  ab 
surdity.  If  Clara  Isabella,  as  daughter  of  Isabella  of  France, 
as  grandchild  of  Henry  II.,  were  not  manifestly  the  owner  of 
France — queen-proprietary,  as  the  Spanish  doctors  called  it 
—then  there  was  no  such  thing,  so  he  thought,  as  inheritance 
of  castle,  farm-house,  or  hovel — no  such  thing  as  property 
anywhere  in  the  world.  If  the  heiress  of  the  Valois  could 
not  take  that  kingdom  as  her  private  estate,  what  security 
could  there  ever  be  for  any  possessions  public  or  private  ? 

This  was  logical  reasoning  enough  for  kings  and  their 
counsellors.  There  was  much  that  might  be  said,  however, 
in  regard  to  special  laws.  There  was  no  doubt  that  great 
countries,  with  all  their  live-stock — human  or  otherwise — 
belonged  to  an  individual,  but  it  was  not  always  so  clear  who 
that  individual  was.  This  doubt  gave  much  work  and  com 
fortable  fees  to  the  lawyers.  There  was  much  learned  lore  con 
cerning  statutes  of  descent,  cutting  off  of  entails,  actions  for 
ejectment,  difficulties  of  enforcing  processes,  and  the  like,  to 
occupy  the  attention  of  diplomatists,  politicians  and  other  sages. 
It  would  have  caused  general  hilanty,  however,  could  it  have 
been  suggested  that  the  live-stock  had  art  or  part  in  the 
matter  ;  that  sheep,  swine,  or  men  could  claim  a  choice  of 
their  shepherds  and  butchers. 

Philip — humbly  satisfied,  as  he  always  expressed  himself, 
so  long  as  the  purity  of  the  Roman  dogmas  and  the  supre- 
macy  of  the  Romish  Church  over  the  whole  earth  were  main 
tained — affected  a  comparative  indifference  as  to  whether  he 
should  put  the  crown  of  St.  Louis  and  of  Hugh  Capet  upon 
his  own  grey  head  or  whether  he  should  govern  France 
through  his  daughter  and  her  husband.  Happy  the  man 
who  might  exchange  the  symbols  of  mutual  affection  with 
Philip's  daughter. 


1592.        PLANS  FOR  THE  MARRIAGE  OF  THE  INFANTA.          193 

The  king  had  various  plans  in  regard  to  the  bestowal  of 
the  hand  thus  richly  endowed.  First  and  foremost  it  was 
suggested — and  the  idea  was  not  held  too  monstrous  to  be 
even  believed  in  by  some  conspicuous  individuals — that  he 
proposed  espousing  his  daughter  himself.  The  pope  was  to 
be  relied  on,  in  this  case,  to  give  a  special  dispensation. 
Such  a  marriage,  between  parties  too  closely  related  to  be 
usually  united  in  wedlock,  might  otherwise  shock  the  preju 
dices  of  the  orthodox.  His  late  niece  and  wife  was  dead,  so 
that  there  was  no  inconvenience  on  that  score,  should  the 
interests  of  his  dynasty,  his  family,  and,  above  all,  of  the 
Church,  impel  him,  on  mature  reflection,  to  take  for  his  fourth 
marriage  one  step  farther  within  the  forbidden  degrees  than  he 
had  done  in  his  third.  Here  is  the  statement,  which,  if  it  have 
no  other  value,  serves  to  show  the  hideous  designs  of  which  the 
enemies  of  Philip  sincerely  believed  that  monarch  capable. 

"  But  God  is  a  just  God,"  wrote  Sir  Edward  Stafford,  "and 
if  with  all  things  past,  that  be  true  that  the  king  (videlicet 
Henry  IV.)  yesterday  assured  me  to  be  true,  and  that  both  his 
ambassador  from  Venice  writ  to  him  and  Monsieur  de  Lux 
embourg  from  Rome,  that  the  Count  Olivarez  had  made  a 
great  instance  to  the  pope  (Sixtus  V.)  a  little  afore  his  death, 
to  permit  his  master  to  marry  his  daughter,  no  doubt  God 
will  not  leave  it  long  unpunished."2 

Such  was  the  horrible  tale  which  was  circulated  and  believed 
in  by  Henry  the.  Great  of  France  and  by  eminent  nobles  and  am 
bassadors,  and  at  least  thought  possible  by  the  English  envoy. 
By  such  a  family  arrangement  it  was  obvious  that  the  con 
flicting  claims  of  father  and  daughter  to  the  proprietorship  of 
France  would  be  ingeniously  adjusted,  and  the  children  of  so 
well  assorted  a  marriage  might  reign  in  undisputed  legitimacy 
over  France  and  Spain,  and  the  rest  of  the  world-monarchy. 
Should  the  king  decide  on  the  whole  against  this  matrimo 
nial  project,  should  Innocent  or  Clement  prove  as  intractable 
as  Sixtus,  then  it  would  be  necessary  to  decide  among  yarious 
candidates  for  the  Infanta's  hand. 

8  Stafford  to  Burghley,  14  Oct.  1590.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

VOL.  III. — 0 


194  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIIL 

In  Mayenne's  opinion  the  Duke  of  Guise  was  likely  to  be 
the  man  ;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  Philip,  in  case  these 
more  cherished  schemes  should  fail,  had  made  up  his  mind — 
so  far  as  he  ever  did  make  up  his  mind  upon  anything — to 
select  his  nephew  the  Archduke  Ernest,  brother  of  the 
Emperor  Kudolph,  for  his  son-in-law.  But  it  was  not  neces 
sary  to  make  an  immediate  choice.  His  quiver  was  full  of 
archdukes,  any  one  of  whom  would  be  an  eligible  candidate, 
while  not  one  of  them  would  be  likely  to  reject  the  Infanta 
with  France  on  her  wedding-finger.  Meantime  there  was  a 
lion  in  the  path  in  the  shape  of  Henry  of  Navarre. 

Those  who  disbelieve  in  the  influence  of  the  individual  on 
the  fate  of  mankind  may  ponder  the  possible  results  to  his 
tory  and  humanity,  had  the  dagger  of  Jacques  Clement 
entered  the  stomach  of  Henry  IV.  rather  than  of  Henry 
III.  in  the  summer  of  1589,  or  the  perturbations  in  the 
world's  movements  that  might  have  puzzled  philosophers 
had  there  been  an  unsuspected  mass  of  religious  conviction 
revolving  unseen  in  the  mental  depths  of  the  Bearnese. 
Conscience,  as  it  has  from  time  to  time  exhibited  itself  on 
this  planet  of  ours,  is  a  powerful  agent  in  controlling  poli 
tical  combinations  ;  but  the  instances  are  unfortunately  not 
rare,  so  far  as  sublunary  progress  is  concerned,  in  which 
the  absence  of  this  dominant  influence  permits  a  prosperous 
rapidity  to  individual  careers.  Eternal  honour  to  the  noble 
beings,  true  chieftains  among  men,  who  have  forfeited  worldly 
power  or  sacrificed  life  itself  at  the  dictate  of  religious  or  moral 
conviction — even  should  the  basis  of  such  conviction  appear 
to  some  of  us  unsafe  or  unreal.  Shame  on  the  tongue  which 
would  malign  or  ridicule  the  martyr  or  the  honest  convert  to 
any  form  of  Christian  faith  !  But  who  can  discover  aught 
that  is  inspiring  to  the  sons  of  men  in  conversions — whether 
of  princes  or  of  peasants — wrought,  not  at  risk  of  life  and 
pelf,  but  for  the  sake  of  securing  and  increasing  the  one  and 
the  other  ? 

Certainly  the  Bearnese  was  the  most  candid  of  men.  It 
was  this  very  candour,  this  freedom  from  bigotry,  this  want 


1592.  INTIMIDATION  OF  THE  POPE.  195 

of  conviction,  and  this  openness  to  conviction,  that  made  him 
so  dangerous  and  caused  so  much  anxiety  to  Philip.  The 
Roman  Church  might  or  might  not  be  strengthened  hy  the 
re-conversion  of  the  legitimate  heir  of  France,  but  it  was 
certain  that  the  claims  of  Philip  and  the  Infanta  to  the 
proprietorship  of  that  kingdom  would  be  weakened  by  the 
process.  While  the  Spanish  king  knew  himself  to  be  inspired 
in  all  his  actions  by  a  single  motive,  the  maintenance  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  Roman  Church,  he  was  perfectly  aware  that 
the  Prince  of  Bearne  was  not  so  single-hearted  nor  so  conscien 
tious  as  himself. 

The  Prince  if  Bearne — heretic,  son  of  heretics,  great  chief 
tain  of  heretics — was  supposed  capable  of  becoming  orthodox 
whenever  the  Pope  would  accept  his  conversion.  Against 
this  possibility  Philip  struggled  with  all  his  strength. 

Since  Pope  Sixtus  V.,  who  had  a  weakness  for  Henry, 
there  had  been  several  popes.  Urban  VII.,  his  immediate 
successor,  had  reigned  but  thirteen  days.  Gregory  XIV. 
(Sfondrato)  had  died  15th  October,  1591,  ten  months  after 
his  election.  Fachinetti,  with  the  title  of  Innocent  IX.,  had 
reigned  two  months,  from  29th  October  to  29th  December, 
1591.  He  died  of  "  Spanish  poison,"  said  Envoy  Umton, 
as  coolly  as  if  speaking  of  gout,  or  typhus,  or  any  other 
recognised  disorder.  Clement  VIII.  (Aldobrandini)  was 
elected  30th  January,  1592.  He  was  no  lover  of  Henry, 
and  lived  in  mortal  fear  of  Philip,  while  it  must  be  con 
ceded  that  the  Spanish  ambassador  at  Rome  was  much 
given  to  brow-beating  his  Holiness.  Should  he  dare  to  grant 
that  absolution  which  was  the  secret  object  of  the  Bearnese, 
there  was  no  vengeance,  hinted  the  envoy,  that  Philip  would 
not  wreak  on  the  holy  father.  He  would  cut  off  his  supplies 
from  Naples  and  Sicily,  and  starve  him  and  all  his  subjects  ; 
he  would  frustrate  all  his  family  schemes,  he  would  renounce 
him,  he  would  unpope  him,  he  would  do  anything  that  man 
and  despot  could  do,  should  the  great  shepherd  dare  to 
re-admit  this  lost  sheep,  and  this  very  black  sheep,  into  the 
fold  of  the  faithful. 


£96  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXV III. 

As  for  Henry  himself,  his  game — for  in  his  eyes  it  was 
nothing  hut  a  game — lay  every  day  plainer  and  plainer 
hefore  him.  He  was  indispensable  to  the  heretics.  Neither 
England,  nor  Holland,  nor  Protestant  Germany,  could  re 
nounce  him,  even  should  he  renounce  "  the  religion/'  Nor 
could  the  French  Huguenots  exist  without  that  protection 
which,  even  although  Catholic,  he  could  still  extend  to  them 
when  he  should  be  accepted  as  king  by  the  Catholics. 

Hereditary  monarch  by  French  law  and  history,  released 
from  his  heresy  by  the  authority  that  could  bind  and  loose, 
purged  as  with  hyssop  and  washed  whiter  than  snow,  it 
should  go  hard  with  him  if  Philip,  and  Farnese,  and  Mayenne, 
and  all  the  pikemen  and  reiters  they  might  muster,  could 
keep  him  very  long  from  the  throne  of  his  ancestors. 

Nothing  could  match  the  ingenuousness  with  which  he 
demanded  the  instruction  whenever  the  fitting  time  for  it 
should  arrive  ;  as  if,  instead  of  having  been  a  professor  both 
of  the  Calvinist  and  Catholic  persuasion,  and  having  relapsed 
from  both,  he  had  been  some  innocent  Peruvian  or  Hindoo, 
who  was  invited  to  listen  to  preachings  and  to  examine 
dogmas  for  the  very  first  time  in  his  life. 

Yet  Philip  had  good  grounds  for  hoping  a  favourable 
result  from  his  political  and  military  manoeuvre.  He  enter 
tained  little  doubt  that  France  belonged  to  him  or  to  his 
daughter  ;  that  the  most  powerful  party  in  the  country  was 
in  favour  of  his  claims,  provided  he  would  pay  the  voters 
liberally  enough  for  their  support,  and  that  if  the  worst  came 
to  the  worst  it  would  always  be  in  his  power  to  dismember 
the  kingdom,  and  to  reserve  the  lion's  share  for  himself, 
while  distributing  some  of  the  provinces  to  the  most  promi 
nent  of  his  confederates. 

The  sixteen  tyrants  of  Paris  had  already,  as  we  have  seen, 
urged  the  crown  upon  him,  provided  he  would  establish  in 
France  the  Inquisition,  the  council  of  Trent,  and  other 
acceptable  institutions,  besides  distributing  judiciously  a 
good  many  lucrative  offices  among  various  classes  of  his 
adherents. 


PLOTTING  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  PARTY.  197 

The  Duke  of  Mayenne,  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  all 
the  Catholics  of  France,  formally  demanded  of  him  to  main 
tain  two  armies,  forty  thousand  men  in  all,  to  be  respectively 
under  command  of  the  duke  himself  and  of  Alexander 
Farnese,  and  regularly  to  pay  for  them.  These  propositions, 
as  has  been  seen,  were  carried  into  effect  as  nearly  as  pos 
sible,  at  enormous  expense  to  Philip's  exchequer,  and  he 
naturally  expected  as  good  faith  on  the  part  of  Mayenne. 

In  the  same  paper  in  which  the  demand  was  made  Philip 
was  urged  to  declare  himself  king  of  France.  He  was  assured 
that  the  measure  could  be  accomplished  "  by  freely  bestowing 
marquisates,  baronies,  and  peerages,  in  order  to  content  the 
avarice  and  ambition  of  many  persons,  without  at  the  same 
time  dissipating  the  greatness  from  which  all  these  members 
depended.  Pepin  and  Charlemagne,"  said  the  memorialists, 
"  who  were  foreigners  and  Saxons  by  nation,  did  as  much  in 
order  to  get  possession  of  a  kingdom  to  which  they  had  no 
other  right  except  that  which  they  acquired  there  by  their 
prudence  and  force,  and  after  them  Hugh  Capet,  much 
inferior  to  them  in  force  and  authority,  following  their 
example,  had  the  same  good  fortune  for  himself  and  his 
posterity,  and  one  which  still  endures. 

"  If  the  authority  of  the  holy  see  could  support  the  scheme 
at  the  same  time,"  continued  Mayenne  and  friends,  "  it  would 
be  a  great  help.  But  it  being  perilous  to  ask  for  that  assist 
ance  before  striking  the  blow,  it  would  be  better  to  obtain  it 
after  the  execution."3 

That  these  wholesome  opinions  were  not  entirely  original 
on  the  part  of  Mayenne,  nor  produced  spontaneously,  was 
plain  from  the  secret  instructions  given  by  Philip  to  his 
envoys,  Don  Bernardino  de  Mendoza,  John  Baptist  de  Tassis, 
and  the  commander  Moreo,  whom  he  had  sent  soon  after  the 
death  of  Henry  III.  to  confer  with  Cardinal  Gaetano  in 
Paris. 

They  were  told,  of  course,  to  do  everything  in  their  power 
to  prevent  the  election  of  the  Prince  of  Beanie,  "being  as 

*  Arch,  de  Simancas  (Paris),  A  57,  — .  MS. 


198  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXVIII 

he  was  a  heretic,  obstinate  and  confirmed,  who  had  sucked 
heresy  with  his  mother's  milk."  The  legate  was  warned  that 
"  if  the  Bearnese  should  make  a  show  of  converting  himself, 
it  would  be  frigid  and  fabricated/'4 

If  they  were  asked  whom  Philip  desired  for  king — a 
question  which  certainly  seemed  probable  under  the  circum 
stances — they  were  to  reply  that  his  foremost  wish  was  to 
establish  the  Catholic  religion  in  the  kingdom,  and  that 
whatever  was  most  conducive  to  that  end  would  be  most 
agreeable  to  him.  "  As  it  is  however  desirable,  in  order  to 
arrange  matters,  that  you  should  be  informed  of  everything," 
said  his  Majesty,  "it  is  proper  that  you  should  know  that  I 
have  two  kinds  of  right  to  all  that  there  is  over  there. 
Firstly,  because  the  crown  of  France  has  been  usurped  from 
me,  my  ancestors  having  been  unjustly  excluded  by  foreign 
occupation  of  it ;  and  secondly,  because  I  claim  the  same 
crown  as  first  male  of  the  house  of  Valois."5 

Here  certainly  were  comprehensive  pretensions,  and  it 
was  obvious  that  the  king's  desire  for  the  establishment  of 
the  Catholic  religion  must  have  been  very  lively  to  enable 
him  to  invent  or  accept  such  astonishing  fictions. 

But  his  own  claims  were  but  a  portion  of  the  case.  His 
daughter  and  possible  spouse  had  rights  of  her  own,  hard,  in 
his  opinion,  to  be  gainsaid.  "  Over  and  above  all  this,"  said 
Philip,  "my  eldest  daughter,  the  Infanta,  has  two  other 
rights  ;  one  to  all  the  states  which  as  dower-property  are 
joined  by  matrimony  and  through  females  to  this  crown, 
which  now  come  to  her  in  direct  line,  and  the  other  to  the 
crown  itself,  which  belongs  directly  to  the  said  Infanta,  the 
matter  of  the  Salic  law  being  a  mere  invention."6 

Thus  it  would  appear  that  Philip  was  the  legitimate 
representative,  not  only  of  the  ancient  races  of  French 

4  Instruction  que  se  dio  a  Don  B.  de  I  pado  essa  corona  aviendo  lo  ocupado 
Mendoza,  J.  B.  de  Tassis,  y  el  Com.  injustamente  a  mios  pasados,  y  por 
Moreo.  anno  1589.  (Arch.,  de  Sirnancas  |  otra  a  la  misma  corona  como  Varon 
jjlfe.  mayor  de  dias  de  la  casa  Vatesia — y 

3  "  Es  buen  que  sepays  que  yo  tengo  |  que  de  mas  desto  tiene  otros  aos  acre- 
aos  maneras  de  derecho  a  io  de  ay  ;  ]  chos  la  Infanta  mi  hiia  mayor."  &c. 
Dor  una  Dane  a  lo  aue  me  tiene  usur-       *  Ibid 


1592.         CLAIMS  OF  PHILIP  TO  THE  CROWN  OF  FRANCE.        199 

monarchs — whether  Merovingians,  Carlovingians,  or  otherwise 
was  not  stated — but  also  of  the  usurping  houses  themselves, 
by  whose  intrusion  those  earlier  dynasties  had  been  ejected, 
being  the  eldest  male  heir  of  the  extinct  line  of  Valois,  while 
his  daughter,  was,  if  possible,  even  more  legitimately  the 
sovereign  and  proprietor  of  France  than  he  was  himself. 

Nevertheless  in  his  magnanimous  desire  for  the  peace  of 
the  world  and  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  the  Church, 
he  was,  if  reduced  to  extremities,  willing  to  forego  his  own 
individual  rights — when  it  should  appear  that  they  could  by 
no  possibility  be  enforced — in  favour  of  his  daughter  and  of 
the  husband  whom  he  should  select  for  her. 

"  Thus  it  may  be  seen,"  said  the  self-denying  man,  "  that  I 
know  how,  for  the  sake  of  the  public  repose,  to  strip  myself  of 
my  private  property."  7 

Afterwards,  when  secretly  instructing  the  Duke  of  Feria, 
about  to  proceed  to  Paris  for  the  sake  of  settling  the 
sovereignty  of  the  kingdom,  he  reviewed  the  whole  subject, 
setting  forth  substantially  the  same  intentions.  That  the 
Prince  of  Bearne  could  ever  possibly  succeed  to  the  throne 
of  his  ancestors  was  an  idea  to  be  treated  only  with  sublime 
scorn  by  all  right-minded  and  sensible  men.  "  The  members 
of  the  House  of  Bourbon,"  said  he,  "  pretend  that  by  right  of 
blood  the  crown  belongs  to  them,  and  hence  is  derived  the 
pretension  made  by  the  Prince  of  Bearne  ;  but  if  there  were 
wanting  other  very  sufficient  causes  to  prevent  this  claim — 
which  however  are  not  wanting — it  is  quite  enough  that  he  is 
a  relapsed  heretic,  declared  to  be  such  by  the  Apostolic  See, 
and  pronounced  incompetent,  as  well  as  the  other  members 
of  his  house,  all  of  them,  to  say  the  least,  encouragers  of 
heresy  ;  so  that  not  one  of  them  can  ever  be  king  of  France, 
where  there  have  been  such  religious  princes  in  time  past, 


7  "  Tras  esto,  como  vo  tiro  el  suave 
reparo  desse  reyno  mas  que  a  inte- 
resses  proprios  facilmente  me  absterria 
de  las  pretenciones  que  me  tocan,  con 
saber  que  son  muy  bien  fundadas  si 
viesse  abrirse  puerta  a  que  consi- 
guiendo  las  suyas  la  Infanta  y  por  via 


de  casamiento  que  estuviesse  bien  a 
todos — que  menos  sombras  y  celos 
causaria  los  invidiosos  de  fuera — assi 
para  que  se  vea  que  sabe  por  el  sos- 
siego  publico  desnudarme  de  mi  par 
ticular."  (MS.  last  cited.) 


200  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIII 

who  have  justly  merited  the  name  of  Most  Christian  ;  and  so 
there  is  no  possibility  of  permitting  him  or  any  of  his  house 
to  aspire  to  the  throne,  or  to  have  the  subject  even  treated  of 
in  the  estates.  It  should  on  the  contrary  be  entirely  excluded 
as  prejudicial  to  the  realm  and  unworthy  to  be  even  mentioned 
among  persons  so  Catholic  as  those  about  to  meet  in  that 
assembly." 8 

The  claims  of  the  man  whom  his  supporters  already  called 
Henry  the  Fourth  of  France  being  thus  disposed  of,  Philip 
then  again  alluded  with  his  usual  minuteness  to  the  various 
combinations  which  he  had  formed  for  the  tranquillity  and 
good  government  of  that  kingdom  and  of  the  other  provinces 
of  his  world-empire. 

It  must  moreover  be  never  forgotten  that  what  he  said 
passed  with  his  contemporaries  almost  for  oracular  dispensa 
tions.  What  he  did  or  ordered  to  be  done  was  like  the 
achievements  or  behests  of  a  superhuman  being.  Time,  as  it 
rolls  by,  leaves  the  wrecks  of  many  a  stranded  reputation  to 
bleach  in  the  sunshine  of  after-ages.  It  is  sometimes  as  pro 
fitable  to  learn  what  was  not  done  by  the  great  ones  of  the 
earth,  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts,  as  to  ponder  those  actual 
deeds  which  are  patent  to  mankind.  The  Past  was  once 
the  Present,  and  once  the  Future,  bright  with  rainbows  or 
black  with  impending  storm ;  for  history  is  a  continuous 
whole  of  which  we  see  only  fragments. 

He  who  at  the  epoch  with  which  we  are  now  occupied  was 
deemed  greatest  and  wisest  among  the  sons  of  earth,  at  whose 
threats  men  quailed,  at  whose  vast  and  intricate  schemes  men 
gasped  in  pale-faced  awe,  has  left  behind  him  the  record  of  his 
interior  being.  Let  us  consider  whether  he  was  so  potent  as 
his  fellow  mortals  believed,  or  whether  his  greatness  was 
merely  their  littleness  ;  whether  it  was  carved  out  of  the 
inexhaustible  but  artificial  quarry  of  human  degradation. 
Let  us  see  whether  the  execution  was  consonant  with  the 
inordinate  plotting  ;  whether  the  price  in  money  and  blood — 

8  Instruction  general  para  el  Duque  de  Feria,  Madrid,  2  Enero,  1592,  A, 

57,—,  MS. 


1592.  BRITTANY  ASSIGNED  TO  THE  INFANTA.  201 

and  certainly  few  human  beings  have  squandered  so  much  of 
either  as  did  Philip  the  Prudent  in  his  long  career — was  high 
or  low  for  the  work  achieved. 

Were  after  generations  to  learn,  only  after  curious  research, 
of  a  pretender  who  once  called  himself,  to  the  amusement  of 
his  contemporaries,  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France  ;  or  was 
the  world-empire  for  which  so  many  armies  were  marshalled, 
so  many  ducats  expended,  so  many  falsehoods  told,  to  prove  a 
bubble  after  all  ?  Time  was  to  show.  Meantime  wise  men 
of  the  day  who1,  like  the  sages  of  every  generation,  read 
the  future  like  a  printed  scroll,  were  pitying  the  delusion  and 
rebuking  the  wickedness  of  Henry  the  Bearnese  ;  persist 
ing  as  he  did  in  his  cruel,  sanguinary,  hopeless  attempt  to 
establish  a  vanished  and  impossible  authority  over  a  land  dis 
tracted  by  civil  war. 

Nothing  could  be  calmer  or  more  reasonable  than  the 
language  of  the  great  champion  of  the  Inquisition. 

"  And  as  President  Jeannin  informs  me,"  he  said,  "  that  the 
Catholics  have  the  intention  of  electing  me  king,  that  appear 
ing  to  them  the  gentlest  and  safest  method  to  smooth  all 
rivalries  likely  to  arise  among  the  princes  aspiring  to  the 
crown,  I  reply,  as  you  will  see  by  the  copy  herewith  sent. 
You  will  observe  that  after  not  refusing  myself  to  that  which 
may  be  the  will  of  our  Lord,  should  there  be  no  other  mode 
of  serving  Him,  above  all  I  desire  that  which  concerns  my 
daughter,  since  to  her  belongs  the  kingdom.  I  desire  nothing 
else  nor  anything  for  myself,  nor  for  anybody  else,  except  as 
a  means  for  her  to  arrive  at  her  right."  9 

He  had  taken  particular  pains  to  secure  his  daughter's 
right  in  Brittany,  while  the  Duchess  of  Mercosur,  by  the 


9  "  Y  por  que  dixo  que  avia  voluntad 
en  los  Catolicos  de  nombrarme  a  mi 
por  su  rey,  pareciendoles  esto  mas 
suave  y  seguro  para  allanar  las  com- 
petencias  que  puede  aver  entre  los 
mismos  principes  que  aspirau  a  estos, 
Be  le  respondio  lo  que  vereys  per  la 
copia  que  con  esta  se  embia  por  donde 
entendereys  que  tras  no  negarme  a  lo 
que  fuessa  voluntad  de  n" '  Sciior 


quando  no  huviesse  otro  medio  para 
su  servicio,  lo  que  sobre  todo  desseo  es 
lo  que  toca  a  mi  hija,  pues  a  ella 
venga  el  reyno;  yo  no  quiero  otra 
cosa  ni  nada  para  mi  ni  para  otro,  sino 
es  por  torcedor  y  medio  para  que  ella 
consiga  su  derecho."  Instruccion  Ge 
neral  para  el  Duque  de  Feria,  &c. 
(MS.  before  cited.) 


202  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIII. 

secret  orders  of  her  husband,  had  sent  a  certain  ecclesiastic 
to  Spain  to  make  over  the  sovereignty  of  this  province  to 
the  Infanta.  Philip  directed  that  the  utmost  secrecy  should 
be  observed  in  regard  to  this  transaction  with  the  duke  and 
duchess,  and  promised  the  duke,  as  his  reward  for  these  pro 
posed  services  in  dismembering  his  country,  the  government 
of  the  province  for  himself  and  his  heirs.10 

For  the  king  was  quite  determined — in  case  his  efforts  to 
obtain  the  crown  for  himself  or  for  his  daughter  were  un 
successful — to  dismember  France,  with  the  assistance  of  those 
eminent  Frenchmen  who  were  now  so  industriously  aiding 
him  in  his  projects. 

"  And  in  the  third  place,"  said  he,  in  his  secret  instructions 
to  Feria,  "  if  for  the  sins  of  all,  we  don't  manage  to  make  any 
election,  and  if  therefore  the  kingdom  (of  France)  has  to 
come  to  separation  and  to  be  divided  into  many  hands  ;  in 
this  case  we  must  propose  to  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  to 
assist  him  in  getting  possession  of  Normandy  for  himself, 
and  as  to  the  rest  of  the  kingdom,  I  shall  take  for  myself 
that  which  seems  good  to  me — all  of  us  assisting  each 
other."  ll 

But  unfortunately  it  was  difficult  for  any  of  these  fellow- 
labourers  to  assist  each  other  very  thoroughly,  while  they 
detested  each  other  so  cordially  and  suspected  each  other  with 
such  good  reason. 

Moreo,  Ybarra,  Feria,  Parma,  all  assured  their  master 
that  Mayenne  was  taking  Spanish  money  as  fast  as  he 
could  get  it,  but  with  the  sole  purpose  of  making  himself 
king.  As  to  any  of  the  House  of  Lorraine  obtaining  the  hand 
of  the  Infanta  and  the  throne  with  it,  Feria  assured  Philip 


10  Instruction     secreta   para    Don 
Mendo  de  la  Desma,  2  March,  1591. 

(Arch,  de  Simancas,  A  57,  — ,  MS.) 

11  "El    tercero   si  por  pecados  de 
todos  no  se  acertasse  a  hazer  election 
ninguna,  y  assi  huviesse  de  venir  a 
quel  reyno  en  disipation,  y  dividirse 
en  muchos  manos,  y  en  este  caso  se 


ofrecio  al  Duque  de  Umena  de  asistir- 1  .      _, 
\e  para  que  se  apodere  de  Normandia  ;  » 


para  si,  y  que  de  lo  demas  tome  yo 
para  mi  lo  que  me  pareciere,  ayudando 
nos  bien  uno  a  otro." 

Instruction  secreta  lo  que  vos  Don 
Lorenzo  Suarez  de  Figueroa,  Duque 
de  Feria,  mi  primo  aveys  de  llevar 
entendido  de  mas  que  contiene  la  in 
struction  general  que  llevays.  2  Enero, 
1592.  Arch,  de  Simancas  (Paris)  MS 


1592.  CALUMNIES  AGAINST  THE  DUKE  OF  PARMA.  203 

that  Mayenne  "  would  sooner  give  the  crown  to  the  Grand 
Turk."  12 

Nevertheless  Philip  thought  it  necessary  to  continue 
making  use  of  the  duke.  Both  were  indefatigable  therefore  in 
expressing  feelings  of  boundless  confidence  each  in  the  other. 

It  has  been  seen  too  how  entirely  the  king  relied  on  the 
genius  and  devotion  of  Alexander  Farnese  to  carry  out  his 
great  schemes  ;  and  certainly  never  had  monarch  a  more 
faithful,  unscrupulous,  and  dexterous  servant.  Kemonstrating, 
advising,  but  still  obeying — entirely  without  conscience, 
unless  it  were  conscience  to  carry  out  his  master's  commands, 
even  when  most  puerile  or  most  diabolical — he  was  neverthe 
less  the  object  of  Philip's  constant  suspicion,  and  felt  himself 
placed  under  perpetual  though  secret  supervision. 

Commander  Moreo  was  unwearied  in  blackening  the  duke's 
character,  and  in  maligning  his  every  motive  and  action,  and 
greedily  did  the  king  incline  his  ear  to  the  calumnies  steadily 
instilled  by  the  chivalrous  spy. 

"  He  has  caused  all  the  evil  we  are  suffering,"  said  Moreo. 
"  When  he  sent  Egmont  to  France  'twas  without  infantry, 
although  Egmont  begged  hard  for  it,  as  did  likewise  the 
Legate,  Don  Bernardino,  and  Tassis.  Had  he  done  this  there 
is  no  doubt  at  all  that  the  Catholic  cause  in  France  would 
have  been  safe,  and  your  Majesty  would  now  have  the  control 
over  that  kingdom  which  you  desire.  This  is  the  opinion  of 
friends  and  foes.  I  went  to  the  Duke. of  Parma  and  made 
free  to  tell  him  that  the  whole  world  would  blame  him  for 
the  damage  done  to  Christianity,  since  your  Majesty  had 
exonerated  yourself  by  ordering  him  to  go  to  the  assistance 
of  the  French  Catholics  with  all  the  zeal  possible.  Upon  this 
he  was  so  disgusted  that  he  has  never  shown  me  a  civil  face 
since.  I  doubt  whether  he  will  send  or  go  to  France  at  all, 
and  although  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  despatches  couriers  every 
day  with  protestations  and  words  that  would  soften  rocks, 
I  see  no  indications  of  a  movement."  13 

15  Duke  of  Feria  to  Philio.     Arch,  de  Simancas  (Paris),  B.  75,  26  to  30, 
cited  by  Capefigue,  vi.  259. 

13  Moreo  to  Philip,  22  June,  1590,     ;Arch.  de  Simancas  MS.. 


204 


THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXVIII 


Thus,  while  the  duke  was  making  great  military  pre 
parations  for  invading  France  without  means  ;  pawning  his 
own  property  to  get  bread  for  his  starving  veterans,  and 
hanging  those  veterans  whom  starving  had  made  mutinous, 
he  was  depicted,  to  the  most  suspicious  and  unforgiving 
mortal  that  ever  wore  a  crown,  as  a  traitor  and  a  rebel, 
and  this  while  he  was  renouncing  his  own  judicious  and 
well-considered  policy  in  obedience  to  the  wild  schemes  of 
his  master. 

"  I  must  make  bold  to  remind  your  Majesty,"  again 
whispered  the  spy,  "  that  there  never  was  an  Italian  prince 
who  failed  to  pursue  his  own  ends,  and  that  there  are  few 
in  the  world  that  are  not  wishing  to  become  greater  than 
they  are.  This  man  here  could  strike  a  greater  blow 
than  all  the  rest  of  them  put  together.  Kemember  that 
there  is  not  a  villain  anywhere  that  does  not  desire  the  death 
of  your  Majesty.  Believe  me,  and  send  to  cut  off  my  head  if 
it  shall  be  found  that  I  am  speaking  from  passion,  or  from 
other  motive  than  pure  zeal  for  your  royal  service." 14 

The  reader  will  remember  into  what  a  paroxysm  of  rage 
Alexander  was  thrown  on  a  former  occasion,  when  secretly 
invited  to  listen  to  propositions  by  which  the  sovereignty 
over  the  Netherlands  was  to  be  secured  to  himself,  and  how 
near  he  was  to  inflicting  mortal  punishment  with  his  own  hand 
on  the  man  who  had  ventured  to  broach  that  treasonable 
matter.15 

Such  projects  and  proposition?  were  ever  floating,  as  it 
were,  in  the  atmosphere,  and  it  was  impossible  for  the  most 
just  men  to  escape  suspicion  in  the  mind  of  a  king  who  fed 
upon  suspicion  as  his  daily  bread.  Yet  nothing  could  be 
fouler  or  falser  than  the  calumny  which  described  Alexander 
as  unfaithful  to  Philip.  Had  he  served  his  God  as  he  served 


14  Moreo  to  Philip,  22  June,  1590. 
"  Me  atrevere  a  decir  que  se  acuerde 
V.  M  que  no  hay  principe  in  Italia 
qui  deje  de  tener  BUS  fines,  y  que  hay 
pocos  en  el  mundo  qui  no  tengan 
puesta  la  mira  a  ser  mas — y  el  de 
podria  si  quiere  dar  mayor 


golpe  que  todos  IOB  demas — y  que  no 
hay  hombre  malo  qui  no  dessee  la 
muerte  de  V.  Md.  Crealo  y  mandame 
cortar  la  cabeza  si  hallare  que  digo 
por  pasion  ni  otro  que  <jelo  limpio  del 
servicio  de  V.  Md." 
i»  See  Vol.  II.  of  this  work,  p.  539- 


1592.          CALUMNIES  AGAINST  THE  DUKE  OF  PARMA.  205 

his   master  perhaps  his   record  before   the  highest  tribunal 
would  have  been  a  clearer  one. 

And  in  the  same  vein  in  which  he  wrote  to  the  monarch 
in  person  did  the  crafty  Moreo  write  to  the  principal  secretary 
of  state,  Idiaquez,  whose  mind,  as  well  as  his  master's,  it  was 
useful  to  poison,  and  who  was  in  daily  communication  with 
Philip. 

"  Let  us  make  sure  of  Flanders,"  said  he,  "  otherwise  we 
shall  all  of  us  be  well  cheated.  I  will  tell  you  something  of 
that  which  I  have  already  told  his  Majesty,  only  not  all, 
referring  you  to  Tassis,  who,  as  a  personal  witness  to  many 
things,  will  have  it  in  his  power  to  undeceive  his  Majesty. 
I  have  seen  very  clearly  that  the  duke  is  disgusted  with  hig 
Majesty,  and  one  day  he  told  me  that  he  cared  not  if  the 
whole  world  went  to  destruction,  only  not  Flanders.16 

"  Another  day  he  told  me  that  there  was  a  report  abroad 
that  his  Majesty  was  sending  to  arrest  him,  by  means  of  the 
Duke  of  Pastrana,  and  looking  at  me  he  said :  ( See  here, 
seignior  commander,  no  threats,  as  if  it  were  in  the  power  of 
mortal  man  to  arrest  me,  much  less  of  such  fellows  as  these/17 

"  But  this  is  but  a  small  part  of  what  I  could  say,"  con 
tinued  the  detective  knight-commander,  "  for  I  don't  like  to 
trust  these  ciphers.  But  be  certain  that  nobody  in  Flanders 
wishes  well  to  these  estates  or  to  the  Catholic  cause,  and  the 
associates  of  the  Duke  of  Parma  go  about  saying  that  it  does 
not  suit  the  Italian  potentates  to  have  his  Majesty  as  great  a 
monarch  as  he  is  trying  to  be."18 

This  is  but  a  sample  of  the  dangerous  stuff  with  which  the 
royal  mind  was  steadily  drugged,  day  after  day,  by  those  to 
whom  Farnese  was  especially  enjoined  to  give  his  confidence. 
Later  on  it  will  be  seen  how  much  effect  was  thus  produced 
both  upon  the  king  and  upon  the  duke.  Moreo,  Mendoza, 
and  Tassis  were  placed  about  the  governor-general,  nominally 
as  his  counsellors,  in  reality  as  police-officers. 

16  Moreo  to  Don  I.  de  Idiaquez,  30  I  como  si  fuese  en  poder  de  hombre 
Jan.  1590.     (Arch,  de  Siinancas  MS.)     humano    que    me    pudiese    prender, 

fiiiavi  +  ft   TVIOCI    divmfk-in-n-t f\   svsvn+A  **    jffrst 


17  Ibid.     "  Y  viendome  dixo,  mire 
Sefior  Comdor  que  calle  de  amenazas, 


quanto  mas  semejante  gente,"  &<x 
Ibid. 


206 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXVIII. 


"  You  are  to  confer  regularly  with.  Mendoza,  Tassis,  and 
Moreo,"  said  Philip  to  Farnese.19 

"  You  are  to  assist,  correspond,  and  harmonize  in  every 
way  with  the  Duke  of  Parma,"  wrote  Philip  to  Mendoza, 
Tassis,  and  Moreo.20  And  thus  cordially  and  harmoniously 
were  the  trio  assisting  and  corresponding  with  the  duke. 

But  Moreo  was  right  in  not  wishing  to  trust  the  ciphers, 
and  indeed  he  had  trusted  them  too  much,  for  Farnese  was 
very  well  aware  of  his  intrigues,  and  complained  bitterly  of 
them  to  the  king  and  to  Idiaquez. 

Most  eloquently  and  indignantly  did  he  complain  of  the 
calumnies,  ever  renewing  themselves,  of  which  he  was  the 
subject.  "  'Tis  this  good  Moreo  who  is  the  author  of  the  last 
falsehoods/'  said  he  to  the  secretary  ;  "  and  this  is  but  poor 
payment  for  my  having  neglected  my  family,  my  parents  and 
children  for  so  many  years  in  the  king's  service,  and  put  my 
life  ever  on  the  hazard,  that  these  fellows  should  be  allowed  to 
revile  me  and  make  game  of  me  now,  instead  of  assisting  me."21 

He  was  at  that  time,  after  almost  superhuman  exertions, 
engaged  in  the  famous  relief  of  Paris.  He  had  gone  there,  he 
said,  against  his  judgment  and  remonstrating  with  his  Majesty 
on  the  insufficiency  of  men  and  money  for  such  an  enterprise. 
His  army  was  half-mutinous  and  unprovided  with  food,  artil 
lery,  or  munitions  ;  and  then  he  found  himself  slandered, 
ridiculed,  his  life's  life  lied  away.  'Twas  poor  payment  for 
his  services,  he  exclaimed,  if  his  Majesty  should  give  ear  to 
these  calumniators,  and  should  give  him  no  chance  of  con 
fronting  his  accusers  and  clearing  his  reputation.  Moreo 
detested  him,  as  he  knew,  and  Prince  Doria  said  that  the 
commander  once  spoke  so  ill  of  Farnese  in  Genoa  that  he  was 
on  the  point  of  beating  him ;  while  Moreo  afterwards  told 
the  story  as  if  he  had  been  maltreated  because  of  defending 
Farnese  against  Doria's  slanders.22 


19  Philip  to  Parma,  30  Jan.  1590. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

20  Instruccion  que  S.  M.  dio  a  J.  B. 
Tassis,  para  Don  B.  de  Mendoza  and 
Comdador  Moreo,  May  3,  1590.     (Arch. 


de  Simancas  MS.) 

21  Parma  to  Idiaquez,  20  Oct.  1590. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

22  Parma   to    Philip  ;    same    date 
Ibid. 


PROTESTATIONS  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  PARMA. 


207 


And  still  more  vehemently  did  he  inveigh  against  Moreo 
in  his  direct  appeals  to  Philip.23  He  had  intended  to  pass  over 
his  calumnies,  of  which  he  was  well  aware,  because  he  did  not 
care  to  trouble  the  dead — for  Moreo  meantime  had  suddenly 
died,  and  the  gossips,  of  course,  said  it  was  of  Farnese 
poison24 — but  he  had  just  discovered  by  documents  that  the 
commander  had  been  steadily  and  constantly  pouring  these 
his  calumnies  into  the  monarch's  ears.  He  denounced  every 
charge  as  lies,  and  demanded  proof.  Moreo  had  further  been 
endeavouring  to  prejudice  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  against  the 
King  of  Spain  and  himself,  saying  that  he,  Farnese,  had  been 
commissioned  to  take  Mayenne  into  custody,  with  plenty  of 
similar  lies. 

"  But  what  I  most  feel,"  said  Alexander,  with  honest  wrath, 
"  is  to  see  that  your  Majesty  gives  ear  to  them  without  making 
the  demonstration  which  my  services  merit,  and  has  not  sent 
to  inform  me  of  them,  seeing  that  they  may  involve  my  re 
putation  and  honour.  People  have  made  more  account  of 
these  calumnies  than  of  my  actions  performed  upon  the 
theatre  of  the  world.  I  complain,  after  all  my  toils  and 
dangers  in  your  Majesty's  service,  just  when  I  stood  with  my 
soul  in  my  mouth  and  death  in  my  teeth,  forgetting  children, 
house,  and  friends,  to  be  treated  thus,  instead  of  receiving 
rewards  and  honour,  and  being  enabled  to  leave  to  my  children, 
what  was  better  than  all  the  riches  the  royal  hand  could 
bestow,  an  unsullied  and  honourable  name/'25 

He  protested  that  his  reputation  had  so  much  suffered  that 
he  would  prefer  to  retire  to  some  remote  corner  as  a  humble 


83  Parma  to  Philip,  20  Oct.  1590. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

24  "  Murio  en  Miaux  a  los  treynta 
de  Agosto  (1590)  el  Comendador  Juan 
Moreo,"  says  Coloma  (iii.  47,  48), 
"hombre  de  ingenio  prompto  y  arti- 
ficioso,  que  de  moderados  principios 
de  un  pobre  Caballero  de  Malta,  llego 
a  ser  primer  Mobil  de  las  furiosas 
guerras  que  abrasaron  tantos  anos  a 
Francia,  excessive  gastador  de  la 
hazienda  del  rey,  y  atrevidissimo  com 
prador  de  voluntades;  este  gano  la 
VOL.  II— 8 


del  Duque  de  Guisa  de  manera  que  le 
hizo  Espanol  de  corazon,  y  le  confinno 
en  el  aborrecimiento  contra  los  herejes, 
y  sus  fautores  sin  excepcion  de  persona, 
tan  a  la  descubierta  que  le  costo  la 
vida  :  a  el  se  dixo  que  le  costo  la  suya 
lo  que  escrivio  al  rey  contra  el  Duque 
de  Parma;  murio  casi  al  improvise 
despues  de  cierto  banquete,  que  oca- 
siono  esta  fania,  y  en  que  le  tra<jo  no 
menos  infamia  que  acrecentamiento." 
35  Ibid. 


208  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXVIII. 

servant  of  the  king,  and  leave  a  post  which  had  made  him  so 
odious  to  all.  Above  all,  he  entreated  his  Majesty  to  look 
upon  this  whole  affair  "  not  only  like  a  king  but  like  a  gentle 
man."  26 

Philip  answered  these  complaints  and  reproaches  benig- 
nantly,  expressed  unbounded  confidence  in  the  duke,  assured 
him  that  the  calumnies  of  his  supposed  enemies  could  produce 
no  effect  upon  the  royal  mind,  and  coolly  professed  to  have 
entirely  forgotten  having  received  any  such  letter  as  that  of 
which  his  nephew  complained.  "  At  any  rate  I  have  mislaid 
it,"  he  said,  "  so  that  you  see  how  much  account  it  was  with 
me."27 

As  the  king  was  in  the  habit  of  receiving  such  letters  every 
week,  not  only  from  the  commander,  since  deceased,  but 
from  Ybarra  and  others,  his  memory,  to  say  the  least,  seemed 
to  have  grown  remarkably  feeble.  But  the  sequel  will  very 
doon  show  that  he  had  kept  the  letters  by  him  and  pondered 
them  to  much  purpose.  To  expect  frankness  and  sincerity 
from  him,  however,  even  in  his  most  intimate  communications 
to  his  most  trusted  servants,  would  have  been  to  "  swim  with 
fins  of  lead." 

Such  being  the  private  relations  between  the  conspirators, 
it  is  instructive  to  observe  how  they  dealt  with  each  other 
in  the  great  game  they  were  playing  for  the  first  throne  in 
Christendom.  The  military  events  have  been  sufficiently 
sketched  in  the  preceding  pages,  but  the  meaning  and 
motives  of  public  affairs  can  be  best  understood  by  occasional 
glances  behind  the  scenes.  It  is  well  for  those  who  would 
maintain  their  faith  in  popular  Governments  to  study  the 
workings  of  the  secret,  irresponsible,  arbitrary  system  ;  for 
every  Government,  as  every  individual,  must  be  judged  at 
last  by  those  moral  laws  which  no  man  born  of  woman  can 
svade. 

During  the  first  French  expedition — in  the  course  of  which 


*6  Parma  to  Philip,  20  Oct.  1590. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  "Sea  ser- 
vido  V.  Md  considerar  no  tan  sola- 
mente  con  ojos  de  reymas  de  cavallero 


esto  negocio." 

»  Philip    to  Parma,  5   Dec.  1590. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 


1592.         RELATIONS  BETWEEN  PHILIP  AND  MAYENNE.          209 

Farnese  had  saved  Paris  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  Henry, 
and  had  been  doing  his  best  to  convert  it  prospectively  into  the 
capital  of  his  master's  empire — it  was  his  duty,  of  course,  to 
represent  as  accurately  as  possible  the  true  state  of  France. 
He  submitted  his  actions  to  his  master's  will,  but  he  never 
withheld  from  him  the  advantage  that  he  might  have  derived, 
had  he  so  chosen,  from  his  nephew's  luminous  intelligence 
and  patient  observation. 

With  the  chief  personage  he  had  to  deal  with  he  professed 
himself,  at  first,  well  satisfied.  "The  Duke  of  Mayenne," 
said  he  to  Philip,  "  persists  in  desiring  your  Majesty  only 
as  King  of  France,  and  will  hear  of  no  other  candidate, 
which  gives  me  satisfaction  such  as  can't  be  exaggerated."28 
Although  there  were  difficulties  in  the  way,  Farnese  thought 
that  the  two  together  with  God's  help  might  conquer  them. 
"  Certainly  it  is  not  impossible  that  your  Majesty  may  suc 
ceed,"  he  said,  "  although  very  problematical ;  and  in  case 
your  Majesty  does  succeed  in  that  which  we  all  desire  and  are 
struggling  for,  Mayenne  not  only  demands  the  second  place 
in  the  kingdom  for  himself,  but  the  fief  of  some  great  pro 
vince  for  his  family."29 

Should  it  not  be  possible  for  Philip  to  obtain  the  crown, 
Farnese  was,  on  the  whole,  of  opinion  that  Mayenne  had 
better  be  elected.  In  that  event  he  would  make  over 
Brittany  and  Burgundy  to  'Philip,  together  with  the  cities 
opposite  the  English  coast.  If  they  were  obliged  to  make 
the  duke  king,  as  was  to  be  feared,  they  should  at  any  rate 
exclude  the  Prince  of  Bearne,  and  secure,  what  was  the  chief 
point,  the  Catholic  religion.  "  This,"  said  Alexander,  "  is 
about  what  I  can  gather  of  Mayenne' s  views,  and  perhaps  he 
will  put  them  down  in  a  despatch  to  your  Majesty."30 

After  all,  the  duke  was  explicit  enough.  He  was  for  taking 
all  he  could  get — the  whole  kingdom  if  possible — but  if  foiled, 
then  as  large  a  slice  of  it  as  Philip  would  give  him  as  the 

88  Parma  to  Philip,  21   Oct.   1590.    cual  nos  viene  tan  a  cuento  que  no 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  "Que  es  per-   ' 
sistir  el  D.  de  Umena  en  no  pretender 
otro  rey  que  V.  Md  en  este  reyno  lo  |      30 

VOL,  III,— P 


hay  para  que  encaresceUo." 


29  Same  letter, 


210  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIIL 

price  of  his  services.  And  Philip's  ideas  were  not  materially 
different  from  those  of  the  other  conspirator. 

Both  were  agreed  on  one  thing.  The  true  heir  must  be 
kept  out  of  his  rights,  and  the  Catholic  religion  be  maintained 
in  its  purity.  As  to  the  inclination  of  the  majority  of  the 
inhabitants,  they  could  hardly  be  in  the  dark.  They  knew 
that  the  Bearnese  was  instinctively  demanded  by  the 
nation ;  for  his  accession  to  the  throne  would  furnish  the 
only  possible  solution  to  the  entanglements  which  had  so  long 
existed.31 

As  to  the  true  sentiments  of  the  other  politicians  and 
soldiers  of  the  League  with  whom  Farnese  came  in  contact 
in  France,  he  did  not  disguise  from  his  master  that  they  were 
anything  but  favourable. 

"  That  you  may  know  the  humour  of  this  kingdom,"  said 
he,  "  and  the  difficulties  in  which  I  am  placed,  I  must  tell 
you  that  I  am  by  large  experience  much  confirmed  in  that 
which  I  have  always  suspected.  Men  don't  love  nor  esteem 
the  royal  name  of  your  Majesty ;  and  whatever  the  benefits 
and  assistance  they  get  from  you  they  have  no  idea  of  any 
thing  redounding  to  your  benefit  and  royal  service,  except  so 
far  as  implied  in  maintaining  the  Catholic  religion  and  keeping 
out  the  Bearae.  These  two  things,  however,  they  hold  to  be 
so  entirely  to  your  Majesty's  profit,  that  all  you  are  doing 
appears  -the  fulfilment  of  a  simple  obligation.  They  are  filled 
with  fear,  jealousy,  and  suspicion  of  your  Majesty.  They 
dread  your  acquiring  power  here.  Whatever  negotiations 
they  pretend  in  regard  to  putting  the  kingdom  or  any  of 
their  cities  under  your  protection,  they  have  never  had  any 
real  intention  of  doing  it,  but  their  only  object  is  to  keep  up 
our  vain  hopes  while  they  are  carrying  out  their  own  ends. 
If  to-day  they  seem  to  have  agreed  upon  any  measure,  to 
morrow  they  are  sure  to  get  out  of  it  again.  This  has  always 
been  the  case,  and  all  your  Majesty's  ministers  that  have  had 
dealings  here  would  say  so,  if  they  chose  to  tell  the  truth. 
Men  are  disgusted  with  the  entrance  of  the  army,  and  if  they 
31  Parma  to  Philip,  Oct.  3,  1590.  (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 


1592.  FRENCH  HOSTILITY  TO  PHILIP.  211 

were  not  expecting  a  more  advantageous  peace  in  the  king 
dom  with  my  assistance  than  without  it,  I  don't  know  what 
they  would  do  ;  for  I  have  heard  what  I  have  heard  and  seen 
what  I  have  seen.  They  are  afraid  of  our  army,  but  they 
want  its  assistance  and  our  money." 32 

Certainly  if  Philip  desired  enlightenment  as  to  the  real 
condition  of  the  country  he  had  determined  to  appropriate, 
and  the  true  sentiments  of  its  most  influential  inhabitants, 
here  was  the  man  most  competent  of  all  the  world  to  advise 
him,  describing  the  situation  for  him,  day  by  day,  in  the  most 
faithful  manner.  And  at  every  step  the  absolutely  puerile 
inadequacy  of  the  means  employed  by  the  king  to  accom 
plish  his  gigantic  purposes  became  apparent.  If  the  crime 
of  subjugating  or  at  least  dismembering  the  great  kingdom 
of  France  were  to  be  attempted  with  any  hope  of  success,  at 
least  it  might  have  been  expected  that  the  man  employed 
to  consummate  the  deed  would  be  furnished  with  more  troops 
and  money  than  would  be  required  to  appropriate  a  savage 
island  in  the  Caribbean,  or  a  German  principality.  But 
Philip  expected  miracles  to  be  accomplished  by  the  mere 
private  assertion  of  his  will.  It  was  so  easy  to  conquer  realms 
at  the  writing  table. 

"  I  don't  say,"  continued  Farnese,  "  if  I  could  have  entered 
France  with  a  competent  army,  well  paid  and  disciplined, 
with  plenty  of  artillery  and  munitions,  and  with  funds 
enough  to  enable  Mayenne  to  buy  up  the  nobles  of  his 
party,  and  to  conciliate  the  leaders  generally  with  presents 
and  promises,  that  perhaps  they  might  not  have  softened. 
Perhaps  interest  and  fear  would  have  made  that  name  agree 
able  which  pleases  them  so  little,  now  that  the  very  reverse 
of  all  this  has  occurred.  My  want  of  means  is  causing  a 
thousand  disgusts  among  the  natives  of  the  country,  and  it  is 
this  penury  that  will  be  the  chief  cause  of  the  disasters  which 
may  occur."  ffl 

Here  was  sufficiently  plain  speaking.  To  conquer  a  war 
like  nation  without  an  army,  to  purchase  a  rapacious  nobility 
39  Parma  to  Philip,  Oct.  3,  1590.  (Arch,  de  Simances  MS.)  M  Ibid. 


212  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIII. 

with  an  empty  purse,  were  tasks  which  might  break  the 
stoutest  heart.  They  were  breaking  Alexander's. 

Yet  Philip  had  funds  enough,  if  he  had  possessed  financial 
ability  .himself,  or  any  talent  for  selecting  good  financiers. 
The  richest  countries  of  the  old  world  and  the  new  were 
under  his  sceptre  ;  the  mines  of  Peru  and  Mexico,  the  wealth 
of  farthest  Ind,  were  at  his  disposition  ;  and  moreover  he 
drove  a  lucrative  traffic  in  the  sale  of  papal  bulls  and  mass- 
books,  which  were  furnished  to  him  at  a  very  low  figure,  and 
which  he  compelled  the  wild  Indians  of  America  and  the 
savages  of  the  Pacific  to  purchase  of  him  at  an  enormous 
advance.  That  very  year,  a  Spanish  carrack  had  been  cap 
tured  by  the  English  off  the  Barbary  coast,  with  an  assorted 
cargo,  the  miscellaneous  nature  of  which  gives  an  idea  of 
royal  commercial  pursuits  at  that  period.  Besides  wine  in 
large  quantities  there  were  fourteen  hundred  chests  of  quick 
silver,  an  article  indispensable  to  the  working  of  the  silver 
mines,  and  which  no  one  but  the  king  could,  upon  pain  of 
death,  send  to  America.  He  received,  according  to  contract, 
for  every  pound  of  quicksilver  thus  delivered  a  pound  of 
pure  silver,  weight  for  weight.  The  ship  likewise  contained 
ten  cases  of  gilded  mass-books  and  papal  bulls.  The  bulls, 
two  million  and  seventy  thousand  in  number,  for  the  dead 
and  the  living,  were  intended  for  the  provinces  of  New 
Spain,  Yucatan,  Guatemala,  Honduras,  and  the  Philippines. 
The  quicksilver  and  the  bulls  cost  the  king  three  hundred 
thousand  florins,  but  he  sold  them  for  five  million.  The 
price  at  which  the  bulls  were  to  be  sold  varied — according  to 
the  letters  of  advice  found  in  the  ships — from  two  to  four 
reals  a  piece,  and  the  inhabitants  of  those  conquered  regions 
were  obliged  to  buy  them.34  "  From  all  this/'  says  a  con 
temporary  chronicler,  "is  to  be  seen  what  a  thrifty  trader 
was  the  king."  * 

The  affairs  of  France  were  in  such  confusion  that  it  was 
impossible  for  them,  according  to  Farnese,  to  remain  in  such 
condition  much  longer  without  bringing  about  entire  decom- 

34  Meteren,  xvi.  300.  35  Ibid 


1592.  STATE  OF  AFFAIRS  IN  FRANCE.  213 

position.  Every  man  was  doing  as  he  chose  —  whether 
governor  of  a  city,  commander  of  a  district,  or  gentleman  in 
his  castle.  Many  important  nobles  and  prelates  followed  the 
Bearnese  party,  and  Mayenne  was  entitled  to  credit  for  doing 
as  well  as  he  did.  There  was  no  pretence,  however,  that  his 
creditable  conduct  was  due  to  anything  but  the  hope  of  being 
well  paid.  "  If  your  Majesty  should  decide  to  keep  Mayenne," 
said  Alexander,  "  you  can  only  do  it  with  large  sums  of 
money.  He  is  a  good  Catholic  and  very  firm  in  his  purpose, 
but  is  so  much  opposed  by  his  own  party,  that  if  I  had  not  so 
stimulated  him  by  hopes  of  his  own  grandeur,  he  would  have 
grown  desperate — such  small  means  has  he  of  maintaining 
his  party — -and,  it  is  to  be  feared,  he  would  have  made  ar 
rangements  with  Bearne,  who  offers  him  carte-blanche."  36 

The  disinterested  man  had  expressed  his  assent  to  the 
views  of  Philip  in  regard  to  the  assembly  of  the  estates  and 
the  election  of  king,  but  had  claimed  the  sum  of  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars  as  absolutely  necessary  to  the  support  of 
himself  and  followers  until  those  events  should  occur.37  Alex 
ander  not  having  that  sum  at  his  disposal  was  inclined  to 
defer  matters,  but  was  more  and  more  confirmed  in  his 
opinion  that  the  Duke  was  a  "  man  of  truth,  faith,  and  his 
word."  M  He  had  distinctly  agreed  that  no  king  should  be 
elected,  not  satisfactory  to  Philip,  and  had  "stipulated  in 
return  that  he  should  have  in  this  case,  not  only  the  second 
place  in  the  kingdom,  but  some  very  great  and  special  reward 
in  full  property." S9 

Thus  the  man  of  truth,  faith,  and  his  word  had  no  idea  of 
selling  himself  cheap,  but  manifested  as  much  commercial 
genius  as  the  Fuggers  themselves  could  have  displayed, 
had  they  been  employed  as  brokers  in  these  mercantile 
transactions. 

Above  all  things,  Alexander  implored  the  king  to  be 
expeditious,  resolute,  and  liberal ;  for,  after  all,  the  Bearnese 
might  prove  a  more  formidable  competitor  than  he  was 

36  Parma  to  Philip,  Oct.  3,  1590.     (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  37  Ibid. 

88  "  Hombre  de  verdad,  fe  y  palabra."    (Ibid.)  3»  i^ 


214 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXVIII. 


deemed.  "  These  matters  must  be  arranged  while  the  iron  is 
hot,"  he  said,  "  in  order  that  the  name  and  memory  of  the 
Bearne  and  of  all  his  family  may  be  excluded  at  once  and 
for  ever ;  for  your  Majesty  must  not  doubt  that  the  whole 
kingdom  inclines  to  him,  both  because  he  is  natural  successor 
to  the  crown,  and  because  in  this  way  the  civil  war  would 
cease.  The  only  thing  that  gives  trouble  is  the  religious 
defect,  so  that  if  this  should  be  remedied  in  appearance, 
even  if  falsely,  men  would  spare  no  pains  nor  expense  in  his 
cause."  40 

No  human  being  at  that  moment,  assuredly,  could  look 
into  the  immediate  future  accurately  enough  to  see  whether 
the  name  and  memory  of  the  man,  whom  his  adherents 
called  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France,  and  whom  Spaniards, 
legitimists  and  enthusiastic  papists,  called  the  Prince  of 
Bearne,  were  to  be  for  ever  excluded  from  the  archives  of 
France  ;  whether  Henry,  after  spending  the  whole  of  his  life 
as  a  pretender,  was  destined  to  bequeath  the  same  empty 
part  to  his  descendants,  should  they  think  it  worth  their  while 
to  play  it.  Meantime  the  sages  smiled  superior  at  his  delu 
sion  ;  while  Alexander  Farnese,  on  the  contrary,  better 
understanding  the  chances  of  the  great  game  which  they 
were  all  playing,  made  bold  to  tell  his  master  that  all  hearts 
in  France  were  inclining  to  their  natural  lord.  "Differing 
from  your  Majesty,"  said  he,  "  I  am  of  opinion  that  there  is 
no  better  means  of  excluding  him  than  to  make  choice  of  the 
Duke  of  Mayenne,  as  a  person  agreeable  to  the  people,  and 
who  could  only  reign  by  your  permission  and  support."  41 

Thus,  after  much  hesitation  and  circumlocution,  the  nephew 
made  up  his  mind  to  chill  his  uncle's  hopes  of  the  crown,  and 
to  speak  a  decided  opinion  in  behalf  of  the  man  of  his  word, 
faith,  and  truth. 

And  thus  through  the  whole  of  the  two  memorable  cam 
paigns  made  by  Alexander  in  France,  he  never  failed  to  give 


40  Parma  to  Philip,  Oct.  3,  1590. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  "  Que  con 
esto  quedara  escluido  totalmente  el 
memoria  de  Bearne  de  los 


de  su  casa  a  quien  no  dude  V.  Md  d» 
que  el  reyno  todo  inclina,  asi  por  SOT 
naturalemente  sucesores  del,"  &c, 
41  Ibid, 


1592.  REMONSTRANCES  OF  FARNESE.  215 

his  master  the  most  accurate  pictures  of  the  country,  and  an 
interior  view  of  its  politics  ;  urging  above  all  the  absolute 
necessity  of  providing  much  more  liberal  supplies  for  the 
colossal  adventure  in  which  he  was  engaged.  "  Money  and 
again  money  is  what  is  required/'  he  said.  "  The  principal 
matter  is  to  be  accomplished  with  money,  and  the  particular 
individuals  must  be  bought  with  money.  The  good  will  of 
every  French  city  must  be  bought  with  money.  Mayenne 
must  be  humoured.  He  is  getting  dissatisfied.  Very  pro 
bably  he  is  intriguing  with  Bearne.  Everybody  is  pursuing 
his  private  ends.  Mayenne  has  never  abandoned  his  own 
wish  to  be  king,  although  he  sees  the  difficulties  in  the  way  ; 
and  while  he  has  not  the  power  to  do  us  as  much  good  as  is 
thought,  it  is  certainly  in  his  hands  to  do  us  a  great  deal  of 
injury/' 42 

When  his  army  was  rapidly  diminishing  by  disease,  deser 
tion,  mutiny,  and  death,  he  vehemently  and  perpetually 
denounced  the  utter  inadequacy  of  the  king's  means  to  his 
vast  projects.  He  protested  that  he  was  not  to  blame  for  the 
ruin  likely  to  come  upon  the  whole  enterprise.  He  had  be 
sought,  remonstrated,  reasoned  with  Philip — in  vain.43  He 
assured  his  master  that  in  the  condition  of  weakness  in 
which  they  found  themselves,  not  very  triumphant  negotiations 
could  be  expected,  but  that  he  would  do  his  best.  "The 
Frenchmen/'  he  said,  "  are  getting  tired  of  our  disorders,  and 
scandalized  by  our  weakness,  misery,  and  poverty.  They  dis 
believe  the  possibility  of  being  liberated  through  us."  44 

He  was  also  most  diligent  in  setting  before  the  king's  eyes 
the  dangerous  condition  of  the  obedient  Netherlands,  the 
poverty  of  the  finances,  the  mutinous  degeneration  of  the 
once  magnificent  Spanish  army,  the  misery  of  the  country, 
the  ruin  of  the  people,  the  discontent  of  the  nobles,  the 
rapid  strides  made  by  the  republic,  the  vast  improvement  in 
its  military  organization,  the  rising  fame  of  its  young  stad- 
holder,  the  thrift  of  its  exchequer,  the  rapid  development 

42  Parma  to  Philip,  11  March,  1592.    (Arch,  ae  Simancas  MS.) 

43  Ibid.  **  Same  to  same,  2  June,  1592.    (Ibid.) 


216  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIII 

of  its  commerce,  the  menacing  aspect  which  it  assumed 
towards  all  that  was  left  of  Spanish  power  in  those  regions. 

Moreover,  in  the  midst  of  the  toils  and  anxieties  of  war- 
making  and  negotiation,  he  had  found  time  to  discover  and 
to  send  to  his  master  the  left  leg  of  the  glorious  apostle  St. 
Philip,  and  the  head  of  the  glorious  martyr  St.  Lawrence,  to 
enrich  his  collection  of  relics  ;  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
these  treasures  were  not  as  welcome  to  the  king  as  would 
have  been  the  news  of  a  decisive  victory.45 

During  the  absence  of  Farnese  in  his  expeditions  against 
the  Bearnese,  the  'government  of  his  provinces  was  tempo 
rarily  in  the  hands  of  Peter  Ernest  Mansfeld. 

This  grizzled  old  fighter — testy,  choleric,  superannuated — 
was  utterly  incompetent  for  his  post.  He  was  a  mere  tool  in 
the  hands  of  his  son.  Count  Charles  hated  Parma  very  cor 
dially,  and  old  Count  Peter  was  made  to  believe  himself  in 
danger  of  being  poisoned  or  poniarded  by  the  duke.  He  was 
perpetually  wrangling  with,  importuning  and  insulting  him 
in  consequence,  and  writing  malicious  letters  to  the  king 
in  regard  to  him.46  The  great  nobles,  Arschot,  Chimay, 
Berlaymont,  Champagny,  Arenberg,  and  the  rest,  were  all 
bickering  among  themselves,  and  agreeing  in  nothing  save  in 
hatred  to  Farnese. 

A  tight  rein,  a  full  exchequer,  a  well-ordered  and  well- 
paid  army,  and  his  own  constant  patience,  were  necessary,  as 
Alexander  too  well  knew,  to  make  head  against  the  republic, 


46  Parma  to  Philip,  4  July,  1592. 
(Arch  de  Simancas  MS.)  Philip  to. 
Parma,  1  Aug.  1592.  Ibid.  "  Quanto 
a  la  cabeza  del  glorioso  San  Lorenzo 
agradezco  os  el  cuydado  que  mostrais 
de  haberla  y  os  encargo  que  lo  lleveis 
adelante  hasta  salir  con  ello  que  os  j 
tendre  en  rimcho  particular  servicio 
que  se  haga  por  vuestro  medio." 
Parma  to  Philip,  24  Aug.  1592.  Ibid. 
Philip  to  Parma,  11  Sept.  1592.  Letter 
to  Parma.  (Arch,  de  Simancas  (Paris\ 
MS.  A  56, 13- MS.) 

46  Parma  to  Philip,  31  July,  1592, 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  Parma  to 
Peter  Ernest  Mansfeld,  6  Aug.  1592. 


Mansfeld  to  Philip,  8  Aug.  1592. 
Parma  to  Mansfeld,  16  Aug.  1592. 
Parma  to  Philip,  24  Aug.  1592. 
"Porque  con  su  larga  vejez,"  said 
Fuentes  of  Peter  Ernest,  "se  halla 
muy  decrepito  y  desacordado  que  esto  y 
ver  quan  sugeto  esta  al  hijo  qui  le 
govierna  como  a  una  criatura."  Fuen 
tes  to  Philip,  13  Dec.  1592.  (Arch,  de 
Simancas  MS.)  Esteven  de  Yvarra  to 

,  9   April,   1593— Ibid.     Fuentes 

to  Philip,  28  April,  1593— Ibid.  Ybarra 

to ,  2  May,  1593— Ibid.     Same  to 

Philip,  26th  July,  1593— Ibid.  Fuentes 
to  the  Secretaries  of  State,  2  Sept.  1593 
—Ibid. 


1592.  PLOT  AGAINST  FARNESE.  217 

and  to  hold  what  was  left  of  the  Netherlands.  But  with  a. 
monthly  allowance,  and  a  military  force  not  equal  to  his  own 
estimates  for  the  Netherland  work,  he  was  ordered  to  go 
forth  from  the  Netherlands  to  conquer  France — and  with  it 
the  dominion  of  the  world — for  the  recluse  of  the  Escorial. 

Very  soon  it  was  his  duty  to  lay  hare  to  his  master,  still 
more  unequivocally  than  ever,  the  real  heart  of  Mayenne.* 
No  one  could  surpass  Alexander  in  this  skilful  vivisection 
of  political  characters  ;  and  he  soon  sent  the  information  that 
the  Duke  was  in  reality  very  near  closing  his  bargain  with 
the  Bearnese,  while  amusing  Philip  and  drawing  largely  from 
his  funds. 

Thus,  while  faithfully  doing  his  master's  work  with  sword 
and  pen,  with  an  adroitness  such  as  no  other  man  could 
have  matched,  it  was  a  necessary  consequence  that  Philip 
should  suspect,  should  detest,  should  resolve  to  sacrifice 
him.  While  assuring  his  nephew,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
elaborate,  slanderous  reports  and  protocols  concerning  him, 
sent  with  such  regularity  by  the  chivalrous  Moreo  and  the 
other  spies,  had  been  totally  disregarded,  even  if  they  had 
ever  met  his  eye,  he  was  quietly  preparing — in  the  midst  of 
all  these  most  strenuous  efforts  of  Alexander,  in  the  field  at 
peril  of  his  life,  in  the  cabinet  at  the  risk  of  his  soul — to 
deprive  him  of  his  office,  and  to  bring  him,  by  stratagem  if 
possible,  but  otherwise  by  main  force,  from  the  Netherlands 
to  Spain. 

This  project,  once  resolved  upon,  the  king  proceeded  to 
execute  with  that  elaborate  attention  to  detail,  with  that 
feline  stealth  which  distinguished  him  above  all  kings  or 
chiefs  of  police  that  have  ever  existed.  Had  there  been 
a  murder  at  the  end  of  the  plot,  as  perhaps  there  was  to 
be — Philip  could  not  have  enjoyed  himself  more.  Nothing 
surpassed  the  industry  for  mischief  of  this  royal  invalid. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  of  course  the  inditing  of  a 
most  affectionate  epistle  to  his  nephew. 

"  Nephew,"  said  he,  "  you  know  the  confidence  which  I 
have  always  placed  in  you  and  all  that  I  have  put  in  your 


218  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXVIII. 

hands  ;  and  I  know  how  much  you  are  to  me,  and  how 
earnestly  you  work  in  my  service,  and  so,  if  I  could  have 
you  at  the  same  time  in  several  places,  it  would  be  a  great 
relief  to  me.  Since  this  cannot  be  however,  I  wish  to  make 
use  of  your  assistance,  according  to  the  times  and  occasions, 
in  order  that  I  may  have  some  certainty  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  all  this  business  is  to  be  managed,  may  see  why  the 
settlement  of  affairs  in  France  is  thus  delayed,  and  what 
the  state  of  things  in  Christendom  generally  is,  and  may 
consult  with  you  about  an  army  which  I  am  getting  levied 
here,  and  about  certain  schemes  now  on  foot  in  regard  to  the 
remedy  for  all  this ;  all  which  makes  me  desire  your  presence 
here  for  some  time,  even  if  a  short  time,  in  order  to  resolve 
upon  and  arrange,  with  the  aid  of  your  advice  and  opinion, 
tnany  affairs  concerning  the  public  good  and  facilitate  their 
execution  by  means  of  your  encouragement  and  presence, 
and  to  obtain  the  repose  which  I  hope  for  in  putting  them 
into  your  hands.  And  so  I  charge  and  command  you  that, 
if  you  desire  to  content  me,  you  use  all  possible  diligence  to 
let  me  see  you  here  as  soon  as  possible,  and  that  you  start 
at  once  for  Genoa."47 

He  was  further  directed  to  leave  Count  Mansfeld  at  the 
head  of  affairs  during  this  temporary  absence, — as  had  been 
the  case  so  often  before, — instructing  him  to  make  use  of 
the  Marquis  of  Cerralbo,  who  was  already  there,  to  lighten 
labours  that  might  prove  too  much  for  a  man  of  Mansfeld's 
advanced  age. 

.  "  I  am  writing  to  the  marquis,"  continued  the  king,  "  tell 
ing  him  that  he  is  to  obey  all  your  orders.  As  to  the  reasons 
of  your  going  away,  you  will  give  out  that  it  is  a  decision  of 
your  own,  founded  on  good  cause,  or  that  it  is  a  summons 
of  mine,  but  full  of  confidence  and  good  will  towards  you,  as 
you  see  that  it  is." 48 

The  date  of  this  letter  was  20th  February,  1592. 

The  secret  instructions  to  the  man  who  was  thus  to  obey 
all  the  duke's  orders  were  explicit  enough  upon  that  point, 

«  Philip  to  Parma,  20  Feb.  1592.     (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)        48  Ibid. 


1592.  RECALL  OP  FARNESE  TO  SPAIN  219 

although  they  were  wrapped  in  the  usual  closely-twisted 
phraseology  which  distinguished  Philip's  style  when  his  pur 
pose  was  most  direct. 

Cerralbo  was  entrusted  with  general  directions  as  to  the 
French  matter,  and  as  to  peace  negotiations  with  "the 
Islands  ;"  but  the  main  purport  of  his  mission  was  to  re 
move  Alexander  Farnese.  This  was  to  he  done  by  fair  means, 
if  possible  ;  if  not,  he  was  to  be  deposed  and  sent  home  by 
force. 

This  was  to  be  the  reward  of  all  the  toil  and  danger 
through  which  he  had  grown  grey  and  broken  in  the  king's 
service. 

"  When  you  get  to  the  Netherlands  "  (for  the  instructions 
were  older  than  the  letter  to  Alexander  just  cited),  "you 
are,"  said  the  king,  "  to  treat  of  the  other  two  matters  until 
the  exact  time  arrives  for  the  third,  taking  good  care  not  to 
cut  the  thread  of  good  progress  in  the  affairs  of  France  if  by 
chance  they  are  going  on  well  there. 

"When  the  time  arrives  to  treat  of  commission  number 
three,"  continued  his  Majesty,  "  you  will  take  occasion  of  the 
arrival  of  the  courier  of  20th  February,  and  will  give  with 
much  secrecy  the  letter  of  that  date  to  the  duke ;  showing 
him  at  the  same  time  the  first  of  the  two  which  you  will 
have  received." 

If  the  duke  showed  the  letter  addressed  to  him  by  his 
uncle — which  the  reader  has  already  seen — then  the  marquis 
was  to  discuss  with  him  the  details  of  the  journey,  and  com 
ment  upon  the  benefits  and  increased  reputation  which  would 
be  the  result  of  his  return  to  Spain. 

"  But  if  the  duke  should  not  show  you  the  letter/'  pn> 
ceeded  Philip,  "  and  you  suspect  that  he  means  to  conceal 
and  equivocate  about  the  particulars  of  it,  you  can  show  him 
your  letter  number  two,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  you  have 
received  a  copy  of  the  letter  to  the  duke.  This  will  make  the 
step  easier." 

Should  the  duke  declare  himself  ready  to  proceed  to  Spain 
on  the  ground  indicated — that  the  king  had  need  of  his  ser- 


220  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIIL 

vices — the  marquis  was  then  to  hasten  his  departure  as 
earnestly  as  possible.  Every  pains  were  to  be  taken  to  over 
come  any  objections  that  might  be  made  by  the  duke  on  the 
score  of  ill  health;  while  the  great  credit  which  attached  to 
this  summons  to  consult  with  the  king  in  such  arduous  affairs 
was  to  be  duly  enlarged  upon.  Should  Count  Mansfeld 
meantime  die  of  old  age,  and  should  Farnese  insist  the  more 
vehemently,  on  that  account,  upon  leaving  his  son  the  Prince 
Kanuccio  in  his  post  as  governor,  the  marquis  was  authorised 
to  accept  the  proposition  for  the  moment — although  secretly 
instructed  that  such  an  appointment  was  really  quite  out  of 
the  question — if  by  so  doing  the  father  could  be  torn  from  the 
place  immediately. 

But  if  all  would  not  do,  and  if  it  should  become  certain 
that  the  duke  would  definitively  refuse  to  take  his  departure, 
it  would  then  become  necessary  to  tell  him  clearly,  but 
secretly,  that  no  excuse  would  be  accepted,  but  that  go  he 
must  ;  and  that  if  he  did  not  depart  voluntarily  within  a  fixed 
time,  he  would  be  publicly  deprived  of  office  and  conducted 
to  Spain  by  force.49 

But  all  these  things  were  to  be  managed  with  the  secrecy 
and  mystery  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  Philip.  The  marquis 
was  instructed  to  go  first  to  the  castle  of  Antwerp,  as  if  upon 
financial  business,  and  there  begin  his  operations.  Should  he 
find  at  last  all  his  private  negotiations  and  coaxings  of  no 
avail,  he  was  then  to  make  use  of  his  secret  letters  from  the 
king  to  the  army  commanders,  the  leading  nobles  of  the 
country,  and  of  the  neighbouring  princes,  all  of  whom  were  to 
be  undeceived  in  regard  to  the  duke,  and  to  be  informed 
of  the  will  of  his  majesty.50 

The  real  successor  of  Farnese  was  to  be  the  Archduke 
Albert,  Cardinal  of  Austria,  son  of  Archduke  Ferdinand,  and 
the  letters  on  this  subject  were  to  be  sent  by  a  "decent 
and  confidential  person"  so  soon  as  it  should  become  ob 
vious  that  force  would  be  necessary  in  order  to  compel  the 


49  Sumario  de  lo  que  S.  Md  es  ser- 
vido  que  haga  V.  en  su  comision  prin 
cipal  como  mas  particularmente  se  le 


ha  dicho  de  palabra.     31  Dec.  1591- 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 
50  Ibid. 


1592.  TREACHERY  OF  PHILIP   TOWARDS  FARNESE.  221 

departure  of  Alexander.  For  if  it  came  to  open  rupture,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  have  the  cardinal  ready  to  take  the 
place.  If  the  affair  were  arranged  amicably,  then  the  new 
governor  might  proceed  more  at  leisure  The  marquis 
was  especially  enjoined,  in  case  the  duke  should  be  in 
France,  and  even  if  it  should  be  necessary  for  him  to  follow 
him  there  on  account  of  commissions  number  one  and  two, 
not  to  say  a  word  to  him  then  of  his  recall,  for  fear  of 
damaging  matters  in  that  kingdom.  He  was  to  do  his  best 
to  induce  him  to  return  to  Flanders,  and  when  they  were 
both  there,  he  was  to  begin  his  operations.51 

Thus,  with  minute  and  artistic  treachery,  did  Philip  pro 
vide  for  the  disgrace  and  ruin  of  the  man  who  was  his  near 
blood  relation,  and  who  had  served  him  most  faithfully  from 
earliest  youth.  It  was  not  possible  to  carry  out  the  project 
immediately,  for,  as  it  has  already  been  narrated,  Farnese, 
after  achieving,  in  spite  of  great  obstacles  due  to  the  dulness 
of  the  king  alone,  an  extraordinary  triumph,  had  been  dan 
gerously  wounded,  and  was  unable  for  a  brief  interval  to 
attend  to  public  affairs. 

On  the  conclusion  of  his  Kouen  campaign  he  had  returned 
to  the  Netherlands,  almost  immediately  betaking  himself  to 
the  waters  of  Spa.  The  Marquis  de  Cerralbo  meanwhile  had 
been  superseded  in  his  important  secret  mission  by  the  Count 
of  Fuentes,  who  received  the  same  instructions  as  had  been 
provided  for  the  marquis. 

But  ere  long  it  seemed  to  become  unnecessary  to  push 
matters  to  extremities.  Farnese,  although  nominally  the 
governor,  felt  himself  unequal  to  take  the  field  against  the 
vigorous  young  commander  who  was  carrying  everything 
before  him  in  the  north  and  east.  Upon  the  Mansfelds  was 
the  responsibility  for  saving  Steenwyk  and  Coeworden,  and 
to  the  Mansfelds  did  Verdugo  send  piteously,  but  in  vain,  for 
efficient  help.  For  the  Mansfelds  and  other  leading  per 
sonages  in  the  obedient  Netherlands  were  mainly  occupied  at 

sl  MS.  last  cited.  Also  Philip  to  the  Duke  of  Sessa,  ambassador  at  Rome, 
3  Nov.  1592,  (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  Philip  to  Parma,  same  date.  (Ibid.) 


222  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIIL 

that  time  in  annoying  Farnese,  calumniating  his  actions,  laying 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  administration,  military  and  civil, 
and  bringing  him  into  contempt  with  the  populace.  When  the 
weary  soldier — broken  in  health,  wounded  and  harassed  with 
obtaining  triumphs  for  his  master  such  as  no  other  living 
man  could  have  gained  with  the  means  placed  at  his  disposal 
— returned  to  drink  the  waters  previously  to  setting  forth  anew 
upon  the  task  of  achieving  the  impossible,  he  was  made  the 
mark  of  petty  insults  on  the  part  of  both  the  Mansfelds. 
Neither  of  them  paid  their  respects  to  him,  ill  as  he  was, 
until  four  days  after  his  arrival.  When  the  duke  subse 
quently  called  a  council,  Count  Peter  refused  to  attend  it  on 
account  of  having  slept  ill  the  night  before.  Champagny, 
who  was  one  of  the  chief  mischief-makers,  had  been  banished 
by  Parma  to  his  house  in  Burgundy.  He  became  very  much 
alarmed,  and  was  afraid  of  losing  his  head.  He  tried  to 
conciliate  the  duke,  but  finding  it  difficult  he  resolved  to 
turn  monk,  and  so  went  to  the  convent  of  Capuchins,  and 
begged  hard  to  be  admitted  a  member.  They  refused  him 
on  account  of  his  age  and  infirmities.  He  tried  a  Franciscan 
monastery  with  not  much  better  success,  and  then  obeyed 
orders  and  went  to  his  Burgundy  mansion,  having  been 
assured  by  Farnese  that  he  was  not  to  lose  his  head.  Alex 
ander  was  satisfied  with  that  arrangement,  feeling  sure, 
he  said,  that  so  soon  as  his  back  was  turned  Champagny 
would  come  out  of  his  convent  before  the  term  of  pro 
bation  had  expired,  and  begin  to  make  mischief  again. 
A  once  valiant  soldier,  like  Champagny,  whose  conduct 
in  the  famous  "  fury  of  Antwerp  "  was  so  memorable,  and 
whose  services  both  in  field  and  cabinet  had  been  so  dis 
tinguished,  fallen  so  low  as  to  be  used  as  a  tool  by  the 
Mansfelds  against  a  man  like  Farnese,  and  to  be  rejected 
as  unfit  company  by  Flemish  friars,  is  not  a  cheerful  spec 
tacle  to  contemplate. 

The  walls  of  the  Mansfeld  house  and  gardens,  too,  were 
decorated  by  Count  Charles  with  caricatures,  intending  to 
illustrate  the  indignities  put  upon  his  father  and  himself) 


1592.  SUFFERINGS  AND  DEATH  OF  FARNESE.  223 

Among  others,  one  picture  represented  Count  Peter  lying  tied 
hand  and  foot,  while  people  were  throwing  filth  upon  him ; 
Count  Charles  being  pourtrayed  as  meantime  being  kicked 
away  from  the  command  of  a  battery  of  cannon  by  De  la 
Motte.  It  seemed  strange  that  the  Mansfelds  should  make 
themselves  thus  elaborately  ridiculous,  in  order  to  irritate 
Farnese  ;  but  thus  it  was.  There  was  so  much  stir  about 
these  works  of  art  that  Alexander  transmitted  copies  of  them 
to  the  king,  whereupon  Charles  Mansfeld,  being  somewhat 
alarmed,  endeavoured  to  prove  that  they  had  been  entirely 
misunderstood.  The  venerable  personage  lying  on  the 
ground,  he  explained,  was  not  his  father,  but  Socrates.  He 
found  it  difficult  however  to  account  for  the  appearance  of 
La  Motte,  with  his  one  arm  wanting  and  with  artillery  by  his 
side,  because,  as  Farnese  justly  remarked,  artillery  had  not 
been  invented  in  the  time  of  Socrates52  nor  was  it  recorded 
that  the  sage  had  lost  an  arm. 

Thus  passed  the  autumn  of  1592,  and  Alexander,  having 
as  he  supposed  somewhat  recruited  his  failing  strength,  pre 
pared,  according  to  his  master's  orders,  for  a  new  campaign 
in  France.  For  with  almost  preterhuman  malice  Philip  was 
employing  the  man  whom  he  had  doomed  to  disgrace,  per 
haps  to  death,  and  whom  he  kept  under  constant  secret 
supervision,  in  those  laborious  efforts  to  conquer  without  an 
army  and  to  purchase  a  kingdom  with  an  empty  purse,  in 
which,  as  it  was  destined,  the  very  last  sands  of  Parma's  life 
were  to  run  away. 

Suffering  from  a  badly  healed  wound,  from  water  on  the 
chest,  degeneration  of  the  heart,  and  gout  in  the  limbs, 
dropsical,  enfeebled,  broken  down  into  an  old  man  before  his 
time,  Alexander  still  confronted  disease  and  death  with  as 
heroic  a  front  as  he  had  ever  manifested  in  the  field  to 
embattled  Hollanders  and  Englishmen,  or  to  the  still  more 
formidable  array  of  learned  pedants  and  diplomatists  in  the 
hall  of  negotiation.  This  wreck  of  a  man  was  still  fitter  to 

62  Parma  to  Philip,  28  Oct.  1592.     (Arch,  de  Siraancas  MS.) 


224  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXVIII. 

lead  armies  and  guide  councils  than  any  soldier  or  statesman 
that  Philip  could  call  into  his  service,  yet  the  king's  cruel 
hand  was  ready  to  stab  the  dying  man  in  the  dark. 

Nothing  could  surpass  the  spirit  with  which  the  soldier 
was  ready  to  do  battle  with  his  best  friend,  coming  in  the 
guise  of  an  enemy.  To  the  last  moment,  lifted  into  the 
saddle,  he  attended  personally  as  usual  to  the  details  of  his 
new  campaign,  and  was  dead  before  he  would  confess  himself 
mortal.53  On  the  3rd  of  December,  1592,  in  the  city  of 
Arras,  he  fainted  after  retiring  at  his  usual  hour  to  bed,  and 
thus  breathed  his  last. 

According  to  the  instructions  in  his  last  will,  he  was  laid 
out  barefoot  in  the  robe  and  cowl  of  a  Capuchin  monk.  Sub 
sequently  his  remains  were  taken  to  Parma,  and  buried 
under  the  pavement  of  the  little  Franciscan  church.54  A 
pompous  funeral,  in  which  the  Italians  and  Spaniards 
quarrelled  and  came  to  blows  for  precedence,  was  celebrated 
in  Brussels,  and  a  statue  of  the  hero  was  erected  in  the 
capitol  at  Home. 

The  first  soldier  and  most  unscrupulous  diplomatist  of  his 

63  Bentivoglio,  t.  ii. lib.  vi.  p. 370.  "E[  Spanish  ambassador  at  Rome  was 
prima  conosciuto  si  morto  che  volesse  j  accordingly  instructed  to  burn  the 
confesarsi  mortale."  Compare  Coloma,  !  papers  which  had  been  sent  to  him, 
v.  106.  Meteren,  xvi.  306.  Bor,  III.  j  and  to  suppress  all  the  communications 
xxix.  661.  Reyd,  ix.  195.  Dondini,  •  which  he  had  been  on  the  point  of 


in.  bdy,  seqq, 

54  Ibid.     The  inscription  over  his 
tomb  was  as  follows : — 

Alexander  Farnesius, 


Et  Francis  obsidione  levatis 

Ut  humili  hoc  loco 

Ejus  cadaver  reponeretur 

Mandavit  iiii.  Non  Decemb. 

An.  MDXCII. 

Dondini,  iii.  642. 

It  appears  by  a  letter  of  Marquis 


making  to  the  pope. 

"  Don  Cristoval  and  Don  Juan  are 
of  opinion,"  said  their  minute  laid  be 
fore  the  king,  "  that  since  the  notifica 
tion  sent  to  Rome  was  to  remedy  the 
damage  that  the  report  of  the  recall 
might  cause  at  that  court,  now  that 
all  this  has  ceased  with  the  death  of 
the  recalled, it  is  best  to  con 
ceal  that  intention  from  the  pope  and 
from  all  others,  and  that  it  is  sufficient 
for  the  Duke  of  Sessa  to  be  informed  of 
the  truth,"  &c. 

d'Havre  to  Philip  that  the  death  of  [  Philip  noted  on  this  memorandum 
Farnese  took  place  on  the  3rd  Decem-  with  his  own  hand  a  decided  ap- 
ber.  (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  proval  of  the  suggestion,  ordering  it  to 

So  soon  as  his  decease  was  known  at   be  carried  into  effect,  adding,  "  Let  the 
Madrid,  the   first  thought  of  Philip   Duke  of  Sessa  be  told  to  burn  the 
was  to  conceal  from  the  pope  that  it   letter  and  the  copy  that  was  sent  with 
had  been  his  intention  forcibly  to  re-  it,"  &c.     (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 
call  him  from  the  Netherlands.     The  I 


1592.  DEATH  OF  ALEXANDER  FARNESE.  225 

age,  he  died  when  scarcely  past  his  prime,  a  wearied,  broken 
hearted  old  man.  His  triumphs,  military  and  civil,  have 
been  recorded  in  these  pages,  and  his  character  has  been 
elaborately  pourtrayed.  Were  it  possible  to  conceive  of  an 
Italian  or  Spaniard  of  illustrious  birth  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  educated  in  the  school  of  Machiavelli,  at  the  feet  of 
Philip,  as  anything  but  the  supple  slave  of  a  master  and 
the  blind  instrument  of  a  Church,  one  might  for  a  moment 
regret  that  so  many  gifts  of  genius  and  valour  had  been 
thrown  away  or  at  least  lost  to  mankind.  Could  the  light 
of  truth  ever  pierce  the  atmosphere  in  which  such  men  have 
their  being  ;  could  the  sad  music  of  humanity  ever  penetrate 
to  their  ears  ;  could  visions  of  a  world — on  this  earth  or  beyond 
it — not  exclusively  the  property  of  kings  and  high-priests  be 
revealed  to  them,  one  might  lament  that  one  so  eminent 
among  the  sons  of  women  had  not  been  a  great  man.  But  it 
is  a  weakness  to  hanker  for  any  possible  connection  between 
truth  and  Italian  or  Spanish  statecraft  of  that  day.  The 
truth  was  not  in  it  nor  in  him,  and  high  above  his  heroic 
achievements,  his  fortitude,  his  sagacity,  his  chivalrous  self- 
sacrifice,  shines  forth  the  baleful  light  of  his  perpetual 
falsehood.55 

55 1  pass  over,  as  beneath  the  level  i  Towards  the  latter  end  of  the  duke's 
of  history,  a  great  variety  of  censorious  [  life,  it  was  even  said  that  the  seal  of 
and  probably  calumnious  reports  as  to  j  the  finance  department  was  in  the 
the  private  character  of  Farnese,  with  ,  hands  of  his  valet-de-chambre,  who,  in 
which  the  secret  archives  of  the  times  '  his  master's  frequent  absences,  was  in 
are  filled.  Especially  Champagny,  the  j  the  habit  of  issuing  drafts  upon  the 
man  by  whom  the  duke  was  most  I  receiver-general.  As  the  valet-de- 
hated  and  feared,  made  himself  busy  I  chambre  was  described  as  an  idiot  who 
in  compiling  the  slanderous  chronicle  |  did  not  know  how  to  read,  it  may  be 
in  which  the  enemies  of  Farnese,  both  I  believed  that  the  finances  fell  into  con- 
in  Spain  and  the  Netherlands,  took  so  j  fusion.  Certainly,  if  such  statements 
much  delight.  According  to  the  secret  were  to  be  accepted,  it  would  be 
history  thus  prepared  for  the  enlight-  natural  enough  that  for  every  million 
enment  of  the  king  and  his  ministers,  |  dollars  expended  by  the  king  in  the 
the  whole  administration  of  theNether-  I  provinces,  not  more  than  one  hundred 
lands— especially  the  financial  depart-  j  thousand  were  laid  out  for  the  public 
ment,  with  the  distribution  of  offices —  j  service  ;  and  this  is  the  estimate  made 
was  in  the  hands  of  two  favourites,  a  |  by  Champagny,  who,  as  a  distin- 


beardless  secretary  named  Cosmo  de 
Massi,  and  a  lady  of  easy  virtue  called 
Franceline,  who  seems  to  have  had  a 
numerous  host  of  relatives  and  friends 
to  provide  for  at  the  public  expense. 

VOL.  III. — Q 


guished  financier  and  once  chief  of  the 
treasury  in  the  provinces,  might  cer 
tainly  be  thought  to  know  something 
of  the  subject.  But  Champagny  was 
so  beside  himself  with  rage,  hatred. 


226 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXVIII. 


and  terror,  where  Alexander  was  con 
cerned,  that  he  is  as  unfit  a  guide  for 
those  who  wish  the  truth  as  Com 
mander  Moreo  or  Ybarra. 

"  Juan  Baptista  ayuda  de  camera, 
Italiano — para  mas  vilipendicia  de 
finan/as  el  sello  dellas,  que  solia 
guardar  uno  de  los  chefs,  a  estado  en 
manos  de  Juan  Baptista — se  sellan 
sin  el  (Farnese)  mas  al  alvidrio  de 
Baptista  idiota  que  no  scave  leer  o  de 
Rinaldi.  .  .  .  En  suma  es  todo  con 
fusion  y  desorden  y  reduair  solo  apro 


vecho  destos  y  tales  quanto  se  haze. 
....  Demas  las  mohatras  de  los 
usureros  y  mercaderes  que  con  sus 
cambios  y  recambios  pagas  en  paiios  y 
sedas  y  otras  trampas,  entendiendose 
con  estos  reforzando  el  dinero  en 
di versos  partes  hay  en  que  no  viene  a 
resultar  al  rey  su  milion  quasi  en  cien 
mil  escudos,"  &c.  Discours  du  Seign 
eur  de  Champagny  sur  les  affaires  des 
Pays  Bas,  21  Dec.  1589.  Bibliotheque 
de  Bourgogne,  MS.  No.  12,962. 


1593.  SPANISH  FORCES  SENT  TO  FRANCE  227 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

Effect  of  the  death  of  Farnese  upon  Philip's  schemes  —  Priestly  flattery  and 
counsel — Assembly  of  the  States-General  of  France  —  Meeting  of  the 
Leaguers  at  the  Louvre  —  Conference  at  Surene  between  the  chiefs  of  the 
League  and  the  "  political  "  leaders  —  Henry  convokes  an  assembly  of 
bishops,  theologians,  and  others  —  Strong  feeling  on  all  sides  on  the  subject 
of  the  succession  —  Philip  commands  that  the  Infanta  and  the  Duke  of 
Guise  be  elected  King  and  Queen  of  France  —  Manifesto  of  the  Duke  of 
Mayenne  —  Formal  re-admission  of  Henry  to  the  Roman  faith  —  The  pope 
refuses  to  consent  to  his  reconciliation  with  the  Church  —  His  consecration 
with  the  sacred  oil — Entry  of  the  king  into  Paris  —  Departure  of  the 
Spanish  garrison  from  the  capital  —  Dissimulation  of  the  Duke  of  Mayenne 
—  He  makes  terms  with  Henry  —  Grief  of  Queen  Elizabeth  on  receipt  of 
the  communications  from  France. 

DURING  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  there  had  been  tragic 
scenes  enough  in  France,  but  now  the  only  man  who  could 
have  conducted  Philip's  schemes  to  a  tragic  if  not  a  successful 
issue  was  gone.  Friendly  death  had  been  swifter  than 
Philip,  and  had  removed  Alexander  from  the  scene  before  his 
master  had  found  fitting  opportunity  to  inflict  the  disgrace 
on  which  he  was  resolved.  Meantime,  Charles  Mansfeld 
made  a  feeble  attempt  to  lead  an  army  from  the  Nether 
lands  into  France,  to  support  the  sinking  fortunes  of  the 
League ;  but  it  was  not  for  that  general  of  artillery  to 
attempt  the  well-graced  part  of  the  all-accomplished  Far 
nese  with  much  hope  of  success.  A  considerable  force 
of  Spanish  infantry,  too,  had  been  sent  to  Paris,  where 
they  had  been  received  with  much  enthusiasm  ;  a  very 
violent  and  determined  churchman,  Sega,  archbishop  of 
Piacenza,  and  cardinal-legate,  having  arrived  to  check  on  the 
part  of  the.  holy  father  any  attempt  by  the  great  wavering 
heretic  to  get  himself  readmitted  into  the  fold  of  the  faithful.1 
The  King  of  Spain  considered  it  his  duty,  as  well  as  his 
1  De  Thou,  xi.  675. 


228 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXIX. 


unquestionable  right,  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  France,  and 
to  save  the  cause  of  religion,  civilization  and  humanity,  in 
the  manner  so  dear  to  the  civilization-savers,  by  reducing 
that  distracted  country — utterly  unable  to  govern  itself — 
under  his  sceptre.  To  achieve  this  noble  end  no  bribery  was 
too  wholesale,  no  violence  too  brutal,  no  intrigue  too  paltry. 
It  was  his  sacred  and  special  mission  to  save  France  from 
herself.  If  he  should  fail,  he  could  at  least  carve  her  in 
pieces,  and  distribute  her  among  himself  and  friends.  French 
men  might  assist  him  in  either  of  these  arrangements,  but  it 
was  absurd  to  doubt  that  on  him  devolved  the  work  and  the 
responsibility.  Yet  among  his  advisers  were  some  who 
doubted  whether  the  purchase  of  the  grandees  of  France  was 
really  the  most  judicious  course  to  pursue.  There  was  a 
general  and  uneasy  feeling  that  the  grandees  were  making 
sport  of  the  Spanish  monarch,  and  that  they  would  be 
inclined  to  remain  his  stipendiaries  for  an  indefinite  period, 
without  doing  their  share  of  the  work.  A  keen  Jesuit,  who 
had  been  much  in  France,  often  whispered  to  Philip  that  he 
was  going  astray.  "  Those  who  best  understand  the  fit 
remedy  for  this  unfortunate  kingdom,  and  know  the  tastes 
and  temper  of  the  nation,"  said  he,  "  doubt  giving  these  vast 
presents  and  rewards  in  order  that  the  nobles  of  France  may 
affect  your  cause  and  further  your  schemes.  It  is  the  greatest 
delusion,  because  they  love  nothing  but  their  own  interest, 
and  for  this  reason  wish  for  no  king  at  all,  but  prefer  that  the 
kingdom  should  remain  topsy-turvy  in  order  that  they  may 
enjoy  the  Spanish  doubloons,  as  they  say  themselves  almost 
publicly,  dancing  and  feasting  ;  that  they  may  take  a  castle 
to-day,  and  to-morrow  a  city,  and  the  day  after  a  province, 
and  so  on  indefinitely.  What  matters  it  to  them  that  blood 
flows,  and  that  the  miserable  people  are  destroyed,  who  alone 
are  good  for  anything  ?"2 

"  The  immediate  cause  of  the  ruin  of  France/'  continued 


»  Relation  del  Padre  Anto  Crespo 
acerca  de  las  cosas  de  Flandes  y 
Francia  (citing  the  conventions  and 


statements  of  John  de  Zelander  and 
Father  Odo),  1593.  (Arch,  de  Siman 
cas  MS.) 


1593.  JESUITICAL  COUNSEL.  229 

the  Jesuit,  "  comes  from  two  roots  which  must  be  torn  up  ; 
the  one  is  the  extreme  ignorance  and  scandalous  life  of  the 
ecclesiastics,  the  other  is  the  tyranny  and  the  abominable  life 
of  the  nobility,  who  with  sacrilege  and  insatiable  avarice  have 
entered  upon  the  property  of  the  Church.  This  nobility  is 
divided  into  three  factions.  The  first,  and  not  the  least,  is 
heretic  ;  the  second  and  the  most  pernicious  is  politic  or 
atheist ;  the  third  and  last  is  catholic.  All  these,  although 
they  differ  in  opinion,  are  the  same  thing  in  corruption  of  life 
and  manners,  so  that  there  is  no  choice  among  them."  He 
then'  proceeded  to  set  forth  how  entirely  the  salvation  of 
France  depended  on  the  King  of  Spain.  "  Morally  speaking," 
he  said,  "  it  is  impossible  for  any  Frenchman  to  apply  the 
remedy.  For  this  two  things  are  wanting .;  intense  zeal  for 
the  honour  of  God,  and  power.  I  ask  now  what  Frenchman 
has  both  these,  or  either  of  them.  No  one  certainly  that 
we  know.  It  is  the  King  of  Spain  who  alone  in  the  world  has 
the  zeal  and  the  power.  No  man  who  knows  the  insolence 
and  arrogance  of  the  French  nature  will  believe  that  even  if 
a  king  should  be  elected  out  of  France  he  would  be  obeyed 
by  the  others.  The  first  to  oppose  him  would  be  Mayenne, 
even  if  a  king  were  chosen  from  his  family,  unless  everything 
should  be  given  him  that  he  asked,  which  would  be  impos 
sible." 

Thus  did  the  wily  priest  instil  into  the  ready  ears  of  Philip 
additional  reasons  for  believing  himself  the  incarnate  pro 
vidence  of  God.  When  were  priestly  flatterers  ever  wanting 
to  pour  this  poison  into  the  souls  of  tyrants  ?  It  is  in  vain 
for  us  to  ask  why  it  is  permitted  that  so  much  power  for  evil 
should  be  within  the  grasp  of  one  wretched  human  creature, 
but  it  is  at  least  always  instructive  to  ponder  the  career  of 
these  crowned  conspirators,  and  sometimes  consoling  to  find 
its  conclusion  different  from  the  goal  intended.  So  the 
Jesuit  advised  the  king  not  to  be  throwing  away  his  money 
upon  particular  individuals,  but  with  the  funds  which  they 
were  so  unprofitably  consuming  to  form  a  jolly  army  (gallardo 
egercito)  of  fifteen  thousand  foot,  and  five  thousand  horse,  all 


230  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  xxix. 

Spaniards,  under  a  Spanish  general — not  a  Frenchman  being 
admitted  into  it — and  then  to  march  forward,  occupy  all  the 
chief  towns,  putting  Spanish  garrisons  into  them,  but  sparing 
the  people,  who  now  considered  the  war  eternal,  and  who 
were  eaten  up  by  both  armies.  In  a  short  time  the  king 
might  accomplish  all  he  wished,  for  it  was  not  in  the  power 
of  the  Bearnese  to  make  considerable  resistance  for  any  length 
of  time.3 

This  was  the  plan  of  Father  Odo  for  putting  Philip  on  the 
throne  of  France,  and  at  the  same  time  lifting  up  the  down 
trodden  Church,  whose  priests,  according  to  his  statement, 
were  so  profligate,  and  whose  tenets  were  rejected  by  all  but 
a  small  minority  of  the  governing  classes  of  the  country. 
Certainly  it  did  not  lack  precision,  but  it  remained  to  be  seen 
whether  the  Bearnese  was  to  prove  so  very  insignificant  an 
antagonist  as  the  sanguine  priest  supposed. 

For  the  third  party — the  moderate  Catholics — had  been 
making  immense  progress  in  France,  while  the  diplomacy  of 
Philip  had  thus  far  steadily  counteracted  their  efforts  at 
Home.  In  vain  had  the  Marquis  Pisani,  envoy  of  the  poli 
ticians'  party,  endeavoured  to  soften  the  heart  of  Clement 
towards  Henry.  The  pope  lived  in  mortal  fear  of  Spain, 
and  the  Duke  of  Sessa,  Philip's  ambassador  to  the  holy 
see,  denouncing  all  these  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  heretic 
and  his  friends,  and  urging  that  it  was  much  better  for  Eome 
that  the  pernicious  kingdom  of  France  should  be  dismem 
bered  and  subdivided,  assured  his  holiness  that  Rome 
should  be  starved,  occupied,  annihilated,  if  such  abominable 
schemes  should  be  for  an  instant  favoured. 

Clement  took  to  his  bed  with  sickness  brought  on  by  all 
this  violence,  but  had  nothing  for  it  but  to  meet  Pisani  and 
other  agents  of  the  same  cause  with  a  peremptory  denial,  and 
send  most  stringent  messages  to  his  legate  in  Paris,  who 
needed  no  prompting.4 

There  had  already  been  much  issuing  of  bulls  by  the  pope, 

8  MS.  last  cited.  *  De  Thou,  xii.  120. 


1593. 


ARRANGEMENTS  FOR  ELECTION  OF  KING. 


231 


and  much  burning  of  bulls  by  the  hangman,  according  to 
decrees  of  the  parliament  of  Chalons  and  other  friendly 
tribunals,  and  burning  of  Chalons  decrees  by  Paris  hangmen, 
and  edicts  in  favour  of  Protestants  at  Nantz  and  other 
places5 — measures  the  enactment,  repeal,  and  re-enactment 
of  which  were  to  mark  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  great  tide  of 
human  opinion  on  the  most  important  of  subjects,  and  the 
traces  of  which  were  to  be  for  a  long  time  visible  on  the  shores 
of  time. 

Early  in  1593  Mayenne,  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  the 
Spanish  party,  reluctantly  consented  to  assemble  the  States- 
General  of  France,  in  order  that  a  king  might  be  chosen.6 
The  duke,  who  came  to  be  thoroughly  known  to  Alexander 
Farnese  before  the  death  of  that  subtle  Italian,  relied  on  his 
capacity  to  outwit  all  the  other  champions  of  the  League  and 
agents  of  Philip  now  that  the  master-spirit  had  been  re 
moved.  As  firmly  opposed  as  ever  to  the  election  of  any 
other  candidate  but  himself,  or  possibly  his  son,  according  to 
a  secret  proposition  which  he  had  lately  made  to  the  pope,7 
he  felt  himself  obliged  to  confront  the  army  of  Spanish 
diplomatists,  Roman  prelates,  and  learned  doctors,  by  whom 
it  was  proposed  to  exclude  the  Prince  of  Bearne  from  his 
pretended  rights.  But  he  did  not,  after  all,  deceive  them  as 
thoroughly  as  he  imagined.  The  Spaniards  shrewdly  suspected 
the  French  tactics,  and  the  whole  business  was  but  a  round 
game  of  deception,  in  which  no  one  was  much  deceived,  who 
ever  might  be  destined  ultimately  to  pocket  the  stakes. 
"  I  know  from  a  very  good  source,"  said  Fuentes,  "  that 
Mayenne,  Guise,  and  the  rest  of  them  are  struggling  hard 
in  order  not  to  submit  to  Bearne,  and  will  suffer  everything 


6  De  Thou,  xi.  369,  370,  seqq. 
•  Ibid.  665-670. 

7  "Entrando  en  platicas  con  el  comi- 
sario  del  papa  qui  vino  de  Francia  ha 
venido  declararme  en  gran  secreto  que 
el  Duca  de   Umena  le  dixo  con  el 
mismo  no  vendria  en  la  election  sino 
fuese  en  su  hijo  como  lo  escrivia  al 
papa  y  a  el  pidio  lo  hiziesse  y  dixesse 
convenia  para  el  bien  de  aquel  reyno." 


Fuentes    to    Philip,    9    June,    1593. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

"  Mostrome  algo  de  lo  que  le  escriven 
en  esto  y  demas  de  lo  que  de  Roma  le 
avisa  que  el  de  Umena  haze  instancia 
para  que  la  gente  del  papa  se  de  a  sv 
hijo  y  que  anda  separada  de  la  de 
V.  Md."  Same  to  same,  20  June, 
1593.  (Ibid.) 


232  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX. 

your  Majesty  may  do  to  them,  even  if  you  kick  them  in  the 
mouth,  but  still  there  is  no  conclusion  on  the  road  we  are 
travelling,  at  least  not  the  one  which  your  Majesty  desires. 
They  will  go  on  procrastinating  and  gaining  time,  making 
authority  for  themselves  out  of  your  Majesty's  grandeur,  until 
the  condition  of  things  comes  which  they  are  desiring.  Feria 
tells  me  that  they  are  still  taking  your  Majesty's  money,  but 
I  warn  your  Majesty  that  it  is  only  to  fight  off  Bearne,  and 
that  they  are  only  pursuing  their  own  ends  at  your  Majesty's 
expense." 8 

Perhaps  Mayenne  had  already  a  sufficiently  clear  insight 
into  the  not  far-distant  future,  but  he  still  presented  him 
self  in  Spanish  cloak  and  most  ultramontane  physiognomy. 
His  pockets  were  indeed  full  of  Spanish  coin  at  that 
moment,  for  he  had  just  claimed  and  received  eighty-eight 
thousand  nine  hundred  dollars  for  back  debts,  together  with 
one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  more  to  distribute 
among  the  deputies  of  the  estates.9  "  All  I  can  say  about 
France,"  said  Fuentes,  "is  that  it  is  one  great  thirst  for 
money.  The  Duke  of  Feria  believes  in  a  good  result,  but 
I  think  that  Mayenne  is  only  trying  to  pocket  as  much 
money  as  he  can."10 

Thus  fortified,  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  issued  the  address  to 
the  States-General  of  the  kingdom,  to  meet  at  an  early  day 
in  order  to  make  arrangements  to  secure  religion  and  peace, 
and  to  throw  off  the  possible  yoke  of  the  heretic  pretender. 
The  great  seal  affixed  to  the  document  represented  an  empty 
throne,  instead  of  the  usual  effigy  of  a  king.11 

The  cardinal-legate  issued  a  thundering  manifesto  at  the 

8  Tambien  he  sabido  de  buen  ori-  j  Fuentes    to    Philip,    9    June,    1593. 
ginal  que  elD.de  Umena,  Guisa  ylos   (Arch,   de   Simancas  MS.)     Same  to 


demas  por  no  venir  al  partido  con  el  de 
Bearne,  aunque  vicareen,  sufriran  todo 
lo  que  V.  Md  hiziere  con  ellos  aunque 
les  pise  la  boca,  y  que  en  quanto  se 
t'uere  por  el  camino  que  agora,nohabra, 
conclusion,  a  lo  menos  la  que  V.  Md. 
deasea,  y  que  iran  dando  muchas  largas 
para  dartiempo  al  tiempo,  authorizan- 
dose  en  tanto  con  la  grandeza  de  V.  M<*. 
kasta  llegar  el  estado  que  dessean." 


same,  20  June,  1593.     (Ibid.) 

9  Feria  to  Philip,  20  March,  1593. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

10  Lo  que  puedo  dezir  de  Francia  es 
todo  sed  dedinero — el  de  Umena  como 
se  espera  sacarle  quanto  dinero  pudi- 
ere,  temo  tan  ruyn  suceso  como  en  to 
do,"  &c.  Fuentes  to ,  22  May,1593. 

(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

11  De  Thou,  uU  sup. 


1593.  ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  ESTATES  OP  PRANCE.  233 

same  time    sustaining    Mayenne   and   virulently  denouncing 
the  Bearnese.12 

The  politicians7  party  now  seized  the  opportunity  to  impress 
upon  Henry  that  the  decisive  moment  was  come. 

The  Spaniard,  the  priest,  and  the  League,  had  heated  the 
furnace.  The  iron  was  at  a  white  heat.  Now  was  the  time 
to  strike.  Secretary  of  State  Revol,  Gaspar  de  Schomberg, 
Jacques  Auguste  de  Thou,  the  eminent  historian,  and  other 
influential  personages  urged  the  king  to  give  to  the  great 
question  the  only  possible  solution. 

Said  the  king  with  much  meekness,  "  If  I  am  in  error,  let 
those  who  attack  me  with  so  much  fury  instruct  me,  and  show 
me  the  way  of  salvation.  I  hate  those  who  act  against  their 
conscience.  I  pardon  all  those  who  are  inspired  by  truly 
religious  motives,,  and  I  am  ready  to  receive  all  into  favour 
whom  the  love  of  peace,  not  the  chagrin  of  ill-will,  has  dis 
gusted  with  the  war."  13 

There  was  a  great  meeting  of  Leaguers  at  the  Louvre, 
to  listen  to  Mayenne,  the  cardinal-legate,  Cardinal  Pellevo,  the 
Duke  of  Guise,  and  other  chieftains.  The  Duke  of  Feria  made 
a  long  speech  in  Latin,  setting  forth  the  Spanish  policy,  veiled 
as  usual,  but  already  sufficiently  well  known,  and  assuring 
the  assembly  that  the  King  of  Spain  desired  nothing  so  much 
as  the  peace  of  France  and  of  all  the  world,  together  with  the 
supremacy  of  the  Roman  Church.  Whether  these  objects 
could  best  be  attained  by  the  election  of  Philip  or  of  his 
daughter,  as  sovereign,  with  the  Archduke  Ernest  as  king- 
consort,  or  with  perhaps  the  Duke  of  Guise  or  some  other 
eligible  husband,  were  fair  subjects  for  discussion.  No  selfish 
motive  influenced  the  king,  and  he  placed  all  his  wealth  and 
all  his  armies  at  the  disposal  of  the  League  to  carry  out  these 
great  projects.14 

Then  there  was  a  conference  at  Surene  between  the  chiefs 
of  the  League   and   the   "  political"   leaders  ;  the    27  April, 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  the  cardinal-legate,  Villars;     1593. 
Admiral  of  France  and  defender  of  Rouen,  Belin,  Governor 

18  De  Thou,  xi.  675.  13  Ibid.  683.  14  Ibid.  703-705. 


234  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX 

of  Paris,  President  Jeannin,  and  others  upon  one  side  ;  upon 
the  other,  the  Archbishop  of  Bourges,  Bellievre,  Schomberg, 
Revol,  and  De  Thou.15 

The  Archbishop  of  Lyons  said  that  their  party  would  do 
nothing  either  to  frustrate  or  to  support  the  mission  of 
Pisani,  and  that  the  pope  would,  as  ever,  do  all  that  could 
be  done  to  maintain  the  interests  of  the  true  religion.16 

The  Archbishop  of  Bourges,  knowing  well  the  meaning  of 
such  fine  phrases,  replied  that  he  had  much  respect  for  the 
holy  father,  but  that  popes  had  now  become  the  slaves  and 
tools  of  the  King  of  Spain,  who,  because  he  was  powerful,  held 
them  subject  to  his  caprice.17 

At  an  adjourned  meeting  at  the  same  place,  the  Archbishop 
10  May,  of  Lyons  said  that  all  questions  had  been  aske'd  and 
1593.  answered.  All  now  depended  on  the  pope,  whom 

the  League  would  always  obey.  If  the  pope  would  accept 
the  reconciliation  of  the  Prince  of  Bearne  it  was  well.  He 
hoped  that  his  conversion  would  be  sincere.18 

The  political  archbishop  (of  Bourges)  replied  to  the  League's 
archbishop,  that  there  was  no  time  for  delays,  and  for  journeys 
by  land  and  sea  to  Kome.  The  least  obstruction  might 
prove  fatal  to  both  parties.  Let  the  Leaguers  now  show 
that  the  serenity  of  their  faces  was  but  the  mirror  of  their 
minds. 

But  the  Leaguers'  archbishop  said  that  he  could  make  no 
further  advances.  So  ended  the  conference.19 

The  chiefs  of  the  politicians  now  went  to  the  king  and 
informed  him  that  the  decisive  moment  had  arrived.20 

Henry  had  preserved  his  coolness  throughout.  Amid  all 
the  hubbub  of  learned  doctors  of  law,  archbishops — Leaguer 
and  political— Sorbonne  pedants,  solemn  grandees  from  Spain 
with  Latin  orations  in  their  pockets,  intriguing  Guises, 
huckstering  Mayennes,  wrathful  Huguenots,  sanguinary 
cardinal-legates,  threatening  world-monarchs — heralded  by 
Spanish  musketeers,  Italian  lancers,  and  German  reiters — 

»  De  Thou,  xi.  719-755.  16  Ibid.  "  Ibid.  «  Ibid. 

»  Ibid.  *  Ibid.  748. 


1593.  HENRY'S  COUNCIL   OF   ADVISERS.  235 

shrill  screams  of  warning  from  the  English  queen,  grim  de 
nunciations  from  Dutch  Calvinists,  scornful  repulses  from  the 
holy  father  ;  he  kept  his  temper  and  his  eye-sight,  as  perfectly 
as  he  had  ever  done  through  the  smoke  and  din  of  the 
wildest  battle-field.  None  knew  better  than  he  how  to  detect 
the  weakness  of  the  adversary,  and  to  sound  the  charge  upon 
his  wavering  line. 

He  blew  the  blast — sure  that  loyal  Catholics  and  Protestants 
alike  would  now  follow  him  pell-mell. 

On  the  16th  May,  1593,  he  gave  notice  that  he  consented 
to  get  himself  instructed,  and  that  he  summoned  an  I 
assembly  at  Mantes  on  the  15th  July,  of  bishops,  1593- 
theologians,  princes,  lords,  and  courts  of  parliament  to  hold 
council,  and  to  advise  him  what  was  best  to  do  for  religion 
and  the  State.21 

Meantime  he  returned  to  the  siege  of  Dreux,  made  an 
assault  on  the  place,  was  repulsed,  and  then  hung  nine 
prisoners  of  war  in  full  sight  of  the  garrison  as  a  punishment 
for  their  temerity  in  resisting  him.22  The  place  soon  after 
capitulated  (8th  July,  1593). 

The  interval  between  the  summons  and  the  assembling  of 
the  clerical  and  lay  notables  at  Mantes  was  employed  by  the 
Leaguers  in  frantic  and  contradictory  efforts  to  retrieve  a 
game  which  the  most  sagacious  knew  to  be  lost.  But  the 
politicians  were  equal  to  the  occasion,  and  baffled  them  at 
every  point. 

The  Leaguers'  archbishop  inveighed  bitterly  against  the 
abominable  edicts  recently  issued  in  favour  of  the  Protes 
tants. 

The  political  archbishop  (of  Bourges)  replied  not  by  defend 
ing,  but  by  warmly  disapproving,  those  decrees  of  toleration, 
by  excusing  the  king  for  having  granted  them  for  a  temporary 
purpose,  and  by  asserting  positively  that,  so  soon  as  the  king 
should  be  converted,  he  would  no  longer  countenance  such 
measures.23 

It  is   superfluous   to  observe  that  very  different  language 

21  De  Thou,  xi.  751.  »  Ibid.  xii.  6.  «  Ibid.  xi.  753. 


236  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX 

was  held  on  the  part  of  Henry  to  the  English  and  Dutch 
Protestants,  and  to  the  Huguenots  of  his  own  kingdom. 

And  there  were  many  meetings  of  the  Leaguers  in  Paris, 
many  helligerent  speeches  by  the  cardinal  legate,  proclaiming 
war  to  the  knife  rather  than  that  the  name  of  Henry  the 
heretic  should  ever  be  heard  of  again  as  candidate  for 
the  throne,  various  propositions  spasmodically  made  in  full 
assembly  by  Feria,  Ybarra,  Tassis,  the  jurisconsult  Mendoza, 
and  other  Spanish  agents  in  favour  of  the  Infanta  as  queen  of 
France,  with  Archduke  Ernest  or  the  Duke  of  Guise,  or  any 
other  eligible  prince,  for  her  husband. 

The  League  issued  a  formal  and  furious  invective  in  answer 
to  Henry's  announcement ;  proving  by  copious  citations  from 
Jeremiah,  St.  Epiphany,  St.  Jerome,  St.  Cyprian,  and  St. 
Bernard,  that  it  was  easier  for  a  leopard  to  change  his  spots 
or  for  a  blackamoor  to  be  washed  white,  than  for  a  heretic  to 
be  converted,  and  that  the  king  was  thinking  rather  of  the 
crown  of  France  than  of  a  heavenly  crown,  in  his  approaching 
conversion — an  opinion  which  there  were  few  to  gainsay.24 

And  the  Duke  of  Nemours  wrote  to  his  half-brother,  the 
Duke  of  Mayenne,  offering  to  use  all  his  influence  to  bring 
about  Mayenne's  election  as  king  on  condition  that  if  these 
efforts  failed,  Mayenne  should  do  his  best  to  procure  the 
election  of  Nemours." 

And  the  Parliament  of  Paris  formally  and  prospectively 
proclaimed  any  election  of  a  foreigner  null  and  void,  and  sent 
deputies  to  Mayenne  urging  him  never  to  consent  to  the 
election  of  the  Infanta. 

What  help,  said  they,  can  the  League  expect  from  the  old 
and  broken  Philip,  from  a  king  who  in  thirty  years  has  not 
been  able,  with  all  the  resources  of  his  kingdoms,  to  subdue 
the  revolted  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  ?  How  can  he  hope 
to  conquer  France  ?  Pay  no  further  heed  to  the  legate,  they 
said,  who  is  laughing  in  his  sleeve  at  the  miseries  and  dis 
tractions  of  our  country.26  So  spake  the  deputies  of  the 
League-Parliament  to  the  great  captain  of  the  League, 
M  Pe  Tfcou,  xi.  761,  26  Ibid.  779.  *  Ibid.  784 


1593  PHILIP'S  ORDER  RESPECTING  THE  CROWN.  237 

the  Duke  of  Mayenne.  It  was  obvious  that  the  "  great  and 
holy  confederacy  "  was  becoming  less  confident  of  its  invinci 
bility.  Madame  League  was  suddenly  grown  decrepit  in  the 
eyes  of  her  adorers. 

Mayenne  was  angry  at  the  action  of  the  Parliament,  and 
vehemently  swore  that  he  would  annul  their  decree.  Parlia 
ment  met  his  threats  with  dignity,  and  resolved  to  stand  by 
the  decree,  even  if  they  all  died  in  their  places.27 

At  the  same  time  the  Duke  of  Feria  suddenly  produced 
in  full  assembly  of  Leaguers  a  written  order  from  Philip  that 
the  Duke  of  Guise  and  the  Infanta  should  at  once  be  elected 
king  and  queen.28  Taken  by  surprise,  Mayenne  dissembled 
his  rage  in  masterly  fashion,  promised  Feria  to  support  the 
election,  and  at  once  began  to  higgle  for  conditions.  He 
stipulated  that  he  should  have  for  himself  the  governments  of 
Champagne,  Burgundy,  and  La  Brie,  and  that  they  should  be 
hereditary  in  his  family.  He  furthermore  demanded  that 
Guise  should  cede  to  him  the  principality  of  Joinville,  and 
that  they  should  pay  him  on  the  spot  in  hard  money  two 
hundred  thousand  crowns  in  gold,  six  hundred  thousand  more 
in  different  payments,  together  with  an  annual  payment  of 
fifty  thousand  crowns.29 

It  was  obvious  that  the  duke  did  not  undervalue  himself, 
but  he  had  after  all  no  intention  of  falling  into  the  trap  set 
for  him.  "  He  has  made  these  promises  (as  above  given) 
in  writing,"  said  the  Duke  of  Savoy's  envoy  to  his  master, 
"  but  he  will  never  keep  them.  The  Duchess  of  Mayenne 
could  not  help  telling  me  that  her  husband  will  never  consent 
that  the  Duke  of  Guise  should  have  the  throne."  :"°  From  this 
resolve  he  had  never  wavered,  and  was  not  likely  to  do  so 
now.  Accordingly  the  man  "  of  his  word,  of  faith,  and  truth," 
whom  even  the  astute  Farnese  had  at  times  half  believed  in, 
and  who  had  received  millions  of  Philip's  money,  now  thought 
it  time  to  break  with  Philip. 

He  issued  a  manifesto,31  in  which  he   observed    that  the 

«  De  Thou,  xi.  787.  28  Ibid  xii.  8.  «»  Ibid.  10. 

80  MS.  de  Mesmes,  t.  xi  893,  cited  by  Capefigue,  vi.  268. 

81  De  Thou,  xii.  13-24 


238  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX. 

States-General  of  France  had  desired  that  Philip  should  be 
elected  King  of  France,  and  carry  out  his  design  of  a  universal 
monarchy,  as  the  only  means  of  ensuring  the  safety  of  the 
Catholic  religion  and  the  pacification  of  the  world.  It  was 
feared,  however,  said  Mayenne,  that  the  king  might  come  to 
the  same  misfortunes  which  befell  his  father,  who,  when  it 
was  supposed  that  he  was  inspired  only  by  private  ambition, 
and  by  the  hope  of  placing  a  hereditary  universal  crown  in 
his  family,  had  excited  the  animosity  of  the  princes  of  the 
empire.  "  If  a  mere  suspicion  had  caused  so  great  a  misfor 
tune  in  the  empire,"  continued  the  man  of  his  word,  u  what 
will  the  princes  of  all  Europe  do  when  they  find  his  Majesty 
elected  king  of  France,  and  grown  by  increase  of  power  so 
formidable  to  the  world  ?  Can  it  be  doubted  that  they  will 
fly  to  arms  at  once,  and  give  all  their  support  to  the  King  of 
Navarre,  heretic  though  he  be  ?  What  motive  had  so  many 
princes  to  traverse  Philip's  designs  in  the  Netherlands,  but 
desire  to  destroy  the  enormous  power  which  they  feared  ? 
Therefore  had  the  Queen  of  England,  although  refusing  the 
sovereignty,  defended  the  independence  of  the  Netherlands 
these  fifteen  years. 

"  However  desirable,"  continued  Mayenne,  "that  this  uni 
versal  monarchy,  for  which  the  house  of  Austria  has  so  long 
been  working,  should  be  established,  yet  the  king  is  too 
prudent  not  to  see  the  difficulties  in  his  way.  Although  he 
has  conquered  Portugal,  he  is  prevented  by  the  fleets  of 
Holland  and  England  from  taking  possession  of  the  richest 
of  the  Portuguese  possessions,  the  islands  and  the  Indies.  He 
will  find  in  France  insuperable  objections  to  his  election  as 
king,  for  he  could  in  this  case  well  reproach  the  Leaguers 
with  having  been  changed  from  Frenchmen  into  Spaniards. 
He  must  see  that  his  case  is  hopeless  in  France,  he  who  for 
thirty  years  has  been  in  vain  endeavouring  to  re-establish  his 
authority  in  the  Netherlands.  It  would  be  impossible  in  the 
present  position  of  affairs  to  become  either  the  king  or  the 
protector  of  France.  The  dignity  of  France  allows  it  not."32 
82  De  Thou,  xii.  13-24. 


1593.  "  INSTRUCTION  »'  OF  HENRY.  239 

Mayenne  then  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  a  truce  with  the 
royalists  or  politicians,  and,  assembling  the  estates  at  the 
Louvre  on  the  4th  July,  he  read  a  written  paper  declining 
for  the  moment  to  hold  an  election  for  king.33 

John  Baptist  Tassis,  next  day,  replied  by  declaring  that  in 
this  case  Philip  would  send  no  more  succours  of  men  or 
money  ;  for  that  the  only  effectual  counter-poison  to  the  pre 
tended  conversion  of  the  Prince  of  Bearne  was  the  immediate 
election  of  a  king.34 

Thus  did  Mayenne  escape  from  the  snare  in  which  the 
Spaniards  thought  to  catch  the  man  who,  as  they  now  knew, 
was  changing  every  day,  and  was  true  to  nothing  save  his  own 
interests. 

And  now  the  great  day  had  come.  The  conversion  of 
Henry  to  the  Koman  faith,  fixed  long  before  for  the  23rd 
July,  1593,  formally  took  place  at  the  time  appointed.35 
From  six  in  the  morning  till  the  stroke  of  noon  did  Henry 
listen  to  the  exhortations  and  expoundings  of  the  learned 
prelates  and  doctors  whom  he  had  convoked,  the  politic  Arch 
bishop  of  Bourges  taking  the  lead  in  this  long-expected  in 
struction.  After  six  mortal  hours  had  come  to  an  end,  the 
king  rose  from  his  knees,  somewhat  wearied,  but  entirely 
instructed  and  convinced.  He  thanked  the  bishops  for  having 
taught  him  that  of  which  he  was  before  quite  ignorant,  and 
assured  them  that,  after  having  invoked  the  light  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  upon  his  musings,  he  should  think  seriously  over  what 
they  had  just  taught  him,  in  order  to  come  to  a  resolution 
salutary  to  himself  and  to  the  State.36 

Nothing  could  be  more  candid.  Next  day,  at  eight  in  the 
morning,  there  was  a  great  show  in  the  cathedral  of  Saint 
Denis,  and  the  population  of  Paris,  notwithstanding  the  pro 
hibition  of  the  League  authorities,  rushed  thither  in  immense 
crowds  to  witness  the  ceremony  of  the  reconciliation  of  the 
king.  Henry  went  to  the  church,  clothed  as  became  a  freshly 
purified  heretic,  in  white  satin  doublet  and  hose,  white  silk 
stockings,  and  white  silk  shoes  with  white  roses  in  them  ;  but 

83  De  Thou,  xii.  24.  »  Ibid.  »  Ibid.  30-35.  »  Ibid. 

VOL.  II— 9 


240  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX. 

with  a  black  hat  and  a  black  mantle.37  There  was  a  great 
procession  with  blare  of  trumpet  and  beat  of  drum.  The 
streets  were  strewn  with  flowers. 

As  Henry  entered  the  great  portal  of  the  church,  he  found 
the  Archbishop  of  Bourges,  seated  in  state,  effulgent  in  mitre 
and  chasuble,  and  surrounded  by  other  magnificent  prelates 
in  gorgeous  attire. 

"  Who  are  you,  and  what  do  you  want  ?"  said  the  arch 
bishop. 

"  I  am  the  king,"  meekly  replied  Henry,  "  and  I  demand 
to  be  received  into  the  bosom  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church." 

"  Do  you  wish  it  sincerely  ?"  asked  the  prelate. 

"  I  wish  it  with  all  my  heart,"  said  the  king.38 

Then  throwing  himself  on  his  knees,  the  Bearne — great 
champion  of  the  Huguenots — protested  before  God  that  he 
would  live  and  die  in  the  Catholic  faith,  and  that  he  re 
nounced  all  heresy.  A  passage  was  with  difficulty  opened 
through  the  crowd,  and  he  was  then  led  to  the  high  altar, 
amid  the  acclamations  of  the  people.  Here  he  knelt  devoutly 
and  repeated  his  protestations.  His  unction  and  contrition 
were  most  impressive,  and  the  people,  of  course,  wept  piteously. 
The  king,  during  the  progress  of  the  ceremony,  with  hands 
clasped  together  and  adoring  the  Eucharist  with  his  eyes,  or, 
as  the  Host  was  elevated,  smiting  himself  thrice  upon  the 
breast,  was  a  model  of  passionate  devotion.49 

Afterwards  he  retired  to  a  pavilion  behind  the  altar,  where 
the  archbishop  confessed  and  absolved  him.  Then  the  Te 
Deum  sounded,  and  high  mass  was  celebrated  by  the  Bishop 
of  Nantes.  Then,  amid  acclamations  and  blessings,  and  with 
largess  to  the  crowd,  the  king  returned  to*  the  monastery 
of  Saint  Denis,  where  he  dined  amid  a  multitude  of  spectators, 
who  thronged  so  thickly  around  him  that  his  dinner-table  was 
nearly  overset.  These  were  the  very  Parisians,  who,  but 


31  Fontanieu  portefeuilles,  Nos.  416, 
417,  cited  by  Capefigue,  vi.  325. 


y  Capefig 
De  Thou, 


38  Ibid.     De  Thou,  ubi  sup. 

89  "  La  devotion  fut  remarquee  tree 
grande  en  sa  Maj.  laquelle  pendant  la 
consecration  et  elevation  de  1'Euclia- 


ristie  eut  perpetuellement  les  mains 
jointes,lesyeux  adorant  1'Eucharistie, 
ayant  frappe  sa  poitrine  trois  Ms  tant 
a  Felevation  de  Eucharistie  que  du 
calice." — Font,  portefeuilles,  ubi  tup 


593.  HENRY'S  SUBMISSION  TO  THE  POPE.  241 

three  years  before,  had  been  feeding  on  rats  and  dogs  and 
dead  men's  bones,  and  the  bodies  of  their  own  children, 
rather  than  open  their  gates  to  this  same  Prince  of  Bearne. 

Now,  although  Mayenne  had  set  strong  guards  at  those 
gates,  and  had  most  strictly  prohibited  all  egress,  the  city 
was  emptied  of  its  populace,  which  pressed  in  transports  of 
adoration40  around  the  man  so  lately  the  object  of  their  hate. 
Yet  few  could  seriously  believe  that  much  change  had  been 
effected  in  the  inner  soul  of  him,  whom  the  legate,  and 
the  Spaniard,  and  the  holy  father  at  Kome  still  continued 
to  denounce  as  the  vilest  of  heretics  and  the  most  infamous 
of  impostors. 

The  comedy  was  admirably  played  out  and  was  entirely  suc 
cessful.  It  may  be  supposed  that  the  chief  actor  was,  how 
ever,  somewhat  wearied.  In  private,  he  mocked  at  all  this 
ecclesiastical  mummery,  and  described  himself  as  heartily 
sick  of  the  business.  "  I  arrived  here  last  evening,"  he  wrote 
to  the  beautiful  Gabrielle,  "  and  was  importuned  with  '  God 
save  you '  till  bed-time.  In  regard  to  the  Leaguers  I  am  of  the 
order  of  St.  Thomas.  I  am  beginning  to-morrow  morning  to 
talk  to  the  bishops,  besides  those  I  told  you  about  yesterday. 
At  this  moment  of  writing  I  have  a  hundred  of  these  impor- 
tunates  on  my  shoulders,  who  will  make  me  hate  Saint  Denis 
as  much  as  you  hate  Mantes.  'Tis  to-morrow  that  I  take  the 
perilous  leap.  I  kiss  a  million  times  the  beautiful  hands  of 
my  angel  and  the  mouth  of  my  dear  mistress/' 41 

A  truce — renewed  at  intervals — with  the  Leaguers  lasted 
till  the  end  of  the  year.  The  Duke  of  Nevers  was  sent  on 
special  mission  to  Rome  to  procure  the  holy  father's  con* 
sent  to  the  great  heretic's  reconciliation  to  the  Church,  and  he 
was  instructed  to  make  the  king's  submission  in  terms  so  whole 
sale  and  so  abject  that  even  some  of  the  life-long  papists  of 
France  were  disgusted,  while  every  honest  Protestant  in  Europe 
shrank  into  himself  for  shame.42  But  Clement,  overawed  by 


40  De  Thou,  xii.  35. 

41  Mem.  de  M.  de  1'Estoile,  MS.  Cot. 
P.  No.  30,  cited  by  Capefigue,  vi.  354. 

48  "  Herewith  enclosed,"  wrote  the 
VOL,  III,— B 


English  envoy,  "your  lordship  shall 
receive  a  copy  of  the  request  which 
M.  de  Nevers  presented  to  the  pope  on 
the  king's  behalf-by  the  sight  whereof 


242  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX 

Philip  and  his  ambassador,  was  deaf  to  all  the  representations 
of  the  French  envoy.  He  protested  that  he  would  not  believe 
in  the  sincerity  of  the  Bearne's  conversion  unless  an  angel 
from  Heaven  should  reveal  it  to  him.  So  Nevers  left  Rome 
highly  exasperated,  and  professing  that  he  would  rather  have 
lost  a  leg,  that  he  would  rather  have  been  sewn  in  a  sack  and 
tossed  into  the  Tiber,  than  bear  back  such  a  message.  The 
pope  ordered  the  prelates  who  had  accompanied  Nevers  to 
remain  in  Rome  and  be  tried  by  the  Inquisition  for  mis- 
prision  of  heresy,  but  the  duke  placed  them  by  his  side  and 
marched  out  of  the  Porta  del  Popolo  with  them,  threaten 
ing  to  kill  any  man  who  should  attempt  to  enforce  the 
command.43 

Meantime  it  became  necessary  to  follow  up  the  St.  Denis 
comedy  with  a  still  more  exhilarating  popular  spectacle. 
The  heretic  had  been  purified,  confessed,  absolved.  It  was 
time  for  a  consecration.  But  there  was  a  difficulty.  Although 
the  fever  of  loyalty  to  the  ancient  house  of  Bourbon,  now 
redeemed  from  its  worship  of  the  false  gods,  was  spreading 
contagiously  through  the  provinces  ;  although  all  the  white 
silk  in  Lyons  had  been  cut  into  scarves  and  banners  to 
celebrate  the  reconciliation  of  the  candid  king  with  mother 
Church  ;  although  that  ancient  city  was  ablaze  with  bonfires 
and  illuminations,  while  its  streets  ran  red,  with  blood  no 
longer,  but  with  wine  ;  and  although  Madam  League,  so 
lately  the  object  of  fondest  adoration,  was  now  publicly 
burned  in  the  effigy  of  a  grizzly  hag ; 44  yet  Paris  still  held 
for  that  decrepit  beldame,  and  closed  its  gates  to  the 
Bearnese. 

The  city  of  Rheims,  too,  had  not  acknowledged  the  former 
Huguenot,  and  it  was  at  Rheims,  in  the  church  of  St.  Remy, 


it  will  appear  to  your  lo.  how  abjectly  1  Edmonds  (who  was   secretary  to  Sir 
he  doth  therein   debase    the  king's  !  H.  Umpton,  and  in  his  absence  agent 
authority  and  dignity,  wherewith  the   or  charge  d'affaires)  to  Burghley,  30 
most  superstitious  Catholics  here  are  so   Dec.     1593.      (S.     P.     Office     MS.) 
despited,  as  they  promise  to  procure  j  Compare  De  Thou,  xii.  38,  and  Bor. 
the  same  to  be  disavowed  by  the  courts  j  B.  xxxii.  p.  151.  • 
of   parliament    as    derogating    from       43  De  Thou,  xii.  83-94. 
the  dignity  of  the  Galilean  Church."  I      "  Ibid.  114. 


1593.  THE  HOLY  OIL  AT  RHEIMS.  243 

that  the  Holy  Bottle  was  preserved.  With  what  chrism,  by 
what  prelate,  should  the  consecration  of  Henry  be  performed  ? 
Five  years  before,  the  League  had  proposed  in  the  estates  of 
Blois  to  place  among  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom 
that  no  king  should  be  considered  a  legitimate  sovereign 
whose  head  had  not  been  anointed  by  the  bishop  at  Rheims 
with  oil  from  that  holy  bottle.  But  it  was  now  decided  that 
to  ascribe  a  monopoly  of  sanctity  to  that  prelate  and  to  that 
bottle  would  be  to  make  a  schism  in  the  Church.45 

Moreover  it  was  discovered  that  there  was  a  chrism  in 
existence  still  more  efficacious  than  the  famous  oil  of  St. 
Bemy.  One  hundred  and  twelve  years  before  the  baptism 
of  Clovis,  St.  Martin  had  accidentally  tumbled  down  stairs, 
and  lay  desperately  bruised  and  at  the  point  of  death.  But, 
according  to  Sulpicius  Severus,  an  angel  had  straightway 
descended  from  heaven,  and  with  a  miraculous  balsam  had 
anointed  the  contusions  of  the  saint,  who  next  day  felt  no 
farther  inconveniences  from  his  fall.  The  balsam  had  ever 
since  been  preserved  in  the  church  of  Marmoutier  near  Tours. 
Here,  then,  was  the  most  potent  of  unguents  brought  directly 
from  heaven.  To  mix  a  portion  thereof  with  the  chrism  of 
consecration  was  clearly  more  judicious  than  to  make  use  of 
the  holy  bottle,  especially  as  the  holy  bottle  was  not  within 
reach.  The  monks  of  Marmoutier  consented  to  lend  the 
sacred  phial  containing  the  famous  oil  of  St.  Martin  for  the 
grand  occasion  of  the  royal  consecration. 

Accompanied  by  a  strong  military  escort  provided  by  Giles 
de  Souvri,  governor  of  Touraine,  a  deputation  of  friars 
brought  the  phial  to  Chartres,  where  the  consecration  was  to 
take  place.  Prayers  were  offered  up,  without  ceasing,  in  the 
monastery  during  their  absence  that  no  mishap  should  befal 
the  sacred  treasure.  When  the  monks  arrived  at  Chartres, 
four  young  barons  of  the  first  nobility  were  assigned  to  them 
as  hostages  for  the  safe  restoration  of  the  phial,  which  was 
then  borne  in  triumph  to  the  cathedral,  the  streets  through 
which  it  was  carried  being  covered  with  tapestry.  There  was 

46  De  Thou,  xii.  120-129. 


244  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX. 

a  great  ceremony,  a  splendid  consecration  ;  six  bishops,  with 
26  Feb.  mitres  on  their  heads  and  in  gala  robes,  officiating  ; 
1594.  after  which  the  king  knelt  before  the  altar  and  took 
the  customary  oath.46 

Thus  the  champion  of  the  fierce  Huguenots,  the  well- 
beloved  of  the  dead  La  Noue  and  the  living  Duplessis  Mornay, 
the  devoted  knight  of  the  heretic  Queen  Elizabeth,  the 
sworn  ally  of  the  stout  Dutch  Calvinists,  was  pompously 
reconciled  to  that  Rome  which  was  the  object  of  their  hatred 
and  their  fear. 

The  admirably  arranged  spectacles  of  the  instruction  at 
St.  Denis  and  the  consecration  at  Chartres  were  followed 
on  the  day  of  the  vernal  equinox  by  a  third  and  most  conclu 
sive  ceremony. 

A  secret  arrangement  had  been  made  with  De  Cosse- 
21-22  Mar.  Brissac,  governor  of  Paris,  by  the  king,  according 
1594.  to  which  the  gates  of  Paris  were  at  last  to  be 

opened  to  him.4  The  governor  obtained  a  high  price  for  his 
services — three  hundred  thousand  livres  in  hard  cash,  thirty 
thousand  a  year  for  his  life,  and  the  truncheon  of  marshal  of 
France.48  Thus  purchased,  Brissac  made  his  preparations 
with  remarkable  secrecy  and  skill.  Envoy  Ybarra,  who  had 
scented  something  suspicious  in  the  air,  had  gone  straight  to 
the  governor  for  information,  but  the  keen  Spaniard  was 
thrown  out  by  the  governor's  ingenuous  protestations  of 
ignorance.  .  The  next  morning,  March  22nd,  was  stormy 
and  rainy,  and  long  before  daylight  Ybarra,  still  uneasy 
despite  the  statements  of  Brissac,  was  wandering  about  the 
streets  of  Paris  when  he  became  the  involuntary  witness  of 
an  extraordinary  spectacle.49 

Through  the  wind  and  the  rain  came  trampling  along  the 
dark  streets  of  the  capital  a  body  of  four  thousand  troopers 
and  lansquenettes.  Many  torch-bearers  attended  on  the  pro 
cession,  whose  flambeaux  threw  a  lurid  light  upon  the  scene. 

46  De  Thou,  xii.  120-129.  47  Ibid.  138-141.  48  Capefigu^,  vii.  122. 

49  Ybarra  to  ,  28  March,  1594.     (Arch,  de  Simancas,  #,  19,  — ,  cited 

by  Capefigue,  vii.  151.) 


1593.  HENRY'S  ENTRY  INTO  PARIS.  245 

There,  surrounded  by  the  swart  and  grizzly  bearded  visages 
of  these  strange  men-at-arms,  who  were  discharging  their 
arquebuses,  as  they  advanced  upon  any  bystanders  likely  to 
oppose  their  progress  ;  in  the  very  midst  of  this  sea  of  helmed 
heads,  the  envoy  was  enabled  to  recognise  the  martial  figure 
of  the  Prince  of  Bearne.  Armed  to  the  teeth,  with  sword  in 
hand  and  dagger  at  side,  the  hero  of  Ivry  rode  at  last  through 
the  barriers  which  had  so  long  kept  him  from  his  capital. 
"  'Twas  like  enchantment,"  said  Ybarra.5)  The  first  Bourbon 
entered  the  city  through  the  same  gate  out  of  which  the  last 
Valois  had,  five  years  before,  so  ignominiously  fled.  It  was 
a  midnight  surprise,  although  not  fully  accomplished  until 
near  the  dawn  of  day.  It  was  not  a  triumphal  entrance  ;  nor  did 
Henry  come  as  the  victorious  standard-bearer  of  a  great  prin 
ciple.  He  had  defeated  the  League  in  many  battle-fields, 
but  the  League  still  hissed  defiance  at  him  from  the  very 
hearthstone  of  his  ancestral  palace.  He  had  now  crept,  in 
order  to  conquer,  even  lower  than  the  League  itself;  and 
casting  off  his  Huguenot  skin  at  last,  he  had  soared  over  the 
heads  of  all  men,  the  presiding  genius  of  the  holy  Catholic 
Church. 

Twenty-one  years  before,  he  had  entered  the  same  city  on 
the  conclusion  of  one  of  the  truces  which  had  varied  the  long 
monotony  of  the  religious  wars  of  France.  The  youthful  son 
of  Antony  Bourbon  and  Joan  of  Albret  had  then  appeared 
as  the  champion  and  the  idol  of  the  Huguenots.  In  the  same 
year  had  come  the  fatal  nuptials  with  the  bride  of  St.  Bartho 
lomew,  the  first  Catholic  conversion  of  Henry  and  the  mas 
sacre  at  which  the  world  still  shudders. 

Now  he  was  chief  of  the  "  Politicians,"  and  sworn  supporter 
of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Earnest  Huguenots  were  hanging 
their  heads  in  despair. 

He  represented  the  principle  of  national  unity  against 
national  dismemberment  by  domestic  treason  and  foreign 
violence.  Had  that  principle  been  his  real  inspiration,  as  it 
was  in  truth  his  sole  support,  history  might  judge  him  more 

60  MS.  last  cited. 


246  '  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX, 

leniently.  Had  he  relied  upon  it  entirely  it  might  have  been 
strong  enough  to  restore  him  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors, 
without  the  famous  religious  apostacy  with  which  his  name  is 
for  ever  associated.  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  permanent 
religious  toleration  might  not  have  been  the  result  of  his 
mounting  the  throne,  only  when  he  could  do  so  without 
renouncing  the  faith  of  his  fathers.  A  day  of  civilization 
may  come  perhaps,  sooner  or  later,  when  it  will  be  of  no 
earthly  consequence  to  their  fellow  creatures  to  what  creed, 
what  Christian  church,  what  religious  dogma  kings  or  humbler 
individuals  may  be  partial ;  when  the  relations  between  man 
and  his  Maker  shall  be  undefined  by  political  or  social  intru 
sion.  But  the  day  will  never  come  when  it  will  be  otherwise 
than  damaging  to  public  morality  and  humiliating  to  human 
dignity  to  forswear  principle  for  a  price,  and  to  make  the 
most  awful  of  mysteries  the  subject  of  political  legerdemain 
and  theatrical  buffoonery. 

The  so-called  conversion  of  the  king  marks  an  epoch  in 
human  history.  It  strengthened  the  Koman  Church  and  gave 
it  an  indefinite  renewal  of  life  ;  but  it  sapped  the  foundations 
of  religious  faith.  The  appearance  of  Henry  the  Huguenot  as 
the  champion  of  the  Council  of  Trent  was  of  itself  too  biting 
an  epigram  not  to  be  extensively  destructive.  Whether  for 
good  or  ill,  religion  was  fast  ceasing  to  be  the  mainspring  of 
political  combinations,  the  motive  of  great  wars  and  national 
convulsions.  The  age  of  religion  was  to  be  succeeded  by  the 
age  of  commerce. 

But  the  king  was  now  on  his  throne.  All  Paris  was  in 
rapture.  There  was  Te  Deum  with  high  mass  in  Notre 
Dame,  and  the  populace  was  howling  itself  hoarse  with 
rapture  in  honour  of  him  so  lately  the  object  of  the  general 
curse.  Even  the  Sorbonne  declared  in  favour  of  the  reclaimed 
heretic,51  and  the  decision  of  those  sages  had  vast  influence 
with  less  enlightened  mortals.  There  was  nothing  left 
for  the  Duke  of  Feria  but  to  take  himself  off  and  make 
Latin  orations  in  favour  of  the  Infanta  elsewhere,  if  fit  audi- 

61  April  22, 1594,    Capefigue,  vii.  183-4. 


1594  DEPARTURE  OF  THE  SPANISH  GARRISON.  247 

ence  elsewhere  could  be  found.  A  week  after  the  entrance 
of  Henry,  the  Spanish  garrison  accordingly  was  as  March, 
allowed  to  leave  Paris  with  the  honours  of  war.  1594- 

"  We  marched  out  at  2  P.M./'  wrote  the  duke  to  his  master, 
"with  closed  ranks,  colours  displayed,  and  drums  beating. 
First  came  the  Italians  and  then  the  Spaniards,  in  the 
midst  of  whom  was  myself  on  horseback,  .with  the  Walloons 
marching  near  me.  The  Prince  of  Bearne" — it  was  a  solace 
to  the  duke's  heart,  of  which  he  never  could  be  deprived,  to 
call  the  king  by  that  title — "  was  at  a  window  over  the  gate 
of  St.  Denis  through  which  we  took  our  departure.  He  was 
dressed  in  light  grey,  with  a  black  hat  surmounted  by  a  great 
white  feather.  Our  displayed  standards  rendered  him  no 
courteous  salute  as  we  passed."52 

Here  was  another  solace  ! 

Thus  had  the  game  been  lost  and  won,  but  Philip  as  usual 
did  not  acknowledge  himself  beaten.  Mayenne,  too,  conti 
nued  to  make  the  most  fervent  promises  to  all  that  was  left 
of  the  confederates.  He  betook  himself  to  Brussels,  and  by 
the  king's  orders  was  courteously  received  by  the  Spanish 
authorities  in  the  Netherlands.  In  the  midst  of  the  tempest 
now  rapidly  destroying  all  rational  hopes,  Philip  still  clung 
to  Mayenne  as  to  a  spar  in  the  shipwreck.  For  the  king 
ever  possessed  the  virtue,  if  it  be  one,  of  continuing  to  believe 
himself  invincible  and  infallible,  when  he  had  been  defeated 
in  every  quarter,  and  when  his  calculations  had  all  proved 
ridiculous  mistakes. 

When  his  famous  Armada  had  been  shattered  and  sunk, 
have  we  not  seen  him  peevishly  requiring  Alexander  Farnese 
to  construct  a  new  one  immediately  and  to  proceed  therewith 
to  conquer  England  out  of  hand  ?  Was  it  to  be  expected  that 
he  would  renounce  his  conquest  of  France,  although  the  legi 
timate  king  had  entered, his  capital,  had  reconciled  himself 
to  the  Church,  and  was  on  the  point  of  obtaining  forgiveness 
of  the  pope  ?  If  the  Prince  of  Bearne  had  already  destroyed 

68  Feria  to  Philip,  Arch,  de  Simancas  (Paris^E.  78,  -  in  Capefiffue,  vii.  161 


248  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX 

the  Holy  League,  why  should  not  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  and 
Archduke  Ernest  make  another  for  him,  and  so  conquer 
France  without  further  delay  ? 

But  although  it  was  still  possible  to  deceive  the  king,  who 
in  the  universality  of  his  deceptive  powers  was  so  prone  to 
delude  himself,  it  was  difficult  even  for  so  accomplished  an 
intriguer  as  Mayenne  to  hoodwink  much  longer  the  shrewd 
Spaniards  who  were  playing  so  losing  a  game  against  him. 

"  Our  affairs  in  France,"  said  Ybarra,  "  are  in  such  condi 
tion  that  we  are  losing  money  and  character  there,  and  are 
likely  to  lose  all  the  provinces  here,  if  things  are  not  soon 
taken  up  in  a  large  and  energetic  manner.  Money  and  troops 
are  what  is  wanted  on  a  great  scale  for  France.  The  king's 
agents  are  mightily  discontented  with  Mayenne,  and  with 
reason  ;  hut  they  are  obliged  to  dissimulate  and  to  hold  their 
tongues.  We  can  send  them  no  assistance  from  these  regions, 
unless  from  down  yonder  you  send  us  the  cloth  and  the 
scissors  to  cut  it  with/'53 

And  the  Archduke  Ernest,  although  he  invited  Mayenne 
to  confer  with  him  at  Brussels,  under  the  impression  that  he 
could  still  keep  him  and  the  Duke  of  Guise  from  coming  to 
an  arrangement  with  Bearne,  hardly  felt  more  confidence  in 
the  man  than  did  Feria  or  Ybarra.  "  Since  the  loss  of  Paris," 
said  Ernest,  "  I  have  had  a  letter  from  Mayenne,  in  which, 
deeply  affected  by  that  event,  he  makes  me  great  offers,  even 
to  the  last  drop  of  his  blood,  vowing  never  to  abandon  the 
cause  of  the  League.  But  of  the  intentions  and  inner  mind 
of  this  man  I  find  such  vague  information,  that  I  don't  dare 
to  expect  more  stability  from  him  than  may  be  founded  upon 
his  own  interest/'54 


53  Ybarra  to  the  Secretaries,  18 
Jan.  1594  (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 
Charles  Mansfeld,  too,  held  the  same 
language.  "  I  have  had  a  talk  with 
Tassis,"  he  wrote  to  the  king,  "  and 


Ibid.  The  legate  had  at  last  informed 
Mayenne  that  "  the  actions  of  Navarre 
were  not  of  men,  but  the  works  of 
God's*  hand,  and  that  the  forces  of 
Spain  were  not  sufficient  to  prevent 


we  both  agree  that  Mayenne  has  him  establishing  himself  absolute  king 
always  been  managing  affairs  for  his ;  of  France,  and  so  it  would  be  better 
own  ends,  cheating  your  Majesty,  and  that  he  should  be  established  by  means 
this  opinion  I  have  always  held."  of  a  general  peace."  Sumario  de  una 

54  Ernest  to  Philip,  30  March.  1594.   relacion  que    hize  Ascano   Solferini, 


1594. 


DISSIMULATION  OF  MAYENNE. 


249 


And  so  Mayenne  came  to  Brussels  and  passed  three  days 
with  the  archduke.  "  He  avows  himself  ready  to  die  in  our 
cause/'  said  Ernest.  "If  your  Majesty  will  give  men  and 
money  enough,  he  will  undertake  so  to  deal  with  Bearne  that 
he  shall  not  think  himself  safe  in  his  own  house."  The  arch 
duke  expressed  his  dissatisfaction  to  Mayenne  that  with  the 
money  he  had  already  received,  so  little  had  been  accom 
plished,  but  he  still  affected  a  confidence  which  he  was  far 
from  feeling,  "because,"  said  he,  "it  is  known  that  Mayenne 
is  already  treating  with  Bearne.  If  he  has  not  concluded 
those  arrangements,  it  is  because  Bearne  now  offers  him  less 
money  than  before."55  The  amount  of  dissimulation,  politely 
so-called,  practised  by  the  grandees  of  that  age,  to  say  nothing 
of  their  infinite  capacity  for  pecuniary  absorption,  makes  the 
brain  reel  and  enlarges  one's  ideas  of  the  human  faculties  as 
exerted  in  certain  directions.  It  is  doubtful  whether  plain 
Hans  Miller  or  Hans  Baker  could  have  risen  to  such  a 
level.56 

The  Duke  of  Feria  and  the  other  Spanish  envoys  had 
long  since  thoroughly  understood  the  character  of  Mayenne 
— that  great  broker  between  Philip,  the  Bearnese,  and  the 
League. 


27  April,  1594.  (Arch  de  Simancas 
MS.)  Philip  replied  to  the  Archduke 
that  Mayenne  could  scarcely  be  acquit 
ted  of  evil  intentions  in  regard  to  the 
loss  of  Paris,  but  that  nevertheless  it 
was  necessary  to  affect  confidence  in 
him.  The  war  would  be  carried  on, 
and  the  king  had  so  informed  the 
pope.  The  salaries  paid  to  personages 
in  France  before  the  loss  of  Paris 
would  be  continued.  Philip  to  Ernest 
4  June,  1594.  (Arch  de  Simancas 
MS.) 

65  Relacion  de  cartas  del  Archi- 
duque,  para  S.  Md  sobre  las  cosas  de 
Francia.  (Arch  de  Simancas  MS.) 

56  Even  so  late  as  the  winter  of  this 
year,  Mayenne  wrote  in  a  deeply  in 
jured  tone  to  the  archduke,  expressing 
surprise  that  "  pledges  should  be  de 
manded  of  him,  and  suspicions  enter 
tained  concerning  him,  after  all  the 
proofs  he  had  given  of  his  fidelity  an4 


constancy."  Mayenne  to  Ernest,  Sept. 
1,  1594.  (Arch  de  Simancas  MS.) 
"  He  offers  very  magnificently  to  die 
for  the  cause,"  said  Ernest,  "  but  his 
deeds  resolve  themselves  into  remote 
and  general  offers,and  into  begging  for 
ready  money  in  present  payment  for 
what  he  is  to  do  for  your  My.  in  future." 
Ernest  to  Philip,  6  Sept.  1594.  Ibid. 
And  to  the  very  last  moment  Philip 
persisted  in  endeavouring  to  keep 
Mayenne  about  his  hook  by  allowing 
him  to  nibble  at  very  email  bait.  "You 
must  try  to  keep  him  dependent  on 
me,"  he  said  to  Ernest,  "  not  giving 
him  anymore  money  than  is  necessary 
to  prevent  him  from  falling  away 
entirely,  for  to  content  his  appetite 
completely  there  is  not  a  fortune  in  the 
world  that  would  suffice."  Philip  to 
Ernest,  2  Dec.  1594.  Ibid.  Compare 
paper  of  Diego  de  Pjmental,  23  NQT, 


250  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX. 

Feria  wrote  a  despatch  to  the  king,  denouncing  Mayenne 
August  as  false>  pernicious  to  the  cause  of  Spain  and  of 
1594  Catholicism,  thoroughly  self-seeking  and  vile,  and 
as  now  most  traitorous  to  the  cause  of  the  confederacy, 
engaged  in  surrendering  its  strong  places  to  the  enemy, 
and  preparing  to  go  over  to  the  Prince  of  Bearne. 

"If,"  said  he,  "I  were  to  recount  all  his  base  tricks,  I 
should  go  on  till  midnight,  and  perhaps  till  to-morrow  morn 
ing.""' 

This  letter,  being  intercepted,  was  sent  with  great  glee  by 
Henry  IV.,  not  to  the  royal  hands  for  which  it  was  des 
tined,  but  to  the  Duke  of  Mayenne.  Great  was  the  wrath 
of  that  injured  personage  as  he  read  such  libellous  truths. 
He  forthwith  fulminated  a  scathing  reply,  addressed  to  Philip 
II.,  in  which  he  denounced  the  Duke  of  Feria  as  "a  dirty 
ignoramus,  an  impudent  coward,  an  impostor,  and  a  blind 
thief;"  adding,  after  many  other  unsavoury  epithets,  "but 
I  will  do  him  an  honour  which  he  has  not  merited,  proving 
him  a  liar  with  my  sword  ;  and  I  humbly  pray  your  Majesty 
to  grant  me  this  favour  and  to  pardon  my  just  grief,  which 
causes  me  to  depart  from  the  respect  due  to  your  Majesty 
when  I  speak  of  this  impostor  who  has  thus  wickedly  torn 
my  reputation."58 

His  invectives  were,  however,  much  stronger  than  his 
arguments  in  defence  of  that  tattered  reputation.  The  de 
fiance  to  mortal  combat  went  for  nothing  ;  and,  in  the  course 
of  the  next  year,  the  injured  Mayenne  turned  his  back  on 
Philip  and  his  Spaniards,  and  concluded  his  bargain  with 
the  Prince  of  Bearne.  He  obtained  good  terms  :  the  govern 
ment  of  Burgundy,  payment  of  his  debts,  and  a  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  crowns  in  hard  cash.59  It  is  not  on 
record  that  the  man  of  his  word,  of  credit,  and  of  truth, 
ever  restored  a  penny  of  the  vast  sums  which  he  had  received 
from  Philip  to  carry  on  the  business  of  the  League. 

Subsequently  the  duke  came  one  very  hot  summer's-day 

«  Feria  to  Philip,  Aug.  1594.  MSS.  de  Colbert,  vol.  33,  in  Capefigue,  vii.  220. 
68  Capefigue,  vii.  229,  seqq.  59  Ibid.  333-5. 


1594.  TREATY  BETWEEN  HENRY  AND  MAYENNE.  251 

to  Monceaux  to  thank  the  king,  as  he  expressed  it,  for  "  de 
livering  him  from  Spanish  arrogance  and  Italian  wiles ;" 
and  having  got  with  much  difficulty  upon  his  knees,  was 
allowed  to  kiss  the  royal  hand.  Henry  then  insisted  upon 
walking  about  with  him  through  the  park  at  a  prodigious 
rate,  to  show  him  all  the  improvements,  while  the  duke 
panted,  groaned,  and  perspired  in  his  vain  efforts  to  keep 
pace  with  his  new  sovereign. 

"  If  I  keep  this  fat  fellow  walking  about  in  the  sun  much 
longer,"  whispered  the  king  to  De  Bethune,  who  was  third  in 
the  party,  "  I  shall  be  sufficiently  avenged  for  all  the  mischief 
he  has  done  us." 

At  last,  when  the  duke  was  forced  to  admit  himself  to  be 
on  the  point  of  expiring  with  fatigue,  he  was  dismissed  to  the 
palace  with  orders  to  solace  himself  with  a  couple  of  bottles  of 
excellent  wine  of  Arbois,  expressly  provided  for  him  by  the 
king's  direction.  And  this  was  all  the  punishment  ever 
inflicted  by  the  good-humoured  monarch  on  the  corpulent 
conspirator.60 

The  Duke  of  Guise  made  his  arrangements  with  the  ex- 
Huguenot  on  even  better  terms  and  at  a  still  earlier  day  ;61 
while  Joyeuse  and  Mercosur  stood  out  a  good  while  and 
higgled  hard  for  conditions.  "  These  people  put  such  a  high 
price  on  themselves,"  said  one  of  Henry's  diplomatists,  "  that 
one  loses  almost  more  than  one  gains  in  buying  them.  They 
strip  and  plunder  us  even  in  our  nakedness,  and  we  are 
obliged,  in  order  to  conciliate  such  harpies,  to  employ  all 
that  we  can  scrape  out  of  our  substance  and  our  blood.  I 
think,  however,  that  we  ought  to  gain  them  by  whatever 
means  and  at  whatever  price."62 


80  Memoires  de  Sully,  liv.  viii.  454. 
This  interview  was  in  the  spring  of 
1596,  while  Henry  was  occupied  with 
the  siege  of  La  Fere.  At  the  very 
same  time,  possibly  on  the  self-same 
day,  Mayennewas  sendingan  emissary 
to  Philip,  begging  to  have  his  allow 
ance  continued,  and  the  king  left  it  to 


Albert,  24    April,  15,96.      (Arch,  de 
Simancas  MS.) 

61  Capefigue,  vii.  321,  322. 

62  "Je  ne  doute  point  que  I'acco- 
modement  de  M.  de  Mayenne  ne  soit 
fait  et  j'espere  que  celuy  de  M.  de 
Joyeuse  se  fera  encore.     M.  de  Mer 
cosur  se  rend  plus  difficile.    Ces  gens 


his  governor-general  to  decide  whether!  la  se  mettent  a  si  haut  prix  qu'on 
to  do  so  or  not.    Philip  to  Archduke '  perd  presque  plus  qu'on  ne  gagne  a 


252  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX. 

Thus  Henry  IV.,  the  man  whom  so  many  contempo 
rary  sages  had  for  years  been  rebuking  or  ridiculing  for 
his  persistency  in  a  hopeless  attempt  to  save  his  country  from 
dismemberment,  to  restore  legitimate  authority,  and  to  resist 
the  "holy  confederacy"  of  domestic  traitors,  aided  by  foreign 
despots  and  sympathizers,  was  at  last  successful,  and  the 
fratricidal  war  in  France  was  approaching  its  only  possible 
conclusion. 

But,  alas  !  the  hopes  of  those  who  loved  the  reformed 
Church  as  well  as  they  loved  their  country  were  sadly  blasted 
by  the  apostasy  of  their  leader.  From  the  most  eminent 
leaders  of  the  Huguenots  there  came  a  wail,  which  must  have 
penetrated  even  to  the  well-steeled  heart  of  the  cheerful 
Gascon.  "  It  will  be  difficult,"  they  said,  "  to  efface  very  soon 
from  your  memory  the  names  of  the  men  whom  the  sentiment 
of  a  common  religion,  association  in  the  same  perils  and  per 
secutions,  a  common  joy  in  the  same  deliverance,  and  the  long 
experience  of  so  many  faithful  services,  have  engraved  there 
with  a  pencil  of  diamond.  The  remembrance  of  these  things 
pursues  you  and  accompanies  you  everywhere  ;  it  interrupts 
your  most  important  affairs,  your  most  ardent  pleasures,  your 
most  profound  slumber,  to  represent  to  you,  as  in  a  picture, 
yourself  to  yourself :  yourself  not  as  you  are  to-day,  but  such 
as  you  were  when,  pursued  to  the  death  by  the  greatest 
princes  of  Europe,  you  went  on  conducting  to  the  harbour  of 
safety  the  little  vessel  against  which  so  many  tempests  were 
;  beating."63 

The   States  of  the   Dutch  republic,  where  the  affair  of 


les  acheter.  Us  nous  depouillent  dans 
notre  nudite  mesme,  et  il  faut  em 
ployer  pour  reconcilier  ces  harpies  tout 
ce  que  nous  pouvons  tirer  de  notre 
substance  et  de  notre  sang.  Je  crois 


neantmoins    que    nous    les    devons 

lui  donnent  pas  la  pai 


uelque    prix    que  ce    puisse  etre." 
Bongars.  Lettres,  pp.  331,  332. 

63  Requete  au  Roy  par  ceux  de  la 
religion,  1593.  Colbert  MSS.  vol. 
xxxi.  apud  Capefigue,  vi.  317. 


Duplessis  Mornay,  11  Aug.  1593,  to 
De  Lomenie,  "  je  vous  prie  de  lui  dire 
que  s'il  lui  prend  jamais  envie  de 
sortir  de  cette  captivite  et  spirituelle  et 
temporelle,  je  ne  puis  croistre  de  fide- 


lite  mais  je  doublerai  de  courage 

Us  ne  lui  donnent  pas  la  paix  de  1' 

et  lui  ostent  la  paix  de  la  conscience. 

Us  ne  lui  rendent  point  son 

royaume,  car  c'est  a  Dieu  et  non  au 
diable  a  le  donner,  et  lui  faut  renoncer 
autant  qu'en  eulx  est  le  royaume  des 


"  Je  plains  et  pleurs  au  fond  de  mon  I  cieux."    Mem.  et  Correspond,  de  Du- 
ame  la  gehenne  de  S.  Maj,"  wrote  \  plessis  Mornay,  iv.  511. 


1594.  INDIGNATION  OF  ELIZABETH.  253 

Henry's  conversion  was  as  much  a  matter  of  domestic  per 
sonal  interest  as  it  could  be  in  France — for  religion  up  to 
that  epoch  was  the  true  frontier  between  nation  and  nation 
—  debated  the  question  most  earnestly  while  it  was  yet 
doubtful.  It  was  proposed  to  send  a  formal  deputation  to 
the  king,  in  order  to  divert  him,  if  possible,  from  the  fatal 
1  step  which  he  was  about  to  take.  After  ripe  deliberation, 
however,  it  was  decided  to  leave  the  matter  "  in  the  hands  of 
Grod  Almighty,  and  to  pray  Him  earnestly  to  guide  the  issue 
to  His  glory  and  the  welfare  of  the  Churches."  w 

The  Queen  of  England  was,  as  might  be  supposed,  beside 
herself  with  indignation,  and,  in  consequence  of  the  great 
apostasy,  and  of  her  chronic  dissatisfaction  with  the  manner 
in  which  her  contingent  of  troops  had  been  handled  in 
France,  she  determined  to  withdraw  every  English  soldier 
from  the  support  of  Henry's  cause.  The  unfortunate  French 
ambassador  in  London  was  at  his  wits'  ends.  He  vowed 
that  he  could  not  sleep  of  nights,  and  that  the  gout  and  the 
cholic,  to  which  he  was  always  a  martyr,  were  nothing  to 
the  anguish  which  had  now  come  upon  his  soul  and  brain, 
such  as  he  had  never  suffered  since  the  bloody  day  of  St. 
Bartholomew.65 

"  Ah,  my  God  !"  said  he  to  Burghley,  "  is  it  possible 
that  her  just  choler  has  so  suddenly  passed  over  the  great 
glory  which  she  has  acquired  by  so  many  benefits  and 
liberalities  ?" 66  But  he  persuaded  himself  that  her  majesty 
would  after  all  not  persist  in  her  fell  resolution.  To  do  so, 
he  vowed,  would  only  be  boiling  milk  for  the  French  papists, 
who  would  be  sure  to  make  the  most  of  the  occasion  in  order 
to  precipitate  the  king  into  the  abyss,  to  the  border  of  which 
they  had  already  brought  him.  He  so  dreaded  the  ire  of 
the  queen  that  he  protested  he  was  trembling  all  over  merely 
to  see  the  pen  of  his  secretary  wagging  as  he  dictated  his 
despatch.67  Nevertheless  it  was  his  terrible  duty  to  face  her 
in  her  wrath,  and  he  implored  the  lord  treasurer  to  accom- 

64  Bor,  III.  706.  !  24  Aug.  1593.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

65  Beauvoir  la  Node  to  Burghley,  |      66  Ibid.  67  Ibid. 


254  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXIX. 

pany  him  and  to  shield  him  at  the  approaching  interview 
"  Protect  me,"  he  cried,  "  by  your  wisdom  from  the  ire  of 
this  great  princess  ;  for  by  the  living  God,  when  I  see  her 
enraged  against  any  person  whatever  I  wish  myself  in  Cal 
cutta,  fearing  her  anger  like  death  itself."68 

When  all  was  over,  Henry  sent  De  Morlans  as  special 
envoy  to  communicate  the  issue  to  the  Governments  of  Eng 
land  and  of  Holland.  But  the  queen,  although  no  longer  so 
violent,  was  less  phlegmatic  than  the  States-General,  and 
refused  to  be  comforted.  She  subsequently  receded,  however, 
from  her  determination  to  withdraw  her  troops  from  France. 

"  Ah  !  what  grief ;  ah  !  what  regrets  ;  ah  !  what  groans,  have 
I  felt  in  my  soul/'  she  wrote,  "  at  the  sound  of  the  news 
brought  to  me  by  Morlans  !  My  God  !  Is  it  possible  that 
any  wordly  respect  can  efface  the  terror  of  Divine  wrath  ? 
Can  we  by  reason  even  expect  a  good  sequel  to  such  iniqui 
tous  acts  ?  He  who  has  maintained  and  preserved  you  by 
His  mercy,  can  you  imagine  that  he  permits  you  to  walk 
alone  in  your  utmost  need  ?  'Tis  bad  to  do  evil  that  good 
may  come  of  it.  Meantime  I  shall  not  cease  to  put  you  in 
the  first  rank  of  my  devotions,  in  order  that  the  hands  of 
Esau  may  not  spoil  the  blessings  of  Jacob.  As  to  your  pro 
mises  to  me  of  friendship  and  fidelity,  I  confess  to  have 
dearly  deserved  them,  nor  do  I  repent,  provided  you  do  not 
change  your  Father — otherwise  I  shall  be  your  bastard  sister 
by  the  father's  side — for  I  shall  ever  love  a  natural  better 
than  an  adopted  one.  I  desire  that  God  may  guide  you  in  a 
straight  road  and  a  better  path.  Your  most  sincere  sister  in 
the  old  fashion.  As  to  the  new,  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

"ELIZABETH  K."69 

68  Beauvoir  la  Node  to  Burghley,  24  Aug.  1593.    (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 
»  BibL  du  Roi,  MSS.  Colbert  in  foL  M.  R  D.  vol.  xvi.  fol.  329,  (mud  Cape, 
ngue.  vi.  352. 


1593.  SIEGE  OF  QETRUYDENBERG.  255 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

Prince  Maurice  lays  siege  to  Gertruydenberg — Advantages  of  the  new  system 
of  warfare  —  Progress  of  the  besieging  operations  —  Superiority  of  Maurice's 
manoeuvres  —  Adventure  of  Count  Philip  of  Nassau  —  Capitulation  of 
Gertruydenberg  —  Mutiny  among  the  Spanish  troops  —  Attempt  of  Ver- 
dugo  to  retake  Coeworden  —  Suspicions  of  treason  in  the  English  garrison 
at  Ostend  —  Letter  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Sir  Edward  Norris  on  the  sub 
ject  —  Second  attempt  on  Coeworden — Assault  on  Groningen  by  Maurice 

—  Second  adventure  of  Philip  of  Nassau  —  Narrow  escape  of  Prince  Mau 
rice  —  Surrender  of  Groningen  —  Particulars  of  the  siege  —  Question  of 
religious  toleration — Progress  of  the  United  Netherlands — Condition  of 
the    "  obedient "    Netherlands  —  Incompetency    of    Peter    Mansfeld    as 
Governor  —  Archduke  Ernest,  the  successor  of  Farnese —  Difficulties  of  his 
position  —His  unpopularity  —  Great  achievements  of  the  republicans  — . 
Triumphal  entry  of  Ernest  into  Brussels  and  Antwerp  —  Magnificence  of 
the  spectacle  —  Disaffection  of  the  Spanish  troops  —  Great  military  rebel 
lion  —  Philip's  proposal  to  destroy  the  English  fleet  —  His  assassination 
plans  —  Plot  to  poison  Queen   Elizabeth  —  Conspiracies   against  Prince 
Maurice  —  Futile  attempts  at  negociation  —  Proposal  of  a  marriage  between 
Henry  and  the  Infanta  —  Secret  mission  from  Henry  to  the  King  of  Spain 

—  Special  dispatch  to  England  and  the  States — Henry  obtains  further 
aid  from  Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  States-Council — Anxiety  of  the  Protestant 
countries  to  bring  about  a  war  with  Spain  —  Aspect  of  affairs  at  the  close 
of  the  year  1594 

WHILE  Philip's  world-empire  seemed  in  one  direction  to  be 
so  rapidly  fading  into  cloudland  there  were  substantial  pos 
sessions  of  the  Spanish  crown  which  had  been  neglected  in 
Brabant  and  Friesland. 

Two  very  important  cities  still  held  for  the  King  of 
Spain  within  the  territories  of  what  could  now  be  fairly  consi 
dered  the  United  Dutch  Republic — St.  Gertruydenberg  and 
Groningen. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1593,  Maurice  had  completed  his 
preparations  for  a  siege,  and  on  the  24th  March  appeared 
before  Gertruydenberg. 

It  was  a  stately,  ancient  city,  important  for  its  wealth,  its 
strength,  and  especially  for  its  position.  For  without  its  pos- 


256  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

session  even  the  province  of  Holland  could  hardly  consider 
itself  mistress  of  its  own  little  domains.  It  was  seated  on  the 
ancient  Meuse,  swollen  as  it  approached  the  sea  almost  to 
the  dimension  of  a  gulf,  while  from  the  south  another  stream, 
called  the  Donge,  very  brief  in  its  course,  but  with  consider 
able  depth  of  water,  came  to  mingle  itself  with  the  Meuse, 
exactly  under  the  walls  of  the  city. 

The  site  of  the  place  was  so  low  that  it  was  almost  hidden 
and  protected  by  its  surrounding  dykes.  These  afforded 
means  of  fortification,  which  had  been  well  improved.  Both 
by  nature  and  art  the  city  was  one  of  the  strongholds  of  the 
Netherlands. 

Maurice  had  given  the  world  a  lesson  in  the  beleaguering 
science  at  the  siege  of  Steenwyk,  such  as  had  never  before 
been  dreamt  of ;  but  he  was  resolved  that  the  operations 
before  Gertruydenberg  should  constitute  a  masterpiece. 

Nothing  could  be  more  beautiful  as  a  production  of  mili 
tary  art,  nothing,  to  the  general  reader,  more  insipid  than 
its  details. 

On  the  land  side,  Hohenlo's  headquarters  were  at  Kamsdonck, 
a  village  about  a  German  mile  to  the  east  of  Gertruydenberg. 
Maurice  himself  was  established  on  the  west  side  of  the  city.1 
Two  bridges  constructed  across  the  Donge  facilitated  the  com 
munications  between  the  two  camps,  while  great  quantities  of 
planks  and  brush  were  laid  down  across  the  swampy  roads  to 
make  them  passable  for  waggon-trains  and  artillery.  The 
first  care  of  the  young  general,  whose  force  was  not  more 
than  twenty  thousand  men,  was  to  protect  himself  rather  than 
to  assail  the  town. 

His  lines  extended  many  miles  in  a  circuit  around  the 
place,  and  his  forts,  breastworks,  and  trenches  were  very 
numerous. 

The  river  was  made  use  of  as  a  natural  and  almost  impass 
able  ditch  of  defence,  and  windmills  were  freely  employed 
to  pump  water  into  the  shallows  in  one  direction,  while 

1  See,  for  the  details  of  this  remark-    Mulder's  Duyck,  194-245,  especially, 
able   siege,   Meteren,    xvi.   321,   322. 
Bor,  III.  690-698.     Reyd,  x.  198-205. 


>uyc 
),  P. 


Bentivoglio,  P.  III.  lib.  i.  pp. 
Coloma,  vi.  119-122. 


1593.  WORK  OF  THE  BESIEGING  ARMY.  257 

in  others  the  outer  fields,  in  quarters  whence  a  relieving  force 
might  be  expected,  were  turned  into  lakes  by  the  same 
machinery.  Farther  outside,  a  system  of  palisade  work  of 
caltrops  and  man-traps — sometimes  in  the  slang  of  the  day 
called  Turkish  ambassadors — made  the  country  for  miles 
around  impenetrable  or  very  disagreeable  to  cavalry.2  In  a 
shorter  interval  than  would  have  seemed  possible,  the  battle 
ments  and  fortifications  of  the  besieging  army  had  risen  like 
an  exhalation  out  of  the  morass.  The  city  of  Gertruydenberg 
was  encompassed  by  another  city  as  extensive  and  apparently 
as  impregnable  as  itself.  Then,  for  the  first  time  in  that  age, 
men  thoroughly  learned  the  meaning  of  that  potent  imple 
ment  the  spade. 

Three  thousand  pioneers  worked  night  and  day  with  pick 
axe  and  shovel.  The  soldiers  liked  the  business ;  for  every 
man  so  employed  received  his  ten  stivers  a  day  additional 
wages,  punctually  paid,  and  felt  moreover  that  every  stroke 
was  bringing  the  work  nearer  to  its  conclusion. 

The  Spaniards  no  longer  railed  at  Maurice  as  a  hedger 
and  ditcher.  When  he  had  succeeded  in  bringing  a  hundred 
great  guns  to  bear  upon  the  beleaguered  city  they  likewise 
ceased  to  sneer  at  heavy  artillery. 

The  Kartowen  and  half  Kartowen  were  no  longer  considered 
"  espanta  vellacos." 

Meantime,  from  all  the  country  round,  the  peasants  flocked 
within  the  lines.  Nowhere  in  Europe  were  provisions  so 
plentiful  and  cheap  as  in  the  Dutch  camp.  Nowhere  was  a 
readier  market  for  agricultural  products,  prompter  payment, 
or  more  perfect  security  for  the  life  and  property  of  non-com 
batants.  Not  so  much  as  a  hen's  egg  was  taken  unlawfully.3 
The  country  people  found  themselves  more  at  ease  within 
Maurice's  lines  than  within  any  other  part  of  the  provinces, 
obedient  or  revolted.  They  ploughed  and  sowed  and  reaped 
at  their  pleasure,  and  no  more  striking  example  was  ever 
afforded  of  the  humanizing  effect  of  science  upon  the 
barbarism  of  war,  than  in  this  siege  of  Gertruydenberg.4 

8  Reyd,  ubi  sup.  3  Duyck,  201.  4  Meteren,  Bor,  Reyd,  itbi  svp. 

VOL.  III. — S 


258 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXX. 


Certainly  it  was  the  intention  of  the  prince  to  take  his  city, 
and  when  he  fought  the  enemy  it  was  his  object  to  kill ;  but, 
as  compared  with  the  bloody  work  which  Alva,  and  Romero, 
and  Requesens,  and  so  many  others  had  done  in  those  doomed 
provinces,  such  war-making  as  this  seemed  almost  like  an 
institution  for  beneficent  and  charitable  purposes. 

Visitors  from  the  neighbourhood,  from  other  provinces, 
from  foreign  countries,  came  to  witness  the  extraordinary 
spectacle,  and  foreign  generals  repaired  to  the  camp  of 
Maurice  to  take  practical  lessons  in  the  new  art  of  war.6 

Old  Peter  Ernest  Mansfeld,  who  was  nominal  governor  of 
the  Spanish  Netherlands  since  the  death  of  Farnese,  rubbed 
his  eyes  and  stared  aghast  when  the  completeness  of  the  pre 
parations  for  reducing  the  city  at  last  broke  in  upon  his  mind. 
Count  Fuentes  was  the  true  and  confidential  regent  however 
until  the  destined  successor  to  Parma  should  arrive  ;  but 
Fuentes,  although  he  had  considerable  genius  for  assassina 
tion,  as  will  hereafter  appear,  and  was  an  experienced  and 
able  commander  of  the  old-fashioned  school,  was  no  match 
for  Maurice  in  the  scientific  combinations  on  which  the  new 
system  was  founded. 

In  vain  did  the  superannuated  Peter  call  aloud  upon  his  son 
and  governor,  Count  Charles,  to  assist  him  in  this  dire 
dilemma.  That  artillery  general  had  gone  with  a  handful 
of  Germans,  Walloons  and  other  obedient  Netherlander — • 
too  few  to  accomplish  anything  abroad,  too  many  to  be  spared 
from  the  provinces — to  besiege  Noyon  in  France.6  But  what 
signified  the  winning  or  losing  of  such  a  place  as  Noyon  at 
exactly  the  moment  when  the  Prince  of  Bearne,  assisted 
by  the  able  generalship  of  the  Archbishop  of  Bourges,  had 


6  "Un  des  mes  amis,"  wrote  Bongars, 
envoy  of  Henry  IV.,  "  qui  est  alle  dans 
le  camp  des  Hollandois  par  la  seule 
euriosite  de  le  voir,  m'a  ecrit  qu'il  n'a 
jamais  ni  vu  ni  entendu  parler  d'une 
armee  campee  ou  il  parut  plus  de  cou 
rage  et  en  meme  temps  plus  de  disci 
pline.  II  dit  que  les  fortifications  sont 
si  elevees  qu'elles  egalent  les  ouvrages 
des  anciens  Remains  et  que  tout  s'y 


conduit  avec  tant  d'ordre  et  de  silence 
qu'on  croirait  plutot  voir  1'etat  pais- 
ible  d'une  ville  que  se  conserve  1'etat 
par  le  soin  de  ses  magistrats  et  par 
1'obeissance  de  ses  citoyens  qu'une 
troupe  confuse  de  gens  armes." — Let- 
tres,  65,  p.  223. 

6  He  had  but  4300  foot  and  800 
horse.  Charles  Mansfeld  to  Fuentes,  5 
April,  1593.  (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 


1593. 


SKIRMISH  NEAR  TURNHOUT. 


259 


just  executed  those  famous  flanking  movements  in  the 
churches  of  St.  Denis  and  Chartres,  by  which  the  world- 
empire  had  been  effectually  shattered,  and  Philip  and  the 
Pope  completely  out-manoeuvred. 

Better  that  the  five  thousand  fighters  under  Charles  Mans- 
feld  had  been  around  Grertruydenberg.  His  aged  father  did 
what  he  could.  As  many  men  as  could  be  spared  from  the 
garrison  of  Antwerp  and  its  neighbourhood  were  collected, 
but  the  Spaniards  were  reluctant  to  march,  except  under  old 
Mondragon.  That  hero,  who  had  done  much  of  the  hardest 
work,  and  had  fought  in  most  of  the  battles  of  the  cen 
tury,  was  nearly  as  old  as  the  century.  Being  now  turned 
of  ninety,  he  thought  best  to  keep  house  in  Antwerp  Castle. 
Accordingly  twelve  thousand  foot  and  three  thousand  horse 
took  the  field  under  the  more  youthful  Peter  Ernest.7  But 
Peter  Ernest,  when  his  son  was  not  there  to  superintend  his 
operations,  was  nothing  but  a  testy  octogenarian,  while  the 
two  together  were  not  equal  to  the  little  finger  of  Far- 
nese,  whom  Philip  would  have  displaced,  had  he  not  fortu 
nately  died. 

"  Nothing  is  to  be  expected  out  of  this  place  but  toads  and 
poison,"  wrote  Ybarra  in  infinite  disgust  to  the  two  secretaries 
of  state  at  Madrid.  "  I  have  done  my  best  to  induce  Fuentes 
to  accept  that  which  the  patent  secured  him,  and  Count  Peter 
is  complaining  that  Fuentes  showed  him  the  patent  so  late 
only  to  play  him  a  trick.  There  is  a  rascally  pack  of 
meddlers  here,  and  the  worst  of  them  all  &re  the  women,  whom 
I  particularly  give  to  the  devil.  There  is  no  end  to  the 
squabbles  as  to  who  shall  take  the  lead  in  relieving  Gertruy- 
denberg."  8 

Mansfeld  at  last  came  ponderously  up  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Turnhout.  There  was  a  brilliant  little  skirmish,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  this  place,  in  which  a  hundred  and  fifty 


7  Relacion  de  la  gente  effect! va  de 
S.  Md.  para  el  socorro  de  Sl  Gertruy- 
denberg.  With  levies  expected,  the 
number  is  stated  at  13,000  foot  and 
2600  horse,  besides  the  forces  under 


Verdugo.    (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

8  Ybarra  to  Don  Cristoval  Mora  and 
Don  Juan  Idiaquez,  from  Antwerp,  32 
May,  1593.  (Ibid.) 


260  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX, 

Dutch  cavalry  under  the  famous  brothers  Bax  defeated  four 
hundred  picked  lancers  of  Spain  and  Italy.9  But  Mansfeld 
could  get  nothing  but  skirmishes.  In  vain  he  plunged  about 
among  the  caltrops  and  man-traps.  In  vain  he  knocked  at 
the  fortifications  of  Hohenlo  on  the  east  and  of  Maurice  on 
the  west.  He  found  them  impracticable,  impregnable, 
obdurate.  It  was  Maurice's  intention  to  take  his  town  at  as 
small  sacrifice  of  life  as  possible.  A  trumpet  was  sent  on 
some  trifling  business  to  Mansfeld,  in  reply  to  a  communica 
tion  made  by  the  general  to  Maurice. 

«  Why  does  your  master/'  said  the  choleric  veteran  to  the 
trumpeter,  "  why  does  Prince  Maurice,  being  a  lusty  young 
commander  as  he  is,  not  come  out  of  his  trenches  into  the 
open  field  and  fight  me  like  a  man,  where  honour  and  fame 
await  him  ?  " 

"  Because  my  master,"  answered  the  trumpeter,  "  means  to 
live  to  be  a  lusty  old  commander  like  your  excellency,  and 
sees  no  reason  to-day  to  give  you  an  advantage." 

At  this  the  bystanders  laughed,  rather  at  the  expense  of 
the  veteran.10 

Meantime  there  were  not  many  incidents  within  the  lines  or 
within  the  city  to  vary  the  monotony  of  the  scientific  siege. 

On  the  land  side,  as  has  been  seen,  the  city  was  enclosed 
and  built  out  of  human  sight  by  another  Gertruydenberg. 
On  the  wide  estuary  of  the  Meuse,  a  chain  of  war  ships 
encircled  the  sea-front,  in  shape  of  a  half  moon,  lying  so  close 
to  each  other  that  it  was  scarcely  possible  even  for  a  mes 
senger  to  swim  out  of  a  dark  night. 

The  hardy  adventurers  who  attempted  that  feat  with  tidings 
of  despair  were  almost  invariably  captured. 

This  blockading  fleet  took  regular  part  in  the  daily 
cannonade  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  artillery  practice 
from  the  land-batteries  of  Maurice  and  Hohenlo  was  more 
perfect  than  anything  ever  known  before  in  the  Netherlands 
or  France. 

•  Bor,  Meteren,  Keyd,  vbi  #upra.    Duyck,  214,  215.    Compare  Coloma, 
ubi  sup,  ?°  Meteren,  ubi  wp,  82& 


1598.  COUNT  PHILIP'S  ADVENTURE.  261 

And  the  result  was  that  in  the  course  of  the  cannonade, 
which  lasted  nearly  ninety  days,  not  more  than  four  houses 
'in  the  city  escaped  injury.  The  approaches  were  brought, 
every  hour,  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  walls.  With  subter 
ranean  lines  converging  in  the  form  of  the  letter  Y,  the  prince 
had  gradually  burrowed  his  way  beneath  the  principal 
bastion.11 

Hohenlo,  representative  of  the  older  school  of  strategy,  had 
on  one  occasion  ventured  to  resist  the  authority  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief.  He  had  constructed  a  fort  at  Kamsdonck. 
Maurice  then  commanded  the  erection  of  another,  fifteen 
hundred  yards  farther  back.  It  was  as  much  a  part  of  his 
purpose  to  defend  himself  against  the  attempts  of  Mansfeld's 
relieving  force,  as  to  go  forward  against  the  city.  Hohenlo 
objected  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  sustain  himself  against 
a  sudden  attack  in  so  isolated  a  position.  Maurice  insisted. 
In  the  midst  of  the  altercation  Hohenlo  called  to  the  men 
engaged  in  throwing  up  the  new  fortifications  :  "  Here,  you 
captains  and  soldiers,"  he  cried,  "  you  are  delivered  up  here 
to  be  butchered.  You  may  drop  work  and  follow  me  to  the 
old  fort." 

"  And  I  swear  to  you,"  said  Maurice  quietly,  "  that  the 
first  man  who  moves  from  this  spot  shall  be  hanged." 

No  one  moved.  The  fort  was  completed  and  held  to  the 
end  ;  Hohenlo  sulkily  acquiescing  in  the  superiority  which 
this  stripling — his  former  pupil— had  at  last  vindicated  over 
all  old-fashioned  men-at-arms.12 

From  the  same  cause  which  was  apt  to  render  Hohenlo's 
services  inefficient,  the  prince  was  apt  to  suffer  inconvenience 
in  the  persons  placed  in  still  nearer  relation  to  himself. 
Count  Philip  of  Nassau,  brother  of  the  wise  and  valiant  Lewis 
William,  had  already  done  much  brilliant  campaigning 
against  the  Spaniards  both  in  France  and  the  provinces. 
Unluckily,  he  was  not  only  a  desperate  fighter  but  a  mighty 
drinker,  and  one  day,  after  a  dinner-party  and  potent  carouse 
at  Colonel  Brederode's  quarters,  he  thought  proper,  in 

11  Bar,  Meteren  Reyd,  Duyck,  uM  sup.  12  Reyd,  ubi  sup.  203. 


262  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

doublet  and  hose,  without  armour  of  any  kind,  to  mount  his 
horse,  in  order  to  take  a  solitary  survey  of  the  enemy's  works. 
Not  satisfied  with  this  piece  of  reconnoitring — which  he 
effected  with  much  tipsy  gravity,  but  probably  without  de 
riving  any  information  likely  to  be  of  value  to  the  command 
ing  general — he  then  proceeded  to  charge  in  person  a  distant 
battery.  The  deed  was  not  commendable  in  a  military  point 
of  view.  A  fire  was  opened  upon  him  at  long  range  so  soon 
as  he  was  discovered,  and  at  the  same  time  the  sergeant- 
major  of  his  regiment  and  an  equerry  of  Prince  Maurice 
started  in  pursuit,  determined  to  bring  him  off  if  possible, 
before  his  life  had  been  thus  absurdly  sacrificed.  Fortunately 
for  him  they  came  to  the  rescue  in  time,  pulled  him  from 
his  horse,  and  succeeded  in  bringing  him  away  unharmed. 
The  sergeant-major,  however,  Sinisky  by  name,  while  thus 
occupied  in  preserving  the  count's  life,  was  badly  wounded  in 
the  leg  by  a  musket-shot  from  the  fort  ;  which  casualty  was 
the  only  result  of  this  after-dinner  assault.13 

As  the  siege  proceeded,  and  as  the  hopes  of  relief  died 
away,  great  confusion  began  to  reign  within  the  city.  The 
1  June,  garrison,  originally  of  a  thousand  veterans,  besides 
1593.  burgher  militia,  had  been  much  diminished.  Two 
commandants  of  the  place,  one  after  another,  had  lost  their 
lives.  On  the  1st  of  June,  Governor  De  Masieres,  Captain 
Mongyn,  the  father-confessor  of  the  garrison,  and  two  soldiers, 
being  on  the  top  of  the  great  church  tower  taking  observa 
tions,  were  all  brought  down  with  one  cannon-shot.14  Thus 
the  uses  of  artillery  were  again  proved  to  be  something  more 
than  to  scare  cowards. 

The  final  result  seemed  to  have  been  brought  about  almost 

24  June,     by  accident,  if  accident  could  be  admitted  as  a 

1593.  factor  in   such   accurate   calculations  as  those  of 

Maurice.      On   the   24th  June   Captains   Haen   and   Bievry 

were   relieving  watch  in  the   trenches   near  the  great  north 

ravelin  of  the    town — a   bulwark  which  had   already  been 

much  undermined  from  below  and  weakened  above.     Being 

18  Duyck,  180.    Compare  Bor,  Meteren,  Reyd,  ubi  sup.  14  Duyck. 


1593.  CAPITULATION  OF  GERTRUYDENBERG.  263 

adventurous  officers,  it  occurred  to  them  suddenly  to  scale 
the  wall  of  the  fort  and  reconnoitre  what  was  going  on 
in  the  town.  It  was  hardly  probable  that  they  would 
come  back  alive  from  the  expedition,  but  they  nevertheless 
threw  some  planks  across  the  ditch,  and  taking  a  few 
soldiers  with  them,  climbed  cautiously  up.  Somewhat  to 
his  own  surprise,  still  more  to  that  of  the  Spanish  sen 
tinels,  Bievry  in  a  few  minutes  found  himself  within  the 
ravelin.  He  was  closely  followed  by  Captain  Haen,  Captain 
Kalf,  and  by  half  a  company  of  soldiers.  The  alarm  was 
given.  There  was  a  fierce  hand-to-hand  struggle.  Sixteen 
of  the  bold  stormers  fell,  and  nine  of  the  garrison  of  the 
fort.  The  rest  fled  into  the  city.  The  governor  of  the 
place,  Captain  Gysant,  rushing  to  the  rescue  without  stay 
ing  to  put  on  his  armour,  was  killed.  Count  Solms,  on  the 
other  hand,  came  from  the  besieging  camp  into  the  ravelin 
to  investigate  the  sudden  uproar.  To  his  profound  astonish 
ment  he  was  met  there,  after  a  brief  interval,  by  a  deputation 
from  the  city,  asking  for  terms  of  surrender.  The  envoys 
had  already  been  for  some  little  time  looking  in  vain  for  a 
responsible  person  with  whom  to  treat.  When  Maurice  was 
informed  of  the  propositions  he  thought  it  at  first  a  trick  ;  for 
he  had  known  nothing  of  the  little  adventure  of  the  three 
captains.  Soon  afterwards  he  came  into  a  battery  whither 
the  deputies  had  been  brought,  and  the  terms  of  capitulation 
were  soon  agreed  upon.15 

Next  day  the  garrison  were  allowed  to  go  out  with  side- 
arms  and  personal  baggage,  and  fifty  waggons  were    35  June, 
lent  them  by  the  victor  to  bring  their  wounded  men    1593. 
to  Antwerp. 

Thus  was  Gertruydenberg  surrendered  in  the  very  face  of 
Peter  Mansfeld,  who  only  became  aware  of  the  fact  by  the 
salvos  of  artillery  fired  in  honour  of  the  triumph,  and  by  the 
blaze  of  illumination  which  broke  forth  over  camp  and  city. 

The  sudden  result  was  an  illustration  of  the  prince's  per 
fect   arrangements.     When  Maurice   rode  into  the  town,  he 
16  Duyck,  '284,  seqq.    Meteren,  Bor,  Reyd,  uhi  sup, 


264 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXX. 


found  it  strong  enough  and  sufficiently  well  provisioned  to 
have  held  out  many  a  long  day.  But  it  had  been  demon 
strated  to  the  besieged  that  relief  was  impossible,  and  that 
the  surrender  on  one  day  or  another,  after  the  siege  operations 
should  be  brought  to  their  close,  was  certain.  The  inexor 
able  genius  of  the  commander — skilled  in  a  science  which  to 
the  coarser  war-makers  of  that  age  seemed  almost  super 
human — hovered  above  them  like  a  fate.  It  was  as  well  to 
succumb  on  the  24th  June  as  to  wait  till  the  24th  July.16 

Moreover  the  great  sustaining  principle — resistance  to  the 
foreigner — which  had  inspired  the  deeds  of  daring,  the 
wonders  of  endurance,  in  the  Dutch  cities  beleaguered  so 
remorselessly  by  the  Spaniard  twenty  years  earlier  in  the 
century,  was  wanting. 

In  surrendering  to  the  born  Netherlander — the  heroic 
chieftain  of  the  illustrious  house  of  Nassau — these  Nether- 
landers  were  neither  sullying  their  flag  nor  injuring  their 
country.  Enough  had  been  done  for  military  honour  in 
the  gallant  resistance,  in  which  a  large  portion  of  the 
garrison  had  fallen.  Nor  was  that  religious  superstition  so 
active  within  the  city,  which  three  years  before  had  made 
miracles  possible  in  Paris  when  a  heretic  sovereign  was  to  be 
defied  by  his  own  subjects.  It  was  known  that  even  if  the 
public  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic  Church  were  likely  to  be 
suspended  for  a  time  after  the  surrender,  at  least  the  rights 
of  individual  conscience  and  private  worship  within  individual 


16  Thus  modestly  did  William  Lewis, 
to  whom  so  large  a  part  of  the  glory 
of  all  these  achievements  belongs,  ex 
press  himself  in  a  congratulatory  letter 
to  his  cousin  Maurice  : — "  J'estime  de 
ne  faire  que  mon  devoir  de  congratuler 
V.  E.  d'une  victoire  si  signalee,  en  ce 
qu'avez  faict  une  preuve  tant  remar- 
quable,  que  la  conduite  et  travail  en  la 
guerre  domine  la  force,  dont  ce  siege 
peut  estre  nomme  a  droict  la  seconde 
Alexia  et  une  grande  restauration  en 
partie  de  la  vieille  art  et  science  mili- 
taire,  laquelle  a  este  mocquee,  voire  n'a 
sceu  estre  comprehendee,  ou  pour  le 
moins  practiquee  des  plus  grands  capi- 


taines  modernes ;  par  ou  1'ennemi  a  ce 
coup  plus  perdu  de  sa  reputation  que 
rec.u  de  dommage  par  les  autres 
plusieurs  belles  et  grandes  victoires  ; 
tellement  que  si  Messieurs  les  Etats 
seconderoient  en  forces  ce  que  la 
guerre  a  augmente  en  experience  a 
bon  droit,  se  pourroit  on  promettre  une 
bonne  et  heureuse  issue  de  laquelle  je 
prie  Dieu  de  faire  a  ce  pauvre  Pays  Bas 
une  fois  jouir,  et  a  votre  Exce.  1'hon- 
neur  en  recompense  de  ses  genereux  et 
he  roicque  desseings  et  grands  tra- 
vaulx  de  bientost  triumpher." — Groeu 
v.  Prinsterer,  Archives  II.  S.  i.  245. 


1593.  EFFECTS  OF  THE  SURRENDER.  265 

households  would  be  tolerated,  and  there  was  no  papal  legate 
with  fiery  eloquence  persuading  a  city  full  of  heroic  dupes 
that  it  was  more  virtuous  for  men  or  women  to  eat  their  own 
children  than  to  forego  one  high  mass,  or  to  wink  at  a  single 
conventicle. 

After  all,  it  was  no  such  bitter  hardship  for  the  citizens  of 
Gertruydenberg  to  participate  in  the  prosperity  of  the  rising 
and  thriving  young  republic,  and  to  enjoy  those  municipal  and 
national  liberties  which  her  sister  cities  had  found  so  sweet. 

Nothing  could  be  calmer  or  more  reasonable  than  such  a 
triumph,  nothing  less  humiliating  or  less  disastrous  than  such 
a  surrender. 

The  problem  was  solved,  the  demonstration  was  made.  To 
open  their  gates  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  was  not  to  admit 
the  hordes  of  a  Spanish  commander  with  the  avenging  furies 
of  murder,  pillage,  rape,  which  ever  followed  in  their  train 
over  the  breach  of  a. captured  city. 

To  an  enemy  bated  or  dreaded  to  the  uttermost  mortal 
capacity,  that  well-fortified  and  opulent  city  might  have  held  out 
for  months,  and  only  when  the  arms  and  the  fraud  of  the  foe 
without,  and  of  famine  within,  had  done  their  work,  could  it 
have  bowed  its  head  to  the  conqueror,  and  submitted  to  the 
ineffable  tortures  which  would  be  the  necessary  punishment 
of  its  courage. 

Four  thousand  shots  had  been  fired  from  the  siege-guns 
upon  the  city,  and  three  hundred  upon  the  relieving  force. 

The  besieging  army  numbered  in  all  nine  thousand  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  of  all  arms,  and  they  lost  during  the 
eighty-five  days7  siege  three  hundred  killed  and  four  hundred 
wounded.17 

After  the  conclusion  of  these  operations,  and  the  thorough 
remodelling  of  the  municipal  government  of  the  important 
city  thus  regained  to  the  republic,  Maurice  occupied  himself 
with  recruiting  and  refreshing  his  somewhat  exhausted  little 
army.  On  the  other  hand,  old  Count  Mansfeld,  dissatis- 

17  Duyck,  241.  There  were  six  hundred  and  fifty  English  and  seven  hundred 
German  riders  in  Maurice's  camp.  The  rest  of  his  army  were  Netherlander^ 


266  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

fied  with  the  impotent  conclusion  to  his  attempts,  retired 
to  Brussels  to  be  much  taunted  by  the  insolent  Fuentes.  He 
at  least  escaped  very  violent  censure  on  the  part  of  his  son 
Charles,  for  that  general,  after  his  superfluous  conquest  of 
Noyon,  while  returning  towards  the  Netherlands,  far  too 
tardily  to  succour  Gertruydenberg,  had  been  paralyzed  in  all 
his  movements  by  a  very  extensive  mutiny  which  broke  out 
among  the  Spanish  troops  in  the  province  of  Artois.18  The 
disorder  went  through  all  its  regular  forms.  A  town  was  taken, 
an  Eletto  was  appointed.  The  country-side  was  black-mailed 
or  plundered,  and  the  rebellion  lasted  some  thirteen  months. 
Before  it  was  concluded  there  was  another  similar  outbreak 
among  the  Italians,  together  with  the  Walloons  and  other 
obedient  Netherlander  in  Hainault,  who  obliged  the  city  of 
Mons  to  collect  nine  hundred  florins  a  day  for  them.19  The 
consequence  of  these  military  rebellions  was  to  render  the 
Spanish  crown  almost  powerless  during  the  whole  year,  within 
the  provinces  nominally  subject  to  its  sway.  The  cause — as 
always — was  the  non-payment  of  these  veterans'  wages,  year 
after  year.  It  was  impossible  for  Philip,  with  all  the  wealth 
of  the  Indies  and  Mexico  pouring  through  the  Danaid  sieve 
of  the  Holy  League  in  France,  to  find  the  necessary  funds  to 
save  the  bronzed  and  war-worn  instruments  of  his  crimes  in 
the  Netherlands  from  starving  and  from  revolt. 

Meantime  there  was  much  desultory  campaigning  in  Fries- 
land.  Verdugo  and  Frederic  van  den  Berg  picked  up  a  few 
cities  and  strong  places  which  had  thrown  off  their  allegiance 
September,  to  the  king — Auerzyl,  Schlochteren,  Winschoten, 
1593.  Wedde,  Ootmarzum — and  invested  the  much  more 

important  town  of  Coeworden,  which  Maurice  had  so  recently 
reduced  to  the  authority  of  the  Union.  Verdugo's  force  was 
insufficient,  however,  and  he  had  neither  munitions  nor  pro 
visions  for  a  long  siege.  Winter  was  coming  on  ;  and  the 
States,  aware  that  he  would  soon  be  obliged  to  retire  from 
before  the  well-garrisoned  and  fortified  place,  thought  it  un 
necessary  to  interfere  with  him.  After  a  very  brief  demon- 

18  Meteren,  xvi.  323.  Coloma,  vi.  123™.    Bor,  III.  710.    19  Meteren,  xvi.  333, 


1593  SUSPICIONS  OF  TREASON.  267 

stration   the   Portuguese  veteran  was   obliged   to  raise   the 
siege.20 

There  were  also  certain  vague  attempts  made  by  the 
enemy  to  re-possess  himself  of  those  most  important  seaports 
which  had  been  pledged  to  the  English  queen.  On  a  previous 
page  the  anxiety  has  been  indicated  with  which  Sir  Robert 
Sydney  regarded  the  withdrawal  of  the  English  troops  in  the 
Netherlands  for  the  sake  of  assisting  the  French  king.  This 
palpable  breach  of  the  treaty  had  necessarily  weakened 
England's  hold  on  the  affections  of  the  Netherlander,  and 
awakened  dark  suspicions  that  treason  might  be  impending 
at  Flushing  or  Os tend.  The  suspicions  were  unjust — so 
far  as  the  governors  of  those  places  were  concerned — for 
Sydney  and  Norris  were  as  loyal  as  they  were  intelligent 
and  brave  ;  but  the  trust  in  their  characters  was  not  more 
implicit  than  it  had  been  in  that  of  Sir  William  Stanley 
before  the  commission  of  his  crime.  It  was  now  believed  that 
the  enemy  was  preparing  for  a  sudden  assault  upon  Ostend 
with  the  connivance,  it  was  feared,  of  a  certain  portion  of  tks 
English  garrison.  The  intelligence  was  at  once  conveyed  to 
her  Majesty's  Government  by  Sir  Edward  Norris,  and  they 
determined  to  take  a  lesson  from  past  experience.  Norris 
was  at  once  informed  that  in  view  of  the  attack  which  he 
apprehended,  his  garrison  should  be  strengthened  by  five 
hundred  men  under  Sir  Conyers  Clifford  from  certain  com 
panies  in  Flushing,  and  that  other  reinforcements  should  be 
sent  from  the  English  troops  in  Normandy.  The  governor 
was  ordered  to  look  well  after  his  captains  and  soldiers,  to 
remind  them,  in  the  queen's  name,  of  their  duty  to  herself 
and  to  the  States,  to  bid  all  beware  of  sullying  the  English 
name,  to  make  close  investigations  into  any  possible  intrigues 
of  the  garrison  with  the  enemy,  and,  should  any  culprits  be 
found,  to  bring  them  at  once  to  condign  punishment.21 

The   queen,   too,   determined    that    there    should    be    no 
blighting  of  English  honour,  if  she  could  prevent  it  by  her 

20  Bor,  III.  714-718.  I  ward    Norris,   partly   in   Burffhley's 

31  The  Queen's  minute  to  Sir  Ed-  ]  hand,  Oct.  1593.     (S.  P.  Office  MS,) 


268 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXX. 


warnings,  indited  with  her  own  hand  a  characteristic  letter  to 
Sir  Edward  Norris,  to  accompany  the  more  formal  despatch 
of  Lord  Burghley.  Thus  it  ran  :  — 

"  Ned  ! — Though  you  have  some  tainted  sheep  among  your 
flock,  let  not  that  serve  for  excuse  for  the  rest.  We  trust 
you  are  so  carefully  regarded  as  nought  shall  he  left  for  your 
excuses,  hut  either  ye  lack  heart  or  want  will ;  for  of  fear 
we  will  not  make  mention,  as  that  our  soul  abhors,  and  we 
assure  ourselves  you  will  never  discern  suspicion  of  it.  Now 
or  never  let  for  the  honour  of  us  and  our  nation,  each  man 
be  so  much  of  bolder  heart  as  their  cause  is  good,  and  their 
honour  must  be  according,  remembering  the  old  goodness 
of  our  God,  who  never  yet  made  us  fail  His  needful  help, 
who  ever  bless  you  as  I  with  my  prince's  hand  beseech 
Him."22 

The  warnings  and  preparations  proved  sufficiently  effective, 
and  the  great  schemes  with  which  the  new  royal  governor  of 
the  Netherlands  was  supposed  to  be  full — a  mere  episode  in 
which  was  the  conquest  of  Ostend — seemed  not  so  formidable 
as  their  shadows  had  indicated.  There  was,  in  the  not  very 
distant  future,  to  be  a  siege  of  Ostend,  which  the  world  would 
not  soon  forget,  but  perhaps  the  place  would  not  yield  to  a 
sudden  assault.  Its  resistance,  on  the  contrary,  might  prove 
more  protracted  than  was  then  thought  possible.  But  the 
chronicle  of  events  must  not  be  anticipated.  For  the  present, 
Ostend  was  safe.23 

Early  in  the  following  spring,  Verdugo  again  appeared  be- 


2*  "  A  clause  written  in  the  letter  to 
Sir  Ed.  Norris,  with  her  Majesty 'sown 
hand."  (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

23  "  It  appears  by  those  advertise 
ments  that  come  unto  me  out  of  the 
land,"  wrote  Sir  Ed.  Norris  to  Lord 
Burghley,  "  that  the  great  expectation 
which  was  had  of  the  coming  of  this 
new  great  governor  is  almost  gone, 
who  neither  for  peace  nor  war  doth 
seem  likely  to  perform  that  which  he 

promised It  appears  that  his 

intention  was  by  all  means  to  settle 
those  parts  in  some  sort  of  peace,  truce, 
or  quiet  by  the  taking  of  Ostead, 


whilst  he  might  employ  his  whole 
forces  upon  greater  enterprises.  I 
think  he  is  now  out  of  hope  of  any,  for 
he  finds  no  likelihood  of  peace,  and  as 
for  the  taking  of  this  place  (Ostend), 
which  the  people  flattered  themselves 
so  much  withal,  methinks  the  hope  of 
it  is  delayed  ;  for  the  great  works 
which  were  in  hand  at  Newport  and 
Bruges  are  laid  aside,  and  all  the 
workmen  licensed  to  go  home,  but  to 
be  ready  at  a  day's  warning." — Norris 
to  Burghley,  6  March,  1094-  (S.  P 
Office  MS.) 


1594  SIEGE  OF  OOEWOKDEN  llESUMED. 

fore  Coeworden  in  force.     It  was  obvious  that  the  great  city 
of  Gronihgen,  the  mistress  of  all  the  north-eastern    A  ^ 
provinces,  would   soon  he  attacked,  and  Coeworden     1594. 
was  the  necessary  base  of  any  operations  against  the  place. 
Fortunately  for  the  States,  William  Lewis  had  in  the  pre 
ceding  autumn  occupied  and  fortified  the  only  avenue  through 
the  Bourtange  morass,  so  that  when  Verdugo  sat  down  before 
Coeworden,  it  was  possible  for  Maurice,  by  moving  rapidly,  to 
take  the  royal  governor  at  a  disadvantage.24 

Verdugo  had  eight  thousand  picked  troops,  including  two 
thousand  Walloon  cavalry,  troopers  who  must  have  been  very 
formidable,  if  they  were  to  be  judged  by  the  prowess  of  one 
of  their  captains,  Gaucier  by  name.  This  obedient  Nether 
lander  was  in  the  habit  of  boasting  that  he  had  slain  four 
hundred  and  ten  men  with  his  own  hand,  including  several 
prisoners  and  three  preachers  ; a  but  the  rest  of  those  warriors 
were  not  so  famed  for  their  martial  achievements. 

The  peril,  however,  was  great,  and  Prince  Maurice,  trifling 
not  a  moment,  threw  himself  with  twelve  thousand  infantry, 
Germans,  Frisians,  Scotch,  English,  and  Hollanders,  and  nearly 
two  thousand  horse,  at  once  upon  the  road  between  the  Vecht 
and  the  Bourtange  morass.  On  the  6th  of  May,  5  M 
Verdugo  found  the  States'  commander-in-chief  en-  6  May. 
trenched  and  impregnable,  squarely  established  upon  his 
line  of  communications.  He  reconnoitred,  called  a  council 
of  war,  and  decided  that  to  assail  him  were  madness  ;  to  re 
main,  destruction.  On  the  night  of  the  6th  of  May,  he 
broke  up  his  camp  and  stole  away  in  the  darkness,  without 
sound  of  drum  or  trumpet,  leaving  all  his  fortifications  and 
burning  all  his  huts.26 

Thus  had  Maurice,  after  showing  the  world  how  strong 
places  were  to  be  reduced,  given  a  striking  exhibition  of  the 
manner  in  which  they  were  to  be  saved. 

Coeworden,  after  thirty-one  weeks7  investment,  was    re- 
ieved. 

84  Bor,  III.  794-798.    Meteren,  xvi.  328-3301 
*  Meteren,  Reyd,  ix.  231,  *  Ibid. 


270 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXX. 


The  stadholder  now  marched  upon  Groningen.  This 
city  was  one  of  the  most  splendid  and  opulent  of  all 
the  Netherland  towns.  Certainly  it  should  have  been  one 
of  the  most  ancient  in  Europe,  since  it  derived  its  name 
— according  to  that  pains-taking  banker,  Francis  Guicciar- 
dini — "  from  Grun,  a  Trojan  gentleman,"  who,  neverthe 
less,  according  to  Munster,  was  "a  Frenchman  by  birth." 
"  Both  theories,  however,  might  be  true,"  added  the  con 
scientious  Florentine,  "  as  the  French  have  always  claimed  to 
be  descended  from  the  relics  of  Troy."  ^  A  simpler-minded 
antiquary  might  have  babbled  of  green  fields,  since  groenighe, 
or  greenness,  was  a  sufficiently  natural  appellation  for  a  town 
surrounded  as  was  Groningen  on  the  east  and  west  by  the 
greenest  and  fattest  of  pastures.  In  population  it  was  only 
exceeded  by  Antwerp  and  Amsterdam.28  Situate  on  the  line 
where  upper  and  nether  Germany  blend  into  one,  the  capital 
of  a  great  province  whose  very  name  was  synonymous  with 
liberty,  and  whose  hardy  sons  had  done  fierce  battle  with 
despotism  in  every  age,  so  long  as  there  had  been  human 
record  of  despotism  and  of  battles,  Groningen  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  foreign  foe,  not  through  the  prowess  of  the 
Spaniard  but  the  treason  of  the  Netherlander.  The  baseness 
of  the  brilliant,  trusted,  valiant,  treacherous  young  Eenneberg 
has  been  recorded  on  a  previous  page  of  these  volumes.29 
For  thirteen  years  long  the  republic  had  chafed  at  this 
acquisition  of  the  hated  enemy  within  its  very  heart.  And 
now  the  day  had  come  when  a  blow  should  be  struck  for 
its  deliverance  by  the  ablest  soldier  that  had  ever  shown  him 
self  in  those  regions,  one  whom  the  commonwealth  had 
watched  over  from  his  cradle. 

For  in  Groningen  there  was  still  a  considerable  party  in 
favour  of  the  Union,  although  the  treason  of  Renneberg  had 
hitherto  prevented  both  city  and  province  from  incorporating 
themselves  in  the  body  politic  of  the  United  Netherlands. 


87  Guicciardini,  in  wee. 
*  Guicciardini,  in  1585,  says  that 
no  Netherland  city  exceeded  it  in  pop 


ulation. 

29  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  voL 
in.  part  vi.  chap.  iii. 


1594  SIEGE  OF  GRONINGEN.  271 

Within  the  precincts  were  five  hundred  of  Verdugo's  veterans 
under  George  Lanckema,  stationed  at  a  faubourg  called 
Schuytendiess.30  In  the  city  there  was,  properly  speaking,  no 
garrison,31  for  the  citizens  in  the  last  few  years  had  come  to 
value  themselves  on  their  fidelity  to  church  and  king,  and 
to  take  a  sorry  pride  in  being  false  to  all  that  was  noble  in 
their  past.  Their  ancestors  had  wrested  privilege  after  privi 
lege  at  the  sword's  point  from  the  mailed  hands  of  dukes  and 
emperors,  until  they  were  almost  a  self-governing  republic  ; 
their  courts  of  justice  recognizing  no  appeal  to  higher  powers, 
even  under  the  despotic  sway  of  Charles  V.  And  now, 
under  the  reign  of  his  son,  and  in  the  feebler  days  of  that 
reign,  the  capital  of  the  free  Frisians — the  men  whom  their 
ancient  pagan  statutes  had  once  declared  to  be  "  free  so  long 
as  the  wind  blew  out  of  the  clouds" — relied  upon  the  trained 
bands  of  her  burghers  enured  to  arms  and  well-provided  with 
all  munitions  of  war  to  protect  her,  not  against  foreign 
tyranny  nor  domestic  sedition,  but  against  liberty  and  against 
law. 

For  the  representative  of  the  most  ancient  of  the  princely 
houses  of  Europe,  a  youth  whose  ancestors  had  been  emperors 
when  the  forefathers  of  Philip,  long-descended  as  he  was, 
were  but  country  squires,  was  now  knocking  at  their  gates. 
Not  as  a  conqueror  and  a  despot,  but  as  the  elected  first 
magistrate  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  freest  common 
wealth  in  the  world,  Maurice  of  Nassau,  at  the  head  of  fifteen 
thousand  Netherlanders,  countrymen  of  their  own,  now  sum 
moned  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  and  province  to  participate 
with  their  fellow  citizens  in  all  the  privileges  and  duties  of 
the  prosperous  republic. 

It  seemed  impossible  that  such  an  appeal  could  be  resisted 
by  force  of  arms.  Bather  it  would  seem  that  the  very  walls 
should  have  fallen  at  his  feet  at  the  first  blast  of  the  trumpet ; 
but  there  was  military  honour,  there  was  religious  hatred, 
there  was  the  obstinacy  of  party.  More  than  all,  there  were 
half  a  dozen  Jesuits  within  the  town,  and  to  those  ablest  of 

30  Meteren,  xvi.  330,  seqq.     Bor,  III.  808,  seqq.  31  Ibid, 

VOL.  II — 10 


272  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

generals  in  times  of  civil  war  it  was  mainly  owing  that  the 
siege  of  Groningen  was  protracted  longer  than  under  other 
circumstances  would  have  been  possible.32 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  describe  in  detail  the  scientific 
20  M  operations  during  the  sixty-five  days  between  the 
34  July'  20th  May  and  the  24th  July.  Again  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  enlightened  the  world  by  an  exhibi 
tion  of  a  more  artistic  and  humane  style  of  warfare  than 
previously  to  his  appearance  on  the  military  stage  had  been 
known.  But  the  daily  phenomena  of  the  Leaguer — although 
they  have  been  minutely  preserved  by  most  competent  eye 
witnesses — are  hardly  entitled  to  a  place  except  in  special 
military  histories,  where,  however,  they  should  claim  the 
foremost  rank.33 

The  fortifications  of  the  city  were  of  the  most  splendid  and 
substantial  character  known  to  the  age.  The  ditches,  the 
ravelins,  the  curtains,  the  towers  were  as  thoroughly  con 
structed  as  the  defences  of  any  place  in  Europe.  It  was 
therefore  necessary  that  Maurice  and  his  cousin  Lewis  should 
employ  all  their  learning,  all  their  skill,  and  their  best  artil 
lery  to  reduce  this  great  capital  of  the  Eastern  Netherlands. 
Again  the  scientific  coil  of  approaches  wound  itself  around 
and  around  the  doomed  stronghold ;  again  were  constructed  the 
galleries,  the  covered  ways,  the  hidden  mines,  where  soldiers, 
transformed  to  gnomes,  burrowed  and  fought  within  the  bowels 
of  the  earth  ;  again  that  fatal  letter  Y  advanced  slowly  under 
ground,  stretching  its  deadly  prongs  nearer  and  nearer  up  to 
the  walls  ;  and  again  the  system  of  defences  against  a  relieving 
force  was  so  perfectly  established  that  Verdugo  or  Mansfeld, 
with  what  troops  they  could  muster,  seemed  as  powerless  as 
the  pewter  soldiers  with  which  Maurice  in  his  boyhood — not 
yet  so  long  passed  away — was  wont  to  puzzle  over  the  pro 
blems  which  now  practically  engaged  his  early  manhood. 
Again,  too,  strangely  enough,  it  is  recorded  that  Philip  Nassau, 


82  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 

83  See,   in  particular,  Journal  von 


minutely  and  scientifically  recorded. 


Duyck,  ed.  Mulder,  394^-465,  in  which    seqq. 
every  daily  incident  of  the  siege  is  | 


Bor,  III.  826-835.     Meteren,  xvi  330, 


1594  SECOND  ADVENTURE  OF  COUNT  PHILIP.  273 

at  almost  the  same  period  of  the  siege  as  in  that  of  Gertruy- 
denberg,  signalized  himself  by  a  deed  of  drunken  u  juiy> 
and  superfluous  daring.  This  time  the  dinner  party  1594t 
was  at  the  quarters  of  Count  Solms,  in  honour  of  the  Prince 
of  Anhalt,  where,  after  potations  pottle  deep,  Count  Philip 
rushed  from  the  dinner-table  to  the  breach,  not  yet  thoroughly 
practicable,  of  the  north  ravelin,  and,  entirely  without  armour, 
mounted  pike  in  hand  to  the  assault,  proposing  to  carry  the 
fort  by  his  own  unaided  exertions.  Another  officer,  one  Cap 
tain  Vaillant,  still  more  beside  himself  than  was  the  count, 
inspired  him  to  these  deeds  of  valour  by  assuring  him  that 
the  mine  was  to  be  sprung  under  the  ravelin  that  afternoon, 
and  that  it  was  a  plot  on  the  part  of  the  Holland  boatmen  to 
prevent  the  soldiers  who  had  been  working  so  hard  and  so  long 
in  the  mines  from  taking  part  in  the  honours  of  the  assault. 
The  count  was  with  difficulty  brought  off  with  a  whole  skin 
and  put  to  bed.34  Yet  despite  these  disgraceful  pranks  there 
is  no  doubt  that  a  better  and  braver  officer  than  he  was 
hardly  to  be  found  even  among  the  ten  noble  Nassaus  who  at 
that  moment  were  fighting  for  the  cause  of  Dutch  liberty — 
fortunately  with  more  sobriety  than  he  at  all  times  displayed. 
On  the  following  day,  Prince  Maurice,  making  a  recon- 
noissance  of  the  works  with  his  usual  calmness,  yet  with 
the  habitual  contempt  of  personal  danger  which  made 
so  singular  a  contrast  with  the  cautious  and  painstaking 
characteristics  of  his  strategy,  very  narrowly  escaped  death. 
A  shot  from  the  fort  struck  so  hard  upon  the  buckler  under 
cover  of  which  he  was  taking  his  observations  as  to 

12  Julv 

fell  him  to  the  ground/15  Sir  -Francis  Vere,  who 
was  with  the  prince  under  the  same  buckler,  likewise  measured 
his  length  in  the  trench,  but  both  escaped  serious  injury.36 
Pauli,  one  of  the  States  commissioners  present  in  the  camp, 
wrote  to  Barneveld  that  it  was  to  be  hoped  that  the  accident 
might  prove  a  warning  to  his  Excellency.  He  had  repeatedly 
remonstrated  with  him,  he  said,  against  his  reckless  exposure 

34  Duyck,  448.    Bor,  III.  832.      35  Bor,  ubi  sup.    Duyck,  448.    Meteren,  330. 
36  Bor,  ubi  sup.    But  Duyck  makes  no  mention  of  Vere  in  this  connection. 

VOL.  III. — T 


274  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

of  himself  to  unnecessary  danger,  but  he  was  so  energetic  and 
so  full  of  courage  that  it  was  impossible  to  restrain  him  from 
being  everywhere  every  day.37 

Three  days  later,  the  letter  Y  did  its  work.  At  ten  o'clock 
15  July,  of  the  night  of  the  15th  July,  Prince  Maurice  ordered 
the  mines  to  be  sprung,  when  the  north  ravelin  was 
blown  into  the  air,  and  some  forty  of  the  garrison  with  it.38 
Two  of  them  came  flying  into  the  besiegers'  camp,  and, 
strange  to  say,  one  was  alive  and  sound.39  The  catastrophe 
finished  the  sixty-five  days'  siege,  the  breach  was  no  longer 
defensible,  the  obstinacy  of  the  burghers  was  exhausted,  and 
capitulation  followed.  In  truth,  there  had  been  a  subterranean 
intrigue  going  on  for  many  weeks,  which  was  almost  as 
effective  as  the  mine.  A  certain  Jan  te  Boer  had  been  going 
back  and  forth  between  camp  and  city,  under  various  pretexts 
and  safe-conducts,  and  it  had  at  last  appeared  that  the  Jesuits 
and  the  five  hundred  of  Yerdugo's  veterans  were  all  that  pre 
vented  Groningen  from  returning  to  the  Union.  There  had 
been  severe  fighting  within  the  city  itself,  for  the  Jesuits 
had  procured  the  transfer  of  the  veterans  from  the  faubourg  to 
22  July  ^e  town  itself,  and  the  result  of  all  these  operations, 
1594.  political,  military,  and  Jesuitical,  was  that  on  22nd 
July  articles  of  surrender  were  finally  agreed  upon  between 
Maurice  and  a  deputation  from  the  magistrates,  the  guilds, 
and  commander  Lanckema.40 

The  city  was  to  take  its  place  thenceforth  as  a  member  of 
the  Union.  William  Lewis,  already  stadholder  of  Friesland 
for  the  united  States,  was  to  be  recognised  as  chief  magis 
trate  of  the  whole  province,  which  was  thus  to  retain  all  its 
ancient  privileges,  laws,  and  rights  of  self-government,  while 
it  exchanged  its  dependence  on  a  distant,  foreign,  and  de 
caying  despotism  for  incorporation  with  a  young  and  vigorous 
commonwealth. 

It  was  arranged  that  no  religion  but  the  reformed  religion, 
as  then  practised  in  the  united  republic,  should  be  publicly 


*T  Bor,  libi  sup.  38  Duyck,  452,  453.     Bor.     Meteren. 

*»  Meteren,  330.  «  Bor.     Meteren.     Duyck,  456-464 


1594 


GRONINGEN  ADDED  TO  THE  UNION. 


275 


exercised  in  the  province,  but  that  no  man  should  be  ques 
tioned  pa  to  his  faith,  or  troubled  in  his  conscience.  Cloisters 
and  ecclesiastical  property  were  to  remain  in  statu  quo,  until 
the  States-General  should  come  to  a  definite  conclusion  on 
these  subjects.41 

Universal  amnesty  was  proclaimed  for  all  offences  and 
quarrels.  Every  citizen  or  resident  foreigner  was  free  to 
remain  in  or  to  retire  from  the  town  or  province,  with  full 
protection  to  his  person  and  property,  and  it  was  expressly 
provided  in  the  articles  granted  to  Lanckema  that  his  soldiers 
should  depart  with  arms  and  baggage,  leaving  to  Prince 
Maurice  their  colours  only,  while  the  prince  furnished  suffi 
cient  transportation  for  their  women  and  their  wounded. 
The  property  of  Yerdugo,  royal  stadholder  of  the  province, 
was  to  be  respected,  and  to  remain  in  the  city,  or  to  be 
taken  thence  under  safe  conduct,  as  might  be  preferred.42 


41  Art.  VI.  Meteren,  331.  Bor, 
835.  The  intelligence  of  the  capture 
of  Groningen  excited  great  enthusiasm 
in  the  court  of  the  French  king,  caus 
ing  "  the  power  of  the  States  and  the 
name  of  the  prince  to  be  extolled  to 
heaven,"  according  to  Calvaert.  "  The 
entire  suspension  of  Catholic  worship, 
however,  and  the  introduction  of  the 
reformed  religion  in  the  city,  were 
reprehended  by  many.  The  king  sen 
sibly  answered,  said  the  envoy,  that 
the  townspeople  had  themselves 
been  the  cause  of  this,  never  having 
been  willing  to  permit  a  church  for 
the  reformed  faith.  Now  they  were 
tripped  up  in  the  same  way  since  they 
found  themselves  conquered.  His 
Majesty  added  that  your  highnesses, 
when  the  Spaniards  had  been  com 
pletely  driven  out  of  the  country, 
would  willingly  re-open  the  Catholic 
churches  in  your  provinces,  if  the 
others  would  do  the  same  towards  the 
reformed  ones ;  asking  me  if  it  were 
not  so.  I  answered  yes,  enlarging  on 
the  topic  in  such  wise  as  I  thought 
suited  the  occasion  ;  and  my  language 
seemed  to  mitigate  the  said  offence." 
Deventer,  Gedenkstukken,  ii.  p.  32. 

Here  certainly  seemed  progress  in 
the  history  of  civilization.  The  French 


king  and  the  republican  envoy  agree 
ing  that  Catholics  and  Protestants 
ought  to  have  and  were  to  have  equal 
rights  of  public  worship,  showed  an 
advance  on  the  doctrine  of  Philip  and 
of  the  German  Protestant  princes  that 
the  vassal  was  to  have  no  opinion  but 
his  master's.  Nevertheless  the  States- 
General  were  not  pleased  that  their 
envoy  should  have  answered  the  new 
ly  converted  Henry  so  glibly  on  the 
great  subjectof  protection  to  Catholics. 
He  was  asked  by  what  authority  he 
had  given  so  categorical  an  answer, 
and  he  was  directed  in  future  to  think 
twice,  and  ask  for  instructions  in  such 
emergencies.  To  promise  public  wor 
ship  of  a  religion  professed  mainly  in 
the  Netherlands  by  the  adherents  of 
the  Spanish  king  and  the  enemies  of 
the  States  was  pronounced  altogether 
too  rash.  It  was  inferred  from  the 
eagerness  manifested  on  this  occasion, 
that  the  French  king  would  be  easily 
induced  to  make  war  on  those  of  the 
reformed  religion  in  case  they  were  not 
willing  to  submit  themselves  to  his 
discretion,  and  the  Queen  of  England 
was  perpetually  intimating  such  a  sus 
picion  to  the  States.  Duyck,  475. 
42  Bor,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


276 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS 


CHAP.  XXX. 


Ten  thousand  cannon-shot  had  been  fired  against  the  city, 
The  cost  of  powder  and  shot  consumed  was  estimated  at  a 
hundred  thousand  florins.  Four  hundred  of  the  besiegers 
had  been  killed,  and  a  much  larger  number  wounded.  The 
army  had  been  further  weakened  by  sickness  and  numerous 
desertions.  Of  the  besieged,  three  hundred  soldiers  in  all 
were  killed,  and  a  few  citizens. 

Thirty-six  cannon  were  taken,  besides  mortars,  and  it  was 
said  that  eight  hundred  tons  of  powder,  and  plenty  of  other 
ammunition  and  provisions,  were  found  in  the  place.43 

On  the  23rd  July  Maurice  and  William  Lewis  entered  the 
city.  Some  of  the  soldiers  were  disappointed  at  the  inexor 
able  prohibition  of  pillage  ;  but  it  was  the  purpose  of  Maurice, 
as  of  the  States-General,  to  place  the  sister  province  at  once  in 
the  unsullied  possession  of  the  liberty  and  the  order  for 
which  the  struggle  with  Spain  had  been  carried  on  so  long. 
If  the  limitation  of  public  religious  worship  seemed  harsh,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  Komanism  in  a  city  occupied  by 
Spanish  troops  had  come  to  mean  unmitigated  hostility  to 
the  republic.  In  the  midst  of  civil  war,  the  hour  for  that 
religious  liberty  which  was  the  necessary  issue  of  the 
great  conflict  had  not  yet  struck.  It  was  surely  some 
thing  gained  for  humanity  that  no  man  should  be  questioned 
at  all  as  to  his  creed  in  countries  where  it  was  so  recently 
the  time-honoured  practice  to  question  him  on  the  rack, 
and  to  burn  him  if  the  answer  was  objectionable  to  the 
inquirer. 

It  was  something  that  the  holy  Inquisition  had  been  for 
ever  suppressed  in  the  land.  It  must  be  admitted,  likewise, 
that  the  terms  of  surrender  and  the  spectacle  of  re-established 
law  and  order  which  succeeded  the  capture  of  Groningen 
furnished  a  wholesome  contrast  to  the  scenes  of  ineffable 


43  Duyck,  464,  465.  Yet  Coloma, 
vi.  133  and  vo,  ascribes  the  loss  of  the 
city  mainly  to  two  causes — the  want  of 
powder,  and  the  flatteries  and  vile 
persuasions  of  the  wives  of  the 
burghers,  any  one  of  v/hich  artful 
Women  was  equal,  he  says,  to  three 


dissembling  men.  As  in  every  part  of 
the  Netherlands,  he  adds,  women 
exercise  great  influence,  even  in  the 
most  grave  affairs,  so  there  is  no  doubt 
that  in  Groningen  they  are,  and  have 
always  been,  more  powerful  than  else 
where. 


1594.  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC.  277 

horror  that  had  been  displayed  whenever  a  Dutch  town  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  Philip. 

And  thus  the  commonwealth  of  the  United  Netherlands, 
through  the  practical  military  genius  and  perseverance  of 
Maurice  and  Lewis  William,  and  the  substantial  statesman 
ship  of  Barneveld  and  his  colleagues,  had  at  last  rounded 
itself  into  definite  shape  ;  while  in  all  directions  toward  which 
men  turned  their  eyes,  world-empire,  imposing  and  gorgeous 
as  it  had  seemed  for  an  interval,  was  vanishing  before  its 
votaries  like  a  mirage.  The  republic,  placed  on  the  solid 
foundations  of  civil  liberty,  self-government,  and  reasonable 
law,  was  steadily  consolidating  itself. 

No  very  prominent  movements  were  undertaken  by  the 
forces  of  the  Union  during  the  remainder  of  the  year. 
According  to  the  agreements  with  Henry  IY.  it  had  been 
necessary  to  provide  that  monarch  with  considerable  assist 
ance  to  carry  on  his  new  campaigns,  and  it  was  therefore 
difficult  for  Maurice  to  begin  for  the  moment  upon  the  larger 
schemes  which  he  had  contemplated. 

Meantime  the  condition  of  the  obedient  Netherlands  de 
mands  a  hasty  glance. 

On  the  death  of  brother  Alexander  the  Capuchin,  Fuentes 
produced  a  patent  by  which  Peter  Ernest  Mansfeld  was  pro 
visionally  appointed  governor,  in  case  the  post  should  become 
vacant.  During  the  year  which  followed,  that  testy  old 
campaigner  had  indulged  himself  in  many  petty  feuds  with 
all  around  him,  but  had  effected,  as  we  have  seen,  very  little 
to  maintain  the  king's  authority  either  in  the  obedient  or 
disobedient  provinces. 

His  utter  incompetency  soon  became  most  painfully  appa 
rent.  His  more  than  puerile  dependence  upon  his  son,  and 
the  more  than  paternal  severity  exercised  over  him  by  Count 
Charles,  were  made  manifest  to  all  the  world.  The  son  ruled 
the  trembling  but  peevish  old  warrior  with  an  iron  rod,  and 
endless  was  their  wrangling  with  Fuentes  and  all  the  other 
Spaniards.  Between  the  querulousness  of  the  one  and  the 
ferocity  of  the  other,  poor  Fuentes  became  sick  of  his  life. 


278 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXX. 


"  Tis  a  diabolical  genius,  this  Count  Charles/'  said  Ybarra, 
"and  so  full  of  ambition  that  he  insists  on  governing 
everybody  just  as  he  rules  his  father.  As  for  me,  until  the 
archduke  comes  I  am  a  fish  out  of  water." 44 

The  true  successor  to  Farnese  was  to  be  the  Archduke 
Ernest,  one  of  the  many  candidates  for  the  hand  of  the 
Infanta,  and  for  the  throne  of  that  department  of  the  Spanish 
dominions  which  was  commonly  called  France.  Should 
Philip  not  appropriate  the  throne  without  further  scruple,  in 
person,  it  was  on  the  whole  decided  that  his  favorite  nephew 
should  be  the  satrap  of  that  outlying  district  of  the  Spanish 
empire.  In  such  case  obedient  France  might  be  annexed  to 
obedient  Netherlands,  and  united  under  the  sway  of  Arch 
duke  Ernest. 

But  these  dreams  had  proved  in  the  cold  air  of  reality 
but  midsummer  madness.  When  the  name  of  the  archduke 
was  presented  to  the  estates  as  King  Ernest  I.  of  France, 
even  the  most  unscrupulous  and  impassioned  Leaguers  of 
that  country  fairly  hung  their  heads.45  That  a  foreign  prince, 
whose  very  name  had  never  been  before  heard  of  by  the  vast 
bulk  of  the  French  population,  should  be  deliberately  placed 
upon  the  throne  of  St.  Louis  and  Hugh  Capet,  was  a  humilia 
tion  hard  to  defend,  profusely  as  Philip  had  scattered  the  Pe 
ruvian  and  Mexican  dollars  among  the  great  ones  of  the 
nation,  in  order  to  accomplish  his  purpose. 

So  Archduke  Ernest,  early  in  the  year  1594,  came  to 
January,  Brussels,  but  he  came  as  a  gloomy,  disappointed 
1594.  man.  To  be  a  bachelor-governor  of  the  impoverished, 
exhausted,  half-rebellious,  and  utterly  forlorn  little  remnant 
of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  was  a  different  position  from  that 
of  husband  of  Clara  Isabella  and  king  of  France,  on  which 
his  imagination  had  been  feeding  so  long. 

For  nearly  the  whole  twelvemonth  subsequent  to  the  death 


44  Ybarra  to  the  Secretaries,  5  Oct. 
1593.    (Arch  de  Simancas  MS.) 

45  "  Ils  furent  presque  tous  frappes 
d'horreur  en   considerant  1'extremite 
ou  etaient    reduits  lea  Fran9ais  d.e 


penser  choisir  pour  Roy  un  homme 
qu'ils  ne  scavaient  seulement  qu'il 
fust  au  monde." — Lettres  de  Bongars, 
24  July,  1593,  p.  235, 


1594  f  llE  SUCCESSOR  OF  FARNESE.  279 

of  Farnese,  the  Spanish  envoy  to  the  Imperial  court  had  been 
endeavouring  to  arrange  for  the  departure  of  the  archduke  to 
his  seat  of  government  in  the  Netherlands.  The  prince 
himself  was  willing  enough,  but  there  were  many  obstacles 
on  the  part  of  the  emperor  and  his  advisers.  "  Especially 
there  is  one  very  great  impossibility/'  said  San  Clemente, 
"  and  that  is  the  poverty  of  his  Highness,  which  is  so  great 
that  my  own  is  not  greater  in  my  estate.  So  I  don't  see  how 
he  can  stir  a  step  without  money.  Here  they'll  not  furnish 
him  with  a  penny,  and  for  himself  he  possesses  nothing  but 
debts."  tf  The  emperor  was  so  little  pleased  with  the  adven 
ture  that  in  truth,  according  to  the  same  authority,  he  looked 
upon  the  new  viceroy's  embarrassments  with  considerable 
satisfaction,  so  that  it  was  necessary  for  Philip  to  provide 
for  his  travelling  expenses.47 

Ernest  was  next  brother  of  the  Emperor  Kudolph,  and  as 
intensely  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Roman  Church  as 
was  that  potentate  himself,  or  even  his  uncle  Philip. 

He  was  gentle,  weak,  melancholy,  addicted  to  pleasure,  a 
martyr  to  the  gout.  He  brought  no  soldiers  to  the  provinces, 
for  the  emperor,  threatened  with  another  world-empire  on  his 
pagan  flank,  had  no  funds  nor  troops  to  send  to  the  assistance 
of  his  Christian  brother-in-law  and  uncle.  Moreover,  it  may 
be  imagined  that  Rudolph,  despite  the  bonds  of  religion  and 
consanguinity,  was  disposed  to  look  coldly  on  the  colossal 
projects  of  Philip. 

So  Ernest  brought  no  troops,  but  he  brought  six  hundred 
and  seventy  gentlemen,  pages,  and  cooks,  and  five  hundred 
and  thirty-four  horses,  not  to  charge  upon  the  rebellious 
Dutchmen  withal,  but  to  draw  coaches  and  six.48 

There  was  trouble  enough  prepared  for  the  new  governor 
at  his  arrival.  The  great  Flemish  and  Walloon  nobles  were 
quarrelling  fiercely  with  the  Spaniards  and  among  them- 


46  "  Una  imposibilidad  muy  grande 
es  su  pobreza  que  esta  de  manera  que 
no  es  mayor  la  mia  en  mi  estado,  y  assi 
no  se  yo  como  podra  dar  un  passo  sin 
dinero  y  de  aqui  no  socorreren  con 
un  real,  ni  el  tiene  sino  deudas." — G. 


de  San  Clemente  to  Fuentes,  14  March 
1593.    (Arch  de  Simancas  MS.) 

47  San  Clemente  to  Fuentes  2  May, 
1593.      (Arch,     de     Simancas,    MS.) 
Same  to  same,  3  Aug.  1593.    (Ibid.) 

48  Bor,  III.  782.    Reyd,  ix.  220. 


280  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX 

selves  for  office  and  for  precedence.  Arsehot  and  his 
brother  Havre  both  desired  the  government  of  Flanders ; 
so  did  Arenberg.  All  three,  as  well  as  other  gentlemen^ 
were  scrambling  for  the  major-domo's  office  in  Ernest's 
palace.  Havre  wanted  the  finance  department  as  well, 
but  Ybarra,  who  was  a  financier,  thought  the  public  funds 
in  his  hands  would  be  in  a  perilous  condition,  inasmuch 
as  he  was  accounted  the  most  covetous  man  in  all  the 
provinces.49 

So  soon  as  the  archduke  was  known  to  be  approaching  the 
capital  there  was  a  most  ludicrous  race  run  by  all  these 
grandees,  in  order  to  be  the  first  to  greet  his  Highness.  While 
Mansfeld  and  Fuentes  were  squabbling,  as  usual,  Arsehot  got 
the  start  of  both,  and  arrived  at  Treves.  Then  the  decrepit 
Peter  Ernest  struggled  as  far  as  Luxembourg,  while  Fuentes 
posted  on  to  Namur.50  The  archduke  was  much  perplexed 
as  to  the  arranging  of  all  these  personages  on  the  day  of  his 
entrance  into  Brussels.  In  the  council  of  state  it  was  still 
worse.  Arsehot  claimed  the  first  place  as  duke  and  as  senior 
member,  Peter  Ernest  demanded  it  as  late  governor-general 
and  because  of  his  grey  hairs.51  Never  was  imperial  highness 
more  disturbed,  never  was  clamour  for  loaves  and  fishes  more 
deafening.  The  caustic  financier — whose  mind  was  just  then 
occupied  with  the  graver  matter  of  assassination  on  a  con 
siderable  scale — looked  with  profound  contempt  at  the 
spectacle  thus  presented  to  him.  "  There  has  been  the 
devil's  own  row,"  said  he,  "between  these  counts  about 
offices,  and  also  about  going  out  to  receive  the  most  serene 
archduke.  I  have  had  such  work  with  them  that  by  the 
salvation  of  my  soul  I  swear  if  it  were  to  last  a  fortnight 
longer  I  would  go  off  afoot  to  Spain,  even  if  I  were  sure  of 
dying  in  jail  after  I  got  there.  I  have  reconciled  the  two 
counts  (Fuentes  and  Mansfeld)  with  each  other  a  hundred 
times,  and  another  hundred  times  they  have  fallen  out  again, 
and  behaved  themselves  with  such  vulgarity  that  I  blushed 

49  Ybarra  to ,  22  Nov.  1593.    (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

M  Papel  sobre  las  precedencias.    (Ibid.)  B1  (Ibid.) 


1594  UNPOPULARITY  OF  ERNEST.  281 

for  them.52  They  are  both  to  blame,  but  at  any  rate  we  have 
now  got  the  archduke  housed,  and  he  will  get  us  out  of  this 
embarrassment." 

The  archduke  came  with  rather  a  prejudice  against  the 
Spaniards — the  result  doubtless  of  his  disappointment  in 
regard  to  France — and  he  manifested  at  first  an  extreme 
haughtiness  to  those  of  that  nation  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  A  Castilian  noble  of  high  rank,  having  audience 
with  him  on  one  occasion,  replaced  his  hat  after  salutation, 
as  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do — according  to  the  manner 
of  grandees  of  Spain — during  the  government  of  Farnese. 
The  hat  was  rudely  struck  from  his  head  by  the  archduke's 
chamberlain,  and  he  was  himself  ignominiously  thrust  out 
of  the  presence.53  At  another  time  an  interview  was  granted 
to  two  Spanish  gentlemen  who  had  business  to  transact. 
They  made  their  appearance  in  magnificent  national  costume, 
splendidly  embroidered  in  gold.  After  a  brief  hearing  they 
were  dismissed,  with  appointment  of  another  audience  for  a 
few  days  later.  When  they  again  presented  themselves  they 
found  the  archduke  with  his  court-jester  standing  at  his  side, 
the  buffoon  being  attired  in  a  suit  precisely  similar  to  their 
own,  which  in  the  interval  had  been  prepared  by  the  court 
tailor.54 

Such  amenities  as  these  did  not  increase  the  popularity  of 
Ernest  with  the  high-spirited  Spaniards,  nor  was  it  palatable 
to  them  that  it  should  be  proposed  to  supersede  the  old 
fighting  Portuguese,  Verdugo,  as  governor  and  commander-in- 
chief  for  the  king  in  Friesland,  by  Frederic  van  den  Berg,  a 
renegade  Netherlander,  unworthy  cousin  -of  the  Nassaus, 
who  had  never  shown  either  military  or  administrative 
genius. 

Nor  did  he  succeed  in  conciliating  the  Flemings  or  the 

M  "  Ha  pasado  aqui  una  baraunda   a  Espana  aunque  supiera  morir  en  la 


del  diablo  entre  estos  senores  Condes 


carcel.     Tuve    los    concertados    cien 


sobre  la  reformacion  y  despues  sobre  j  vezes  y  otras  ciento  se  han  desconcer- 
el  salir  a  recibir  al  Sermo  Archiduque,    tado  y  tratado  por  un  tennino  tan  vul- 
y  tanto  trabajo  mio,  que  por  la  salva-  j  gar  que  yo  estoy  corrido,"  &c.     (Arch, 
cion  de  mi  alma  juro  que  si  hubiera  de  j  de  Simancas  MS.) 
durar  esto  15  dias  mas.me  fuera  a  pie  j     53  Reyd,  ix.  222.  u  Ibid. 


282  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

Germans  by  these  measures.  In  truth  he  was,  almost  with 
out  his  own  knowledge,  under  the  controlling  influence  of 
Fuentes,55  the  most  unscrupulous  and  dangerous  Spaniard  of 
them  all,  while  his  every  proceeding  was  closely  watched 
not  only  by  Diego  and  Stephen  Ybarra,  but  even  by  Chris- 
toval  de  Moura,  one  of  Philip's  two  secretaries  of  state  who  at 
this  crisis  made  a  visit  to  Brussels.56 

These  men  were  indignant  at  the  imbecility  of  the  course 
pursued  in  the  obedient  provinces.  They  Jmew  that  the  incapa 
city  of  the  Government  to  relieve  the  sieges  of  Gertruydenberg 
and  Groningen  had  excited  the  contempt  of  Europe,  and  was 
producing  a  most  damaging  effect  on  Spanish  authority 
throughout  Christendom.57  They  were  especially  irritated  by 
the  presence  of  the  arch-intriguer,  Mayenne,  in  Brussels,  even 
after  all  his  double  dealings  had  been  so  completely  exposed 
that  a  blind  man  could  have  read  them.  Yet  there  was 
Mayenne,  consorting  with  the  archduke,  and  running  up  a 
great  bill  of  sixteen  thousand  florins  at  the  hotel,  which  the 
royal  paymaster  declined  to  settle  for  want  of  funds,  notwith 
standing  Ernest's  order  to  that  effect,58  and  there  was  no  pos 
sibility  of  inducing  the  viceroy  to  arrest  him,  much  as  he  had 
injured  and  defrauded  the  king. 

How  severely  Ybarra  and  Feria  denounced  Mayenne  has 
been  seen  ;  but  remonstrances  about  this  and  other  grave  mis 
takes  of  administration  were  lost  upon  Ernest,  or  made  almost 
impossible  by  his  peculiar  temper.  "If  I  speak  of  these 
things  to  his  Highness/'  said  Ybarra,  "  he  will  begin  to  cry, 
as  he  always  does/' 59 

55  Fuentes  was  not  a  favourite  with  ;  dinal  of  Austria,  in  order  to  carry  out 
Queen    Elizabeth.     When   informed  l  what  had  been  left  unfinished  by  the 
that  he  was  to  succeed  to  the  govern-  j  duke.     She  doubted  not,  she  said,  that 
ment  of  the  provinces  after  the  death  ,  he  would  attempt  the  same  practices  in 
of  Parma,  she  remarked  to  Noel  de  '  the  Netherlands,  but  she  hoped  that  a 
Caron  that  it  was  the  same  Count    Spanish  governor  would  never  be  tole- 
Fuentes  who  had  so  shamefully  run    rated  there."    Noel   de  Caron  to  the 
away  when  Earl  Essex  and  her  people    States-General,  10  Dec.  1592.    (Hague 
were  before  Lisbon,   that  he  was  a    Archives  MS.)    Compare  Duyck,  465. 
timid  old  woman,  but  none  the  less       5tJ  Intercepted  letters  of  San  C1&- 
a  great  tyrant,  and  that  therefore  he    mente,  in  Bor,  III.  852-855. 
had  been  sent,  after  the  death  of  the       57  Ibid. 
Duke  of  Alva,  to  Portugal,  and  ap-       68  Reyd,  ix.  243. 
pointed  lieutenant-general  of  the  Car-       M  Ibid,  242. 


1591.  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  REPUBLICANS.  283 

Ybarra,  however,  thought  it  his  duty  secretly  to  give  the 
king  frequent  information  as  to  the  blasted  and  forlorn  COD 
dition  of  the  provinces.  "  This  sick  man  will  die  in  GUI 
arms,"  he  said,  "  without  our  wishing  to  kill  him."  m  He  also 
left  no  doubt  in  the  royal  mind  as  to  the  utter  incompetency 
of  the  archduke  for  his  office.  Although  he  had  much  Chris 
tianity,  amiability,  and  good  intentions,  he  was  so  unused  to 
business,  so  slow  and  so  lazy,  so  easily  persuaded  by  those 
around  him,  as  to  be  always  falling  into  errors.  He  was  tho 
servant  of  his  own  servants,  particularly  of  those  least  dis 
posed  to  the  king's  service  and  most  attentive  to  their  own 
interests.  He  had  endeavoured  to  make  himself  beloved  by 
the  natives  of  the  country,  while  the  very  reverse  of  this  had 
been  the  result.  "  As  to  his  agility  and  the  strength  of  his 
body,"  said  the  Spaniard,  as  if  he  were  thinking  of  certain 
allegories  which  were  to  mark  the  archduke's  triumphal  en 
try,  "  they  are  so  deficient  as  to  leave  him  unfit  for  arms, 
I  consider  him  incapable  of  accompanying  an  army  to  the 
field,  and  we  find  him  so  new  to  all  such  affairs  as  constitute 
government  and  the  conduct  of  warlike  business,  that  he  could 
not  steer  his  way  without  some  one  to  enlighten  and  direct 
him."  61 

It  was  sometimes  complained  of  in  those  days — and  the 
thought  has  even  prolonged  itself  until  later  times — that 
those  republicans  of  the  United  Netherlands  had  done  and 
could  do  great  things  ;  but  that,  after  all,  there  was  no 
grandeur  about  them.  Certainly  they  had  done  great  things. 
It  was  something  to  fight  the  Ocean  for  ages,  and  patiently 
and  firmly  to  shut  him  out  from  his  own  domain.  It 
was  something  to  extinguish  the  Spanish  Inquisition — a 
still  more  cruel  and  devouring  enemy  than  the  sea.  It 
was  something  that  the  fugitive  spirit  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  had  found  at  last  its  most  substantial  and  steadfast 
home  upon  those  storm- washed  shoals  and  shifting  sandbanks. 

60  Ybarra  to  Philip,  21  June,  1594.  I  jado  para  que   se  le  muera  en   Jos 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)    "  La  enfer-    brazos  sin  quererle  matar,"  &» 
medad  de  esto  cuerpo  es  muy  apare-  [      61  Ibid. 


284  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

It  was  something  to  come  to  the  rescue  of  England  in  her 
great  agony  and  help  to  save  her  from  invasion.  It  was 
something  to  do  more  than  any  nation  but  England,  and 
as  much  as  she,  to  assist  Henry  the  Huguenot  to  the  throne 
of  his  ancestors  and  to  preserve  the  national  unity  of  France 
which  its  own  great  ones  had  imperilled.  It  was  something 
to  found  two  magnificent  universities,  cherished  abodes  of 
science  and  of  antique  lore,  in  the  midst  of  civil  commotions 
and  of  resistance  to  foreign  oppression.  It  was  something,  at 
the  same  period,  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  system  of  common 
schools — so  cheap  as  to  be  nearly  free — for  rich  and  poor 
alike,  which,  in  the  words  of  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors 
to  the  young  republic,  "  would  be  worth  all  the  soldiers, 
arsenals,  armouries,  munitions,  and  alliances  in  the  world." 
It  was  something  to  make  a  revolution,  as  humane  as 
it  was  effective,  in  military  affairs,  and  to  create  an  army 
whose  camps  were  European  academies.  It  was  something 
to  organize,  at  the  same  critical  period,  on  the  most 
skilful  and  liberal  scale,  and  to  carry  out  with  unexampled 
daring,  sagacity,  and  fortitude,  great  voyages  of  discovery 
to  the  polar  regions,  and  to  open  new  highways  for  com 
merce,  new  treasures  for  science.  Many  things  of  this 
nature  had  been  done  by  the  new  commonwealth  ;  but,  alas  ! 
she  did  not  drape  herself  melodramatically,  nor  stalk  about 
with  heroic  wreath  and  cothurn.  She  was  altogether  without 
grandeur. 

When  Alva  had  gained  his  signal  victories,  and  followed 
them  up  by  those  prodigious  massacres  which,  but  for  his 
own  and  other  irrefragable  testimony,  would  seem  too  mon 
strous  for  belief,  he  had  erected  a  colossal  statue  to  himself, 
attired  in  the  most  classical  of  costumes,  and  surrounded 
with  the  most  mythological  of  attributes.  Here  was  gran 
deur.  But  William  the  Silent,  after  he  had  saved  the  re 
public,  for  which  he  had  laboured  during  his  whole  lifetime 
and  was  destined  to  pour  out  his  heart's  blood,  went  about 
among  the  brewers  and  burghers  with  unbuttoned  doublet 
and  woollen  bargeman's  waistcoat.  It  was  justly  objected  to 


1594.  JOHN  BAPTIST  HOUWAERTS.  285 

his  clothes,  by  the  euphuistic  Fulke  Greville,  that  a  mean- 
born  student  of  the  Inns  of  Court  would  have  been  ashamed 
to  walk  about  London  streets  in  them.62 

And  now  the  engineering  son  of  that  shabbily-dressed  per 
sonage  had  been  giving  the  whole  world  lessons  in  the  science 
of  war,  and  was  fairly  perfecting  the  work  which  William  and 
his  great  contemporaries  had  so  well  begun.  But  if  all  this 
had  been  merely  doing  great  things  without  greatness,  there 
was  one  man  in  the  Netherlands  who  knew  what  grandeur 
was.  He  was  not  a  citizen  of  the  disobedient  republic,  how 
ever,  but  a  loyal  subject  of  the  obedient  provinces,  and  his 
name  was  John  Baptist  Houwaerts,  an  eminent  schoolmaster 
of  Brussels.  He  was  still  more  eminent  as  a  votary  of 
what  was  called  "  Khetoric  "  and  as  an  arranger  of  triumphal 
processions  and  living  pictures. 

The  arrival  of  Archduke  Ernest  at  the  seat  of  the  pro 
vincial  Government  offered  an  opportunity,  which  had  long 
been  wanting,  for  a  display  of  John  Baptist's  genius.  The 
new  viceroy  was  in  so  shattered  a  condition  of  health,  so 
crippled  with  the  gout,  as  to  be  quite  unable  to  stand,  and  it 
required  the  services  of  several  lackeys  to  lift  him  into  and 
out  of  his  carriage.63  A  few  days  of  repose  therefore  were 
indispensable  to  him  before  he  could  make  his  "joyous 
entrance"  into  the  capital.  But  the  day  came  at  last,  and 
the  exhibition  was  a  masterpiece. 

It  might  have  seemed  that  the  abject  condition  of  the 
Spanish  provinces — desolate,  mendicant,  despairing — would 
render  holiday  making  impossible.  But  although  almost 
every  vestige  of  the  ancient  institutions  had  vanished  from 
the  obedient  Netherlands  as  a  reward  for  their  obedience  ; 
although  to  civil  and  religious  liberty,  law,  order,  and  a 
thriving  commercial  and  manufacturing  existence,  such  as 
had  been  rarely  witnessed  in  the  world,  had  succeeded  the 
absolute  tyranny  of  Jesuits,  universal  beggary,  and  a  peren 
nial  military  mutiny — setting  Government  at  defiance  and 

62  Vol.  I.  of  this  work,  p.  371.     Brooke's  Sidney.  16,  seqq. 

63  Reyd,  ix.  220-222.     Bor,  III.  782. 


286  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

plundering  the  people — there  was  one  faithful  comforter  who 
never  deserted  Belgica,  and  that  was  Rhetoric. 

Neither  the  magnificence  nor  the  pedantry  of  the  spec 
tacles  by  which  the  entry  of  the  mild  and  inefficient 
Ernest  into  Brussels  and  Antwerp  was  now  solemnized  had 
ever  been  surpassed.  The  town  councils,  stimulated  by  hopes 
absolutely  without  foundation  as  to  great  results  to  follow  the 
advent  of  the  emperor's  brother,  had  voted  large  sums  and 
consumed  many  days  in  anxious  deliberation  upon  the  manner 
in  which  they  should  be  expended  so  as  most  to  redound  to 
the  honour  of  Ernest  and  the  reputation  of  the  country. 

In  place  of  the  "  bloody  tragedies  of  burning,  murdering, 
and  ravishing,"  of  which  the  provinces  had  so  long  been  the 
theatre,  it  was  resolved  that  "  Rhetoric's  sweet  comedies, 
amorous  jests,  and  farces,"  should  gladden  all  eyes  and  hearts.64 
A  stately  procession  of  knights  and  burghers  in  historical  and 
mythological  costumes,  followed  by  ships,  dromedaries,  ele 
phants,  whales,  giants,  dragons,  and  other  wonders  of  the  sea 
and  shore,  escorted  the  archduke  into  the  city.  Every  street 
and  square  was  filled  with  triumphal  arches,  statues  and  plat 
forms,  on  which  the  most  ingenious  and  thoroughly  classical 
living  pictures  were  exhibited.  There  was  hardly  an  eminent 
deity  of  Olympus,  or  hero  of  ancient  history,  that  was  not 
revived  and  made  visible  to  mortal  eyes  in  the  person  of 
Ernestus  of  Austria. 

On  a  framework  fifty-five  feet  high  and  thirty-three  feet 
in  breadth  he  was  represented  as  Apollo  hurling  his  darts  at 
an  enormous  Python,  under  one  of  whose  fore-paws  struggled 
an  unfortunate  burgher,  while  the  other  clutched  a  whole 
city  ;  Tellus,  meantime,  with  her  tower  on  her  head,  kneeling 
anxious  and  imploring  at  the  feet  of  her  deliverer.  On  ano 
ther  stage  Ernest  assumed  the  shape  of  Perseus  ;  Belgica 
that  of  the  bound  and  despairing  Andromeda.  On  a  third, 

44  Descriptio  et  Explicatio  pegma-  de    Komst    van    de    hooghgeboren, 

torum  et  spectaculorum  quae  Bruxellae  machtigen  en  seer  doorlugtigen  Vorst 

exhibita  fuere  sub  ingressum  Seremi  Ernesto,  &c.     Bruessel,  by  Jan  Mon> 

principis  Ernesti,  &c.     Bruxellae,  1 593  maert,  1594 
(S.  V.)      Houwaert's    Moralisatie    op 


1594.  PAGEANT  IN  HONOUR  OF  ERNEST.  287 

the  interior  of  Etna  was  revealed,  when  Vulcan  was  seen 
urging  his  Cyclops  to  forge  for  Ernest  their  most  tremendous 
thunderbolts  with  which  to  smite  the  foes  of  the  provinces, 
those  enemies  being  of  course  the  English  and  the  Hol 
landers.  Venus,  the  while,  timidly  presented  an  arrow  to 
her  husband,  which  he  was  requested  to  sharpen,  in  order 
that  when  the  wars  were  over  Cupid  therewith  might  pierce 
the  heart  of  some  beautiful  virgin,  whose  charms  should  re 
ward  Ernest — fortunately  for  the  female  world,  still  a  bache 
lor — for  his  victories  and  his  toils.65 

The  walls  of  every  house  were  hung  with  classic  emblems 
and  inscribed  with  Latin  verses.  All  the  pedagogues  of  Brus 
sels  and  Antwerp  had  been  at  work  for  months,  determined 
to  amaze  the  world  with  their  dithyrambics  and  acrostics, 
and  they  had  outdone  themselves. 

Moreover,  in  addition  to  all  these  theatrical  spectacles  and 
pompous  processions — accompanied  as  they  were  by  blazing 
tar-barrels,  flying  dragons,  and  leagues  of  flaring  torches — 
John  Baptist,  who  had  been  director-in-chief  of  all  the  shows 
successively  arranged  to  welcome  Don  John  of  Austria,  Arch 
duke  Matthias,  Francis  of  Alenc.on,  and  even  William  of 
Orange,  into  the  capital,  had  prepared  a  feast  of  a  specially 
intellectual  character  for  the  new  governor-general. 

The  pedant,  according  to  his  own  account,  so  soon  as  the 
approach  of  Ernest  had  been  announced,  fell  straightway 
into  a  trance.66  While  he  was  in  that  condition,  a  beautiful 
female  apparition  floated  before  his  eyes,  and,  on  being 
questioned,  announced  her  name  to  be  Moralization.  John 
Baptist  begged  her  to  inform  him  whether  it  were  true,  as 
had  been  stated,  that  Jupiter  had  just  sent  Mercury  to  the 
Netherlands.  The  phantom,  correcting  his  mistake,  observed 
that  the  king  of  gods  and  men  had  not  sent  Hermes  but  the 
Archduke  Ernestus,  beloved  of  the  three  Graces,  favourite  of 
the  nine  Muses,  and,  in  addition  to  these  advantages,  nephew 
and  brother-in-law  of  the  King  of  Spain,  to  the  relief  of  the 
Buffering  provinces.  The  Netherlands,  it  was  true,  for  their 
**  Houwaert's  Moralisatie,  &c.,  ubi  sup.  w  Ibi4. 


288 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXX. 


religious  infidelity,  had  justly  incurred  great  disasters  and 
misery ;  but  benignant  Jove,  who,  to  the  imagination  of  this 
excited  Fleming,  seemed  to  have  been  converted  to  Catho 
licism  while  still  governing  the  universe,  had  now  sent  them 
in  mercy  a  deliverer.  The  archduke  would  speedily  relieve 
"  bleeding  Belgica ""  from  her  sufferings,  bind  up  her  wounds, 
and  annihilate  her  enemies.  The  spirit  further  informed  the 
poet  that  the  forests  of  the  Low  Countries — so  long  infested 
by  brigands,  wood-beggars,  and  malefactors  of  all  kinds — 
would  thenceforth  swarm  with  "  nymphs,  rabbits,  hares,  and 
animals  of  that  nature."  67 

A  vision  of  the  conquering  Ernest,  attended  by  "eight- 
and- twenty  noble  and  pleasant  females,  marching  two  and 
two,  half  naked,  each  holding  a  torch  in  one  hand  and  a 
laurel-wreath  in  the  other/'  now  swept  before  the  dreamer's 
eyes.68  He  naturally  requested  the  "  discreet  spirit "  to  men 
tion  the  names  of  this  bevy  of  imperfectly  attired  ladies 
thronging  so  lovingly  around  the  fortunate  archduke,  and 
was  told  that  "  they  were  the  eight-and-twenty  virtues  which 
chiefly  characterized  his  serene  Highness/' 69  Prominent  in 
this  long  list,  and  they  were  all  faithfully  enumerated,  were 
Philosophy,  Audacity,  Acrimony,  Virility,  Equity,  Piety,  Velo 
city,  and  Alacrity.70  The  two  last-mentioned  qualities  could 
hardly  be  attributed  to  the  archduke  in  his  decrepit  condi 
tion,  except  in  an  intensely  mythological  sense.  Certainly, 
they  would  have  been  highly  useful  virtues  to  him  at  that 
moment.  The  prince  who  had  just  taken  Gertruydenberg, 


•7  "  In  plaetse  dat  de  bosschen  plachten  te  sijne 

Vol  knevelaers  en  roovers  in  alle  quar tieren 

Boo  waren  sy  wederom  ten  selven  termijne 

Vol  Nymphen,  hasen,  conijnen  en  ghelijcke 

Dieren." 

Houwaert's  Moralisatie,  &c. 

68  Ibid. 

69  "  Acht  en  twintig  edel  Nymphen  playsant 
Sach  ich  voor  den  prince  haer  vertoonen 

Toen  spraeck  ick,  O  Vrindinne,   wilt  my 

noch  bedien 
De  namen  van  die  nymphen  weirt  gehono- 

reert, 
Die  ick  voort,  by,   en    achter    Ernestum 

gesien, 
En  warom  dat  sy  hem  hebben  geconvoy- 

eert? 


Drom  de  Nymphe  heeft  gerespondeert 

De    agt    en     twintig    Nymphen     die    met 

vreughden 

Twee  en  twee  tegader  hebben  gemarscheert 
Dat  sijn  des  doolugtigen   Princen   deugh- 

den."    &c. 

Ibid. 


"  En  i  dese  deughtlijcke  Nymphen  dit  sijn 

genaempt 

Philosophia  en  Intelligent 
Audacia  en  Magnanimitas  unbeschaempt 
Acrimonia  en  Virilitas 
Securitas  en  dementia 
Firmitudo  en  Velocitas 
Alacritas  en  Pietatis  abundantia 
Potentia  en  Opportunitas  gheheesen."     &c. 

Ibid. 


1594.  VISION   OF    JOHN    BAPTIST  HOUWAERTS.  289 

and  was  then  besieging  Groningen,  was  manifesting  his  share 
of  audacity,  velocity,  and  other  good  gifts  on  even  a  wider 
platform  than  that  erected  for  Ernest  by  John  Baptist 
Houwaerts  ;  and  there  was  an  admirable  opportunity  for 
both  to  develope  their  respective  characteristics  for  the  world's 
judgment. 

Meantime  the  impersonation  of  the  gentle  and  very  gouty 
invalid  as  Apollo,  as  Perseus,  as  the  feather-heeled  Mercury, 
was  highly  applauded  by  the  burghers  of  Brussels. 

And  so  the  dreamer  dreamed  on,  and  the  discreet  nymph 
continued  to  discourse,  until  John  Baptist,  starting  suddenly 
from  his  trance  beheld  that  it  was  all  a  truth  and  no  vision. 
Ernest  was  really  about  to  enter  the  Netherlands,  and  with 
him  the  millennium.  The  pedant  therefore  proceeded  to 
his  desk,  and  straightway  composed  the  very  worst  poem  that 
had  ever  been  written  in  any  language,  even  Flemish. 

There  were  thousands  of  lines  in  it,  and  not  a  line  without 
a  god  or  a  goddess. 

Mars,  Nemesis,  and  Ate,  Pluto,  Khadamanthus,  and  Minos, 
the  Fates  and  the  Furies,  together  with  Charon,  Calumnia, 
Bellona,  and  all  such  objectionable  divinities,  were  requested 
to  disappear  for  ever  from  the  Low  Countries  ;  while  in  their 
stead  were  confidently  invoked  Jupiter,  Apollo,  Triptolemus, 
and  last,  though  not  least,  Rhetorica.71 

Enough  has  been  said  of  this  raree-show  to  weary  the 
reader's  patience,  but  not  more  than  enough  to  show  the  docile 
and  enervated  nature  of  this  portion  of  a  people  who  had  lost 
everything  for  which  men  cherish  their  fatherland,  but  who 
could  still  find  relief — after  thirty  years  of  horrible  civil  war 
— in  painted  pageantry,  Latin  versification,  and  the  classical 
dictionary. 

Yet  there  was  nothing  much  more  important  achieved  by 
the  archduke  in  the  brief  period  for  which  his  adminis 
tration  was  destined  to  endure.  Three  phenomena  chiefly 
marked  his  reign,  but  his  own  part  in  the  three  was  rather 
a  passive  than  an  active  one — mutiny,  assassination,  and 

71  Houwaert's  Moralsatie,  &c. 
VOL.  III. — U 


290  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX 

negotiation — the  two  last  attempted  on  a  considerable  scale 
but  ending  abortively. 

It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  misery  of  the  obedient 
provinces  at  this  epoch.  The  insane  attempt  of  the  King  of 
Spain,  with  such  utterly  inadequate  machinery,  to  conquer 
the  world  has  been  sufficiently  dilated  upon.  The  Spanish 
and  Italian  and  Walloon  soldiers  were  starving  in  Brabant  and 
Flanders  in  order  that  Spanish  gold  might  be  poured  into  the 
bottomless  pit  of  the  Holy  League  in  France.72 

The  mutiny  that  had  broken  forth  the  preceding  year  in 
Artois  and  Hainault  was  now  continued  on  a  vast  scale 
in  Brabant.  Never  had  that  national  institution — a  Spanish 

79  It  is  instructive  to  know  the  exact  sums  of  money  regularly  expended  by 
the  King  of  Spain  each  month,  at  this  period,  in  France  and  the  Netherlands. 
In  Flanders  and  Friesland  was  an 

army  of          23,952  men,  costing  per  month  $206,431 

The  army  of  France  was  estimated  at  18,921  „  „  175,370 

Total 42,873 

Certain  individuals,    very    few    in 

number,  maintained  in  France*  „  „  42,360 

Besides  the  above,  all  supplied  from 

Spain,  there  were  maintained  by 

contributions,   aids,   and   licenses 

in  the  provinces         . .         . .  6,715  „  „  38,239 

Expenses  of  navy          ....  „  „  10,958 

Total  per  month  $473,358 

Relacioii  delo  que  monta  lapaga  de  los  exercitos  que  su  Magd.  entretiene 
en  Flandes,  Brabante,  Frisia,  y  Francia,  1593.    (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

By  another  paper  it  appears  at  this  time  there  were  serving  the  King  of 
Spain  in  France  and  the  Netherlands — 

German  infantry — Soldiers         . .         . .         . .         . .         14,994 

Officers          1,298 


16,292 

Italian  infantry— Soldiers  3,397 

Officers  423 

3,820 
(Arch,  de  Simancas,  Anno  1594,  MS.; 

*  These  favoured  personages  were— 

Duke  of  Mayenne          per  month,  $12,000 

Duke  of  Guise ,  6,000 


Balagny , 

Duke  of  Aumale 

M.  de  Rosne 

M.  de  St.  Pol  and  his  cavalry 

Vtertain  gentlemen  in  Picardy 

Governor  of  La  Fere     . . 


T,200 
1,800 
1,800 
9,960 
2,400 
1,200 

$42,380 


1594  MUTINY  OF   SPANISH    TROOPS.  291 

mutiny — been  more  thoroughly  organized,  more  completely 
carried  out  in  all  its  details.  All  that  was  left  of  the  famous 
Spanish  discipline  and  military  science  in  this  their  period  of 
rapid  decay,  seemed  monopolized  by  the  mutineers.  Some 
two  thousand  choice  troops  (horse  and  foot),  Italians  and 
Spanish,  took  possession  of  two  considerable  cities,  Sichem 
and  Arschot,  and  ultimately  concentrated  themselves  at 
Sichem,  which  they  thoroughly  fortified.  Having  chosen 
their  Eletto  and  other  officers  they  proceeded  regularly 
to  business.  To  the  rallying  point  came  disaffected  troops  of 
all  nations  from  far  and  near.  Never  since  the  beginning 
of  the  great  war  had  there  been  so  extensive  a  military 
rebellion,  nor  one  in  which  so  many  veteran  officers,  colonels, 
captains,  and  subalterns  took  part.  The  army  of  Philip  had 
at  last  grown  more  dangerous  to  himself  than  to  the  Hol 
landers. 

The  council  at  Brussels  deliberated  anxiously  upon  the 
course  to  be  pursued,  and  it  was  decided  at  last  to  negotiate 
with  instead  of  attacking  them.  But  it  was  soon  found  that 
the  mutineers  were  as  hard  to  deal  with  as  were  the  repub 
licans  on  the  other  side  the  border.  They  refused  to  hear  of 
anything  short  of  complete  payment  of  the  enormous  arrears 
due  to  them,  with  thorough  guarantees  and  hostages  that  any 
agreement  made  between  themselves  and  the  archduke 
should  be  punctually  carried  out.  Meanwhile  they  ravaged 
the  country  far  and  near,  and  levied  their  contributions  on 
towns  and  villages,  up  to  the  very  walls  of  Brussels,  and 
before  the  very  eyes  of  the  viceroy. 

Moreover  they  entered  into  negotiation  with  Prince  Maurice 
of  Nassau,  not  offering  to  enlist  under  his  flag,  but  asking  for 
protection  against  the  king  in  exchange  for  a  pledge  mean 
while  not  to  serve  his  cause.  At  last  the  archduke  plucked 
up  a  heart  and  sent  some  troops  against  the  rebels,  who  had 
constructed  two  forts  on  the  river  Demer  near  the  city  of 
Sichem.  In  vain  Velasco,  commander  of  the  expedition, 
endeavoured  to  cut  off  the  supplies  for  these  redoubts.  The 
vigour  and  audacity  of  the  rebel  cavalry  made  the  process 


292  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX, 

impossible.  Velasco  then  attempted  to  storm  the  lesser 
stronghold  of  the  two,  but  was  repulsed  with  the  loss  of  two 
hundred  killed.  Among  these  were  many  officers,  one  of 
whom.  Captain  Porto  Carrero,  was  a  near  relative  of  Fuentes. 
After  a  siege,  Velasco,  who  was  a  marshal  of  the  camp  of 
considerable  distinction,  succeeded  in  driving  the  mutineers 
out  of  the  forts  ;  who,  finding  their  position  thus  weakened, 
renewed  their  negotiations  with  Maurice.  They  at  last 
obtained  permission  from  the  prince  to  remain  under  the 
protection  of  Gertruydenberg  and  Breda  until  they  could 
ascertain  what  decision  the  archduke  would  take.  More  they 
did  not  ask  of  Maurice,  nor  did  he  require  more  of  them. 

The  mutiny,  thus  described  in  a  few  lines,  had  occupied 
nearly  a  year,  and  had  done  much  to  paralyze  for  that  period 
December,  all  ^ne  royal  operations  in  the  Netherlands.  In 
December  the  rebellious  troops  marched  out  of 
Sichem  in  perfect  order,  and  came  to  Langstraet  within  the 
territory  of  the  republic.73 

The  archduke  now  finding  himself  fairly  obliged  to  treat 
with  them  sent  an  offer  of  the  same  terms  which  had  been 
proposed  to  mutineers  on  previous  occasions.  At  first  they 
flatly  refused  to  negotiate  at  all,  but  -at  last,  with  the  permission 
of  Maurice,  who  conducted  himself  throughout  with  scrupulous 
delicacy,  and  made  no  attempts  to  induce  them  to  violate 
their  allegiance  to  the  king,  they  received  Count  Belgioso, 
the  envoy  of  the  archduke.  They  held  out  for  payment  of 
all  their  arrears  up  to  the  last  farthing,  and  insisted  on  a 
hostage  of  rank  until  the  debt  should  be  discharged.  Full 
forgiveness  of  their  rebellious  proceedings  was  added  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Their  terms  were  accepted,  and  Francisco 
Padiglia  was  assigned  as  a  hostage.  They  then  established 
themselves,  according  to  agreement,  at  Tirlemont,  which  they 
were  allowed  to  fortify  at  the  expense  of  the  province  and  to 
hold  until  the  money  for  their  back  wages  could  be  scraped 
together.  Meantime  they  received  daily  wages  and  rations 

73Bentivoglio,P.III.lib.i.399,400.    Meteren,  340, 341.    Coloma,  vii.  150™, 
aegg. 


1594.  PHILIP'S  DESIGNS  ON  THE  ENGLISH  FLEET.  293 

from  the'  Government  at  Brussels,  including  thirty  stivers  a 
day  for  each  horseman,  thirteen  crowns  a  day  for  the  Eletto, 
and  ten  crowns  a  day  for  each  counsellor,  making  in  all  five 
hundred  crowns  a  day.  And  here  they  remained,  living 
exceedingly  at  their  ease  and  enjoying  a  life  of  leisure  for 
eighteen  months,  and  until  long  after  the  death  of  the  arch 
duke,  for  it  was  not  until  the  administration  of  Cardinal 
Albert  that  the  funds,  amounting  to  three  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  crowns,  could  be  collected.74 

These  were  the  chief  military  exploits  of  the  podagric 
Perseus  in  behalf  of  the  Flemish  Andromeda. 

A  very  daring  adventure  was  however  proposed  to  the 
archduke.  Philip  calmly  suggested  that  an  expedition  should 
be  rapidly  fitted  out  in  Dunkirk,  which  should  cross  the 
channel,  ascend  the  Thames  as  far  as  Kochester,  and  burn 
the  English  fleet.  "  I  am  informed  by  persons  well  acquainted 
with  the  English  coast,"  said  the  king,  "  that  it  would  be  an 
easy  matter  for  a  few  quick-sailing  vessels  to  accomplish  this. 
Two  or  three  thousand  soldiers  might  be  landed  at  Kochester 
who  might  burn  or  sink  all  the  unarmed  vessels  they  could 
find  there,  and  the  expedition  could  return  and  sail  off  again 
before  the  people  of  the  country  could  collect  in  sufficient 
numbers  to  do  them  any  damage."  The  archduke  was 
instructed  to  consult  with  Fuentes  and  Ybarra  as  to  whether 
this  little  matter,  thus  parenthetically  indicated,  could  be 
accomplished  without  too  much  risk  and  trouble.75 

Certainly  it  would  seem  as  if  the  king  believed  in  the 
audacity,  virility,  velocity,  alacrity,  and  the  rest  of  the  twenty- 
eight  virtues  of  his  governor-general,  even  more  seriously 
than  did  John  Baptist  Houwaerts.  The  unfortunate  archduke 
•  would  have  needed  to  be,  in  all  earnestness,  a  mythological 
demigod  to  do  the  work  required  of  him.  With  the  best 
part  of  his  army  formally  maintained  by  him  in  recognised 
mutiny,  with  the  great  cities  of  the  Netherlands  yielding 
themselves  to  the  republic  with  hardly  an  attempt  on  the 

74  Bentivoglio,  et  al.,  ubi  sup. 

76  Philip  to  Ernest,  19  Feb.  1594.    (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 


294  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP. 

part  of  the  royal  forces  to  relieve  them,  and  with  the  country 
which  he  was  supposed  to  govern,  the  very  centre  of  the 
obedient  provinces,  ruined,  sacked,  eaten  up  by  the  soldiers 
of  Spain  ;  villages,  farmhouses,  gentlemen's  castles,  churches 
plundered  ;  the  male  population  exposed  to  daily  butchery, 
and  the  women  to  outrages  worse  than  death  ;76  it  seemed 
like  the  bitterest  irony  to  propose  that  he  should  seize  that 
moment  to  outwit  the  English  and  Dutch  sea-kings  who  were 
perpetually  cruising  in  the  channel,  and  to  undertake  a 
"beard-singeing"  expedition  such  as  even  the  dare-devil 
Drake  would  hardly  have  attempted. 

Such  madcap  experiments  might  perhaps  one  day,  in  the 
distant  future,  be  tried  with  reasonable  success,  but  hardly 
at  the  beck  of  a  Spanish  king  sitting  in  his  easy  chair  a 
thousand  miles  off,  nor  indeed  by  the  servants  of  any  king 
whatever. 

The  plots  of  murder  arranged  in  Brussels  during  this 
administration  were  on  a  far  more  extensive  scale  than  were 
the  military  plans. 

The  Count  of  Fuentes,  general  superintendant  of  foreign 
affairs,  was  especially  charged  with  the  department  of  assassi 
nation.  This  office  was  no  sinecure;  for  it  involved  much 
correspondence,  and  required  great  personal  attention  to 
minute  details.  Philip,  a  consummate  artist  in  this  branch 
of  industry,  had  laid  out  a  good  deal  of  such  work  which 
he  thought  could  best  be  carried  out  in  and  from  the  Nether 
lands.  Especially  it  was  desirable  to  take  off,  by  poison  or 


76  Such  pictures  are  painted  not 
only  by  republican  contemporaries, 
but  by  the  governors  and  grandees 
of  the  obedient  provinces.  "  Como 
va  arruinado,"  wrote  the  royal  gover 
nor  of  Hainault,  Prince  Chimay,  to 
the  king,  "  comido,  saqueado,  saque- 
aran  las  aldeas,  casas  de  gentiles 


1574.     (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

"  As  to  getting  a  good  deal  of  money 
out  of  the  provinces  here  by  gentle 
ness  and  persuasion,  according  to  your 
Majesty's  suggestion,"  wrote  the  arch 
duke,  "  your  Majesty  must  be  unde 
ceived.  Nothing  can  be  got  from  the 
provinces,because  the  whole  patrimony 


hombres  y  iglesias,  se  matan  los  horn-   thereof  is  consumed,  the  private  for- 


bres,  se  desvirgen  las  mozas  y  mugeres 
y  otros  mil  maldades  que  se  cometen 
cada  dia  a  mi  pesar  y  sin  que  de  ellas 
se  ha  hecho  alguna  justicia  aunque 
me  soy  quejado  y  lanientado  muchas 
reces." — Chimay  to  Philip,  17  March. 


tunes  are  destroyed,  and  everything  is 
in  such  a  brittle  condition  that  nothing 
whatever  can  be  undertaken  in  these 
regions." — Instruccion  que  el  Arch(i"l; 
Ernesto  dio  al  Bon  Max  Dietnchstein, 
12  April,  1594.  (Ibid.) 


1594.  PHILIP'S  ASSASSINATION  PROJECTS.  295 

otherwise,  Henry  IV.,  Queen  Elizabeth,  Maurice  of  Nassau, 
Olden-Barneveld,  St.  Aldegonde,  and  other  less  conspicuous 
personages. 

Henry's  physician-in-chief,  De  la  Riviere,  was  at  that  time 
mainly  occupied  with  devising  antidotes  to  poison,  which  he 
well  knew  was  offered  to  his  master  on  frequent  occasions, 
and  in  the  most  insidious  ways.  Andrada,  the  famous 
Portuguese  poisoner,  amongst  others  is  said,  under  direc 
tion  of  Fuentes  and  Ybarra,  to  have  attempted  his  life  by  a 
nosegay  of  roses  impregnated  with  so  subtle  a  powder  that 
its  smell  alone  was  relied  upon  to  cause  death,77  and  De  la 
Riviere  was  doing  his  best  to  search  for  a  famous  Saxon  drug, 
called  fable-powder,  as  a  counter-poison.  "  The  Turk  alarms 
us,  and  well  he  may,"  said  a  diplomatic  agent  of  Henry,  "  but 
the  Spaniard  allows  us  not  to  think  of  the  Turk.  And  what 
a  strange  manner  is  this  to  exercise  one's  enmities  and 
vengeance  by  having  recourse  to  such  damnable  artifices, 
,  after  force  and  arms  have  not  succeeded,  and  to  attack  the 
person  of  princes  by  poisonings  and  assassinations/'78 

A  most  elaborate  attempt  upon  the  life  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
early  in  this  year  came  near  being  successful.  A  certain 
Portuguese  Jew,  Dr.  Lopez,  had  for  some  time  been  her 
physician-in-ordinaiy.  He  had  first  been  received  into 
her  service  on  the  recommendation  of  Don  Antonio,  the 
pretender,  and  had  the  reputation  of  great  learning  and  skill. 
With  this  man  Count  Fuentes  and  Stephen  Ybarra,  chief  of 
the  financial  department  at  Brussels,  had  a  secret  understand 
ing.  Their  chief  agent  was  Emanuel  Andrada,  who  was  also 
in  close  communication  with  Bernardino  de  Mendoza  and 
other  leading  personages  of  the  Spanish  court.  Two  years 
previously,  Philip,  by  the  hands  <*f  Andrada,  had  sent  a  very 
valuable  ring  of  rubies  and  diamonds  as  a  present  to  Lopez, 
and  the  doctor  had  bound  himself  to  do  any  service  for  the 
King  of  Spain  that  might  be  required  of  him.  Andrada 
accordingly  wrote  to  Mendoza  that  he  had  gained  over  this 
eminent  physician,  but  that  as  Lopez  was  poor  and  laden  with 
"  Meteren,  xvi.  334,  "  Bongar's  Lettres,  p.  271, 


296  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

debt,  a  high  price  would  be  required  for  his  work.  Hereupon 
Fuentes  received  orders  from  the  King  of  Spain  to  give  the 
Jew  all  that  he  could  in  reason  demand,  if  he  would  undertake 
to  poison  the  queen.79 

It  now  became  necessary  to  handle  the  matter  with  great 
delicacy,  and  Fuentes  and  Ybarra  entered  accordingly  into  a 
correspondence,  not  with  Lopez,  but  with  a  certain  Ferrara  de 
Gama.  These  letters  were  entrusted  to  one  Emanuel  Lewis 
de  Tinoco,  secretly  informed  of  the  plot,  for  delivery  to 
Ferrara.  Fuentes  charged  Tinoco  to  cause  Ferrara  to  en 
courage  Lopez  to  poison  her  Majesty  of  England,  that  they 
might  all  have  "  a  merry  Easter."80  Lopez  was  likewise 
requested  to  inform  the  King  of  Spain  when  he  thought  he 
could  accomplish  the  task.  The  doctor  ultimately  agreed  to 
do  the  deed  for  fifty  thousand  crowns,  but  as  he  had  daughters 
and  was  an  affectionate  parent,  he  stipulated  for  a  handsome 
provision  in  marriage  for  those  young  ladies.81  The  terms 
were  accepted,  but  Lopez  wished  to  be  assured  of  the  money 
first. 

"  Having  once  undertaken  the  work,"  said  Lord  Burghley, 
if  he  it  were,  "he  was  so  greedy  to  perform  it  that  he  would 
ask  Ferrara  every  day,  i  When  will  the  money  come  ?  I  am 
ready  to  do  the  service  if  the  answer  were  come  out  of 
Spain/"82 

But  Philip,  as  has  been  often  seen,  was  on  principle  averse 
to  paying  for  work  before  it  had  been  done.  Some  delay 
occurring,  and  the  secret,  thus  confided  to  so  many,  having 
floated  as  it  were  imperceptibly  into  the  air,  Tinoco  was 
arrested  on  suspicion  before  he  had  been  able  to  deliver  the 
letters  of  Fuentes  and  Ybarra  to  Ferrara,  for  Ferrara,  too,  had 
been  imprisoned  before  the  arrival  of  Tinoco.  The  whole 
correspondence  was  discovered,  and  both  Ferrara  and  Tinoco 
confessed  the  plot.  Lopez,  when  first  arrested,  denied  his 

79  Account  of  Dr.  Lopez's  treason — 


doubtless  by  Lord  Burghley — in  Mur- 
din's  State  Papers,  ii.  669-675.  Me- 
teren,xvi.334,«e^.  Reyd,ix.247,  248. 
80  Account  of  Dr.  Lopez's  treason, 
&C. 


81  "  And  further  to  set  him  on,  he 
was  to  be  put  in  mind  that  he  had 
daughters  to  marry ,  for  whom  the  king 
would  provide,  and  what  great  honours 
and  rewards  he  should  have. ' — Ibid. 

82  Ibid. 


1594  EXECUTION  OP  THE  TRAITORS.  297 

guilt  very  stoutly,  but  being  confronted  with  Ferrara,  who 
told  the  whole  story  to  his  face  in  presence  of  the  judges,  he 
at  last  avowed  the  crime.83 

They  were  all  condemned,  executed,  and  quartered  at 
London  in  the  spring  of  1594.  The  queen  wished  to  send  a 
special  envoy  to  the  archduke  at  Brussels,  to  complain  that 
Secretary  of  State  Cristoval  de  Moura,  Count  Fuentes,  and 
Finance.  Minister  Ybarra — all  three  then  immediately  about 
his  person — were  thus  implicated  in  the  plot  against  her  life, 
to  demand  their  punishment,  or  else,  in  case  of  refusal,  to 
convict  the  king  and  the  archduke  as  accomplices  in  the 
crime.84  Safe  conduct  was  requested  for  such  an  envoy, 
which  was  refused  by  Ernest  as  an  insulting  proposition  both 
to  his  uncle  and  himself.  The  queen  accordingly  sent  word 
to  President  Richardot  by  one  of  her  council,  that  the  whole 
story  would  be  published,  and  this  was  accordingly  done.85 

Early  in  the  spring  of  this  same  year,  a  certain  Eenichon, 
priest  and  schoolmaster  of  Namur,  was  summoned  from  his 
school  to  a  private  interview  with  Count  Berlaymont.  That 
nobleman  very  secretly  informed  the  priest  that  the  King  of 
Spain  wished  to  make  use  of  him  in  an  affair  of  great  impor 
tance,  and  one  which  would  be  very  profitable  to  himself. 
The  pair  then  went  together  to  Brussels,  and  proceeded 

83  Account  of  Dr.  Lopez's  treason.  !  reign  a  princess  as  ever  the  world  did 
Meteren,  Reyd,  iM  sup.  M  Reyd,  248.  !  enjoy,  we  are  loath,  in  reverend  regard 


85  Ibid.  "  But  because  by  fame  and 
hearsay,"  saysthe  writer  of  the  account, 
no  doubt  Lord  Burghley,  "things  take 
not  always  a  true  report,  and  I  know 
the  quality  of  those  treasons  are  of  the 
sort  so  heinous  as  all  sorts  of  men  de- 


of  the  name  and  title  of  royal  and 
supreme  dignity,  to  have  him  named, 
otherwise  than  cannot  be  avoided  in  the 
simple  narration  of  the  cause,  and  in 
deed,  if  I  may  utter  my  conceit,  a 
greater  indignity  nor  breach  of  honour 


sire  to  be  truly  informed  of  the  same,  !  never  was  given  to  that  high  degree, 
I  have  set  down  a  plain  and  short  de-  j  violatedby  the  hands  of  him  who  should 
claration  of  the  treason  of  this  perj  ured  j  chiefly  sustain  that  calling.  I  leave  him 
murthering  traitor,  without  alleging  :  to  the  judgment  of  God,  Kingof  kings, 


proofs,  which  maybe  done  hereafter  at 
large, and  also  that  the  prac 
tices  were  set  at  work,  as  manifestly 
appeared  to  authentical  proof,  by  him 
who  either  in  respect  of  his  calling  or 


who  taketh  account  of  their  doings. 
.  .  .  What  may  be  thought  of  them 
who  use  so  high,  so  holy,  so  reverent 
a  thing  (the  profession  of  religion)  to 
cloke  ambition,  revenge,  and  wicked 


of  her  Majesty's  deserving,  should  least    practices  ?    Truly  the  age  wherein  we 
of  all  others  have  consented  to  so  un-   are  born  shall  endure  hereafter  note  of 


princely  an  act.  Yet  it  is  a  strange 
thing  to  consider,  that  in  so  evident 
a  matter,touching  as  virtuous  and  sove- 


reproach  for  this  kind  of  impiety  and 
profanation."  Most  truly,  O  Lord 
I  High  Treasurer! 


298  tHE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

straightway  to  the  palace.  They  were  secretly  admitted  to 
the  apartments  of  the  archduke,  but  the  priest,  meaning  to 
follow  his  conductor  into  the  private  chamber,  where  he 
pretended  to  recognize  the  person  of  Ernest,  was  refused 
admittance.  The  door  was,  however,  not  entirely  closed, 
and  he  heard,  as  he  declared,  the  conversation  between  his 
Highness  and  Berlaymont,  which  was  carried  on  partly  in 
Latin  and  partly  in  Spanish.  He  heard  them  discussing  the 
question — so  he  stated — of  the  recompense  to  be  awarded 
for  the  business  about  to  be  undertaken,  and  after  a  brief 
conversation,  distinctly  understood  the  archduke  to  say,  as 
the  count  was  approaching  the  door,  "I  will  satisfy  him 
abundantly  and  with  interest."86 

Berlaymont  then  invited  his  clerical  guest  to  supper — so 
ran  his  statement — and,  after  that  repast  was  finished,  in 
formed  him  that  he  was  requested  by  the  archduke  to  kill 
Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau.  For  this  piece  of  work  he  was  to 
receive  one  hundred  Philip-dollars  in  hand,  and  fifteen 
thousand  more,  which  were  lying  ready  for  him,  so  soon  as 
the  deed  should  be  done. 

The  schoolmaster  at  first  objected  to  the  enterprise,  but 
ultimately  yielded  to  the  persuasions  of  the  count.  He  was 
informed  that  Maurice  was  a  friendly,  familiar  gentleman, 
and  that  there  would  be  opportunities  enough  for  carrying 
out  the  project  if  he  took  his  time.  He  was  to  buy  a  good 
pair  of  pistols  and  remove  to  the  Hague,  where  he  was  to  set 
up  a  school,  and  wait  for  the  arrival  of  his  accomplices,  of 
whom  there  were  six.  Berlaymont  then  caused  to  be  sum 
moned  and  introduced  to  the  pedagogue  a  man  whom  he 
described  as  one  of  the  six.  The  new  comer,  hearing  that 
Benichon  had  agreed  to  the  propositions  made  to  him, 
hailed  him  cordially  as  comrade  and  promised  to  follow  him 
very  soon  into  Holland.  Berlaymont  then  observed  that 
there  were  several  personages  to  be  made  away  with,  besides 
Prince  Maurice— especially  Barneveld  and  St.  Aldegonde — 

s«  Bor,  III.  815,  817.  Reyd,  ix.  223-228.  Meteren,  xvi.  335.  "  Cumuli 
et  largo  foenore  satisfaciam." 


1594. 


PLOT  AGAINST   PRINCE  MAURICE. 


299 


and  that  the  six  assassins  had;  since  the  time  of  the  Duke  of 
Parma;  been  kept  in  the  pay  of  the  King  of  Spain  as  nobles, 
to  be  employed  as  occasion  should  serve. 

His  new  comrade  accompanied  Kenichon  to  the  cana/  boat, 
conversing  by  the  way,  and  informed  him  that  they  were 
both  to  be  sent  to  Leyden  in  order  to  entice  away  and  murder 
the  young  brother  of  Maurice,  Frederic  Henry,  then  at  school 
at  that  place,  even  as  Philip  William,  eldest  of  all  the  bro 
thers,  had  been  kidnapped  five-and-twenty  years  before  from 
the  same  town. 

Eenichon  then  disguised  himself  as  a  soldier,  proceeded 
to  Antwerp,  where  he  called  himself  Michael  de  Triviere,  and 
thence  made  his  way  to  Breda,  provided  with  letters  from 
Berlaymont.  He  was,  however,  arrested  on  suspicion  not 
long  after  his  arrival  there,  and  upon  trial  the  whole  plot 
was  discovered.  Having  unsuccessfully  attempted  to  hang 
himself,  he  subsequently,  without  torture,  made  a  full  and 
minute  confession,  and  was  executed  on  the  3rd  June, 
1594.87 

Later  in  the  year,  one  Pierre  du  Four,  who  had  been  a 
soldier  both  in  the  States  and  the  French  service,  was  en- 


87  Bor,  Reyd,  Meteren,  ubi  sup,  "  I 
have  been,  with  others  of  the  council 
of  state,  twice  or  thrice  at  the  exami 
nation  of  the  prisoner.  He  declareth  his 
coming  to  have  been  about  an  attempt 
against  Breda  (which  is  taken  to  be 
but  a  made  and  coloured  thing),  and 
withal  to  see  if  he  could  kill  the  Count 
Maurice — that  Berlaymont  was  the 
mover  and  Ernestus  privy  to  all,  but 
as  yet  the  truth  of  the  practice  and  cir 
cumstances  he  openeth  not  flatly ,  which 
will  be  drawn  from  him  ere  he  be  left. 
Of  profession  he  is  a  priest  and  born 
in  Namur,  having  named  six  others 
employed  about  the  same  mischief, but 
the  fellow  is  subtle  and  ready  in  his 
words  to  colour  and  answer  anything, 
so  that  all  is  not  to  be  credited  that 
cometh  from  him." — Gilpin  to  Burgh- 
ley,  2  April,  1594.  (S.  P.  Office  MS.) 

The  commissioner  alluded  to  the 
forthcoming  answer  of  the  States-Ge 
neral  in  regard  to  the  proposed  nego 


tiations  for  peace,  in  which  these  mur 
derous  attempts  of  the  Spanish  king 
and  his  representatives  were  to  be 
hurled  in  his  face  with  terrible  em 
phasis,  and  spoke  of  them  with  the  in 
dignation  of  an  honest  Englishman  : — • 
"The  States-General,  not  doubting 
but  that  the  discovery  of  the  said  mur 
der,  when  it  shall  be  made  known  and 
published  (whereby  it  may  appear  to 
the  world  what  a  most  barbarous  and 
abominable  course  the  King  of  Spain 
and  his  do  hold  by  practices  against 
i  the  persons  of  kings  and  princes),  will 
j  not  only  strengthen  and  confirm  the 
people  here  in  their  resolution  to  con 
tinue  their  defence  and  wars,  but  make 
all  other  potentates  and  countries  dis 
like  and  detest  such  heathenish  and 
wicked  attempts  and  proceedings  to 
the  perpetual  dishonour,  reproach,  and 
infamy  of  the  authors  and  dealers."— 
Ibid. 


300  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XYY. 

gaged  by  General  La  Motte  and  Counsellor  Assonleville  to 
attempt  the  assassination  of  Prince  Maurice.88  La  Motte  took 
the  man  to  the  palace,  and  pretended  at  least  to  introduce 
him  to  the  chamber  of  the  archduke,  who  was  said  to  be 
lying  ill  in  bed.  Du  Four  was  advised  to  enrol  himself  in 
the  body-guard  at  the  Hague,  and  to  seek  an  opportunity 
when  the  prince  went  hunting,  or  was  mounting  his  horse,  or 
was  coming  from  church,  or  at  some  such  unguarded  moment, 
to  take  a  shot  at  him.  "  Will  you  do  what  I  ask/7  demanded 
from  the  bed  the  voice  of  him  who  was  said  to  be  Ernest, 
"will  you  kill  this  tyrant  ?"  "I  will,"  replied  the  soldier. 
"  Then  my  son/'  was  the  parting  benediction  of  the  supposed 
archduke,  "you  will  go  straight  to  paradise,"89 

Afterwards  he  received  good  advice  from  Assonleville,  and 
was  assured  that  if  he  would*  come  and  hear  a  mass  in  the 
royal  chapel  next  morning,  that  religious  ceremony  would 
make  him  invisible  when  he  should  make  his  attempt  on  the 
life  of  Maurice,  and  while  he  should  be  effecting  his  escape.90 
The  poor  wretch  accordingly  came  next  morning  to  chapel, 
where  this  miraculous  mass  was  duly  performed,  and  he  then 
received  a  certain  portion  of  his  promised  reward  in  ready 
money.  He  was  also  especially  charged,  in  case  he  should 
be  arrested,  not  to  make  a  confession — as  had  been  done  by 
those  previously  employed  in  such  work — as  all  complicity 
with  him  on  part  of  his  employers  would  certainly  be 
denied.91 

The  miserable  dupe  was  arrested,  convicted,  executed ; 
17  Nov.  an(i  °f  course  the  denial  was  duly  made  on  the 
1594  part  of  the  archduke,  La  Motte,  and  Assonleville. 
It  was  also  announced,  on  behalf  of  Ernest,  that  some  one 
else,  fraudulently  impersonating  his  Highness,  had  lain  in  the 
bed  to  which  the  culprit  had  been  taken,  and  every  one  must 
hope  that  the  statement  was  a  true  one.92 

Enough  has   been  given   to  show  the  peculiar  school  of 

*8  Meteren  xvi.  335.    Bor,  III.  882,  883.    Reyd,  ix.  247. 
89  Ibid.     "  Figliol  mio,  se  farete  quello  che  m'avete  promesso  d'amazzar  quel 
tyranno,  andarete  diritto  in  Paradise."       w  Bor,  ubi  sup.       n  Ibid.      9B  Ibid- 


1594  ATTEMPTED  NEGOTIATION.  301 

statesmanship  according  to  the  precepts  of  which  the  internal 
concerns  and  foreign  affairs  of  the  obedient  Netherlands  were 
now  administered.  Poison  and  pistols  in  the  hands  of  obscure 
priests  and  deserters  were  relied  on  to  bring  about  great 
political  triumphs,  while  the  mutinous  royal  armies,  entrenched 
and  defiant,  were-  extorting  capitulations  from  their  own 
generals  and  their  own  sovereign  upon  his  own  soil. 

Such  a  record  as  this  seems  rather  like  the  exaggeration  of 
a  diseased  fancy,  seeking  to  pander  to  a  corrupt  public  taste 
which  feeds  greedily  upon  horrors  ;  but,  unfortunately,  it  is 
derived  from  the  register  of  high  courts  of  justice,  from  diplo 
matic  correspondence,  and  from  the  confessions,  without  tor 
ture  or  hope  of  free  pardon,  of  criminals.  For  a  crowned 
king  and  his  high  functionaries  and  generals  to  devote  so 
much  of  their  time,  their  energies,  and  their  money  to  the 
murder  of  brother  and  sister  sovereigns,  and  other  illustrious 
personages,  was  not  to  make  after  ages  in  love  with  the 
monarchic  and  aristocratic  system,  at  least  as  thus  admin 
istered.  Popular  governments  may  be  deficient  in  polish, 
but  a  system  resting  for  its  chief  support  upon  bribery  and 
murder  cannot  be  considered  lovely  by  any  healthy  mind. 
And  this  is  one  of  the  lessons  to  be  derived  from  the  history 
of  Philip  II.  and  of  the  Holy  League. 

But  besides  mutiny  and  assassination  there  were  also  some 
feeble  attempts  at  negotiation  to  characterize  the  Ernestian 
epoch  at  Brussels.  The  subject  hardly  needs  more  than  a 
passing  allusion. 

Two  Flemish  juris-consults,  Otto  Hertius  and  Jerome 
Comans,  offered  their  services  to  the  archduke  in  the  peace 
making  department.  Ernest  accepted  the  proposition, 
— although  it  was  strongly  opposed  by  Fuentes,  who  relied 
upon  the  more  practical  agency  of  Dr.  Lopez,  Andrada, 
Renichon,  and  the  rest — and  the  peace-makers  accordingly 
made  their  appearance  at  the  Hague,  under  safe  conduct,  and 
provided  with  very  conciliatory  letters  from  his  Highness  to 
the  States-General.93  In  all  ages  and  under  all  circumstances 

93  Bentivoglio,  P.  III.  lib.  i.  p.  390.     Bor,  III.  810-812. 


302  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

it  is  safe  to  enlarge,  with  whatever  eloquence  may  be  at  com 
mand,  upon  the  blessings  of  peace  and  upon  the  horrors  of  war  ; 
for  the  appeal  is  not  difficult  to  make,  and  a  response  is 
certain  in  almost  every  human  breast.  But  it  is  another 
matter  to  descend  from  the  general  to  the  particular,  and  to 
demonstrate  how  the  desirable  may  be  attained  and  the 
horrible  averted.  The  letters  of  Ernest  were  full  of  benignity 
and  affection,  breathing  a  most  ardent  desire  that  the  miser 
able  war,  now  a  quarter  of  a  century  old,  should  be  then  and 
there  terminated.  But  not  one  atom  of  concession  was  offered, 
no  whisper  breathed  that  the  republic,  if  it  should  choose  to 
lay  down  its  victorious  arms,  and  renounce  its  dearly  gained 
independence,  should  share  any  different  fate  from  that  under 
which  it  saw  the  obedient  provinces  gasping  before  its  eyes. 
To  renounce  religious  and  political  liberty  and  self-govern 
ment,  and  to  submit  unconditionally  to  the  authority  of 
Philip  II.  as  administered  by  Ernest  and  Fuentes,  was  hardly 
to  be  expected  as  the  result  of  the  three  years'  campaigns  of 
Maurice  of  Nassau. 

The  two  doctors  of  law  laid  the  affectionate  common-places 
of  the  archduke  before  the  States-General,  each  of  them 
making,  moreover,  a  long  and  flowery  oration  in  which  the 
same  protestations  of  good  will  and  hopes  of  future  good- 
fellowship  were  distended  to  formidable  dimensions  by  much 
windy  rhetoric.  The  accusations  which  had  been  made  against 
the  Government  of  Brussels  of  complicity  in  certain  projects 
of  assassination  were  repelled  with  virtuous  indignation.94 

The  answer  of  the  States-General  was  wrathful  and  de 
cided.95  They  informed  the  commissioners  that 
they  had  taken  up  arms  for  a  good  cause  and  meant 
to  retain  them  in  their  hands.  They  expressed  their  thanks 
for  the  expressions  of  good  will  which  had  been  offered,  but 
avowed  their  right  to  complain  before  God  and  the  world  of 
those  who  under  pretext  of  peace  were  attempting  to  shed 
the  innocent  blood  of  Christians,  and  to  procure  the  ruin  and 
destruction  of  the  Netherlands.  To  this  end  the  state-council 

M  Bor,  III.  810-812.    95  See  the  document  in  full  in  Bor,  III.  813-815. 


1594.  REPLY  OF  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  303 

of  Spain  was  more  than  ever  devoted,  being  guilty  of  the 
most  cruel  and  infamous  proceedings  and  projects.  They 
threw  out  a  rapid  and  stinging  summary  of  their  wrongs  ; 
and  denounced  with  scorn  the  various  hollow  attempts  at 
negotiation  during  the  preceding  twenty-five  years.  Coming 
down  to  the  famous  years  1587  and  1588,  they  alluded  in 
vehement  terms  to  the  fraudulent  peace  propositions  which, 
had  been  thrown  as  a  veil  over  the  Spanish  invasion  of 
England  and  the  Armada  ;  and  they  glanced  at  the  media 
tion-projects  of  the  emperor  in  1591  at  the  desire  of  Spain, 
while  armies  were  moving  in  force  from  Germany,  Italy,  and 
the  Netherlands  to  crush  the  King  of  France,  in  order  that 
Philip  might  establish  his  tyranny  over  all  kings,  princes, 
provinces,  and  republics.  That  the  Spanish  Government  was 
secretly  dealing  with  the  emperor  and  other  German  poten 
tates  for  the  extension  of  his  universal  empire  appeared  from 
intercepted  letters  of  the  king — copies  of  which  were  com 
municated — from  which  it  was  sufficiently  plain  that  the 
purpose  of  his  Majesty  was  not  to  bestow  peace  and  tranquillity 
upon  the  Netherlands.  The  names  of  Fuentes,  Clemente, 
Ybarra,  were  sufficient  in  themselves  to  destroy  any  such 
illusion.  They  spoke  in  blunt  terms  of  the  attempt  of  Dr. 
Lopez  to  poison  Queen  Elizabeth,  at  the  instigation  of  Count 
Fuentes,  for  fifty  thousand  crowns  to  be  paid  by  the  King 
of  Spain  :  they  charged  upon  the  same  Fuentes  and  upon 
Ybarra  that  they  had  employed  the  same  Andrada  to  murder 
the  King  of  France  with  a  nosegay  of  roses  ;  and  they  alluded 
further  to  the  revelations  of  Michael  Kenichon,  who  was  to 
murder  Maurice  of  Nassau  and  kidnap  Frederic  William, 
even  as  their  father  and  brother  had  been  already  murdered 
and  kidnapped.96 

For  such  reasons  the  archduke  might  understand  by  what 
persons  and  what  means  the  good  people  of  the  Netherlands 
were  deceived,  and  how  difficult  it  was  for  the  States  to  forget 
such  lessons,  or  to  imagine  anything  honest  in  the  present 
propositions. 

vox.  II-,  *        "Bor,  III.  813-815. 


304 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXX. 


The  States  declared  themselves,  on  the  contrary,  more 
called  upon  than  ever  before  to  be  upon  the  watch  against 
the  stealthy  proceedings  of  the  Spanish  council  of  state — 
bearing  in  mind  the  late  execrable  attempts  at  assassination, 
and  the  open  war  which  was  still  carried  on  against  the  King 
of  France. 

And  although  it  was  said  that  his  Highness  was  displeased 
with  such  murderous  and  hostile  proceedings,  still  it  was 
accessary  for  the  States  to  beware  of  the  nefarious  projects  of 
the  King  of  Spain  and  his  council.97 

After  the  conversion  of  Henry  IV.  to  the  Koman  Church 
27  May  ^ad  ^een  duly  accomplished  that  monarch  had  sent 

1594.  a  secret  envoy  to  Spain.  The  mission  of  this  agent 
— De  Varenne  by  name — excited  intense  anxiety  and  sus 
picion  in  England  and  Holland  and  among  the  Protestants  of 
France  and  Germany.  It  was  believed  that  Henry  had  not 
only  made  a  proposition  of  a  separate  peace  with  Philip,  but 
that  he  had  formally  but  mysteriously  demanded  the  hand  of 
the  Infanta  in  marriage.  Such  a  catastrophe  as  this  seemed 
to  the  heated  imaginations  of  the  great  body  of  Calvinists 
throughout  Europe,  who  had  so  faithfully  supported  the  King 
of  Navarre  up  to  the  moment  of  his  great  apostasy,  the  most 
cruel  and  deadly  treachery  of  all.  That  the  princess  with 
the  many  suitors  should  come  to  reign  over  France  after  all 
— not  as  the  bride  of  her  own  father,  not  as  the  queen-consort 
of  Ernest  the  Habsburger  or  of  Guise  the  Lorrainer,  but  as 
the  lawful  wife  of  Henry  the  Huguenot — seemed  almost  too 
astounding  for  belief,  even  amid  the  chances  and  changes  of 
that  astonishing  epoch.  Yet  Duplessis  Mornay  avowed  that 
the  project  was  entertained,  and  that  he  had  it  from  the  very 
lips  of  the  secret  envoy  who  was  to  negotiate  the  marriage. 
"  La  Varenne  is  on  his  way  to  Spain,"  wrote  Duplessis  to  the 


"  Bor,  III.  813-815.  The  archduke, 
as  might  be  supposed,  was  not  pleased 
with  the  reply  of  the  States,  and 
characterised  it  as  so  arrogant  and 
outrageous  that  he  would  not  have 
allowed  his  Majesty's  ears  to  be  of 


fended  by  it  had  not  the  States,  like 
insolent  people  as  they  were,  already 
caused  it  to  be  printed  and  published. 
Ernest  to  Philip,  4  Sept.  1594  (Arch, 
de  Simancas  MS.) 


1594.  MENDOZA'S   REPORT   TO  PHILIP.  305 

Duke  of  Bouillon,  "  in  company  with  a  gentleman  of  Don 
Bernardino  de  Mendoza,  who  brought  the  first  overtures.  He 
is  to  bring  back  the  portrait  of  the  Infanta.  "Pis  said  that  the 
marriage  is  to  be  on  condition  that  the  Queen  and  the  Nether-? 
lands  are  comprised  in  the  peace,  but  you  know  that  this 
cannot  be  satisfactorily  arranged  for  those  two  parties.  All 
this  was  once  guess-work,  but  is  now  history."  * 

That  eminent  diplomatist  and  soldier  Mendoza  had  already 
on  his  return  from  France  given  the  King  of  Spain  to  under 
stand  that  there  were  no  hopes  of  his  obtaining  the  French 
crown  either  for  himself  or  for  his  daughter,  that  all  the  money 
lavished  on  the  chiefs  of  the  League  was  thrown  away,  and  that 
all  their  promises  were  idle  wind.  Mendoza  in  consequence 
had  fallen  into  contempt  at  court,  but  Philip,  observing 
apparently  that  there  might  have  been  something  correct  in 
Ms  statements,  had  recently  recalled  him,  and,  notwith 
standing  his  blindness  and  other  infirmities,  was  disposed  to 
make  use  of  him  in  secret  negotiations.  Mendoza  had 
accordingly  sent  a  confidential  agent  to  Henry  IV.  offering 
his  good  offices,  now  that  the  king  had  returned  to  the  bosom 
of  the  Church. 

This  individual,  whose  name  was  Nunez,  was  admitted  by 
De  Bethune  (afterwards  the  famous  Due  de  Sully)  to  the 
presence  of  the  king,  but  De  Bethune,  believing  it  probable 
that  the  Spaniard  had  been  sent  to  assassinate  Henry,  held 
both  the  hands  of  the  emissary  during  the  whole  interview, 
besides  subjecting  him  to  a  strict  personal  visitation  before 
hand.  Nunez  stated  that  he  was  authorized  to  propose  to 
his  Majesty  a  marriage  with  the  Infanta  Clara  Isabella,  and 
Henry,  much  to  the  discontent  of  De  Bethune,  listened  eagerly 
to  the  suggestion,  and  promised  to  send  a  secret  agent  to 
Spain  to  confer  on  the  subject  with  Mendoza. 

The  choice  he  made  of  La  Varenne,  whose  real  name  was 
Guillaume  Fouquet,  for  this  mission  was  still  more  offensive 


98  "  Je  le  sals  de  la  bouche  du  por- 
teur  qui  ne  le  m'osa  deguiser  parceque 
je  monstrai  en  etre  adverti,  .  ,  .  ,  , 

VQfc,  III,— X 


c'etait  alors  devination,  maintenant 
histoire." — Mem.  et  Corresp.  iv.  6Q3> 
18  Sept.  1593. 


306  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

to  De  Bethune.  Fouquet  had  originally  been  a  cook  in  the 
service  of  Madame  Catherine,  and  was  famous  for  his  talent 
for  larding  poultry,  but  he  had  subsequently  entered  the 
household  of  Henry,  where  he  had  been  employed  in  the  most 
degrading  service  which  one  man  can  render  to  another." 

On  his  appointment  to  this  office  of  secret  diplomacy  he 
assumed  all  the  airs  of  an  ambassador,  while  Henry  took 
great  pains  to  contradict  the  reports  which  were  spread  as  to 
the  true  nature  of  this  mission  to  Spain.  10° 

Duplessis  was,  in  truth,  not  very  far  wrong  in  his  conjec 
tures,  but,  as  might  be  supposed',  Henry  was  most  anxious  to 
conceal  these  secret  negotiations  with  his  Catholic  Majesty 
from  the  Huguenot  chiefs  whom  he  had  so  recently  deserted. 
"  This  is  all  done  without  the  knowledge  of  the  Duke  of 
Bouillon/'  said  Calvaert,  "or  at  least  under  a  very  close 
disguise,  as  he  himself  keenly  feels  and  confesses  to  me."  101 
The  envoy  of  the  republic,  as  well  as  the  leaders  of  the  Pro 
testant  party  in  France,  were  resolved  if  possible  to  break  off 
these  dark  and  dangerous  intrigues,  the  nature  of  which  they 
so  shrewdly  suspected,  and  to  substitute  for  them  an  open 
rupture  of  Henry  with  the  King  of  Spain,  and  a  formal  decla 
ration  of  war  against  him.  None  of  the  diplomatists  or 
political  personages  engaged  in  these  great  affairs,  in  which 
the  whole  world  was  so  deeply  interested,  manifested  more 
sagacity  and  insight  on  this  occasion  than  did  the  Dutch 
Statesmen.  We  have  seen  that  even  Sir  Edward  Stafford 

99  "  La  Varenne,"  said  Madame  Ca- 1  out  of  the  kitchen  of  Madame  the 
therine  on  one  occasion,  "  tu  as  plus  |  king's  sister." — Memorials,  i.  380. 


gagne  a  porter  les  poulets  de  mon 
frere,  qu'a  piquer  les  miens."  Me- 
moires  de  Sully,  Liv.  vi.  p.  296,  note  6. 
He  accumulated  a  large  fortune  in 
these  dignified  pursuits — having,  ac- 


10°  Mem.  de  Sully,  ubi  sup. 

101  Deventer.  Gedenkstukken,  &c 
ii.  37.  In  this  most  valuable  contribu 
tion  to  the  history  of  the  Netherlands 
and  of  Europe,  the  learned  editor  has 


cording  to  Win  wood,  landed  estates  to  I  been  the  first  to  give — so  far  as  I  am 
the  annual  amount  of  sixty  thousand  aware — the  true  history  of  this  re- 
francs  a-year— and  gave  large  dowries  markable  negotiation.  The  accounts 
to  his  daughters,  whom  he  married  by  contemporary  historians  show  the 
into  noblest  families  ;  "  which  is  the  writers  to  have  been  kept  as  much  in 
more  remarkable,"  adds  Winwood,  I  the  dark  as  the  English  envoy  was,  an 
"  considering  the  services  wherein  he  j  extract  from  whose  private  letter  to 
is  employed  about  the  king,  which  is  Lord  Burghley  will  be  found  in  note 
to  be  the  Mezzano  for  his  loves  ;  the  2,  p.  216.  Compare  Bor,  III.  759-763 
place  from  whence  he  came,  which  is  1 


1594  MISSION  OF  VARENNE  TO  SPAIN.  307 

was  deceived  up  to  a  very  late  moment,  as  to  the  rumoured 
intentions  of  Henry  to  enter  the  Catholic  Church.  Envoy 
Edmonds  was  now  equally  and  completely  in  the  dark  as  to 
the  mission  of  Varenne,  and  informed  his  Government  that 
the  only  result  of  it  was  that  the  secret  agent  to  Spain  was 
favoured,  through  the  kindness  of  Mendoza,  with  a  distant 
view  of  Philip  II.  with  his  son  and  daughter  at  their  devotions 
in  the  chapel  of  the  Escorial.  This  was  the  tale  generally 
recounted  and  believed  after  the  agent's  return  from  Spain, 
so  that  Varenne  was  somewhat  laughed  at  as  having  gone  to 
Spain  on  a  fool's  errand,  and  as  having  got  nothing  from  Men 
doza  hut  a  disavowal  of  his  former  propositions.  But  the 
shrewd  Calvaert,  who  had  entertained  familiar  relations  with  La 
Varenne,  received  from  that  personage  after  his  return  a  very 
different  account  of  his  excursion  to  the  Escorial  from  the  one 
generally  circulated.  "  Coming  from  Monceaux  to  Paris  in 
his  company,"  wrote  Calvaert  in  a  secret  despatch  to  the 
States,  "  I  had  the  whole  story  from  him.  The  chief  part  of 
his  negotiations  with  Don  Bernardino  de  Mendoza  was  that 
if  his  Majesty  (the  French  king)  would  abandon  the  Queen  of 
England  and  your  Highnesses  (the  States  of  the  Netherlands), 
there  were  no  conditions  that  would  be  refused  the  king, 
including  the  hand  of  the  Infanta,  together  with  a  good 
recompense  for  the  kingdom  of  Navarre.  La  Varenne  main 
tained  that  the  King  of  Spain  had  caused  these  negotiations 
to  be  entered  upon  at  this  time  with  him  in  the  certain  hope 
and  intention  of  a  definite  conclusion,  alleging  to  me  many 
pertinent  reasons,  and  among  others  that  he,  having  been 
lodged  at  Madrid,  through  the  adroitness  of  Don  Bernardino, 
among  all  the  agents  of  the  League,  and  hearing  all  their 
secrets  and  negotiations,  had  never  been  discovered,  but  had 
always  been  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  League  himself.  He 
said  also  that  he  was  well  assured  that  the  Infanta  in  her 
heart  had  an  affection  for  the  French  king,  and  notwith 
standing  any  resolutions  that  might  be  taken  (to  which  I 
referred,  meaning  the  projects  for  bestowing  her  on  the  house 
of  Austria)  that  she  with  her  father's  consent  or  in  case  of 


308  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

his  death  would  not  fail  to  carry  out  this  marriage.  You  rnay 
from  all  this,  even  out  of  the  proposal  for  compensation  for 
the  kingdom  of  Navarre  (of  which  his  Majesty  also  let  out 
something  to  me  inadvertently),  collect  the  reasons  why  such 
feeble  progress  is  made  in  so  great  an  occasion  as  now  presents 
itself  for  a  declaration  of  war  and  an  open  alliance  with  your 
Highnesses.  I  shall  not  fail  to  watch  these  events,  even  in 
case  of  the  progress  of  the  said  resolutions,  notwithstanding 
the  effects  of  which  it  is  my  opinion  that  this  secret  intrigue 
i§  not  to  be  abandoned.  To  this  end,  besides  the  good 
intelligence  which  one  gets  by  means  of  good  friends,  a  con 
tinual  and  agreeable  presentation  of  oneself  to  his  Majesty, 
in  order  to  see  and  hear  everything,  is  necessary." 102 

Certainly,  here  were  reasons  more  than  sufficient  why 
Henry  should  be  making  but  feeble  preparations  for  open  war 
in  alliance  with  England  and  the  republic  against  Philip,  as 
such  a  step  was  hardly  compatible  with  the  abandonment  of 
England  and  the  republic  and  the  espousal  of  Philip's 
daughter — projects  which  Henry's  commissioner  had  just 
been  discussing  with  Philip's  agent  at  Madrid  and  the 
Escorial. 

Truly  it  was  well  for  the  republican  envoy  to  watch  events 
as  closely  as  possible,  to  make  the  most  of  intelligence  from 
his  good  friends,  and  to  present  himself  as  frequently  and  as 
agreeably  as  possible  to  his  Majesty,  that  he  might  hear  and 
see  everything.  There  was  much  to  see  and  to  hear,  and 
it  needed  adroitness  and  courage,  not  to  slip  or  stumble  in 
such  dark  ways  where  the  very  ground  seemed  often  to  be 
sliding  from  beneath  the  feet. 

To  avoid  the  catastrophe  of  an  alliance  between  Henry, 
Philip,  and  the  Pope  against  Holland  and  England,  it  was  a 
pressing  necessity  for  Holland  and  England  to  force  Henry 
into  open  war  against  Philip.  To  this  end  the  Dutch  states 
men  were  bending  all  their  energies.  Meantime  Elizabeth 
regarded  the  campaign  in  Artois  and  Hainault  with  little 
favour. 

los  Deventer,  ubi  sup. 


1594. 


MISSION   OF   VARENNE   TO   SPAIN. 


309 


As  he  took  leave  on  departing  for  France,  La  Yarenne  had 
requested  Mendoza  to  write  to  King  Henry,  but  the  Spaniard 
excused  himself — although  professing  the  warmest  friendship 
for  his  Majesty — on  the  ground  of  the  impossibility  of  ad 
dressing  him  correctly.  "  If  I  call  him  here  King  of  Navarre, 
I  might  as  well  put  my  head  on  the  block  at  once,"  he  ob 
served  ;  "  if  I  call  him  King  of  France,  my  master  has  not 
yet  recognized  him  as  such ;  if  I  call  him  anything  else,  he 
will  himself  be  offended."  m 

And  the  vision  of  Philip  in  black  on  his  knees,  with  his 
children  about  him,  and  a  rapier  at  his  side,  passed  with  the 
contemporary  world  as  the  only  phenomenon  of  this  famous 
secret  mission.104 


'°3  Bor,  III.  759-763. 

104  Ibid.  Envoy  Edmondes  gave  a 
detailed  account  of  the  matter,  so  far 
as  he  understood  it,  from  Dieppe :  — 
"  Don  Bernardino,"  he  says,  "  asked  to 
hear  what  he  (La  Varenne)  had  in 
charge,  to  which  the  other  made  an 
swer  to  have  nothing,  only  to  have 
brought  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear 

what  he  would  propound 

Whereupon  Bernardino  made  him  an 
swer  that  he  was  to  avow  nothing 
that  his  said  servant  had  delivered, 
which  he  said  to  be  in  him  a  less 
shame  than  in  Mons.  de  Mayne  having 
disavowed  a  person  of  the  quality  of 
Mons.  de  Villeroy.  La  Varenne  there 
fore,  seeing  he  could  draw  no  other 
payment  from  him,  prayed  him,  to  the 
end  his  journey  might  not  be  to  him 
altogether  fruitless,  to  procure  that  he 
might  have  a  sight  of  the  king  and  the  [ 
beauties  of  the  Scuriall,  his  house, 
which  he  accordingly  performed,  caus 
ing  him  to  be  secretly  brought  into  the 
chapel,where  he  saw  the  king  at  mass, 
of  purpose  attired  in  extraordinary  de 
monstration  of  liveliness,  wearing  the 
sword  and  cape,  which  he  had  not  be 
fore  done  in  two  years ;  with  also  the 
young  prince  and  the  Infanta  in  like 
colour,  was  brought  another  time  to 
see  him  walking  in  the  garden,  but 
without  speaking  at  all  unto  him. 
Being  therein  so  satisfied,  and  there 
with  dismissed,Don  Bernardino  prayed 
him  at  his  departure  to  excuse  him  to 
the  king  for  not  writing  unto  him, 


which  he  said  he  could  not  do  in 
qualifying  him  as  appertained  without 
disproving  the  justness  of  his  master's 
quarrel,  and  thereby  incur  peril ;  and 
to  give  him  an  undue  title,  that  he  was 
too  much  his  servant,  and  only  there 
fore  to  let  him  know  that  so  as  the 
pope  would  speak  in  the  king's  favour, 
there  is  very  good  reason  to  make  the 
King  of  Spain  to  understand  to  a 
union  with  him,  and  that  is  all  the 
return  he  bringeth  of  his  negotiation  ; 
but  the  king,  to  cover  the  shame  there 
of,  doth  pay  himself  with  great  con 
tentment  of  the  good  service  which  by 
that  occasion  he  hath  otherwise  done 
him,  in  discovering,  by  haunting  un 
known  divers  French  there  of  the 
League,  a  dangerous  enterprise  upon 
Bordeaux,  which  having  on  his  return 
declared  to  Marshal  Matignon,  he  hath 
thereupon  apprehended  certain  of  the 
principal  of  the  town  conspirators 
therein,"  &c.  Edmondes  to  Burghley, 
13  Nov.  1593.  (8.  P.  Office  MS.) 
Compare  Bor,  ubi  sup. 

La  Varenne  was  subsequently  sent 
to  England  to  give  a  report — more  or 
less  ingenuous — of  his  Spanish  mission 
to  the  queen.  She  at  first  refused  to 
receive  him  on  the  ground  that  he  had 
formerly  used  disrespectful  language 
concerning  herself,  but  she  subse 
quently  relented.  He  reported  that 
he  had  found  the  king  remarkably 
jolly  (gaillard)  and  healthy  for  his 
years,  and  had  also  seen  the  rest  of  the 
royal  family.  Don  Bernardino,  he 


310 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXX. 


But  Henry,  besides  this  demonstration  towards  Spain,  lost 
no  time  in  despatching  a  special  minister  to  the  republic  and 
to  England,  who  was  instructed  to  make  the  most  profuse, 
elaborate,  and  conciliatory  explanations  as  to  his  recent  con 
version  and  as  to  his  future  intentions.105  Never  would  he 
make  peace,  he  said,  with  Spain  without  the  full  consent  of 
the  States  and  of  England  ;  the  dearest  object  of  his  heart  in 
making  his  peace  with  Rome  having  been  to  restore  peace  to 
his  own  distracted  realm,  to  bring  all  Christians  into  one 
brotherhood,  and  to  make  a  united  attack  upon  the  grand 
Turk — a  vision  which  the  cheerful  monarch  hardly  intended 
should  ever  go  beyond  the  ivory  gate  of  dreams,  but  which 
furnished  substance  enough  for  several  well-rounded  periods 
in  the  orations  of  De  Morlans. 

That  diplomatist,  after  making  the  strongest  representations 
to  Queen  Elizabeth  as  to  the  faithful  friendship  of  his  master, 
and  the  necessity  he  was  under  of  pecuniary  and  military 
assistance,  had  received  generous  promises  of  aid  both  in  men 
and  money — three  thousand  men  besides  the  troops  actually 
serving  in  Brittany — from  that  sagacious  sovereign,  notwith 
standing  the  vehement  language  in  which  she  had  rebuked 
her  royal  brother's  apostasy.106  He  now  came  for  the  same 
purpose  to  the  Hague,  where  he  made  very  eloquent  harangues 
to  the  States-General,  acknowledging  that  the  republic  had 
ever  been  the  most  upright,  perfect,  and  undisguised  friend 
to  his  master  and  to  France  in  their  darkest  days  and  deepest 
affliction  ;  that  she  had  loved  the  king  and  kingdom  for  them 
selves,  not  merely  hanging  on  to  their  prosperity,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  doing  her  best  to  produce  that  prosperity  by  her 


said,  who  had  given  the  king  to 
understand,  now  that  he  was  Catholic, 
that  he  could  find  means  to  reconcile 
him  with  the  king  his  master,  where 
by  he  might  maintain  himself  peace 
ably  in  his  kingdom,  had  nevertheless 
professed  ignorance  of  any  such  mat 
ter  when  he  found  that  Varenne  had 
no  commission  except  to  see  and  to 
hear.  So  the  agent  was  fain — accord 
ing  to  his  public  statement — to  con 
tent  himself  with  a  distant  view  of  the 


most  catholic  king  at  his  devotions. 
Noel  de  Caron  to  the  States-General, 
4  Dec.  1593.  (Hague  Archives.)  No 
one  but  Calvaert  seems  to  have  suc 
ceeded  in  pumping  the  secret  envoy, 
but  by  Calvaert  the  States-General 
were  enlightened,  and  put  thoroughly 
on  their  guard  as  to  the  possible  de 
signs  of  Henry. 

105  De  Morlans  to  the  States-Gene 
ral,  in  Bor,  III.  721-726.  26  Aug. 
1593,  J06  Bor,  III,  719, 


1594.        HENRY'S  PROFESSIONS  TOWARDS  THE  STATES.        311 

contributions  in  soldiers,  ships,  and  subsidies.  "  The  king," 
said  De  Morlans,  "  is  deeply  grieved  that  he  can  prove  his 
gratitude  only  in  words  for  so  many  benefits  conferred,  which 
are  absolutely  without  example,  but  he  has  commissioned  me 
to  declare  that  if  God  should  ever  give  him  the  occasion,  he 
will  prove  how  highly  he  places  your  friendship." 

The  envoy  assured  the  States  that  all  fears  entertained  by 
those  of  the  reformed  religion  on  account  of  the  conversion  of 
his  Majesty  were  groundless.  Nothing  was  farther  from  the 
king's  thoughts  than  to  injure  those  noble  spirits  with  whom 
his  soul  had  lived  so  long,  and  whom  he  so  much  loved  and 
honoured.  No  man  knew  better  than  the  king  did  the  cha 
racter  of  those  who  professed  the  Religion,  their  virtue,  valour, 
resolution,  and  patience  in  adversity.  Their  numbers  had 
increased  in  war,  their  virtues  had  been  purified  by  affliction, 
they  had  never  changed  their  position,  whether  battles  had 
been  won  or  lost.  Should  ever  an  attempt  be  made  to  take 
up  arms  against  them  within  his  realms,  and  should  there  be 
but  five  hundred  of  them  against  ten  thousand,  the  king, 
remembering  their  faithful  and  ancient  services,  would  leave 
the  greater  number  in  order  to  die  at  the  head  of  his  old 
friends.  He  was  determined  that  they  should  participate  in 
all  the  honours  of  the  kingdom,  and  with  regard  to  a  peace 
with  Spain,  he  would  have  as  much  care  for  the  interests  of 
the  United  Provinces  as  for  his  own.  But  a  peace  was  impos 
sible  with  that  monarch,  whose  object  was  to  maintain  his  own 
realms  in  peace  while  he  kept  France  in  perpetual  revolt 
against  the  king  whom  God  had  given  her.  The  King  of 
Spain  had  trembled  at  Henry's  cradle,  at  his  youth,  at  the 
bloom  of  his  manhood,  and  knew  that  he  had  inflicted  too 
much  injury  upon  him  ever  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  him. 
The  envoy  was  instructed  to  say  that  his  master  never 
expected  to  be  in  amity  with  one  who  had  ruined  his  house, 
confiscated  his  property,  and  caused  so  much  misery  to  France  ; 
and  he  earnestly  hoped — without  presuming  to  dictate — that 
the  States-General  would  in  this  critical  emergency  manifest 
their  generosity.  If  the  king  were  not  assisted  now,  both 


312  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

king  and  kingdom  would  perish.     If  he  were  assisted,  the 
succour  would  bear  double  fruit.107 

The  sentiments  expressed  on  the  part  of  Henry  towards  his 
faithful  subjects  of  the  Religion,  the  heretic  Queen  of  England, 
and  the  stout  Dutch  Calvinists  who  had  so  long  stood  by  him, 
were  most  noble.  It  was  pity  that,  at  the  same  moment,  he 
was  proposing  to  espouse  the  Infanta,  and  to  publish  the 
Council  of  Trent. 

The  reply  of  the  States-General  to  these  propositions  of  the 
French  envoy  was  favourable,  and  it  was  agreed  that  a  force 
of  three  thousand  foot  and  five  hundred  horse  should  be  sent 
to  the  assistance  of  the  king.  Moreover,  the  state-paper 
drawn  up  on  this  occasion  was  conceived  with  so  much 
sagacity  and  expressed  with  so  much  eloquence,  as  particu 
larly  to  charm  the  English  queen  when  it  was  communicated 
to  her  Majesty.  She  protested  very  loudly  and  vehemently 
to  Noel  de  Caron,  envoy  from  the  provinces  at  London,  that 
this  response  on  the  part  of  his  Government  to  De  Morlans 
was  one  of  the  wisest  documents  that  she  had  ever  seen. 
"In  all  their  actions/'  said  she,  "the  States-General  show 
their  sagacity,  and  indeed,  it  is  the  wisest  Government  ever 
known  among  republics.  I  would  show  you/'  she  added  to 
the  gentlemen  around  her,  "  the  whole  of  the  paper  if  it  were 
this  moment  at  hand/'  m 

After  some  delays,  it  was  agreed  between  the  French 
Government  and  that  of  the  United  Provinces,  that  the  king 
should  divide  his  army  into  three  parts,  and  renew  the 
military  operations  against  Spain  with  the  expiration  of  the 
truce  at  the  end  of  the  year  (1593). 

One  body,  composed  of  the  English  contingent,  together 
with  three  thousand  French  horse,  three  thousand  Swiss,  and 
four  thousand  French  harquebus-men,  were  to  be  under  his 
own  immediate  command,  and  were  to  act  against  the  enemy 
wherever  it  should  appear  to  his  Majesty  most  advantageous. 
A  second  army  was  to  expel  the  rebels  and  their  foreign  allies 
from  Normandy  and  reduce  Rouen  to  obedience.  A  third 

107  Address  of  Morlans,  uU  sup.  m  Bor,  III.  726. 


1594.  CAMPAIGN  OF  COUNT  PHILIP.  313 

was  to  make  a  campaign  in  the  provinces  of  Artois  and 
Hainault,  under  the  Duke  of  Bouillon  (more  commonly  called 
the  Viscount  Turenne),  in  conjunction  with  the  forces  to  be 
supplied  by  the  republic.  "  Any  treaty  of  peace  on  our  part 
with  the  King  of  Spain,"  said  the  States-General,  "  is  our 
certain  ruin.  This  is  an  axiom.  That  monarch's  object  is  to 
incorporate  into  his  own  realms  not  only  all  the  states  and 
possessions  of  neighbouring  kings,  principalities,  and  powers, 
but  also  all  Christendom,  aye,  the  whole  world,  were  it  possible. 
We  joyfully  concur  then  in  your  Majesty's  resolution  to  carry 
on  the  war  in  Artois  and  Hainault,  and  agree  to  your  sug 
gestion  of  diversions  on  our  part  by  sieges  and  succour  by 
contingents."109 

Balagny,  meantime,  who  had  so  long  led  an  independent 
existence  at  Cambray,  now  agreed  to  recognise  Henry's 
authority,  in  consideration  of  sixty-seven  thousand  crowns 
yearly  pension  and  the  dignity  of  Marshal  of  France.110 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1594,  Buzanval,  the  regular 
French  envoy  at  the  Hague,  began  to  insist  more  warmly 
than  seemed  becoming  that  the  campaign  in  Artois  -and 
Hainault  —  so  often  the  base  of  military  operations  on  the  part 
of  Spain  against  France  —  should  begin.  Further  achieve 
ments  on  the  part  of  Maurice  after  the  fall  of  Groningen  were 
therefore  renounced  for  that  year,  and  his  troops  went  into 
garrison  and  winter-quarters.111  The  States-General,  who  had 
also  been  sending  supplies,  troops,  and  ships  to  Brittany  to 
assist  the  king,  now,  after  soundly  rebuking  Buzanval  for  his 
intemperate  language,  entrusted  their  contingent  for  the  pro 
posed  frontier  campaign  to  Count  Philip  Nassau,  who  accord 
ingly  took  the  field  toward  the  end  of  the  year  at  the  head  of 
twenty-eight  companies  of  foot  and  five  squadrons  of  cavalry. 
He  made  his  junction  with  Turenne-Bouillon,  but  the  duke, 
although  provided  with  a  tremendous  proclamation,  was  but 
indifferently  supplied  with  troops.  The  German  levies,  long- 
expected,  were  slow  in  moving  and  on  the  whole  it  seemed 


10»  Bor,  III.  766.  »°  Pmsftuval  to  the  States-General,  8  Deq.  J593, 

or,  UJ.  765,  766.  m  BQr, 


314  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

that  the  operations  might  have  been  continued  by  Maurice 
with  more  effect,  according  to  his  original  plan,  than  in  this 
rather  desultory  fashion.112  The  late  winter  campaign  on  the 
border  was  feeble  and  a  failure. 

The  bonds  of  alliance,  however,  were  becoming  very  close 
between  Henry  and  the  republic.  Despite  the  change  in 
religion  on  the  part  of  the  king,  and  the  pangs  which  it  had 
occasioned  in  the  hearts  of  leading  Netherlanders,  there  was 
still  the  traditional  attraction  between  France  and  the  States, 
which  had  been  so  remarkably  manifested  during  the  adminis 
tration  of  William  the  Silent.  The  republic  was  more  restive 
than  ever  under  the  imperious  and  exacting  friendship  of 
Elizabeth,  and,  feeling  more  and  more  its  own  strength,  was 
making  itself  more  and  more  liable  to  the  charge  of  ingrati 
tude,  so  constantly  hurled  in  its  face  by  the  queen.  And 
Henry,  now  that  he  felt  himself  really  king  of  France,  was 
not  slow  to  manifest  a  similar  ingratitude  or  an  equal  love  of 
independence.  Both  monarch  and  republic,  chafing  under 
the  protection  of  Elizabeth,  were  drawn  into  so  close  a  union 
as  to  excite  her  anger  and  jealousy — sentiments  which  in 
succeeding  years  were  to  become  yet  more  apparent.  And 
now,  while  Henry  still  retained  the  chivalrous  and  flowery 
phraseology,  so  sweet  to  her  ears,  in  his  personal  communi 
cations  to  the  queen,  his  ministers  were  in  the  habit  of  using 
much  plainer  language.  "  Mr.  de  Sancy  said  to  me,"  wrote 
the  Netherland  minister  in  France,  Calvaert,  "that  his 
Majesty  and  your  Highnesses  (the  States-General)  must  with 
out  long  delay  conclude  an  alliance  offensive  and  defensive. 
In  regard  to  England,  which  perhaps  might  look  askance  at 
this  matter,  he  told  me  it  would  be  invited  also  by  his  Majesty 
into  the  same  alliance  ;  but  if,  according  to  custom,  it  shilly 
shallied,  and  without  coming  to  deeds  or  to  succour  should 
put  him  off  with  words,  he  should  in  that  case  proceed  with 
our  alliance  without  England,  not  doubting  that  many  other 
potentates  in  Italy  and  Germany  would  join  in  it  likewise. 
He  said  too,  that  he,  the  day  before  the  departure  of  the 

112  Bor,  846-859. 


1594. 


ASPECT  OF  AFFAIRS. 


315 


English  ambassador,  had  said  these  words  to  him  in  the 
presence  of  his  Majesty ;  namely,  that  England  had  enter 
tained  his  Majesty  sixteen  months  long  with  far-fetched 
and  often-repeated  questions  and  discontents,  that  one  had 
submitted  to  this  sort  of  thing  so  long  as  his  Majesty  was 
only  king  of  Mantes,  Dieppe,  and  Louviers,  but  that  his 
Majesty  being  now  king  of  Paris  would  be  no  longer  a 
servant  of  those  who  should  advise  him  to  suffer  it  any  longer 
or  accept  it  as  good  payment ;  that  England  must  treat  his 
Majesty  according  to  his  quality,  and  with  deeds,  not  words. 
He  added  that  the  ambassador  had  very  anxiously  made 
answer  to  these  words,  and  had  promised  that  when  he  got 
back  to  England  he  would  so  arrange  that  his  Majesty  should 
be  fully  satisfied,  insisting  to  the  last  on  the  alliance  then 
proposed."  1S 

In  Germany,  meanwhile,  there  was  much  protocoling,  and 
more  hard  drinking,  at  the  Diet  of  Ratisbon.  The  Protestant 
princes  did  little  for  their  cause  against  the  new  designs  of  Spain 
and  the  moribund  League,  while  the  Catholics  did  less  to  assist 
Philip.  In  truth,  the  holy  Eoman  Empire,  threatened  with  a 
Turkish  invasion,  had  neither  power  nor  inclination  to  help 
the  new  universal  empire  of  the  west  into  existence.  So  the 
princes  and  grandees  of  Germany,  while  Amurath  was  knocking 
at  the  imperial  gates,  busied  themselves  with  banquetting 
and  other  diplomatic  work,  but  sent  few  reiters  either  to  the 
east  or  west.114 

Philip's  envoys  were  indignant  at  the  apathy  displayed 
towards  the  great  Catholic  cause,  and  felt  humbled  at  the 
imbecility  exhibited  by  Spain  in  its  efforts  against  the  Nether 
lands  and  France.  San  Clemente,  who  was  attending  the 


113  M.  L.  van  Deventer — Gedenk- 
etukken  van  Johan  van  Oldenbarne- 
velt  en  zign  Tijd,  ii.  20,  21.  (22 
April,  1594.)  De  Sancy  expressed 
himself  in  still  stronger  language  a 
few  weeks  later :  "  Should  England 
delay  or  interpose  difficulties,"  said  he, 
"  then  the  king  will  at  once  go  into 
company  with  the  States  -  General ; 
aye,  he  will  bring  this  alliance  for 


ward  principally  in  consideration  and 
respect  for  the  States,  whose  authority 
he  wishes  to  establish,  .  .  .  declaring 
with  many  words  that  your  Highnesses 
are  exactly  the  power  in  the  whole 
world  to  which  the  king  is  under  the 
greatest  obligation,  and  in  which  he 
places  his  chief  confidence."  Ibid- 
pp.  24,  25  (11  May,  1594.) 
114  Bor,  III.  852-S54 


316  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXX. 

Diet  at  Ratisbon,  was  shocked  at  the  scenes  he  witnessed.  "  In 
less  than  three  months,"  said  that  temperate  Spaniard,  "  they 
have  drunk  more  than  five  million  florins'  worth  of  wine,  at  a 
time  when  the  Turk  has  invaded  the  frontiers  of  Germany  ; 
and  among  those  who  have  done  the  most  of  this  consumption 
of  wine,  there  is  not  one  who  is  going  to  give  any  assistance 
on  the  frontier.  In  consequence  of  these  disorders  my  purse 
is  drained  so  low,  that  unless  the  king  helps  me  I  am  ruined. 
You  must  tell  our  master  that  the  reputation  of  his  grandeur 
and  strength  has  never  been  so  low  as  it  is  now  in  Germany. 
The  events  in  France  and  those  which  followed  in  the  Nether 
lands  have  thrown  such  impediments  in  the  negotiations  here3 
that  not  only  our  enemies  make  sport  of  Marquis  Havre  and 
myself,  but  even  our  friends — who  are  very  few — dare  not  go 
to  public  feasts,  weddings,  and  dinners,  because  they  are 
obliged  to  apologize  for  us."  115 

Truly  the  world-empire  was  beginning  to  crumble.  "  The 
emperor  has  been  desiring  twenty  times,"  continued  the  envoy, 
66  to  get  back  to  Prague  from  the  Diet,  but  the  people  hold 
him  fast  like  a  steer.  As  I  think  over  all  that  passes,  I 
lose  all  judgment,  for  I  have  no  money,  nor  influence,  nor 
reputation.  Meantime,  I  see  this  rump  of  an  empire  keeping 
itself  with  difficulty  upon  its  legs.  'Tis  full  of  wrangling  and 
discord  about  religion,  and  yet  there  is  the  Turk  with  two 
hundred  thousand  men  besieging  a  place  forty  miles  from 
Vienna,  which  is  the  last  outpost.  God  grant  it  may 
last."116 

Such  was  the  aspect  of  the  Christian  world  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1594 

115  Intercepted  letters  of  Sail  Clemente  to  Idiaquez,  30  Aug.  1594.  Apud 
Bor,  ubi  sup.  n*  Ibid. 


1595.  DECLARATION  OF    WAU  AUAINST  SPAIN.  317 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

Formal  declaration  of  war  against  Spain  —  Marriage  festivities  —  Death  of 
Archduke  Ernest  —  His  year  of  government  —  Fuentes  declared  governor 
general  —  Disaffection  of  the  Duke  of  Arschot  and  Count  Arenberg  — 
Death  of  the  Duke  of  Arschot  —  Fuentes  besieges  Le  Catelet  —  The  fortress 
of  Ham,  sold  to  the  Spanish  by  De  Gomeron,  besieged  and  taken  by  the 
Duke  of  Bouillon  —  Execution  of  De  Gomeron  —  Death  of  Colonel  Verdugo 
—Siege  of  Dourlens  by  Fuentes  —  Death  of  La  Motte  —  Death  of  Charles 
Mansfeld  —  Total  defeat  of  the  French  —  Murder  of  Admiral  De  Villars  — 
Dourlens  captured,  and  the  garrison  and  citizens  put  to  the  sword  — 
Military  operations  in  eastern  Netherlands  and  on  the  Rhine  —  Maurice 
lays  siege  to  Groento  —  Mondragon  hastening  to  its  relief,  Prince  Maurice 
raises  the  siege  —  Skirmish  between  Maurice  and  Mondragon  —  Death  of 
Philip  of  Nassau  —  Death  of  Mondragon  —  Bombardment  and  surrender  of 
Weerd  Castle  —  Maurice  retires  into  winter  quarters  —  Campaign  of  Henry 
IV.  —  He  besieges  Dijon  —  Surrender  of  Dijon  —  Absolution  granted  to 
Henry  by  the  pope  —  Career  of  Balagny  at  Cambray  —  Progress  of  the 
siege  —  Capitulation  of  the  town  —  Suicide  of  the  Princess  of  Cambray,  wife 
of  Balagny. 

THE  year  1595  opened  with  a  formal  declaration  of  war  by 
the  King  of  France  against  the  King  of  Spain.1  It  17  jan 
would  be  difficult  to  say  for  exactly  how  many  1595- 
years  the  war  now  declared  had  already  been  waged,  but  it 
was  a  considerable  advantage  to  the  United  Netherlands 
that  the  manifesto  had  been  at  last  regularly  issued.  And 
the  manifesto  was  certainly  not  deficient  in  bitterness.  Not 
often  in  Christian  history  has  a  monarch  been  solemnly  and 
officially  accused  by  a  brother  sovereign  of  suborning  assassins 
against  his  life.  Bribery,  stratagem,  and  murder,  were, 
however,  so  entirely  the  commonplace  machinery  of  Philip's 
administration  as  to  make  an  allusion  to  the  late  attempt 
of  Chastel  appear  quite  natural  in  Henry's  declaration  of 
war.  The  king  further  stigmatized  in  energetic  language 
the  long  succession  of  intrigues  by  which  the  monarch  of 

1  Bor,  IV.  xxx.  2,  seqq.     De  Thou,  xii.  lib.  iii.  pp.  343,  seqq. 


318  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

Spain,  as  chief  of  the  Holy  League,  had  been  making  war 
upon  him  by  means  of  his  own  subjects,  for  the  last  half 
dozen  years.  Certainly  there  was  hardly  need  of  an  elaborate 
statement  of  grievances.  The  deeds  of  Philip  required  no 
herald,  unless  Henry  was  prepared  to  abdicate  his  hardly- 
earned  title  to  the  throne  of  France. 

Nevertheless  the  politic  Gascon  subsequently  regretted  the 
fierce  style  in  which  he  had  fulminated  his  challenge.  He 
was  accustomed  to  observe  that  no  state  paper  required  so 
much  careful  pondering  as  a  declaration  of  war,2  and  that  it 
was  scarcely  possible  to  draw  up  such  a  document  without 
committing  many  errors  in  the  phraseology.  The  man  who 
never  knew  fear,  despondency,  nor  resentment,  was  already 
instinctively  acting  on  the  principle  that  a  king  should  deal 
with  his  enemy  as  if  sure  to  become  his  friend,  and  with  his 
friends  as  if  they  might  easily  change  to  foes.3 

The  answer  to  the  declaration  was  delayed  for  two  months. 
When  the  reply  came  it  of  course  breathed  nothing  but  the 
most  benignant  sentiments  in  regard  to  France,  while  it 
7  March,  expressed  regret  that  it  was  necessary  to  carry  fire 

1595.  anc[  sword  through  that  country  in  order  to  avert 
the  unutterable  woe  which  the  crimes  of  the  heretic  Prince 
of  Bearne  were  bringing  upon  all  mankind.4 

It  was  a  solace  for  Philip  to  call  the  legitimate  king  by  the 
title  borne  by  him  when  heir-presumptive,  and  to  persist  in 
denying  to  him  that  absolution  which,  as  the  whole  world  was 
aware,  the  Vicar  of  Christ  was  at  that  very  moment  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  about  to  bestow  upon  him. 

More  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  France  than  were  the 
French  themselves,  he  was  determined  that  a  foreign  prince 
— himself,  his  daughter,  or  one  of  his  nephews — should 
supplant  the  descendant  of  St.  Louis  on  the  French  throne. 
More  catholic  than  the  pope  he  could  not  permit  the  heretic, 
whom  his  Holiness  was  just  washing  whiter  than  snow,  to 
intrude  himself  into  the  society  of  Christian  sovereigns. 

8  Bor.     De  Thou,  uU  sup.  3  Sully  I.  lib.  vii.  p.  412. 

4  Bor.    De  Thou,  ubi  sup. 


1595.  MARRIAGE  FESTIVITIES.  319 

The  winter  movements  by  Bouillon  in  Luxembourg,  sus 
tained  by  Philip  Nassau  campaigning  with  a  meagre  force  on 
the  French  frontier,  were  not  very  brilliant.  The  Netherland 
regiments  quartered  at  Yssoire,  La  Ferte,  and  in  the  neigh 
bourhood  accomplished  very  little,  and  their  numbers  were 
sadly  thinned  by  dysentery.  A  sudden  and  successful  stroke, 
too,  by  which  that  daring  soldier  Heraugiere,  who  had  been 
the  chief  captor  of  Breda,  obtained  possession  of  the  town  and 
castle  of  Huy,  produced  no  permanent  advantage.  This 
place,  belonging  to  the  Bishop  of  Liege,  with  its  stone  bridge 
over  the  Meuse,  was  an  advantageous  position  from  which  to 
aid  the  operations  of  Bouillon  in  Luxembourg.  Heraugiere 
was,  however,  not  sufficiently  reinforced,  and  Huy  was  a 
month  later  re-captured  by  La  Motte.5  The  campaigning 
was  languid  during  that  winter  in  the  United  Netherlands, 
but  the  merry-making  was  energetic.  The  nuptials  of  Ho- 
henlo  with  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  William  the  Silent  and 
own  sister  of  the  captive  Philip  William ;  of  the  Duke  of 
Bouillon  with  Elizabeth,  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  same 
illustrious  prince  by  his  third  wife,  Charlotte  of  Bourbon  ; 
and  of  Count  Everard  Solms,  the  famous  general  of  the 
Zeeland  troops,  with  Sabina,  daughter  of  the  unfortunate 
Lamoral  Egmont,  were  celebrated  with  much  pomp  during 
the  months  of  February  and  March.6  The  States  of  Holland 
and  of  Zeeland  made  magnificent  presents  of  diamonds  to 
the  brides  ;  the  Countess  Hohenlo  receiving  besides  a  yearly 
income  of  three  thousand  florins  for  the  lives  of  herself  and 
her  husband.7 

In  the  midst  of  these  merry  marriage  bells  at  the  Hague  a 
funeral  knell  was  sounding  in  Brussels.  On  the  39  Feb 
20th  February,  the  governor-general  of  the  obedient  1595< 
Netherlands,  Archduke  Ernest,  breathed  his  last.  His  career 
had  not  been  so  illustrious  as  the  promises  of  the  Spanish 
king  and  the  allegories  of  schoolmaster  Houwaerts  had  led 
him  to  expect.  He  had  not  espoused  the  Infanta  nor  been 
crowned  King  of  France.  He  had  not  blasted  the  rebellious 
s  Bor,  IV.  8,  10.  «  Ibid.  13.  '  Ibid. 


320  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

Netherlands  with  Cyclopean  thunderbolts,  nor  unbound  the 
Belgic  Andromeda  from  the  rock  of  doom.  His  brief  year 
of  government  had  really  been  as  dismal  as,  according  to 
the  announcement  of  his  sycophants,  it  should  have  been 
amazing.  He  had  accomplished  nothing,  and  all  that  was 
left  him  was  to  die  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  over  head  and 
ears  in  debt,  a  disappointed,  melancholy  man.  He  was 
very  indolent,  enormously  fat,  very  chaste,  very  expensive, 
fond  of  fine  liveries  and  fine  clothes,  so  solemn  and  stately 
as  never  to  be  known  to  laugh,  but  utterly  without  capacity 
either  as  a  statesman  or  a  soldier.8  He  would  have  shone 
as  a  portly  abbot  ruling  over  peaceful  friars,  but  he  was  not 
born  to  ride  a  revolutionary  whirlwind,  nor  to  evoke  order 
out  of  chaos.  Past  and  Present  were  contending  with  each 
other  in  fierce  elemental  strife  within  his  domain.  A  world 
was  in  dying  agony,  another  world  was  coming,  full-armed, 
into  existence  within  the  hand-breadth  of  time  and  of  space 
where  he  played  his  little  part,  but  he  dreamed  not  of  it. 
He  passed  away  like  a  shadow,  and  was  soon  forgotten. 

An  effort  was  made,  during  the  last  illness  of  Ernest,  to 
procure  from  him  the  appointment  of  the  elector  of  Cologne 
as  temporary  successor  to  the  government,  but  Count  Fuentes 
was  on  the  spot  and  was  a  man  of  action.  He  produced  a 
power  in  the  French  language  from  Philip,  with  a  blank  for 
the  name.  This  had  been  intended  for  the  case  of  Peter 
Ernest  Mansfeld's  possible  death  during  his  provisional 
administration,  and  Fuentes  now  claimed  the  right  of  insert 
ing  his  own  name.9 

The  dying  Ernest  consented,  and  upon  his  death  Fuentes 
was  declared  governor-general  until  the  king's  further  plea 
sure  should  be  known. 

Pedro  de  Guzman.  Count  of  Fuentes,  a  Spaniard  of  the 
hard  and  antique  type,  was  now  iu  his  sixty-fourth  year. 
The  pupil  and  near  relative  of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  he  was 

8  Bor,  IV.  12.    Coloma,  viii.  162. 

9  Diego  de  Ybarra  to  Philip,  19  Fet.  1595.  Est.  de  Ibarra  to  the  Secretaries 
same  date.     (Arch,  de  Simancas 


1595.  FtJENTES  DECLARED  GOVERNOR-GENERAL.  321 

already  as  odious  to  the  Netherlander®  as  might  have  been 
inferred  from  such  education  and  such  kin.  A  dark,  grizzled, 
baldish  man,  with  high  steep  forehead,  long,  haggard,  leathern 
visage,  sweeping  beard,  and  large,  stern,  commanding,  me 
nacing  eyes,  with  his  Brussels  ruff  of  point  lace  and  his 
Milan  coat  of  proof,  he  was  in  personal  appearance  not  unlike 
the  terrible  duke  whom  men  never  named  without  a  shudder, 
although  a  quarter  of  a  century  had  passed  since  he  had 
ceased  to  curse  the  Netherlands  with  his  presence.  Elizabeth 
of  England  was  accustomed  to  sneer  at  Fuentes  because  he 
had  retreated  before  Essex  in  that  daring  commander's 
famous  foray  into  Portugal.10  The  queen  called  the  Spanish 
general  a  timid  old  woman.  If  her  gibe  were  true,  it  was 
fortunate  for  her,  for  Henry  of  France,  and  for  the  republic, 
that  there  were  not  many  more  such  old  women  to  come 
from  Spain  to  take  the  place  of  the  veteran  chieftains  who 
were  destined  to  disappear  so  rapidly  during  this  year  in 
Flanders.  He  was  a  soldier  of  fortune,  loved  fighting,  not 
only  for  the  fighting's  sake,  but  for  the  prize-money  which  was 
to  be  accumulated  by  campaigning,  and  he  was  wont  to  say 
that  he  meant  to  enter  Paradise  sword  in  hand.11 

Meantime  his  appointment  excited  the  wrath  of  the  pro 
vincial  magnates.  The  Duke  of  Arschot  was  beside  himself 
with  frenzy,  and  swore  that  he  would  never  serve  under 
Fuentes  nor  sit  at  his  council-board.  The  duke's  brother, 
Marquis  Havre,  and  his  son-in-law,  Count  Arenberg,  shared 
in  the  hatred,  although  they  tried  to  mitigate  the  vehemence 
of  its  expression.  But  Arschot  swore  that  no  man  had  the 
right  to  take  precedence  of  him  in  the  council  of  state,  and 
that  the  appointment  of  this  or  any  Spaniard  was  a  violation 
of  the  charters  of  the  provinces  and  of  the  promises  of  his 
Majesty.12  As  if  it  were  for  the  nobles  of  the  obedient  pro 
vinces  to  .prate  of  charters  and  of  oaths  !  Their  brethren 
under  the  banner  of  the  republic  had  been  teaching  Philip 
for  a  whole  generation  how  they  could  deal  with  the  privi- 

10  Vol.  II.  of  this  work,  p.  556.  »  Fruin.     Tien  Jaaren,  &c.,  192,  note. 

18  Est.  de  Ybarra  to  Philip,  6  March,  1595.    (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

VOL.  III. — Y 


322  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXi 

leges  of  freemen  and  with  the  perjury  of  tyrants.  It  was 
late  in  the  day  for  the  obedient  Netherlander  to  remember 
their  rights.  Havre  and  Arenberg,  dissembling  their  own 
wrath,  were  abused  and  insulted  by  the  duke  when  they 
tried  to  pacify  him.  They  proposed  a  compromise,  according 
to  which  Arschot  should  be  allowed  to  preside  in  the  council 
of  state  while  Fuentes  should  content  himself  with  the 
absolute  control  of  the  army.  This  would  be  putting  a  bit  of 
fat  in  the  duke's  mouth,  they  said.13  Fuentes  would  hear 
of  no  such  arrangement.  After  much  talk  and  daily  attempts 
to  pacify  this  great  Netherlander,  his  relatives  at  last  per 
suaded  him  to  go  home  to  his  country  place.  He  even 
promised  Arenberg  and  his  wife  that  he  would  go  to  Italy, 
in  pursuance  of  a  vow  made  to  our  lady  of  Loretto.  Aren 
berg  privately  intimated  to  Stephen  Ybarra  that  there  was  a 
certain  oil,  very  apt  to  be  efficacious  in  similar  cases  of 
irritation,  which  might  be  applied  with  prospect  of  success. 
If  his  father-in-law  could  only  receive  some  ten  thousand 
florins  which  he  claimed  as  due  to  him  from  Government, 
this  would  do  more  to  quiet  him  than  a  regiment  of  soldiers 
could.  He  also  suggested  that  Fuentes  should  call  upon  the 
duke,  while  Secretary  Ybarra  should  excuse  himself  by 
sickness  for  not  having  already  paid  his  respects.  This  was 
done.  Fuentes  called.  The  duke  returned  the  call,  and  the 
two  conversed  amicably  about  the  death  of  the  archduke,  but 
entered  into  no  political  discussion. 

Arschot  then  invited  the  whole  council  of  state,  except 
John  Baptist  Tassis,  to  a  great  dinner.  He  had  prepared  a 
paper  to  read  to  them  in  which  he  represented  the  great 
dangers  likely  to  ensue  from  such  an  appointment  as  this  of 
Fuentes,  but  declared  that  he  washed  his  hands  of  the  conse 
quences,  and  that  he  had  determined  to  leave  a  country 
where  he  was  of  so  little  account.  He  would  then  close  his 
eyes  and  ears  to  everything  that  might  occur,  and  thus 
escape  the  infamy  of  remaining  in  a  country  where  so 

18  Ybarra  to  Philip,  6  March,  1595.  (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  "  Una  pella 
de  sebo  en  la  boca  para  acquietarle." 


1595.  OPENING  OF  THE   CAMPAIGN.  323 

little  account  was  made  of  him.  He  was  urged  to  refrain 
from  reading  this  paper  and  to  invite  Tassis.  After  a  time 
he  consented  to  suppress  the  document,  but  he  manfully 
refused  to  bid  the  objectionable  diplomatist  to  his  banquet.14 

The  dinner  took  place  and  passed  off  pleasantly  enough. 
Arschot  did  not  read  his  manifesto,  but,  as  he  warmed  with 
wine,  he  talked  a  great  deal  of  nonsense  which,  according  to 
Stephen  Ybarra,  much  resembled  it,  and  he  vowed  that 
thenceforth  he  would  be  blind  and  dumb  to  all  that  might 
occur.15  A  few  days  later,  he  paid  a  visit  to  the  new  governor- 
general,  and  took  a  peaceful  farewell  of  him.  "  Your  Majesty 
knows  very  well  what  he  is,"  wrote  Fuentes  :  "  he  is  nothing 
but  talk."16  Before  leaving  the  country  he  sent  a  bitter 
complaint  to  Ybarra,  to  the  effect  that  the  king  had  entirely 
forgotten  him,  and  imploring  that  financier's  influence  to 
procure  for  him  some  gratuity  from  his  Majesty.  He  was 
in  such  necessity,  he  said,  that  it  was  no  longer  possible  for 
him  to  maintain  his  household.17 

And  with  this  petition  the  grandee  of  the  obedient  pro 
vinces  shook  the  dust  from  his  shoes,  and  left  his  natal  soi] 
for  ever.  He  died  on  the  llth  December  of  the  same  year 
in  Venice. 

His  son  the  Prince  of  Chimay,  his  brother,  and  son-in- 
law,  and  the  other  obedient  nobles,  soon  accommodated  them 
selves  to  the  new  administration,  much  as  they  had  been 
inclined  to  bluster  at  first  about  their  privileges.  The 
governor  soon  reported  that  matters  were  proceeding,  very 
smoothly.18  There  was  a  general  return  to  the  formei 
docility  now  that  such  a  disciplinarian  as  Fuentes  held  the 
reins. 

The  opening  scenes  of  the  campaign  between  the  Spanish 
governor  and-  France  were,  as  usual,  in  Picardy.  The  Mar 
quis  of  Varambon  made  a  demonstration  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  Dourlens — a  fortified  town  on  the  river  Authie, 


14  Ybarra  to  Philip,  6  March,  1595. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

15  Ibid. 

16  Fuentes  to  Philip,  28  March,  1595. 


(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.)  " Es  el  que  V. 
Magd.  sabe,contentandose  con  hablar." 

17  Letters  of  Ybarra,  ubi  sup. 

18  Ybarra  to  Philip,  16  March,  1595, 


324  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI 

lying  in  an  open  plain,  very  deep  in  that  province — while 
Fuentes  took  the  field  with  eight  thousand  men,  and  laid 
siege  to  Le  Catelet.  He  had  his  eye,  however,  upon  Ham. 
That  important  stronghold  was  in  the  hands  of  a  certain 
nobleman  called  De  Gomeron,  who  had  been  an  energetic 
Leaguer,  and  was  now  disposed,  for  a  handsome  consideration, 
to  sell  himself  to  the  King  of  Spain.  In  the  auction  of 
governors  and  generals  then  going  on  in  every  part  of  France 
it  had  been  generally  found  that  Henry's  money  was  more  to 
be  depended  upon  in  the  long  run,  although  Philip's  bids  were 
often  very  high,  and,  for  a  considerable  period,  the  payments 
regular.  Gomeron's  upset  price  for  himself  was  twenty-five 
thousand  crowns  in  cash,  and  a  pension  of  eight  thousand  a 
year.  Upon  these  terms  he  agreed  to  receive  a  Spanish 
garrison  into  the  town,  and  to  cause  the  French  in  the 
citadel  to  be  sworn  into  the  service  of  the  Spanish  king. 
Fuentes  agreed  to  the  bargain  and  paid  the  adroit  trades 
man,  who  knew  so  well  how  to  turn  a  penny  for  himself; 
a  large  portion  of  the  twenty-five  thousand  crowns  upon  the 
nail. 

De  Gomeron  was  to  proceed  to  Brussels  to  receive  the 
residue.  His  brother-in-law,  M.  d'Orville,  commanded  in  the. 
citadel,  and  so  soon  as  the  Spanish  troops  had  taken  posses 
sion  of  the  town  its  governor  claimed  full  payment  of  his 
services. 

But  difficulties  awaited  him  in  Brussels.  He  was  informed 
that  a  French  garrison  could  not  be  depended  upon  for 
securing  the  fortress,  but  that  town  and  citadel  must  both 
be  placed  in  Spanish  hands.  De  Gomeron  loudly  protesting 
that  this  was  not  according  to  contract,  was  calmly  assured, 
by  command  of  Fuentes,  that  unless  the  citadel  were  at 
once  evacuated  and  surrendered,  he  would  not  receive  the 
balance  of  his  twenty-five  thousand  crowns,  and  that  he  should 
instantly  lose  his  head.  Here  was  more  than  De  Gomeron 
had  bargained  for ;  but  this  particular  branch  of  commerce 
in  revolutionary  times,  although  lucrative,  has  always  its 
risks.  De  Gomeron,  thus  driven  to  the  wall?  sent  a  letter  by 


1595.        TREACHERY  AND  EXECUTION  OF  DE  GOMERON.         325 

a  Spanish  messenger  to  his  brother-in-law,  ordering  him  to 
surrender  the  fortress.  D'Orville — who  meantime  had  been 
making  his  little  arrangements  with  the  other  party — pro 
tested  that  the  note  had  been  written  under  duress,  and 
refused  to  comply  with  its  directions. 

Time  was  pressing,  for  the  Duke  of  Bouillon  and  the  Count 
of  St.  Pol  lay  with  a  considerable  force  in  the  neighbour 
hood,  obviously  menacing  Ham. 

Fuentes  accordingly  sent  that  distinguished  soldier  and 
historian,  Don  Carlos  Coloma,  with  a  detachment  of  soldiers 
to  Brussels,  with  orders  to  bring  Gomeron  into  camp.  He 
was  found  seated  at  supper  with  his  two  young  brothers,  aged 
respectively  sixteen  and  eighteen  years,  and  was  just  putting 
a  cherry  into  his  mouth  as  Coloma  entered  the  room.  He 
remained  absorbed  in  thought,  trifling  with  the  cherry  without 
eating  it,  which  Don  Carlos  set  down  as  a  proof  of  guilt. 
The  three  brothers  were  at  once  put  in  a  coach,  together 
with  their  sister,  a  nun  of  the  age  of  twenty,  and  conveyed 
to  the  head-quarters  of  Fuentes,  who  lay  before  Le  Catelet, 
but  six  leagues  from  Ham. 

Meantime  D'Orville  had  completed  his  negotiations  with 
Bouillon,  and  had  agreed  to  surrender  the  fortress  so  soon  as 
the  Spanish  troops  should  be  driven  from  the  town.  The 
duke  knowing  that  there  was  no  time  to  lose,  came  with 
three  thousand  men  before  the  place.  His  summons  to 
surrender  was  answered  by  a  volley  of  cannon-shot  from 
the  town  defences.  An  assault  was  made  and  repulsed, 
D'Humieres,  a  most  gallant  officer  and  a  favourite  of  King 
Henry,  being  killed,  besides  at  least  two  hundred  soldiers. 
The  next  attack  was  successful,  the  town  was  carried,  and 
the  Spanish  garrison  put  to  the  sword. 

D'Orville  then,  before  giving  up  the  citadel,  demanded 
three  hostages  for  the  lives  of  his  three  brothers-in-law. 

The  hostages  availed  him  little.  Fuentes  had  already  sent 
word  to  Gomeron's  mother,  that  if  the  bargain  were  not 
fulfilled  he  would  send  her  the  heads  of  her  three  sons  on 
three  separate  dishes.  The  distracted  woman  made  her  way 


326  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI 

to  D'Orville,  and  fell  at  his  feet  with  tears  and  entreaties. 
It  was  too  late,  and  D'Orville,  unable  to  bear  her  lamentations, 
suddenly  rushed  from  the  castle,  and  nearly  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Spaniards  as  he  fled  from  the  scene.  Two  of 
the  four  cuirassiers,  who  alone  of  the  whole  garrison  accom 
panied  him,  were  taken  prisoners.  The  governor  escaped 
to  unknown  regions.  Madame  de  G-omeron  then  appeared 
before  Fuentes,  and  tried  in  vain  to  soften  him.  De  Gomeron 
was  at  once  beheaded  in  the  sight  of  the  whole  camp.  The 
two  younger  sons  were  retained  in  prison,  but  ultimately 
set  at  liberty.19  The  town  and  citadel  were  thus  permanently 
acquired  by  their  lawful  king,  who  was  said  to  be  more 
afflicted  at  the  death  of  D'Humieres  than  rejoiced  at  the 
capture  of  Ham. 

Meantime  Colonel  Yerdugo,  royal  governor  of  Friesland, 
whose  occupation  in  those  provinces,  now  so  nearly  recovered 
by  the  republic,  was  gone,  had  led  a  force  of  six  thousand 
foot,  and  twelve  hundred  horse  across  the  French  border,  and 
was  besieging  La  Ferte  on  the  Cher.  The  siege  was  relieved 
by  Bouillon  on  the  26th  May,  and  the  Spanish  veteran  was 
26  May  ^en  ordered  to  take  command  in  Burgundy.  But 
1595.  his  days  were  numbered.  He  had  been  sick  of 
dysentery  at  Luxembourg  during  the  summer,  but  after 
apparent  recovery  died  suddenly  on  the  2nd  September,  and 
of  course  was  supposed  to  have  been  poisoned.20  He  was 
identified  with  the  whole  history  of  the  Netherland  wars. 
Born  at  Talavera  de  la  Keyna,  of  noble  parentage,  as  he 
asserted — although  his  mother  was  said  to  have  sold  dogs' 
meat,  and  he  himself  when  a  youth  was  a  private  soldier — 
he  rose  by  steady  conduct  and  hard  fighting  to  considerable 
eminence  in  his  profession.  He  was  governor  of  Harlem 
after  the  famous  siege,  and  exerted  himself  with  some  success 
to  mitigate  the  ferocity  of  the  Spaniards  towards  the  Nether- 
landers  at  that  epoch.  He  was  marshal-general  of  the  camp 
under  Don  John  of  Austria,  and  distinguished  himself  at  the 

19  Bor,  IV.   18,  19,  27.      Meteren,  355,  356.    De  Thou,  xiL  382,    seqq. 
Coloma,  173.    .  20  Duyck,  662.     Compare  Bor,  IV.  29. 


1595.  SIEGE  OF  CATELET.  327 

battle  of  Gremblours.  He  succeeded  Count  Eenneberg  as 
governor  of  Friesland  and  Groningen,  and  bore  a  manful 
part  in  most  of  the  rough  business  that  had  been  going  on 
for  a  generation  of  mankind  among  those  blood-stained  wolds 
and  morasses.  He  was  often  victorious,  and  quite  as  often 
soundly  defeated  ;  but  he  enjoyed  campaigning,  and  was  a 
glutton  of  work.  He  cared  little  for  parade  and  ceremony, 
but  was  fond  of  recalling  with  pleasure  the  days  when  he 
was  a  soldier  at  four  crowns  a  month,  with  an  undivided 
fourth  of  one  cloak,  which  he  and  three  companions  wore 
by  turns  on  holidays.  Although  accused  of  having  at 
tempted  to  procure  the  assassination  of  William  Lewis 
Nassau,  he  was  not  considered  ill-natured,  and  he  pos 
sessed  much  admiration  for  Prince  Maurice.  An  iron-clad 
man,  who  had  scarcely  taken  harness  from  his  back  all  his 
life,  he  was  a  type  of  the  Spanish  commanders  who  had 
implanted  international  hatred  deeply  in  the  Netherland  soul, 
and  who,  now  that  this  result  and  no  other  had  been  accom 
plished,  were  rapidly  passing  away.  He  had  been  baptised 
Franco,  and  his  family  appellation  of  Verdugo  meant  exe 
cutioner.  Punning  on  these  names  he  was  wont  to  say,  that 
he  was  frank  for  all  good  people,  but  a  hangman  for  heretics  ; 
and  he  acted  up  to  his  gibe.21 

Foiled  at  Ham,  Fuentes  had  returned  to  the  siege  of 
Catelet,  and  had  soon  reduced  the  place.  He  then  turned 
his  attention  again  to  Dourlens,  and  invested  that  city. 
During  the  preliminary  operations,  another  veteran  com 
mander  in  these  wars,  Valentin  Pardieu  de  la  Motte, 
recently  created  Count  of  Everbecque  by  Philip,  who  had 
been  for  a  long  time  general-in-chief  of  the  artillery,  and 
was  one  of  the  most  famous  and  experienced  officers  in  the 
Spanish  service,  went  out  one  fine  moonlight  night  to  recon 
noitre  the  enemy,  and  to  superintend  the  erection  of  bat 
teries.  As  he  was  usually  rather  careless  of  his  personal 
safety,  and  rarely  known  to  put  on  his  armour  when  going 
for  such  purposes  into  the  trenches,  it  was  remarked  with 

81  Cotoma,  168VO, 


328  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

some  surprise,  on  this  occasion,  that  he  ordered  his  page  to 
bring  his  accoutrements,  and  that  he  armed  himself  cap-a-pie 
before  leaving  his  quarters.  Nevertheless,  before  he  had 
reached  the  redoubt,  a  bullet  from  the  town  struck  him 
between  the  fold  of  his  morion  and  the  edge  of  his  buckler 
and  he  fell  dead  without  uttering  a  sound.22 

Here  again  was  a  great  loss  to  the  king's  service.  La 
Motte,  of  a  noble  family  in  Burgundy,  had  been  educated  in 
the  old  fierce  traditions  of  the  Spanish  system  of  warfare 
in  the  Netherlands,  and  had  been  one  of  the  very  hardest 
instruments  that  the  despot  could  use  for  his  bloody  work. 
He  had  commanded  a  company  of  horse  at  the  famous  battle 
of  St.  Quintin,  and  since  that  opening  event  in  Philip's 
reign  he  had  been  unceasingly  engaged  in  the  Flemish  wars. 
Alva  made  him  a  colonel  of  a  Walloon  regiment ;  the  grand 
commander  Requesens  appointed  him  governor  of  Grave- 
lines.  On  the  whole  he  had  been  tolerably  faithful  to  his 
colours  ;  having  changed  sides  but  twice.  After  the  pacifi 
cation  of  Ghent  he  swore  allegiance  to  the  States-General, 
and  assisted  in  the  bombardment  of  the  citadel  of  that  place. 
Soon  afterwards  he  went  over  to  Don  John  of  Austria,  and 
surrendered  to  him  the  town  and  fortress  of  Gravelines, 
of  which  he  then  continued  governor  in  the  name  of  the 
king.  He  was  fortunate  in  the  accumulation  of  office  and 
of  money  ;  rather  unlucky  in  his  campaigning.  He  was 
often  wounded  in  action,  and  usually  defeated  when  com 
manding  in  chief.  He  lost  an  arm  at  the  siege  of  Sluys,  and 
had  now  lost  his  life  almost  by  an  accident.  Although 
twice  married  he  left  no  children  to  inherit  his  great  estates, 
while  the  civil  and  military  offices  left  vacant  by  his  death 
were  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  five  aspiring  indi 
viduals.  The  Count  of  Varax  succeeded  him  as  general  of 
artillery  ;  but  it  was  difficult  to  find  a  man  to  replace  La 
Motte,  possessing  exactly  the  qualities  which  had  made  that 
warrior  so  valuable  to  his  king.  The  type  was  rapidly  disap 
pearing,  and  most  fortunately  for  humanity,  if  half  the  stories 

82  Bor,  XII.  39.     Meteren,  356.     Coloma,  176. 


1595.  CHARACTER  OF  LA  MOTTE.  329 

told  of  him  by  grave  chroniclers,  accustomed  to  discriminate 
between  history  and  gossip,  are  to  be  believed.  He  had  com 
mitted  more  than  one  cool  homicide.  Although  not  rejoicing 
in  the  same  patronymic  as  his  Spanish  colleague  of  Friesland, 
he  too  was  ready  on  occasion  to  perform  hangman's  work. 
When  sergeant-major  in  Flanders,  he  had  himself  volunteered 
—so  ran  the  chronicle — to  do  execution  on  a  poor  wretch 
found  guilty  of  professing  the  faith  of  Calvin  ;  and,  with  his 
own  hands,  had  prepared  a  fire  of  straw,  tied  his  victim  to 
the  stake,  and  burned  him  to  cinders.23  Another  Netherlander 
for  the  same  crime  of  heresy  had  been  condemned  to  be 
torn  to  death  by  horses.  No  one  could  be  found  to  carry  out 
the  sentence.  The  soldiers  under  La  Motte's  command  broke 
into  mutiny  rather  than  permit  themselves  to  be  used  for 
such  foul  purposes  ;  but  the  ardent  young  sergeant-major 
came  forward,  tied  the  culprit  by  the  arms  and  legs  to  two 
horses,  and  himself  whipped  them  to  their  work  till  it  was 
duly  accomplished.24  Was  it  strange  that  in  Philip's  reign 
such  energy  should  be  rewarded  by  wealth,  rank,  and  honour  ? 
Was  not  such  a  labourer  in  the  vineyard  worthy  of  his 
hire  ? 

Still  another  eminent  chieftain  in  the  king's  service 
disappeared  at  this  time — one  who,  although  unscrupulous 
and  mischievous  enough  in  his  day,  was  however  not  stained 
by  any  suspicion  of  crimes  like  these.  Count  Charles  Mans- 
feld,  tired  of  governing  his  decrepit  parent  Peter  Ernest, 
who,  since  the  appointment  of  Fuentes,  had  lost  all  further 
chance  of  governing  the  Netherlands,  had  now  left  Philip's 
service  and  gone  to  the  Turkish  wars.  For  Amurath  IIL, 
who  had  died  in  the  early  days  of  the  year,  had  been  suc 
ceeded  by  a  sultan  as  warlike  as  himself.  Mahomet  III., 
having  strangled  his  nineteen  brothers  on  his  accession,  hand 
somely  buried  them  in  cypress  coffins  by  the  side  of  their 
father,  and  having  subsequently  sacked  and  drowned  ten 
infant  princes  posthumously  born  to  Amurath,25  was  at  leisure 

53  Meteren,  uH  sup.  84  Ibid. 

*5  De  Thou,  XII.  lib.  cxiv.  pp.  500,  seqq.    Compare  Herrera,  iii.  476,  477. 


330  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XXXI 

to  carry  the  war  through  Transylvania  and  Hungary,  up 
to  the  gates  of  Vienna,  with  renewed  energy.  The  Turk, 
who  could  enforce  the  strenuous  rules  of  despotism  by  which 
all  secundogenitures  and  collateral  claimants  in  the  Ottoman 
family  were  thus  provided  for,  was  a  foe  to  be  dealt  with 
seriously.  The  power  of  the  Moslems  at  that  day  was  a  full 
match  for  the  holy  Koman  Empire.  The  days  were  far  dis 
tant  when  the  grim  Turk's  head  was  to  become  a  mockery 
and  a  show ;  and  when  a  pagan  empire,  born  of  carnage 
and  barbarism,  was  to  be  kept  alive  in  Europe  when  it  was 
ready  to  die,  by  the  collective  efforts  of  Christian  princes. 
Charles  Mansfeld  had  been  received  with  great  enthusiasm 
at  the  court  of  Kudolph,  where  he  was  created  a  prince  of 
the  Empire,  and  appointed  to  the  chief  command  of  the 
Imperial  armies  under  the  Archduke  Matthias.  But  his  war 
fare  was  over.  At  the  siege  of  Gran  he  was  stricken  with 
sickness  and  removed  to  Comorn,  where  he  lingered  some 
weeks.  There,  on  the  24th  August,  as  he  lay  half-dozing  on 
his  couch,  he  was  told  that  the  siege  was  at  last  successful ; 
upon  which  he  called  for  a  goblet  of  wine,  drained  it  eagerly, 
and  then  lay  resting  his  head  on  his  hand,  like  one  absorbed 
in  thought.  When  they  came  to  arouse  him  from  his  reverie 
they  found  that  he  was  dead.26  His  father  still  remained 
superfluous  in  the  Netherlands,  hating  and  hated  by  Fuentes  ; 
but  no  longer  able  to  give  that  governor  so  much  annoyance 
as  during  his  son's  life-time  the  two  had  been  able  to  create 
for  Alexander  Farnese.  The  octogenarian  was  past  work 
and  past  mischief  now  ;  but  there  was  one  older  soldier  than 
he  still  left  upon  the  stage,  the  grandest  veteran  in  Philip's 
service,  and  now  the  last  survivor,  except  the  decrepit  Peter 
Ernest,  of  the  grim  commanders  of  Alva's  school.  Chris 
topher  Mondragon — that  miracle  of  human  endurance,  who 
had  been  an  old  man  when  the  great  duke  arrived  in  the 
Netherlands — was  still  governor  of  Antwerp  citadel,  and  men 
were  to  speak  of  him  yet  once  more  before  he  passed  from 
the  stage. 

26  Bor,  IV,  30.    Meteren,  349™.    De  Thou,  xii.  523. 


1595. 


SIEGE  OF  DOURLENS. 


331 


I  return  from  this  digression  to  the  siege  of  Dourlens. 
The  death  of  La  Motte  made  no  difference  in  the  plans  of 
Fuentes.  He  was  determined  to  reduce  the  place  prepara- 
tively  to  more  important  operations.  Bouillon  was  disposed 
to  relieve  it,  and  to  that  end  had  assembled  a  force  of  eight 
thousand  men  within  the  city  of  Amiens.  By  midsummer 
the  Spaniards  had  advanced  with  their  mines  and  galleries 
close  to  the  walls  of  the  city.  Meantime  Admiral  Villars, 
who  had  gained  so  much  renown  by  defending  Rouen  against 
Henry  IV.,  and  who  had  subsequently  made  such  an  excel 
lent  bargain  with  that  monarch  before  entering  his  service,27 
arrived  at  Amiens.  On  the  24th  July  an  expedition  24  July, 
was  sent  from  that  city  towards  Dourlens.  Bouillon  1595- 
and  St.  Pol  commanded  in  person  a  force  of  six  hundred 
picked  cavalry.  Villars  and  Sanseval  each  led  half  as  many, 
and  there  was  a  supporting  body  of  twelve  hundred  mus 
keteers.  This  little  army  convoyed  a  train  of  wagons,  con 
taining  ammunition  and  other  supplies  for  the  beleaguered 
town.  But  Fuentes,  having  sufficiently  strengthened  his 
works,  sallied  forth  with  two  thousand  infantry,  and  a  flying 
squadron  of  Spanish  horse,  to  intercept  them.  It  was  the 
eve  of  St.  James,  the  patron  saint  of  Spain,  at  the  sound  of 
whose  name  as  a  war-cry  so  many  battle-fields  had  been  won 
in  the  Netherlands,  so  many  cities  sacked,  so  many  wholesale 
massacres  perpetrated.  Fuentes  rode  in  the  midst  of  his 
troops  with  the  royal  standard  of  Spain  floating  above  him. 
On  the  other  hand  Villars,  glittering  in  magnificent  armour 
and  mounted  on  a  superbly  caparisoned  charger,28  came  on, 
with  his  three  hundred  troopers,  as  if  about  to  ride  a  conrse 
in  a  tournament.  The  battle  which  ensued  was  one  of  the 
most  bloody  for  the  numbers  engaged,  and  the  victory  one  of 


87  He  had  been  receiving  six  thou 
sand  per  month  from  the  king  of  Spain, 
but  on  reconciling  himself  with  Henry 
after  the  surrender  of  Paris,he  received 
a  sum  of  three  hundred  thousand  ducats 
secured  by  estates  in  Normandy,  and 
a  yearly  pension  of  thirty  thousand 
ducats,  together  with  the  office  of  Ad 


miral  of  France.  For  these  consid«ra- 
tions  he  had  surrendered  Rouen,  H^^re 
de  Gran,  and  the  castle  of  Pont  de 
1'Arche.  —  Herrera,  Hist.  gen.  del 
Mundo,  iii.  433. 

as  « ]y£Uy  vistoso  y  galan  y  en  gallardq 
cavallo."     Coloma,  180. 


332  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

the  most  decisive  recorded  in  this  war.  Villars  charged  pre 
maturely,  furiously,  foolishly.  He  seemed  jealous  of  Bouillon, 
and  disposed  to  show  the  sovereign  to  whom  he  had  so 
recently  given  his  allegiance  that  an  ancient  Leaguer  and 
Papist  was  a  better  soldier  for  his  purpose  than  the  most 
grizzled  Huguenot  in  his  army.  On  the  other  hand  the 
friends  of  Villars  accused  the  duke  of  faint-heartedness,  or  at 
least  of  an  excessive  desire  to  save  himself  and  his  own  com 
mand.  The  first  impetuous  onset  of  the  admiral  was  suc 
cessful,  and  he  drove  half-a-dozen  companies  of  Spaniards 
before  him.  But  he  had  ventured  too  far  from  his  supports. 
Bouillon  had  only  intended  a  feint,  instead  of  a  desperate 
charge  ;  the  Spaniards  were  rallied,  and  the  day  was  saved  by 
that  cool  and  ready  soldier,  Carlos  Coloma.  In  less  than  an 
hour  the  French  were  utterly  defeated  and  cut  to  pieces. 
Bouillon  escaped  to  Amiens  with  five  hundred  men  ;  this  was 
all  that  was  left  of  the  expedition.  The  horse  of  Villars 
was  shot  under  him  and  the  admiral's  leg  was  broken  as 
he  fell.  He  was  then  taken  prisoner  by  two  lieutenants  of 
Carlos  Coloma  ;  but  while  these  warriors  were  enjoying,  by 
anticipation,  the  enormous  ransom  they  should  derive  from 
so  illustrious  a  captive,  two  other  lieutenants  in  the  service  of 
Marshal  de  Kosnes  came  up  and  claimed  their  share  in  the 
prize.  While  the  four  were  wrangling,  the  admiral  called 
out  to  them  in  excellent  Spanish  not  to  dispute,  for  he  had 
money  enough  to  satisfy  them  all.  Meantime  the  Spanish 
commissary  -  general  of  cavalry,  Contreras,  came  up,  re 
buked  this  unseemly  dispute  before  the  enemy  had  been  fairly 
routed,  and,  in  order  to  arrange  the  quarrel  impartially 
ordered  his  page  to  despatch  De  Villars  on  the  spot.  The 
page,  without  a  word,  placed  his  arquebus  to  the  admiral's 
forehead  and  shot  him  dead. 

So  perished  a  bold  and  brilliant  soldier,  and  a  most  un 
scrupulous  politician.  Whether  the  cause  of  his  murder  was 
mere  envy  on  the  part  of  the  commissary  at  having  lost  a 
splendid  opportunity  for  prize-money,  or  hatred  to  an  ancient 
thus  turned  renegade,  it  is  fruitless  now  to 


1595. 


ASSASSINATION    OF  DE  VILLARS. 


333 


Villars  would  have  paid  two  hundred  thousand  crowns  for  his 
ransom,  so  that  the  assassination  was  bad  as  a  mercantile 
speculation  ;  but  it  was  pretended  by  the  friends  of  Contreras 
that  rescue  was  at  hand.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  nothing 
was  attempted  by  the  French  to  redeem  their  total  overthrow. 
Count  Belin  was  wounded  and  fell  into  the  hands  of  Coloma. 
Sanseval  was  killed  ;  and  a  long  list  of  some  of  the  most 
brilliant  nobles  in  France  was  published  by  the  Spaniards  as 
having  perished  on  that  bloody  field.  This  did  not  prevent 
a  large  number  of  these  victims,  however,  from  enjoying 
excellent  health  for  many  long  years  afterwards,  although 
their  deaths  have  been  duly  recorded  in  chronicle  from  that 
day  to  our  own  times.29 

But  Villars  and  Sanseval  were  certainly  slain,  and  Fuentes 
sent  their  bodies,  with  a  courteous  letter,  to  the  Duke  of 
Nevers,  at  Amiens,  who  honoured  them  with  a  stately 
funeral.30 

There  was  much  censure  cast  on  both  Bouillon  and 
Villars  respectively  by  the  antagonists  of  each  chieftain  ;  and 
the  contest  as  to  the  cause  of  the  defeat  was  almost  as  ani 
mated  as  the  skirmish  itself.  Bouillon  was  censured  for 
grudging  a  victory  to  the  Catholics,  and  thus  leaving  the 
admiral  to  his  fate.  Yet  it  is  certain  that  the  Huguenot 
duke  himself  commanded  a  squadron  composed  almost  en 
tirely  of  papists.  Villars,  on  the  other  hand,  was  censured  for 
rashness,  obstinacy,  and  greediness  for  distinction  ;  yet  it  is  pro- 


29  Bor,  IV.  28-30.  Meteren,  356, 
seqq.  Coloma,  180,  seqq.  Bentivoglio, 
411  412,  413.  De  Thou,  xii.  403, 
seqq. 

Count  Lewis  Nassau  wrote  to  his 
brother  John  that  besides  the  admiral 
(Villars),  not  more  than  three  or  at 
most  four  nobles  of  distinction  pe 
rished.  He  also  ascribes  the  defeat 
entirely  to  the  foolhardiness  of  the 
French,  who,  according  to  his  state 
ment,  charged  up  hill  and  through  a 
narrow  road,  with  a  force  of  one  thou 
sand  foot  and  three  hundred  cavalry, 
against  theenemy's  whole  army,drawn 
up  in  battle  array,  and  consisting  of 


two  thousand  horse  and  ten  thousand 
infantry,  well  provided  with  artillery. 
Certainly  the  result  of  such  an  en 
counter  could  hardly  be  doubtful,  but 
Count  Lewis  was  not  in  the  battle,  nor 
in  France  at  the  time,  and  the  news 
received  by  him  was  probably  inac 
curate. 

I  have  preferred  to  rely  mainly  on 
Carlos  Coloma,  who  fought  in  the  ac 
tion,  upon  De  Thou,  and  upon  the 
Dutch  chroniclers,  Bor,  Meteren,  and 
others. 

See  Groen  v.  Prinsterer.  (Archives 
II.  Serie,  i.  342.) 

30  Ibid. 


334  THE  tJNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

bable  that  Fuentes  might  have  been  defeated  had  the  charges 
of  Bouillon  been  as  determined  and  frequent  as  were  those  of 
his  colleague.  Savigny  de  Rosnes,  too,  the  ancient  Leaguer, 
who  commanded  under  Fuentes,  was  accused  of  not  having 
sufficiently  followed  up  the  victory,  because  unwilling  that 
his  Spanish  friends  should  entirely  trample  upon  his  own 
countrymen.  Yet  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  De  Rosnes 
was  as  bitter  an  enemy  to  his  own  country  as  the  most 
ferocious  Spaniard  of  them  all.  It  has  rarely  been  found  in 
civil  war  that  the  man  who  draws  his  swo.'d  against  his 
fatherland,  under  the  banner  of  the  foreigner,  is  actuated  by 
any  lingering  tenderness  for  the  nation  he  betrays  ;  and  the 
renegade  Frenchman  was  in  truth  the  animating  spirit  of 
Fuentes  during  the  whole  of  his  brilliant  campaign.  The 
Spaniard's  victories  were,  indeed,  mainly  attributable  to  the 
experience,  the  genius,  and  the  rancour  of  De  Rosnes.31 

But  debates  over  a  lost  battle  are  apt  to  be  barren.  Mean- 
31  July,  time  Fuentes,  losing  no  time  in  controversy,  ad- 
1595.  vanced  upon  the  city  of  Dourlens,  was  repulsed  twice, 
and  carried  it  on  the  third  assault,  exactly  one  week  after  the 
action  just  recounted.  The  Spaniards  and  Leaguers,  howling 
"  Remember  Ham  !"  butchered  without  mercy  the  garrison 
and  all  the  citizens,  save  a  small  number  of  prisoners  likely 
to  be  lucrative.  Six  hundred  of  the  townspeople  and  two 
thousand  five  hundred  French  soldiers  were  killed  within  a 
few  hours.  Well  had  Fuentes  profited  by  the  relationship  and 
tuition  of  Alva  ! 

The  Count  of  Dinant  and  his  brother  De  Ronsoy  were  both 
slain,  and  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  florins  were  paid  in 
ransom  by  those  who  escaped  with  life.  The  victims  were 
all  buried  outside  of  the  town  in  one  vast  trench,  and  the 
effluvia  bred  a  fever  which  carried  off  most  of  the  surviving 
inhabitants.  Dourlens  became  for  the  time  a  desert.32 

Fuentes  now  received  deputies  with  congratulations  from 
the  obedient  provinces,  especially  from  Hainault,  Artois,  and 
Lille.  He  was  also  strongly  urged  to  attempt  the  immediate 

w  De  Thou,  Bor,  Coloma,  Bentivoglio,  et  al.     Ubi  supra.  *  Ibid. 


1595.  OPERATIONS  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.  335 

reduction  of  Cambray,  to  which  end  those  envoys  were  em 
powered  to  offer  contributions  of  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  florins  and  a  contingent  of  seven  thousand  infantry. 
Berlaymont,  too,  bishop  of  Tournay  and  archbishop  of  Cam- 
bray,  was  ready  to  advance  forty  thousand  florins  in  the  same 
cause. 

Fuentes,  in  the  highest  possible  spirits  at  his  success,  and 
having  just  been  reinforced  by  Count  Bucquoy  with  a  fresh 
Walloon  regiment  of  fifteen  hundred  foot  and  with  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  of  the  mutineers  from  Tirlemont  and 
Chapelle,  who  were  among  the  choicest  of  Spanish  veterans, 
was  not  disposed  to  let  the  grass  grow  under  his  feet.  Within 
four  days  after  the  sack  of  Dourlens  he  broke  up  his  camp, 
and  came  before  Cambray  with  an  army  of  twelve  thousand 
foot  and  nearly  four  thousand  horse.  But  before  narrating 
the  further  movements  of  the  vigorous  new  governor-general, 
it  is  necessary  to  glance  at  the  military  operations  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  Netherlands  and  upon  the  Khine. 

The  States-General  had  reclaimed  to  their  authority  nearly 
all  that  important  region  lying  beyond  the  Yssel — the  solid 
Frisian  bulwark  of  the  republic — but  there  were  certain 
points  nearer  the  line  where  Upper  and  Nether  Germany 
almost  blend  into  one,  which  yet  acknowledged  the  name  of 
the  king.  The  city  of  Groenlo,  or  Grol,  not  a  place  of  much 
interest  or  importance  in  itself,  but  close  to  the  i4juiy> 
frontier,  and  to  that  destined  land  of  debate,  the  1595- 
duchies  of  Cleves,  Juliers,  and  Berg,  still  retained  its  Spanish 
garrison.  On  the  14th  July  Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau  came 
before  the  city  with  six  thousand  infantry,  some  companies  of 
cavalry,  and  sixteen  pieces  of  artillery.  He  made  his  ap 
proaches  in  form,  and  after  a  week's  operations  he  31 
fired  three  volleys,  according  to  his  custom,  and 
summoned  the  place  to  capitulate.33  Governor  Jan  van  Stirum 
replied  stoutly  that  he  would  hold  the  place  for  God  and  the 
king  to  the  last  drop  of  his  blood.  Meantime  there  was  hope 
of  help  from  the  outside. 

33  B 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

Maurice  was  a  vigorous  young  commander,  but  there  was 
a  man  to  be  dealt  with  who  had  been  called  the  "  good  old 
Mondragon  "  when  the  prince  was  in  his  cradle  ;  and  who  still 
governed  the  citadel  of  Antwerp,  and  was  still  ready  for  an 
active  campaign. 

Christopher  Mondragon  was  now  ninety-two  years  old. 
Not  often  in  the  world's  history  has  a  man  of  that  age  been 
capable  of  personal  participation  in  the  joys  of  the  battle 
field,  whatever  natural  reluctance  veterans  are  apt  to  manifest 
at  relinquishing  high  military  control. 

But  Mondragon  looked  not  with  envy  but  with  admiration 
on  the  growing  fame  of  the  Nassau  chieftain,  and  was  dis 
posed,  before  he  himself  left  the  stage,  to  match  himself  with 
the  young  champion. 

So  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  intended  demonstration  of 
Maurice  against  Grol,  the  ancient  governor  of  Antwerp  col 
lected  a  little  army  by  throwing  together  all  the  troops  that 
could  be  spared  from  the  various  garrisons  within  his  com 
mand.  With  two  Spanish  regiments,  two  thousand  Swiss, 
the  Walloon  troops  of  De  Orisons,  and  the  Irish  regiment  of 
Stanley — in  all  seven  thousand  foot  and  thirteen  hundred 
horse — Mondragon  marched  straight  across  Brabant  and  Gel- 
derland  to  the  Khine.  At  Kaiserworth  he  reviewed  his  forces, 
and  announced  his  intention  of  immediately  crossing  the 
river.  There  was  a  murmur  of  disapprobation  among  officers 
and  men  at  what  they  considered  the  foolhardy  scheme  of 
mad  old  Mondragon.  But  the  general  had  not  campaigned 
a  generation  before,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine,  in  the  bottom 
of  the  sea,  and  waded  chin-deep  for  six  hours  long  of  an 
October  night,  in  the  face  of  a  rising  tide  from  the  German 
Ocean  and  of  an  army  of  Zeelanders,  to  be  frightened  now  at 
the  summer  aspect  of  the  peaceful  Ehine. 

The  wizened  little  old  man,  walking  with  difficulty  by  the 
aid  of  a  staff,  but  armed  in  proof,  with  plumes  waving  gal 
lantly  from  his  iron  headpiece,  and  with  his  rapier  at  his  side, 
ordered  a  chair  to  be  brought  to  the  river's  edge.  Then 
calmly  seating  himself  in  the  presence  of  his  host,  he  stated 


1595.  RELIEF  OF  GROL.  337 

that  he  should  not  rise  from  that  chair  until  the  last  man 
had  crossed  the  river.34  Furthermore,  he  observed  that  it 
was  not  only  his  purpose  to  relieve  the  city  of  Grol,  but 
to  bring  Maurice  to  an  action,  and  to  defeat  him,  unless 
he  retired.  The  soldiers  ceased  to  murmur,  the  pontoons 
were  laid,  the  river  was  passed,  and  on  the  25th  25  July, 
July,  Maurice,  hearing  of  the  veteran's  approach,  1595- 
and  not  feeling  safe  in  his  position,  raised  the  siege  of  the 
city.35  Burning  his  camp  and  everything  that  could  not  be 
taken  with  him  on  his  march,  the  prince  came  in  perfect 
order  to  Borkelo,  two  Dutch  miles  from  Grol.  Here  he  occu 
pied  himself  for  some  time  in  clearing  the  country  of  brigands 
who  in  the  guise  of  soldiers  infested  that  region  and  made 
the  little  cities  of  Deutecom,  Anholt,  and  Heerenberg  unsafe. 
He  ordered  the  inhabitants  of  these  places  to  send  out  detach 
ments  to  beat  the  bushes  for  his  cavalry,  while  Hohenlo  was 
ordered  to  hunt  the  heaths  and  wolds  thoroughly  with  packs 
of  bloodhounds  until  every  man  and  beast  to  be  found  lurking 
in  those  wild  regions  should  be  extirpated.  By  these  vigorous 
and  cruel,  but  perhaps  necessary,  measures  the  brigands  were 
at  last  extirpated,  and  honest  people  began  to  sleep  in  their 
beds.36 

On  the  18th  August  Maurice  took  up  a  strong  position  at 
Bislich,  not  far  from  Wesel,  where  the  Kiver  Lippe  ig  August, 
empties  itself  into  the  Khme.  Mondragon,  with  1595> 
his  army  strengthened  by  reinforcements  from  garrisons  in 
Gelderland,  and  by  four  hundred  men  brought  by  Frederic 
van  den  Berg  from  Grol,  had  advanced  to  a  place  called 
Walston  in  den  Ham,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Wesel.  The 
Lippe  flowed  between  the  two  hostile  forces.  Although  he 
had  broken  up  his  siege,  the  prince  was  not  disposed  to  re 
nounce  his  whole  campaign  before  trying  conclusions  with  his 
veteran  antagonist.  He  accordingly  arranged  an  ambush  with 
much  skill,  by  means  of  which  he  hoped  to  bring  on  a  genera] 
engagement  and  destroy  Mondragon  and  his  little  army. 

84  Carnero,  lib.  xi.  cap.  xvi.  p.  374.  36  Ibid;  compare  Bor,  XII.  43, 

"  Bor,  IV.  43, 
III,— Z 


338  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

His   cousin   and  favourite  lieutenant,  Philip  Nassau,  was 

1  Sept.    entrusted    with    the    preliminaries.      That    adven- 
1595.       turous   commander,  with   a  picked  force   of  seven 

hundred  cavalry,  moved  quietly  from  the  camp  on  the  even 
ing  of  the  1st  September.  He  took  with  him  his  two 
younger  brothers,  Ernest  and  Lewis  Gunther,  who,  as  has 
been  seen,  had  received  the  promise  of  the  eldest  brother  of 
the  family,  William  Lewis,  that  they  should  be  employed 
from  time  to  time  in  any  practical  work  that  might  be  going 
forward.  Besides  these  young  gentlemen,  several  of  the 
most  famous  English  and  Dutch  commanders  were  on  the 
expedition  ;  the  brothers  Paul  and  Marcellus  Bax,  Captains 
Parker,  Cutler,  and  Robert  Vere,  brother  of  Sir  Francis, 
among  the  number. 

Early  in   the  morning  of  the  2nd   September  the  force 

2  Sept.    crossed  the  Lippe,  according   to  orders,  keeping  a 
1595.       pontoon  across  the  stream  to  secure   their  retreat. 

They  had  instructions  thus  to  feel  the  enemy  at  early  dawn, 
and,  as  he  was  known  to  have  foraging  parties  out  every 
morning  along  the  margin  of  the  river,  to  make  a  sudden 
descent  upon  their  pickets,  and  to  capture  those  companies 
before  they  could  effect  their  escape  or  be  reinforced.  After 
wards  they  were  to  retreat  across  the  Lippe,  followed,  as  it 
was  hoped  would  be  the  case,  by  the  troops  of  Mondragon, 
anxious  to  punish  this  piece  of  audacity.  Meantime  Maurice 
with  five  thousand  infantry,  the  rest  of  his  cavalry,  and 
several  pieces  of  artillery,  awaited  their  coming,  posted  behind 
some  hills  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Wesel. 

The  plot  of  the  young  commander  was  an  excellent  one, 
but  the  ancient  campaigner  on  the  other  side  of  the  river 
had  not  come  all  the  way  from  his  comfortable  quarters 
in  Antwerp  to  be  caught  napping  on  that  September  morn 
ing.  Mondragon  had  received  accurate  information  from 
his  scouts  as  to  what  was  going  on  in  the  enemy's  camp,  and 
as  to  the  exact  position  of  Maurice.  He  was  up  long  before 
daybreak — "the  good  old  Christopher" — and  himself  per 
sonally  arranged  a  counter-ambush,  In  the  fields  lying  a 


1595.  EXPLOIT  OF  MONDRAGON.  339 

little  back  from  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  Lippe 
he  posted  the  mass  of  his  cavalry,  supported  by  a  well-con 
cealed  force  of  infantry.  The  pickets  on  the  stream  and  the 
foraging  companies  were  left  to  do  their  usual  work  as  if 
nothing  were  likely  to  happen. 

Philip  Nassau  galloped  cheerfully  forward,  according  to 
the  well-concerted  plan,  sending  Cutler  and  Marcellus  Bax 
with  a  handful  of  troopers  to  pounce  upon  the  enemy's  pickets. 
When  those  officers  got  to  the  usual  foraging  ground  they 
came  upon  a  much  larger  cavalry  force  than  they  had  looked 
for  ;  and,  suspecting  something  wrong,  dashed  back  again  to 
give  information  to  Count  Philip.  That  impatient  commander, 
feeling  sure  of  his  game  unless  this  foolish  delay  should  give 
the  foraging  companies  time  to  escape,  ordered  an  immediate 
advance  with  his  whole  cavalry  force.  The  sheriff  of  Zallant 
was  ordered  to  lead  the  way.  He  objected  that  the  pass, 
leading  through  a  narrow  lane  and  opening  by  a  gate  into  an 
open  field,  was  impassable  for  more  than  two  troopers  abreast, 
and  that  the  enemy  was  in  force  beyond.  Philip,  scorning 
these  words  of  caution,  and  exclaiming  that  seventy-five 
lancers  were  enough  to  put  fifty  carabineers  to  rout,  put  on 
his  casque,  drew  his  sword,  and  sending  his  brother  Lewis  to 
summon  Kinski  and  Donck,  dashed  into  the  pass,  accom 
panied  by  the  two  counts  and  a  couple  of  other  nobles.  The 
sheriff,  seeing  this,  followed  him  at  full  gallop,  and  after  him 
came  the  troopers  of  Barchon,  of  Du  Bois,  and  of  Paul  Bax, 
riding  single  file  but  in  much  disorder.  When  they  had  all 
entered  inextricably  into  the  lane,  with  the  foremost  of  the 
lancers  already  passing  through  the  gate,  they  discovered  the 
enemy's  cavalry  and  infantry  drawn  up  in  force  upon  the 
watery,  heathery  pastures  beyond.  There  was  at  once  a 
scene  of  confusion.  To  use  lances  was  impossible,  while  they 
were  all  struggling  together  through  the  narrow  passage, 
offering  themselves  an  easy  prey  to  the  enemy  as  they  slowly 
emerged  into  the  fields.  The  foremost  defended  themselves 
with  sabre  and  pistol  as  well  as  they  could.  The  hindmost 
did  their  best  to  escape,  and  rode  for  their  lives  to  the  other 


340  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI 

side  of  the  river.  All  trampled  upon  each  other  and  impeded 
each  other's  movements.  There  was  a  brief  engagement, 
bloody,  desperate,  hand  to  hand,  and  many  Spaniards  fell 
before  the  entrapped  Netherlander.  But  there  could  not  be 
a  moment's  doubt  as  to  the  issue.  Count  Philip  went  down 
in  the  beginning  of  the  action,  shot  through  the  body  by  an 
arquebus,  discharged  so  close  to  him  that  his  clothes  were 
set  on  fire.  As  there  was  no  water  within  reach  the  flames 
could  be  extinguished  at  last  only  by  rolling  him  over  and 
over,  wounded  as  he  was,  among  the  sand  and  heather.  Count 
Ernest  Solms  was  desperately  wounded  at  the  same  time. 
For  a  moment  both  gentlemen  attempted  to  effect  their 
escape  by  mounting  on  one  horse,  but  both  fell  to  the  ground 
exhausted  and  were  taken  prisoners.  '  Ernest  Nassau  was  also 
captured.  His  young  brother,  Lewis  Gunther,  saved  himself 
by  swimming  the  river.  Count  Kinski  was  mortally  wounded. 
Robert  Vere,  too,  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands,  and  was  after 
wards  murdered  in  cold  blood.  Marcellus  Bax,  who  had 
returned  to  the  field  by  a  circuitous  path,  still  under  the 
delusion  that  he  was  about  handsomely  to  cut  off  the  retreat 
of  the  foraging  companies,  saved  himself  and  a  handful  of 
cavalry  by  a  rapid  flight,  so  soon  as  he  discovered  the  enemy 
drawn  up  in  line  of  battle.  Cutler  and  Parker  were  equally 
fortunate.  There  was  less  than  a  hundred  of  the  States' 
troops  killed,  and  it  is  probable  that  a  larger  number  of  the 
Spaniards  fell.  But  the  loss  of  Philip  Nassau,  despite  the 
debauched  life  and  somewhat  reckless  valour  of  that  soldier, 
was  a  very  severe  one  to  the  army  and  to  his  family.  He 
was  conveyed  to  Rheinberg,  where  his  wounds  were  dressed. 
As  he  lay  dying  he  was  courteously  visited  by  Mondragon, 
and  by  many  other  Spanish  officers,  anxious  to  pay  their 
respects  to  so  distinguished  and  warlike  a  member  of  an  illus 
trious  house.  He  received  them  with  dignity,  and  concealed 
his  physical  agony  so  as  to  respond  to  their  conversation  as 
became  a  Nassau.  His  cousin,  Frederic  van  den  Berg,  who 
was  among  the  visitors,  indecently  taunted  him  with  his 
position  ;  asking  him  what  he  had  expected  by  serving  the 


1594. 


DEATH  OF  PHILIP  NASSAU. 


341 


cause  of  the  Beggars.  Philip  turned  from  him  with  impa 
tience  and  bade  him  hold  his  peace.  At  midnight  he  died. 

William  of  Orange  and  his  three  brethren  had  already  laid 
down  their  lives  for  the  republic,  and  now  his  eldest  brother's 
son  had  died  in  the  same  cause.  "  He  has  carried  the  name 
of  Nassau  with  honour  into  the  grave,"  said  his  brother, 
Lewis  William,  to  their  father.37  Ten  others  of  the  house, 
besides  many  collateral  relations,  were  still  in  arms  for  their 
adopted  country.  Barely  in  history  has  a  single  noble  race 
so  entirely  identified  itself  with  a  nation's  record  in  its  most 
heroic  epoch  as  did  that  of  Orange-Nassau  with  the  libera 
tion  of  Holland. 

Young  Ernest  Solms,  brother  of  Count  Everard,  lay  in  the 
same  chamber  with  Philip  Nassau,  and  died  on  the  following 
day.  Their  bodies  were  sent  by  Mondragon  with  a  courteous 
letter  to  Maurice  at  Bisslich.  Ernest  Nassau  was  subse 
quently  ransomed  for  ten  thousand  florins.38 

This  skirmish  on  the  Lippe  has  no  special  significance  in 
a  military  point  of  view,  but  it  derives  more  than  a  passing 
interest,  not  only  from  the  death  of  many  a  brave  and  dis 
tinguished  soldier,  but  for  the  illustration  of  human  vigour 
triumphing,  both  physically  and  mentally,  over  the  infirmi 
ties  of  old  age,  given  by  the  achievement  of  Christopher 
Mondragon.  Alone  he  had  planned  his  expedition  across 
the  country  from  Antwerp,  alone  he  had  insisted  on  crossing 
the  Khine,  while  younger  soldiers  hesitated  ;  alone,  with  his 
own  active  brain  and  busy  hands,  he  had  outwitted  the 
famous  young  chieftain  of  the  Netherlands,  counteracted  his 
subtle  policy,  and  set  the  counter-ambush  by  which  his 
choicest  cavalry  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  one  of  his  bravest 
generals  slain.  So  far  could  the  icy  blood  of  ninety-two 
prevail  against  the  vigour  of  twenty-eight. 

The  two  armies  lay  over  against  each  other,  with  the  river 
between  them,  for  some  days  longer,  but  it  was  obvious  that 


81  Groen  v.  Prinsterer.  (Archives  I. 
2nd  series,  345.) 

3«  Bor,  IV.  42-44.  Meteren,  361™. 
Reyd,  xi.  271.  Coloma,  192,  Carnero, 


xi.  xvi.  p.  574,  seqq.  Bentivoglio,  422, 
423.  Duyck,  652-659  ;  are  chief  au 
thorities  for  the  incidents  of  this  skir 
mish. 


342  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

nothing  further  would  be  attempted  on  either  side.  Mon- 
dragon  had  accomplished  the  object  for  which  he  had 
marched  from  Brabant.  He  had  spoiled  the  autumn  cam 
paign  of  Maurice,  and  was  now  disposed  to  return  before 
winter  to  his  own  quarters.  He  sent  a  trumpet  accordingly 
to  his  antagonist,  begging  him,  half  in  jest,  to  have  more 
consideration  for  his  infirmities  than  to  keep  him  out  in  his 
old  age  in  such  foul  weather,  but  to  allow  him  the  military 
honour  of  being  last  to  break  up  camp.  Should  Maurice 
consent  to  move  away,  Mondragon  was  ready  to  pledge  him 
self  not  to  pursue  him,  and  within  three  days  to  leave  his 
own  entrenchments. 

The  proposition  was  not  granted,  and  very  soon  afterwards 
11  Oct.    the  Spaniard,  deciding  to  retire,  crossed  the  Rhine 

1595.  on    tke    jjth    Qctober.      Maurice    made    a   slight 
attempt  at  pursuit,  sending  Count  William  Lewis  with  some 
cavalry,  who  succeeded  in  cutting  off  a  few  wagons.      The 
army,  however,  returned  safely,  to  be  dispersed  into  various 
garrisons.39 

This  was  Mondragon's  last  feat  of  arms.     Less  than  three 
3  Jan.     months    afterwards,    in    Antwerp    citadel,    as    the 

1596.  veteran  was  washing  his  hands  previously  to  going 
to  the  dinner-table,  he  sat  down  and  died.40     Strange  to  say, 
this  man — who  had   spent   almost  a  century  on  the  battle 
field,  who  had  been  a  soldier  in  nearly  every  war  that  had 
been  waged  in  any  part  of  Europe   during  that  most  bel 
ligerent  age,  who  had  come  an  old  man  to  the  Netherlands 
before  Alva's  arrival,  and  had  ever  since  been  constantly  and 
personally  engaged  in  the  vast  Flemish  tragedy  which  had 
now  lasted  well  nigh  thirty  years — had  never  himself  lost  a 
drop  of  blood.     His  battle-fields  had  been  on  land  and  water, 
on  ice,  in  fire,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  but  he  had  never 
received  a  wound.     Nay,  more  ;  he  had  been  blown  up  in  a 
fortress — the  castle  of  Danvilliers  in  Luxembourg,  of  which  he 
was  governor — where  all  perished  save  his  wife  and  himself, 

.  Metereo,  Beyd.  Coloma.  Carnero.  Bentivoglio.    Duyck.    Ubisup 
«  Bor,  IV,  107. 


1505.  SIEGE  OP  WEERD  CASTLE.  343 

and,  when  they  came  to  dig  among  the  ruins,  they  excavated 
at  last  the  ancient  couple,  protected  by  the  framework  of  a 
window  in  the  embrasure  of  which  they  had  been  seated, 
without  a  scratch  or  a  bruise.41  He  was  a  Biscayan  by 
descent,  but  born  in  Medina  del  Campo.  A  strict  dis 
ciplinarian,  very  resolute  and  pertinacious,  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  beloved  by  his  inferiors,  his  equals,  and  his 
superiors.  He  was  called  the  father  of  his  soldiers,  the  good 
Mondragon,  and  his  name  was  unstained  by  any  of  those 
deeds  of  ferocity  which  make  the  chronicles  of  the  time 
resemble  rather  the  history  of  wolves  than  of  men.  To  a 
married  daughter,  mother  of  several  children,  he  left  a  con 
siderable  fortune.42 

Maurice  broke  up  his  camp  soon  after  the  departure  of  his 
antagonist,  and  paused  for  a  few  days  at  Arnheim  to  give 
honourable  burial  to  his  cousin  Philip  and  Count  Solms. 
Meantime  Sir  Francis  Vere  was  detached,  with  three  regi 
ments,  which  were  to  winter  in  Overyssel,  towards  Weerd 
castle,  situate  at  a  league's  distance  from  Ysselsburg,  and 
defended  by  a  garrison  of  twenty-six  men  under  Captain 
Pruys.  That  doughty  commandant,  on  being  summoned  to 
surrender,  obstinately  refused.  Vere,  according  to  Maurice's 
orders,  then  opened  with  his  artillery  against  the  place,  which 
soon  capitulated  in  great  panic  and  confusion.  The  captain 
demanded  the  honours  of  war.  Vere  told  him  in  reply  that 
the  honours  of  war  were  halters  for  the  garrison  who  had 
dared  to  defend  such  a  hovel  against  artillery.  The  twenty- 
six  were  accordingly  ordered  to  draw  black  and  white  straws. 
This  was  done,  and  the  twelve  drawing  white  straws  were 
immediately  hanged  ;  the  thirteenth  receiving  his  life  on 
consenting  to  act  as  executioner  for  his  comrades.  The 
commandant  was  despatched  first  of  all.  The  rope  broke, 
but  the  English  soldiers  held  him  under  the  water  of  the 

an  indentation ;    looking  plain    and 


41  Bor,  IV.  167.    Carnero,  378,  379. 

42  Bor,  IV.  167. 

In  the  Ambras.  Musaeum  in  the  Im 
perial  Belvedere  palace  at  Vienna 
may  still  be  seen  a  black,  battered,  old 
Von  corslet  of  Mondragon,  with  many 


practical  enough  among  the  holiday 
suits  of  steel  inlaid  with  gold,  which 
make  this  collection  of  old  armour 
the  most  remarkable  in  the  world. 


344  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

ditch  until  he  was  drowned.  The  castle  was  then  thoroughly 
sacked,  the  women  being  sent  unharmed  to  Ysselsburg.43 

Maurice  then  shipped  the  remainder  of  his  troops  along 
the  Khine  and  Waal  to  their  winter  quarters  and  returned  to 
the  Hague.  It  was  the  feeblest  year's  work  yet  done  by  the 
stadholder. 

Meantime  his  great  ally,  the  Huguenot-Catholic  Prince  of 
Bearne,  was  making  a  dashing,  and,  on  the  whole,  successful 
campaign  in  the  heart  of  his  own  kingdom.  The  constable 
of  Castile,  Don  Ferdinando  de  Velasco,  one  of  Spain's  richest 
grandees  and  poorest  generals,  had  been  sent  with  an  army  of 
ten  thousand  men  to  take  the  field  in  Burgundy  against  the 
man  with  whom  the  great  Farnese  had  been  measuring 
swords  so  lately,  and  with  not  unmingled  success,  in  Picardy. 
Biron,  with  a  sudden  sweep,  took  possession  of  Aussone, 
Autun,  and  Beaune,  but  on  one  adventurous  day  found  him 
self  so  deeply  engaged  with  a  superior .  force  of  the  enemy  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Fontaine  Franchise,  or  St.  Seine,  where 
France's  great  river  takes  its  rise,  as  to  be  nearly  cut  off  and 
captured.  But  Henry  himself  was  already  in  the  field,  and 
by  one  of  those  mad,  reckless  impulses  which  made  him  so 
adorable  as  a  soldier  and  yet  so  profoundly  censurable  as  a 
commander-in-chief,  he  flung  himself,  like  a  young  lieutenant, 
with  a  mere  handful  of  cavalry,  into  the  midst  of  the  fight, 
and  at  the  imminent  peril  of  his  own  life  succeeded  in  res 
cuing  the  marshal  and  getting  off  again  unscathed.  On  other 
occasions  Henry  said  he  had  fought  for  victory,  but  on  that 
for  dear  life  ;  and,  even  as  in  the  famous  and  foolish  skirmish 
at  Aumale  three  years  before,  it  was  absence  of  enterprise  or 
lack  of  cordiality  on  the  part  of  his  antagonists,  that  alone 
prevented  a  captive  king  from  being  exhibited  as  a  trophy  of 
triumph  for  the  expiring  League.44 

But  the  constable  of  Castile  was  not  born  to  cheer  the 
heart  of  his  prudent  master  with  such  a  magnificent  spectacle. 
Velasco  fell  back  to  Gray  and  obstinately  refused  to  stir  from 

«  Bor,  IV.  47, 131. 

«  Ibid.  52,  seqq.    De  Thou,  xii.  359-364,  seqq.  1. 112.     Perefixe.  191,  192 


1595.  SURRENDER   OF  DIJON.  345 

his  entrenchments,  while  Henry  before  his  eyes  laid  siege  to 
Dijon.     On  the  28th  June  the  capital  of  Burgundy   2g  June 
surrendered  to  its    sovereign,  but  no  temptations    1595. 
could  induce  the  constable  to  try  the  chance  of  a  battle.45 
Henry's    movements  in   the  interior  were    more    successful 
than  were  the  operations  nearer  the  frontier,  but  while  the 
monarch  was  thus  cheerfully  fighting  for  his  crown  in  France, 
his  envoys  were  winning  a  still  more  decisive  campaign  for 
him  in  Rome. 

D'Ossat  and  Perron  had  accomplished  their  diplomatic 
task  with  consummate  ability,  and,  notwithstanding  the 
efforts  and  the  threats  of  the  Spanish  ambassador  and  the 
intrigues  of  his  master,  the  absolution  was  granted.  The 
pope  arose  early  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  August,  and 
walked  barefoot  from  his  palace  of  Mount  Cavallo  to  the 
church  of  Maria  Maggiore,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  ground, 
weeping  loudly  and  praying  fervently.  He  celebrated  mass 
in  the  church,  and  then  returned  as  he  went,  saluting  no  one 
on  the  road  and  shutting  himself  up  in  his  palace  afterwards. 
The  same  ceremony  was  performed  ten  days  later  on  the 
festival  of  our  Lady's  Ascension.  In  vain,  however,  had 
been  the  struggle  on  the  part  of  his  Holiness  to  15  Augugt 
procure  from  the  ambassador  the  deposition  of  the  1695. 
crown  of  France  in  his  hands,  in  order  that  the  king  might 
receive  it  back  again  as  a  free  gift  and  concession  from  the 
chief  pontiff.  Such  a  triumph  was  not  for  Rome,  nor  could 
even  the  publication  of  the  Council  of  Trent  in  France  be 
conceded  except  with  a  saving  clause  "as  to  matters  which 
could  not  be  put  into  operation  without  troubling  the  repose 
of  the  kingdom."  And  to  obtain  this  clause  the  envoys 
declared  "that  they  had  been  obliged  to  sweat  blood  and 
water."  * 

On  the  17th  day  of  September  the  absolution  was  pro 
claimed  with  great  pomp  and  circumstance  from  the  gallery 
of  St.  Peter's,  the  holy  father  seated  on  the  highest  throne 

u  Bor,  ubi  sup. 

«  Letters  of  P'Ossat,  in  Bor,  IV.  107,  segq.    De  Thou,  xii.  468-479, 1.  1  J& 


346  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXL 

of  majesty,  with  his  triple  crown  on  his  head,  and  all  his 
cardinals  and  bishops  about  him  in  their  most  effulgent 
robes.47 

The  silver  trumpets  were  blown,  while  artillery  roared 
from  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  for  two  successive  nights 
Home  was  in  a  blaze  of  bonfires  and  illumination,  in  a 
whirl  of  bell-ringing,  feasting,  and  singing  of  hosannahs. 
There  had  not  been  such  a  merry-making  in  the  eternal  city 
since  the  pope  had  celebrated  solemn  thanksgiving  for  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  The  king  was  almost  be 
side  himself  with  rapture  when  the  great  news  reached  him, 
and  he  straightway  wrote  letters,  overflowing  with  gratitude 
and  religious  enthusiasm,  to  the  pontiff  and  expressed  his 
regret  that  military  operations  did  not  allow  him  to  proceed 
at  once  to  Kome  in  person  to  kiss  the  holy  father's  feet.48 

The  narrative  returns  to  Fuentes,  who  was  left  before  the 
walls  of  Cambray. 

That  venerable  ecclesiastical  city,  pleasantly  seated  amid 
gardens,  orchards,  and  green  pastures,  watered  by  the  winding 
Scheld,  was  well  fortified  after  the  old  manner,  but  it  was 
especially  defended  and  dominated  by  a  splendid  pentagonal 
citadel  built  by  Charles  V.  It  was  filled  with  fine  churches, 
among  which  the  magnificent  cathedral  was  pre-eminent,  and 
with  many  other  stately  edifices.  The  population  was  thrifty, 
active,  and  turbulent,  like  that  of  all  those  Flemish  and 
Walloon  cities  which  the  spirit  of  mediaeval  industry  had 
warmed  for  a  time  into  vehement  little  republics. 

But,  as  has  already  been  depicted  in  these  pages,  the 
Celtic  element  had  been  more  apt  to  receive  than  consistent 
to  retain  the  generous  impress  which  had  once  been  stamped 
on  all  the  Netherlands.  The  Walloon  provinces  had  fallen 
away  from  their  Flemish  sisters  and  seemed  likely  to  accept 
a  permanent  yoke,  while  in  the  territory  of  the  united 
States,  as  John  Baptist  Tassis  was  at  that  Very  moment 

41  Letters  of  D'Ossat,  ubi  sup.  I  vii.   292,  seqq.      Feria  to  Philip,  17 

48  MS.  Bethune.  Bibl.  Imp.  No.  Sept.  1595.  Arch,  de  Simancas  (Paris) 
8967,fols.  10  and  20,  cited  in  Capefigue,  |  b.  84,  »  cited  by  Capefigue,  ubi  sup. 


1595.  BALAGNY  AT  CAMBRAY.  347 

pathetically  observing  in  a  private  letter  to  Philip,  "  with 
the  coming  up  of  a  new  generation  educated  as  heretics  from 
childhood,  who  had  never  heard  what  the  word  king  means, 
it  was  likely  to  happen  at  last  that  the  king's  memory  being 
wholly  forgotten  nothing  would  remain  in  the  land  but  heresy 
alone."49  From  this  sad  fate  Cambray  had  been  saved. 
Gavre  d'Inchy  had  seventeen  years  before  surrendered  the 
city  to  the  Duke  of  Alenc,  on  during  that  unlucky  personage's 
brief  and  base  career  in  the  Netherlands,  all  that  was  left  of 
his  visit  being  the  semi-sovereignty  which  the  notorious 
Balagny  had  since  that  time  enjoyed  in  the  archiepiscopal 
city.  This  personage,  a  natural  son  of  Monluc,  Bishop 
of  Valence,  and  nephew  of  the  distinguished  Marshal  Monluc, 
was  one  of  the  most  fortunate  and  the  most  ignoble  of  all  the 
soldiers  of  fortune  who  had  played  their  part  at  this  epoch 
in  the  Netherlands.  A  poor  creature  himself,  he  had  a 
heroine  for  a  wife.  Renee,  the  sister  of  Bussy  d'Amboise, 
had  vowed  to  unite  herself  to  a  man  who  would  avenge  the 
assassination  of  her  brother  by  the  Count  Montsoreau.50 
Balagny  readily  agreed  to  perform  the  deed,  and  accordingly 
espoused  the  high-born  dame,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
ever  wreaked  her  vengeance  on  the  murderer.  He  had  now 
governed  Cambray  until  the  citizens  and  the  whole  country 
side  were  galled  and  exhausted  by  his  grinding  tyranny,  his 
inordinate  pride,  and  his  infamous  extortions.51  His  latest 
achievement  had  been  to  force  upon  his  subjects  a  copper 
currency  bearing  the  nominal  value  of  silver,  with  the  same 
blasting  effects  which  such  experiments  in  political  economy 
are  ai)t  to  produce  on  princes  and  peoples.  He  had  been  a 
Royalist,  a  Guisist,  a  Leaguer,  a  Dutch  republican,  by  turns, 
and  had  betrayed  all  the  parties,  at  whose  expense  he  had 
alternately  filled  his  coffers.  During  the  past  year  he  had 
made  up  his  mind — like  most  of  the  conspicuous  politicians 
and  campaigners  of  France — that  the  moribund  League  was 
only  fit  to  be  trampled  upon  by  its  recent  worshippers,  and  he 
had  made  accordingly  one  of  the  very  best  bargains  with 

49  Letter  of  Tassis,  in  Bor,  IV.  126.          60  De  Thou,  xii.  414,  415.          51  Ibid. 


348 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXL 


Henry  IV.  that  had  yet  been  made,  even  at  that  epoch  of 
self-vending  grandees. 

Henry,  by  treaty  ratified  in  August,  1594,  had  created  him 
Prince  of  Cambray  and  Marshal  of  France,  so  that  the  man 
who  had  been  receiving  up  to  that  very  moment  a  monthly 
subsidy  of  seven  thousand  two  hundred  dollars  from  the  King 
of  Spain  was  now  gratified  with  a  pension  to  about  the  same 
yearly  amount  by  the  King  of  France.52  During  the  autumn 
Henry  had  visited  Cambray,  and  the  new  prince  had  made 
wondrous  exhibitions  of  loyalty  to  the  sovereign  whom  he  had 
done  his  best  all  his  life  to  exclude  from  his  kingdom.  There 
had  been  a  ceaseless  round  of  tournaments,  festivals,  and  mas 
querades  53  in  the  city  in  honour  of  the  Huguenot  chieftain, 
now  changed  into  the  most  orthodox  and  most  legitimate 
of  monarchs,  but  it  was  not  until  midsummer  of  the  present 
year  that  Balagny  was  called  on  to  defend  his  old  possessions 
and  his  new  principality  against  a  well-seasoned  army  and  a 
vigorous  commander.  Meanwhile  his  new  patron  was  so 
warmly  occupied  in  other  directions  that  it  might  be  difficult 
for  him  to  send  assistance  to  the  beleaguered  city. 

On  the  14th  August  Fuentes  began  his  siege  operations. 
14  August,  Before  the  investment  had  been  completed  the 
1595.  young  Prince  of  Khetelois,  only  fifteen  years  of  age, 

son  of  the  Duke  of  Nevers,  made  his  entrance  into  the  city 
attended  by  .thirty  of  his  father's  archers.  De  Vich,  too,  an 
experienced  and  faithful  commander,  succeeded  in  bringing 
four  or  five  hundred  dragoons  through  the  enemy's  lines. 
These  meagre  reinforcements  were  all  that  reached  the 
place  ;  for,  although  the  States-General  sent  two  or  three 
thousand  Scotchmen  and  Zeelanders,  under  Justinus  of  Nassau, 
to  Henry,  that  he  might  be  the  better  enabled  to  relieve  this 


62  De  Thou,  xii.  291,  seqq.  Seventy 
thousand  crowns  a  year  were  to  be 
paid  according  to  agreement  by  Henry 
IV.  to  Balagny,  to  maintain  city  and 
citadel  of  Cambray,  by  treaty  made 
29  Nov.  1593,  but  ratified  in  August, 
1594.  Besides  this,  Balagny  received 
property  in  France  equal  in  value  to 


twenty  thousand  livres  a  year,  to  reim 
burse  him  for  expenses  in  fortifying 
and  defending  Cambray. 

The  sums  paid  to  him  simultaneously 
by  Philip  II.  for  opposing  Henry  have 
been  already  mentioned. 

63  De  Thou,  ubi  imp. 


1595.  SIEGE  OF  CAMBRAY.  349 

important  frontier  city,  the  king's  movements  were  not  suf 
ficiently  prompt  to  turn  the  force  to  good  account.  Balagny 
was  left  with  a  garrison  of  three  thousand  French  and  Wal 
loons  in  the  city,  besides  five  hundred  French  in  the  fortress. 

After  six  weeks  steady  drawing  of  parallels  and  digging  of 
mines  Fuentes  was  ready  to  open  his  batteries.     On    26  Sept 
the  26th   September,  the  news,    very  much   exag-    1595- 
gerated,  of  Mondragon's  brilliant  victory  near  Wessel,  and  of 
the  deaths  of  Philip  Nassau  and  Ernest  Solms,  reached  the 
Spanish  camp.      Immense  was   the  rejoicing.      Triumphant 
salutes  from  eighty-seven  cannon  and  many  thousand  muskets 
shook  the  earth  and  excited  bewilderment  and  anxiety  within 
the   walls   of  the  city.     Almost    immediately  afterwards  a 
tremendous  cannonade  was  begun  and  so  vigorously  sustained 
that  the  burghers,   and  part  vof  the  garrison,  already  half 
rebellious  with  hatred  to  Balagny,  began  loudly  to  murmur 
as  the  balls  came  flying  into  their  streets.     A  few  days  later 
an  insurrection  broke  out.     Three  thousand  citizens,  with  red 
flags  flying,  and  armed  to  the  teeth  were  discovered  at  day 
light  drawn    up   in  the    market    place.      Balagny  3  October, 
came  down  from   the  citadel   and  endeavoured   to   1595- 
calm  the  tumult,  but  was  received  with  execrations.     They 
had  been  promised,  shouted  the  insurgents,  that  every  road 
about  Cambray  was  to   swarm  with   French   soldiers   under 
their  formidable  king,  kicking  the  heads  of  the  Spaniards54  in 
all  directions.     And  what  had  they  got  ?  a  child  with  thirty 
archers,  sent  by  his  father,  and  half  a  man  at  the  head  of 
four  hundred  dragoons.55     To  stand  a  siege  under  such  cir 
cumstances  against  an  army  of  fifteen  thousand   Spaniards, 
and  to  take  Balagny' s  copper  as  if  it  were  gold,  was  more 
than  could  be  asked  of  respectable  burghers. 

The  allusion  to  the  young  prince  Khetelois  and  to  De  Vich, 
who  had  lost  a  leg  in  the  wars,  was  received  with  much 
enthusiasm.  Balagny,  appalled  at  the  fury  of  the  people, 
whom  he  had  so  long  been  trampling  upon  while  their  docility 

64  Colema,  195 — "  Su  rev  formidabile  pisaudo  las  cabecas  de  los  Est>anoles  " 
&c.,  &c. 


350  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI. 

lasted,  shrank   back  before  their  scornful  denunciations  into 
the  citadel. 

But  his  wife  was  not  appalled.  This  princess  had  from  the 
beginning  of  the  siege  showed  a  courage  and  an  energy 
worthy  of  her  race.  Night  and  day  she  had  gone  the  rounds 
of  the  ramparts,  encouraging  and  directing  the  efforts  of  the 
garrison.  She  had  pointed  batteries  against  the  enemy's 
works,  and,  with  her  own  hands,  had  fired  the  cannon.  She 
now  made  her  appearance  in  the  market-place,  after  her 
husband  had  fled,  and  did  her  best  to  assuage  the  tumult,  and 
to  arouse  the  mutineers  to  a  sense  of  duty  or  of  shame.  She 
plucked  from  her  bosom  whole  handfuls  of  gold  which  she 
threw  among  the  bystanders,  and  she  was  followed  by  a 
number  of  carts  filled  with  sacks  of  coin  ready  to  be  exchanged 
for  the  debased  currency. 

Expressing  contempt  for  the  progress  made  by  the  besieging 
army,  and  for  the  slight  impression  so  far  produced  upon  the 
defences  of  the  city,  she  snatched  a  pike  from  a  soldier  and 
offered  in  person  to  lead  the  garrison  to  the  breach.  Her 
audience  knew  full  well  that  this  was  no  theatrical  display, 
but  that  the  princess  was  ready  as  the  boldest  warrior  to  lead 
a  forlorn  hope  or  to  repel  the  bloodiest  assault.  Nor,  from  a 
military  point  of  view,  was  their  situation  desperate.  But 
their  hatred  and  scorn  for  Balagny  could  not  be  overcome  by 
any  passing  sentiment  of  admiration  for  his  valiant  though  im 
perious  wife.  No  one  followed  her  to  the  breach.  Exclaiming 
that  she  at  least  would  never  surrender,  and  that  she  would 
die  a  sovereign  princess  rather  than  live  a  subject,  Kenee  de 
Balagny  returned  to  the  citadel. 

The  town  soon  afterwards  capitulated,  and,  as  the  Spanish 
soldiers,  on  entering,  observed  the  slight  damage  that  had 
been  caused  by  their  batteries,  they  were  most  grateful  to  the 
faint-hearted  or  mutinous  condition  by  which  they  had  been 
spared  the  expense  of  an  assault. 

Oct.  3-9,       The  citadel  was  now  summoned  to  surrender,  and 

1595.        Balagny  agreed,  in  case  he  should  not  be  relieved 

within  six  days,  to  accept  what  was  considered   honourable 


1595. 


DEATH  OF  THE  PRINCESS  OF  CAMBRAY. 


351 


terms.  It  proved  too  late  to  expect  succour  from  Henry,  and 
Balagny,  but  lately  a  reigning  prince,  was  fain  to  go  forth  on 
the  appointed  day  and  salute  his  conqueror.  But  the  princess 
kept  her  vow.  She  had  done  her  best  to  defend  her  domi 
nions  and  to  live  a  sovereign,  and  now  there  was  nothing  left 
her  but  to  die.  With  bitter  reproaches  on  her  husband's 
pusillanimity,  with  tears  and  sobs  of  rage  and  shame,  she 
refused  food,  spurned  the  idea  of  capitulation,  and  expired 
before  the  9th  of  October.56 

On  that  day  a  procession  moved  out  of  the  citadel  gates. 
Balagny,  with  a  son  of  eleven  years  of  age,  the  Prince  of 
Ehetelois,  the  Commander  De  Vich,  and  many  other  distin 
guished  personages,  all  magnificently  attired,  came  forth  at 
the  head  of  what  remained  of  the  garrison.  The  soldiers, 
numbering  thirteen  hundred  foot  and  two  hundred  and 
forty  horse,  marched  with  colours  flying,  drums  beating, 
bullet  in  mouth,  and  all  the  other  recognised  palliatives  of 
military  disaster.  Last  of  all  came  a  hearse,  bearing  the 
coffin  of  the  Princess  of  Cambray.  Fuentes  saluted  the  living 
leaders  of  the  procession,  and  the  dead  heroine,  with  stately 
courtesy,  and  ordered  an  escort  as  far  as  Peronne.57 

Balagny  met  with  a  cool  reception  from  Henry  at  St. 
Quintin,  but  subsequently  made  his  peace,  and  espoused  the 
sister  of  the  king's  mistress,  Gabrielle  d'Estrees.58  The  body 
of  Gavre  d'Inchy,  which  had  been  buried  for  years,  was  dug 
up  and  thrown  into  a  gutter.59 


66  Bor,  IV.  54^56.  Bentivoglio,  416- 
421.  De  Thou,  xii.  414-436.  Coloma, 
185-198,  et  mult,  al.,  for  the  siege  of 
Cambray. 

All  the  historians,  French,  Italian, 


Spanish,  Flemish,  give  the  same  ac 
count  of  the  conduct  and  death  of  the 
princess.  67  Ibid. 

68  De  Thou,  ubi  wp.         "  Ibid. 


352  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXI5. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

Archduke  Cardinal  Albert  appointed  governor  of  the  Netherlands  —  Return 
of  Philip  William  from  captivity  —  His  adherence  to  the  King  of  Spain  — 
Notice  of  the  Marquis  of  Varambon,  Count  Varax,  and  other  new  officers 
—  Henry's  communications  with  Queen  Elizabeth  —  Madame  de  Mon. 
ceaux  —  Conversation  of  Henry  with  the  English  ambassador  —  Marseilles 
secured  by  the  Duke  of  Guise  —  The  fort  of  Rysbank  taken  by  De  Rosne — 
Calais  in  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  —  Assistance  from  England  solicited  by 
Henry —  Unhandsome  conditions  proposed  by  Elizabeth  —  Annexation  of 
Calais  to  the  obedient  provinces  —  Pirates  of  Dunkirk  —  Uneasiness  of  the 
Netherlanders  with  regard  to  the  designs  of  Elizabeth  —  Her  protestations 
of  sincerity — Expedition  of  Dutch  and  English  forces  to  Spain  —  Attack 
on  the  Spanish  war-ships  —  Victory  of  the  allies — Flag  of  the  Republic 
planted  on  the  fortress  of  Cadiz  —  Capitulation  of  the  city  —  Letter  of 
Elizabeth  to  the  Dutch  Admiral  —  State  of  affairs  in  France  —  Proposition 
of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  for  the  division  of  the  kingdom  —  Successes  of 
the  Cardinal  Archduke  in  Normandy  —  He  proceeds  to  Flanders  —  Siege 
and  capture  of  Hulst  —  Projected  alliance  against  Spain  —  Interview  of 
De  Sancy  with  Lord  Burghley  —  Diplomatic  conference  at  Greenwich  — 
Formation  of  a  league  against  Spain  —  Duplicity  of  the  treaty  —  Affairs  in 
Germany  —  Battle  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Grand  Turk — Endeavours 
of  Philip  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the  league  —  His  interference  in 
the  affairs  of  Germany —  Secret  intrigue  of  Henry  with  Spain — Philip's 
second  attempt  at  the  conquest  of  England. 

ANOTHER  governor-general  arrived  in  the  early  days  of  the 
year  1596,  to  take  charge  of  the  obedient  provinces.  It  had 
been  rumoured  for  many  months  that  Philip's  choice  was  at 
last  fixed  upon  the  Archduke  Cardinal  Albert,  Archbishop  of 
Toledo,  youngest  of  the  three  surviving  brothers  of  the  Em 
peror  Kudolph,  as  the  candidate  for  many  honours.  He  was 
to  espouse  the  Infanta,  he  was  to  govern  the  Netherlands, 
and,  as  it  was  supposed,  there  were  wider  and  wilder  schemes 
for  the  aggrandizement  of  this  fortunate  ecclesiastic  brooding 
in  the  mind  of  Philip  than  yet  had  seen  the  light. 

Meantime  the  cardinal's  first  care  was  to  unfrock  himself. 
He  had   also  been  obliged  to  lay  down  the  most  lucrative 


1595.  THE  NEW  GOVERNOR- GENERAL.  353 

episcopate  in  Christendom,  that  of  Toledo,  the  revenues  of 
which  amounted  to  the  enormous  sum  of  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars  a  year.1  Of  this  annual  income,  however 
he  prudently  reserved  to  himself  fifty  thousand  dollars,  by 
contract  with  his  destined  successor. 

The  cardinal  reached  the  Netherlands  before  the  end  of 
January.  He  brought  with  him  three  thousand  39  jan. 
Spanish  infantry,  and  some  companies  of  cavalry,  1596- 
while  his  personal  baggage  was  transported  on  three  hundred 
and  fifty  mules.2  Of  course  there  was  a  triumphal  procession 
when,  on  the  llth  February,  the  new  satrap  entered  n  Feb. 
the  obedient  Netherlands,  and  there  was  the  usual  1596- 
amount  of  bell-ringing,  cannon-firing,  trumpet-blowing,  with 
torch-light  processions,  blazing  tar-barrels,  and  bedizened 
platforms,  where  Allegory,  in  an  advanced  state  of  lunacy, 
performed  its  wonderful  antics.  It  was  scarcely  possible  for 
human  creatures  to  bestow  more  adulation,  or  to  abase  them 
selves  more  thoroughly,  than  the  honest  citizens  of  Brussels 
had  so  recently  done  in  honour  of  the  gentle,  gouty  Ernest, 
but  they  did  their  best.  That  mythological  conqueror  and 
demigod  had  sunk  into  an  unhonoured  grave,  despite  the  loud 
hosannahs  sung  to  him  on  his  arrival  in  Belgica,  and  the  same 
nobles,  pedants,  and  burghers  were  now  ready  and  happy  to 
grovel  at  the  feet  of  Albert.  But  as  it  proved  as  impossible  to 
surpass  the  glories  of  the  holiday  which  had  been  culled  out 
for  his  brother,  so  it  would  be  superfluous  now  to  recall  the 
pageant  which  thus  again  delighted  the  capital. 

But  there  was  one  personage  who  graced  this  joyous 
entrance  whose  presence  excited  perhaps  more  interest  than 
did  that  of  the  archduke  himself.  The  procession  was  headed 
by  three  grandees  riding  abreast.  There  was  the  Duke  of 
Aumale,  pensionary  of  Philip,  and  one  of  the  last  of  the 
Leaguers,  who  had  just  been  condemned  to  death  and  executed 
in  effigy  at  Paris,  as  a  traitor  to  his  king  and  country  ;  there 
was  the  Prince  of  Chimay,  now  since  the  recent  death  of  his 

1  Soranzo,  Relazione  apud  Barozzi  et  Bercliet.  Le  Relazioni  degli  Ain- 
basciatori  Veneti,  i.  45.  2  Bor,  IV.  167. 

VOL.  III. — 2  A 


354  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII 

father  at  Venice  become  Duke  of  Arschot ;  and  between  the 
two  rode  a  gentleman  forty-two  years  of  age,  whose  grave, 
melancholy  features — although  wearing  a  painful  expression 
of  habitual  restraint  and  distrust — suggested,  more  than  did 
those  of  the  rest  of  his  family,  the  physiognomy  of  William 
the  Silent3  to  all  who  remembered  that  illustrious  rebel. 

It  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  great  founder  of  the  Dutch 
republic.  Philip  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  had  at  last, 
after  twenty-eight  years  of  captivity  in  Spain,  returned  to  the 
Netherlands,  whence  he  had  been  kidnapped  while  a  school 
boy  at  Louvain,  by  order  of  the  Duke  of  Alva.  Karely  has 
there  been  a  more  dreary  fate,  a  more  broken  existence  than 
his.  His  almost  life-long  confinement,  not  close  nor  cruel,  but 
strict  and  inexorable,  together  with  the  devilish  arts  of  the 
Jesuits,  had  produced  nearly  as  blighting  an  effect  upon  his 
moral  nature  as  a  closer  dungeon  might  have  done  on  his 
physical  constitution.  Although  under  perpetual  arrest  in 
Madrid,  he  had  been  allowed  to  ride  and  to  hunt,  to  go  to 
mass,  and  to  enjoy  many  of  the  pleasures  of  youth.  But  he 
had  been  always  a  prisoner,  and  his  soul — a  hopeless  captive 
— could  no  longer  be  liberated  now  that  the  tyrant,  in  order 
to  further  his  own  secret  purposes,  had  at  last  released  his 
body  from  gaol.  Although  the  eldest-born  of  his  father,  and 
the  inheritor  of  the  great  estates  of  Orange  and  of  Buren,  he 
was  no  longer  a  Nassau  except  in  name.  The  change  wrought 
by  the  pressure  of  the  Spanish  atmosphere  was  complete.  All 
that  was  left  of  his  youthful  self  was  a  passionate  reverence 
for  his  father's  memory,  strangely  combined  with  a  total 
indifference  to  all  that  his  father  held  dear,  all  for  which  his 
father  had  laboured  his  whole  lifetime,  and  for  which  his 
heart's  blood  had  been  shed.  On  being  at  last  set  free  from 
bondage  he  had  been  taken  to  the  Escorial,  and  permitted  to 
kiss  the  hand  of  the  king — that  hand  still  reeking  with  his 
father's  murder.  He  had  been  well  received  by  the  Infante 
and  the  Infanta,  and  by  the  empress-mother,  daughter  of 
Charles  V.,  while  the  artistic  treasures  of  the  palace  and 

7  Fruin,  207,  note. 


I59G.  PHILIP  WILLIAM,  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE.  355 

cloister  were  benignantly  pointed  out  to  him.  It  was  also 
signified  to  him  that  he  was  to  receive  the  order  of  the 
Golden  Fleece,  and  to  enter  into  possession  of  his  paternal 
and  maternal  estates.  And  Philip  William  had  accepted 
these  conditions  as  if  a  born  loyal  subject  of  his  Most  Catholic 
Majesty. 

Could  better  proof  be  wanting  that  in  that  age  religion  was 
the  only  fatherland,  and  that  a  true  papist  could  sustain  no 
injury  at  the  hands  of  his  Most  Catholic  Majesty  ?  If  to  be 
kidnapped  in  boyhood,  to  be  imprisoned  during  a  whole 
generation  of  mankind,  to  be  deprived  of  vast  estates,  and 
to  be  made  orphan  by  the  foulest  of  assassinations,  could 
not  engender  resentment  against  the  royal  perpetrator  of 
these  crimes  in  the  bosom  of  his  victim,  was  it  strange  that 
Philip  should  deem  himself  something  far  more  than  man, 
and  should  placidly  accept  the  worship  rendered  to  him 
by  inferior  beings,  as  to  the  holy  impersonation  of  Almighty 
Wrath? 

Yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  prince  had  a  sincere  respect 
for  his  father,  and  had  bitterly  sorrowed  at  his  death.  When 
a  Spanish  officer,  playing  chess  with  him  in  prison,  had 
ventured  to  speak  lightly  of  that  father,  Philip  William  had 
seized  him  bodily,  thrown  him  from  the  window,  and  thus 
killed  him  on  the  spot.4  And  when  on  his  arrival  in  Brussels 
it  was  suggested  to  him  by  President  Eichardot  that  it  was 
the  king's  intention  to  reinstate  him  in  the  possession  of  his 
estates,  but  that  a  rent-charge  of  eighteen  thousand  florins  a 
year  was  still  to  be  paid  from  them  to  the  heirs  of  Balthazar 
Gerard,  his  father's  assassin,  he  flamed  into  a  violent  rage, 
drew  his  poniard,  and  would  have  stabbed  the  president,  had 
not  the  bystanders  forcibly  inteferred.5  In  consequence  of 
this  refusal — called  magnanimous  by  contemporary  writers — 
to  accept  his  property  under  such  conditions,  the  estates  were 
detained  from  him  for  a  considerable  time  longer.  During 
the  period  of  his  captivity  he  had  been  allowed  an  income  of 

4  De  la  Pise  in  wee.  The  anecdote  lias  already  been  mentioned  in  the 
1  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic/  5  Ibid. 


356. 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXIL 


fifteen  thousand  livres  ;  but  after  his  restoration  his  house 
hold^  gentlemen,  and  servants  alone  cost  him  eighty  thousand 
livres  anmially.  It  was  supposed  that  the  name  of  Orange- 
Nassau  might  now  be  of  service  to  the  king's  designs  in  the 
Netherlands.  Philip  William  had  come  by  way  of  Rome, 
where  he  had  been  allowed  to  kiss  the  pope's  feet  and  had 
received  many  demonstrations  of  favour,  and  it  was  fondly 
thought  that  he  would  now  prove  an  instrument  with  which 
king  and  pontiff  might  pipe  back  the  rebellious  republic  to 
its  ancient  allegiance.  But  the  Dutchmen  and  Frisians  were 
deaf.  They  had  tasted  liberty  too  long,  they  had  dealt  too 
many  hard  blows  on  the  head  of  regal  and  sacerdotal  des 
potism,  to  be  deceived  by  coarse  artifices.  Especially  the 
king  thought  that  something  might  be  done  with  Count 
Hohenlo.  That  turbulent  personage  having  recently  married 
the  full  sister  of  Philip  William,  and  being  already  at  vari 
ance  with  Count  Maurice,  both  for  military  and  political 
causes,  and  on  account  of  family  and  pecuniary  disputes, 
might,  it  was  thought,  be  purchased  by  the  king,  and  perhaps 
a  few  towns  and  castles  in  the  united  Netherlands  might  be 
thrown  into  the  bargain.  In  that  huckstering  age,  when  the 
loftiest  and  most  valiant  nobles  of  Europe  were  the  most 
shameless  sellers  of  themselves,  the  most  cynical  mendicants 
for  alms  and  the  most  infinite  absorbers  of  bribes  in  exchange 
for  their  temporary  fealty ;  when  Mayenne,  Mercceur,  Guise, 
Villars,  Egmont,  and  innumerable  other  possessors  of  ancient 
and  illustrious  names  alternately  and  even  simultaneously 
drew  pensions  from  both  sides  in  the  great  European  conflict, 
it  was  not  wonderful  that  Philip  should  think  that  the  bois 
terous  Hohenlo  might  be  bought  as  well  as  another.  The 
prudent  king,  however,  gave  his  usual  order  that  nothing  was 
to  be  paid  beforehand,  but  that  the  service  was  to  be  ren 
dered  first,  and  the  price  received  afterwards.6 

The  cardinal  applied  himself  to  the  task  on  his  first  arrival, 


6  "Que    en    todas    platicas    seme- 
jantes  ha  de  preceder  el  servicio  a  la 
(jue  se  ofreciere  a  trueco 


de  el."— Philip  to  Archduke  Albert 
13  Jan.  1596.    (Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.) 


1596.  NOTICE  OF  THE  CARDINAL-ARCHDUKE.  357 

but  was   soon   obliged  to  report  that  he  could  make  but 
little  progress  in  the  negotiation.7 

The  king  thought,  too,  that  Heraugiere,  who  had  com 
manded  the  memorable  expedition  against  Breda,  and  who 
was  now  governor  of  that  stronghold,  might  be  purchased,  and 
he  accordingly  instructed  the  cardinal  to  make  use  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange  in  the  negotiations  to  be  made  for  that 
purpose.  The  cardinal,  in  effect,  received  an  offer  from 
Heraugiere  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  not  only  to  sur~ 
render  Breda,  without  previous  recompense,  but  likewise  to 
place  Gertruydenberg,  the  governor  of  which  city  was  his 
relative,  in  the  king's  possession.  But  the  cardinal  was  afraid 
of  a  trick,  for  Heraugiere  was  known  to  be  as  artful  as  he 
was  brave,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  Netherlander 
was  only  disposed  to  lay  an  ambush  for  the  governor-general.8 

And  thus  the  son  of  William  the  Silent  made  his  reappear 
ance  in  the  streets  of  Brussels,  after  twenty-eight  years  of 
imprisonment,  riding  in  the  procession  of  the  new  viceroy. 
The  cardinal-archduke  came  next,  with  Fuentes  riding  at  his 
left  hand.  That  vigorous  soldier  and  politician  soon  after 
wards  left  the  Netherlands  to  assume  the  government  of 
Milan. 

There  was  a  correspondence  between  the  Prince  of  Orange 
and  the  States-General,  in  which  the  republican  authorities, 
after  expressing  themselves  towards  him  with  great  propriety 
and  affectionate  respect,  gave  him  plainly  but  delicately  to 
understand  that  his  presence  at  that  time  in  the  United 
Provinces  would  neither  be  desirable,  nor,  without  their 
passports,  possible.9  They  were  quite  aware  of  the  uses  to 
which  the  king  was  hoping  to  turn  their  reverence  for  the 
memory  and  the  family  of  the  great  martyr,  and  were  deter 
mined  to  foil  such  idle  projects  on  the  threshold. 

•The  Archduke  Albert,  born  on  3rd  of  November,  1560, 
was  now  in  his  thirty-sixth  year.     A  small,  thin,  pale-faced 


»  Albert  to  Philip,  28  March,  1596.     (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 
8  Albert  to  Philip,  18  July,  1596.     (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 
•  Bor,  IV.  153, 154,  seqq. 


358  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

man,  with  fair  hair  and  beard,  commonplace  features,  and  the 
hereditary  underhanging  Burgundian  jaw  prominently  de 
veloped,  he  was  not  without  a  certain  nobility  of  presence. 
His  manners  were  distant  to  haughtiness  and  grave  to 
solemnity.  He  spoke  very  little  and  very  slowly.  He 
had  resided  long  in  Spain,  where  he  had  been  a  favourite  with 
his  uncle — as  much  as  any  man  could  be  a  favourite  with 
Philip — and  he  had  carefully  formed  himself  on  that  royal 
model.  He  looked  upon  the  King  of  Spain  as  the  greatest, 
wisest,  and  best  of  created  beings,  as  the  most  illustrious 
specimen  of  kingcraft  ever  yet  vouchsafed  to  the  world.  He 
did  his  best'  to  look  sombre  and  Spanish,  to  turn  his  visage 
into  a  mask,  to  conceal  his  thoughts  and  emotions,  not  only 
by  the  expression  of  his  features  but  by  direct  misstatements 
of  his  tongue,  and  in  all  things  to  present  to  the  obedient 
Flemings  as  elaborate  a  reproduction  of  his  great  prototype 
as  copy  can  ever  recall  inimitable  original.  Old  men  in  the 
Netherlands,  who  remembered  in  how  short  a  time  Philip 
had  succeeded,  by  the  baleful  effect  of  his  personal  presence, 
in  lighting  up  a  hatred  which  not  the  previous  twenty  years  of 
his  father's  burnings,  hangings,  and  butcherings  in  those 
provinces  had  been  able  to  excite,  and  which  forty  subsequent 
years  of  bloodshed  had  not  begun  to  allay,  might  well  shake 
their  heads  when  they  saw  this  new  representative  of  Spanish 
authority.  It  would  have  been  wiser — so  many  astute  poli 
ticians  thought — for  Albert  to  take  the  Emperor  Charles  for 
his  model,  who  had  always  the  power  of  making  his  tyranny 
acceptable  to  the  Flemings,  through  the  adroitness  with  which 
he  seemed  to  be  entirely  a  Fleming  himself.10 

But  Albert,  although  a  German,  valued  himself  on  appear 
ing  like  a  Spaniard.  He  was  industrious,  regular  in  his 
habits,  moderate  in  eating  and  drinking,  fond  of  giving 
audiences  on  business.  He  spoke  German,  Spanish,  and 
Latin,  and  understood  French  and  Italian.  He  had  at  times 
been  a  student,  and,  especially,  had  some  knowledge  of 

10  Bentivoglio,  Relazione  delle  Provincie  ubbedienti  di  Fiandra.  Soranzo, 
Relazione. 


1596.  OFFICERS  OF  THE  NEW  GOVERNOR.  359 

mathematics.  He  was  disposed  to  do  his  duty — so  far  as  a 
man  can  do  his  duty,  who  imagines  himself  so  entirely  lifted 
above  his  fellow  creatures  as  to  owe  no  obligation  except  to 
exact  their  obedience  and  to  personify  to  them  the  will  of 
the  Almighty.  To  Philip  and  the  Pope  he  was  ever  faithful. 
He  was  not  without  pretensions  to  military  talents,  but  his 
gravity,  slowness,  and  silence  made  him  fitter  to  shine  in  the 
cabinet  than  in  the  field.  Henry  IV.,  who  loved  his  jest, 
whether  at  his  own  expense  or  that  of  friend  or  foe,  was  wont 
to  observe  that  there  were  three  things  which  nobody  would 
ever  believe,  and  which  yet  were  very  true  ;  that  Queen 
Elizabeth  deserved  her  title  of  the  throned  vestal,  that  he 
was  himself  a  good  Catholic,  and  that  Cardinal  Albert  was  a 
good  general.  It  is  probable  that  the  assertions  were  all 
equally  accurate. 

The  new  governor  did  not  find  a  very  able  group  of 
generals  or  statesmen  assembled  about  him  to  assist  in  the 
difficult  task  which  he.  had  undertaken.  There  were  plenty 
of  fine  gentlemen,  with  ancient  names  and  lofty  pretensions, 
but  the  working  men  in  field  or  council  had  mostly  dis 
appeared.  Mondragon,  La  Motte,  Charles  Mansfeld,  Frank 
Verdugo  were  all  dead.  Fuentes  was  just  taking  his  de 
parture  for  Italy.  Old  Peter  Ernest  was  a  cipher ;  and  his 
son's  place  was  filled  by  the  Marquis  of  Varambon,  as  prin 
cipal  commander  in  active  military  operations.  This  was  a 
Burgundian  of  considerable  military  ability,  but  with  an 
inordinate  opinion  of  himself  and  of  his  family.  "  Accept  the 
fact  that  his  lineage  is  the  highest  possible,  and  that  he  has 
better  connections  than  those  of  anybody  else  in  the  whole 
world,  and  he  will  be  perfectly  contented,"  said  a  sharp, 
splenetic  Spaniard  in  the  cardinal's  confidence.  "  'Tis  a 
faithful  and  loyal  cavalier,  but  full  of  impertinences/'  n  The 
brother  of  Varambon,  Count  Varax,  had  succeeded  La  Motte 
as  general  of  artillery,  and  of  his  doings  there  was  a  tale  ere 

11  Relacion  de  los  Senores  de  titulo  y  otras  personas  de  qualidad  que  hay 
en  estos  estados ; — diose  a  su  AJtd.  en  Valenciennes,  2  Abril,  1596.  (Arch.  d« 
Simaneas  MS.) 


360  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIL 

long  to  be  told.  On  the  whole,  the  best  soldier  in  the  arch 
duke's  service  for  the  moment  was  the  Frenchman  Savigny 
de  Kosne,  an  ancient  Leaguer,  and  a  passionate  hater  of  the 
Bearnese,  of  heretics,  and  of  France  as  then  constituted.  He 
had  once  made  a  contract  with  Henry  by  which  he  bound 
himself  to  his  service  ;  but  after  occasioning  a  good  deal  of 
injury  by  his  deceitful  attitude,  he  had  accepted  a  large 
amount  of  Spanish  dollars,  and  had  then  thrown  off  the  mask 
and  proclaimed  himself  the  deadliest  foe  of  his  lawful  sove 
reign.  "  He  was  foremost,"  said  Carlos  Coloma,  "  among 
those  who  were  successfully  angled  for  by  the  Commander 
Moreo  with  golden  hooks."  12  Although  prodigiously  fat,  this 
renegade  was  an  active  and  experienced  campaigner,  while 
his  personal  knowledge  of  his  own  country  made  his  assist 
ance  of  much  value  to  those  who  were  attempting  its  de 
struction. 

The  other  great  nobles,  who  were  pressing  themselves 
about  the  new  viceroy  with  enthusiastic  words  of  welcome, 
were  as  like  to  give  him  embarrassment  as  support.  All 
wanted  office,  emoluments,  distinctions,  nor  could  much  de 
pendence  be  placed  on  the  ability  or  the  character  of  any  of 
them.  The  new  duke  of  Arschot  had  in  times  past,  as  prince 
of  Chimay,  fought  against  the  king,  and  had  even  imagined 
himself  a  Calvinist,  while  his  wife  was  still  a  determined 
heretic.  It  is  true  that  she  was  separated  from  her  husband. 
He  was  a  man  of  more  quickness  and  acuteness  than  his 
father  had  been,  but  if  possible  more  mischievous  both  to 
friend  and  foe  ;  being  subtle,  restless,  intriguing,  fickle, 
ambitious,  and  deceitful.  The  Prince  of  Orange  was  con 
sidered  a  man  of  very  ordinary  intelligence,  not  more  than 
half  witted,  according  to  Queen  Elizabeth,13  and  it  was  pro 
bable  that  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  his  life  would  ex 
tinguish  any  influence  that  he  might  otherwise  have  attained 
with  either  party.  He  was  likely  to  affect  a  neutral  position^ 
and,  in  times  of  civil  war,  to  be  neutral  is  to  be  nothing. 

12  Coloma,  229.     Calvaert's  letter,  in  Deventer,  ii.  108. 

18  "  Ende  niet  halff  wys."    Caron  to  States-General,  in  Deventer,  ii.  12 


1506.  THE  COUNT  DE  LIGNY.  361 

Arenberg,  unlike  the  great  general  on  the  Catholic  side 
who  had  made  the  name  illustrious  in  the  opening  scenes  of 
the  mighty  contest,  was  disposed  to  quiet  obscurity  so  far  as 
was  compatible  with  his  rank.  Having  inherited  neither 
fortune  nor  talent  with  his  ancient  name,  he  was  chiefly 
occupied  with  providing  for  the  wants  of  his  numerous  family. 
A  good  papist,  well-inclined  and  docile,  he  was  strongly  re 
commended  for  the  post  of  admiral,  not  because  he  had  naval 
acquirements,  but  because  he  had  a  great  many  children.14 
The  Marquis  of  Havre,  uncle  to  the  Duke  of  Arschot,  had 
played  in  his  time  many  prominent  parts  in  the  long  Nether- 
land  tragedy.  Although  older  than  he  was  when  Eequesens 
and  Don  John  of  Austria  had  been  governors,  he  was  not 
much  wiser,  being  to  the  full  as  vociferous,  as  false,  as  inso 
lent,  as  self-seeking,  and  as  mischievous  as  in  his  youth. 
Alternately  making  appeals  to  popular  passions  in  his  capacity 
of  high-born  demagogue,  or  seeking  crumbs  of  bounty  as 
the  supple  slave  of  his  sovereign,  he  was  not  more  likely  to 
acquire  the  confidence  of  the  cardinal  than  he  had  done  that 
of  his  predecessors. 

The  most  important  and  opulent  grandee  of  all  the 
provinces  was  the  Count  de  Ligne,  who  had  become  by 
marriage  or  inheritance  Prince  of  Espinay,  Seneschal  of 
Hainault,  and  Viscount  of  Ghent.  But  it  was  only  his 
enormous  estates  that  gave  him  consideration,  for  he  was  not 
thought  capable  of  either  good  or  bad  intentions.  He  had, 
however,  in  times  past,  succeeded  in  the  chief  object  of  his 
ambition,  which  was  to  keep  out  of  trouble,  and  to  preserve 
his  estates  from  confiscation.  His  wife,  who  governed  him, 
and  had  thus  far  guided  him  safely,  hoped  to  do  so  to  the 
end.  The  cardinal  was  informed  that  the  Golden  Fleece 
would  be  all-sufficient  to  keep  him  upon  the  right  track.15 

Of  the  Egmonts,  one  had  died  on  the  famous  field  of  Ivry, 
another  was  an  outlaw,  and  had  been  accused  of  participation 
in  plots  of  assassination  against  William  of  Orange  ;  the 
third  was  now  about  the  archduke's  court,  and  was  supposed 

14  Relacion  de  los  Senores,  etc., ubi  sup.        15  Relacion  de  los  Senores,  etc. 


362  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXII. 

to  be  as  dull  a  man  as  Ligne,  but  likely  to  be  serviceable  so 
long  as  he  could  keep  his  elder  brother  out  of  his  inheritance. 
Thus  devoted  to  Church  and  King  were  the  sons  of  the  man 
whose  head  Philip  had  taken  off  on  a  senseless  charge  of 
treason.  The  two  Counts  Van  den  Berg — Frederic  and  Her 
man — sons  of  the  sister  of  William  the  Silent,  were,  on  the 
whole,  as  brave,  efficient,  and  trustworthy  servants  of  the 
king  and  cardinal  as  were  to  be  found  in  the  obedient 
provinces. 

The  new  governor  had  come  well  provided  with  funds, 
being  supplied  for  the  first  three-quarters  of  the  year  with 
a  monthly  allowance  of  1,100,000  florins.16  For  reasons 
soon  to  appear,  it  was  not  probable  that  the  States-General 
would  be  able  very  soon  to  make  a  vigorous  campaign, 
and  it  was  thought  best  for  the  cardinal  to  turn  his  immediate 
attention  to  France. 

The  negotiations  for  effecting  an  alliance  offensive  and 
defensive,  between  the  three  powers  most  interested  in 
opposing  the  projects  of  Spain  for  universal  empire,  were  not 
yet  begun,  and  will  be  reserved  for  a  subsequent  chapter. 
Meantime  there  had  been  much  informal  discussion  and 
diplomatic  trifling  between  France  and  England  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  about  a  sincere  co-operation  of  the  two 
crowns  against  the  Fifth  Monarchy — as  it  was  much  the 
fashion  to  denominate  Philip's  proposed  dominion. 

Henry  had  suggested  at  different  times  to  Sir  Kobert 
Sidney,  during  his  frequent  presence  in  France  as  special 
envoy  for  the  queen,  the  necessity  of  such  a  step,  but  had 
not  always  found  a  hearty  sympathy.  But  as  the  king  began 
to  cool  in  his  hatred  to  Spain,  after  his  declaration  of  war 
against  that  power,  it  seemed  desirable  to  Elizabeth  to  fan 
his  resentment  afresh,  and  to  revert  to  those  propositions 
which  had  been  so  coolly  received  when  made.  Sir  Harry 
Umton,  ambassador  from  her  Majesty,  was  accordingly  pro 
vided  with  especial  letters  on  the  subject  from  the  queen's 
own  hand,  and  presented  them  early  in  the  year  at 

16  Reyd,  275. 


1596.  PROPOSED  ANGLO-FRENCH  ALLIANCE.  353 

Coucy  (Feb.  13,  1596).  No  man  in  the  world  knew  better 
the  tone  to  adopt  in  his  communications  with  Elizabeth  than 
did  the  chivalrous  king.  No  man  knew  better  than  he  how 
impossible  it  was  to  invent  terms  of  adulation  too  gross  for 
her  to  accept  as  spontaneous  and  natural  effusions  of  the 
heart.  He  received  the  letters  from  the  hands  of  Sir  Henry, 
read  them  with  rapture,  heaved  a  deep  sigh,  and  exclaimed  : 
"  Ah  !  Mr.  Ambassador,  what  shall  I  say  to  you  ?  This  letter 
of  the  queen,  my  sister,  is  full  of  sweetness  and  affection. 
I  see  that  she  loves  me,  while  that  I  love  her  is  not  to 
be  doubted.  Yet  your  commission  shows  me  the  contrary, 
and  this  proceeds  from  her  ministers.  How  else  can  these 
obliquities  stand  with  her  professions  of  love  ?  I  am  forced, 
as  a  king,  to  take  a  course  which,  as  Henry,  her  loving 
brother,  I  could  never  adopt." 

They  then  walked  out  into  the  park,  and  the  king  fell  into 
frivolous  discourse,  on  purpose  to  keep  the  envoy  from 
the  important  subject  which  had  been  discussed  in  the 
cabinet.  Sir  Henry  brought  him  back  to  business,  and 
insisted  that  there  was  no  disagreement  between  her  Majesty 
and  her  counsellors,  all  being  anxious  to  do  what  she  wished. 
The  envoy,  who  shared  in  the  prevailing  suspicions  that 
Henry  was  about  to  make  a  truce  with  Spain,  vehemently 
protested  against  such  a  step,  complaining  that  his  ministers, 
whose  minds  were  distempered  with  jealousy,  were  inducing 
him  to  sacrifice  her  friendship  to  a  false  and  hollow  reconcilia 
tion  with  Spain.  Henry  protested  that  his  preference  would 
be  for  England's  amity,  but  regretted  that  the  English  delays 
were  so  great,  and  that  such  dangers  were  ever  impending 
over  his  head,  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  him,  as  a  king, 
to  follow  the  inclinations  of  his  heart. 

They  then  met  Madame  de  Monceaux,  the  beautiful 
Gabrielle,  who  was  invited  to  join  in  the  walk,  the  king 
saying  that  she  was  no  meddler  in  politics,  but  of  a  tractable 
spirit. 

This  remark,  in  Sir  Henry's  opinion,  was  just,  for,  said  he  to 
Burghley,  she  is  thought  incapable  of  affairs^  and  very  simple. 


364  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIL 

The  duchess  unmasked  very  graciously  as  the  ambassador 
was  presented  ;  but,  said  the  splenetic  diplomatist,  "  I  took  no 
pleasure  in  it,  nor  held  it  any  grace  at  all."  "  She  was 
attired  in  a  plain  satin  gown/'  he  continued,  "  with  a  velvet 
hood  to  keep  her  from  the  weather,  which  became  her  very 
ill.  In  my  opinion,  she  is  altered  very  much  for  the  worse, 
and  was  very  grossly  painted."  The  three  walked  together 
discoursing  of  trifles,  much  to  the  annoyance  of  Umton. 
At  last,  a  shower  forced  the  lady  into  the  house,  and  the 
king  soon  afterwards  took  the  ambassador  to  his  cabinet. 
"  He  asked  me  how  I  liked  his  mistress,"  wrote  Sir  Henry 
to  Burghley,  "and  I  answered  sparingly  in  her  praise,  and 
told  him  that  if  without  offence  I  might  speak  it,  I  had 
the  picture  of  a  far  more  excellent  mistress,  and  yet  did  her 
picture  come  far  from  the  perfection  of  her  beauty." 

"  As  you  love  me,"  cried  the  king,  "  show  it  me,  if  you 
have  it  about  you  ! " 

"  I  made  some  difficulty,"  continued  Sir  Henry,  "  yet  upon 
his  importunity  I  offered  it  to  his  view  very  secretly,  still 
holding  it  in  my  hand.  He  beheld  it  with  passion  and 
admiration,  saying  that  I  was  in  the  right."  "  I  give  in," 
said  the  king,  "  Je  me  rends." 

Then,  protesting  that  he  had  never  seen  such  beauty 
all  his  life,  he  kissed  it  reverently  twice  or  thrice,  Sir  Henry 
still  holding  the  miniature  firmly  in  his  hand. 

The  king  then  insisted  upon  seizing  the  picture,  and  there 
was  a  charming  struggle  between  the  two,  ending  in  his 
Majesty's  triumph.  He  then  told  Sir  Henry  that  he  might 
take  his  leave  of  the  portrait,  for  he  would  never  give  it  up 
again  for  any  treasure,  and  that  to  possess  the  favour  of  the 
original  he  would  forsake  all  the  world.  He  fell  into  many 
more  such  passionate  and  incoherent  expressions  of  rhapsody, 
as  of  one  suddenly  smitten  and  spell-bound  with  hapless  love, 
bitterly  reproaching  the  ambassador  for  never  having  brought 
him  any  answers  to  the  many  affectionate  letters  which  he 
had  written  to  the  queen,  whose  silence  had  made  him 
80  wretched,  Sir  Henry,  perhaps  somewhat  confounded  at 


1596.       KING  HENRY  AND  THE  ENGLISH  AMBASSADOR.         365 

being  beaten  at  his  own  fantastic  game,  answered  as  well  as 
he  could,  "  but  I  found,"  said  he,  "  that  the  dumb  picture  did 
draw  on  more  speech  and  affection  from  him  than  all  my  best 
arguments  and  eloquence.  This  was  the  effect  of  our  con 
ference,  and,  if  infiniteness  of  vows  and  outward  professions 
be  a  strong  argument  of  inward  affection,  there  is  good  likefr 
hood  of  the  king's  continuance  of  amity  with  her  Majesty ; 
only  I  fear  lest  his  necessities  may  inconsiderately  draw  him 
into  some  hazardous  treaty  with  Spain,  which  I  hope  con 
fidently  it  is  yet  in  the  power  of  her  Majesty  to  prevent." 17 

The  king,  while  performing  these  apish  tricks  about  the 
picture  of  a  lady  with  beady  black  eyes,  a  hooked  nose, 
black  teeth,  and  a  red  wig,  who  was  now  in  the  sixty-fourth 
year  of  her  age,  knew  very  well  that  the  whole  scene  would 
be  at  once  repeated  to  the  fair  object  of  his  passion  by  her 
faithful  envoy ;  but  what  must  have  been  the  opinion  enter 
tained  of  Elizabeth  by  contemporary  sovereigns  and  states 
men  when  such  fantastic  folly  could  be  rehearsed  and  related 
every  day  in  the  year ! 

And  the  king  knew,  after  all,  and  was  destined  very  soon 
to  acquire  proof  of  it  which  there  was  no  gainsaying,  that 
the  beautiful  Elizabeth  had  exactly  as  much  affection  for  him 
as  he  had  for  her,  and  was  as  capable  of  sacrificing  his 
interests  for  her  own,  or  of  taking  advantage  of  his  direct 
necessities  as  cynically  and  as  remorselessly,  as  the  King 
of  Spain,  or  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  or  the  Pope  had  ever 
done. 

Henry  had  made  considerable  progress  in  re-establishing 
his  authority  over  a  large  portion  of  the  howling  wilderness 
to  which  forty  years  of  civil  war  had  reduced  his  hereditary 
kingdom.  There  was  still  great  danger,  however,  at  its  two 
opposite  extremities.  Calais,  key  to  the  Norman  gate  of 
France,  was  feebly  held  ;  while  Marseilles,  seated  in  such 
dangerous  proximity  to  Spain  on  the  one  side,  and  to  the 
Eepublic  of  Genoa,  that  alert  vassal  of  Spain,  on  the  other, 
was  still  in  the  possession  of  the  League.  A  concerted  action 

17  Sir  Henry  Umton  to  her  Majesty.     Coucy,  3  Feb.  1595-6. 


366  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIL 

was  undertaken  by  means  of  John  Andrew  Doria,  with  a 
Spanish  fleet  from  Genoa  on  the  outside  and  a  well-organised 
conspiracy  from  within,  to  carry  the  city  bodily  over  to  Philip. 
Had  it  succeeded,  this  great  Mediterranean  seaport  would 
have  become  as  much  a  Spanish  possession  as  Barcelona  or 
Naples,  and  infinite  might  have  been  the  damage  to  Henry's 
future  prospects  in  consequence.  But  there  was  a  man  in 
Marseilles,  Petrus  Libertas  by  name,  whose  ancestors  had 
gained  this  wholesome  family  appellation  by  a  successful 
effort  once  made  by  them  to  rescue  the  little  town  of  Calvi, 
in  Corsica,  from  the  tyranny  of  Genoa.  Peter  Liberty  needed 
no  prompting  to  vindicate,  on  a  fitting  occasion,  his  right  to 
his  patronymic.  In  conjunction  with  men  in  Marseilles  who 
hated  oppression,  whether  of  kings,  priests,  or  renegade 
republics,  as  much  as  he  did,  and  with  a  secret  and  well- 
arranged  understanding  with  the  Duke  of  Guise,  who  was 
burning  with  ambition  to  render  a  signal  benefit  to  the  cause 
which  he  had  just  espoused,  this  bold  tribune  of  the  people 
succeeded  in  stirring  the  population  to  mutiny  at  exactly  the 
17  Feb.  right  moment,  and  in  opening  the  gates  of  Mar- 
1596.  geilles  to  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  his  forces  before  it 
was  possible  for  the  Leaguers  to  admit  the  fleet  of  Doria  into 
its  harbour.  Thus  was  the  capital  of  Mediterranean  France 
lost  and  won.18  Guise  gained  great  favour  in  Henry's  eyes, 
and  with  reason  ;  for  the  son  of  the  great  Balafre,  who  was 
himself  the  League,  had  now  given  the  League  the  stroke  of 
mercy.  Peter  Liberty  became  consul  of  Marseilles,  and 
received  a  patent  of  nobility.  It  was  difficult,  however,  for 
any  diploma  to  confer  anything  more  noble  upon  him  than 
the  name  which  he  had  inherited,  and  to  which  he  had  so 
well  established  his  right. 

But  while  Henry's  cause  had  thus  been  so  well  served 
in  the  south,  there  was  danger  impending  in  the  north.  The 
king  had  been  besieging,  since  autumn,  the  town  of  La 
Fere,  an  important  military  and  strategic  position,  which  had 
been  Farnese's  basis  of  operations  during  his  memorable 
18  De  Thou,  xii.  613,  seqq.  1.  116.  Bor,  IV.  177-179. 


1596.  ATTACK  ON  CALAIS.  367 

campaigns  in  France,  and  which  had  ever  since  remained  in 
the  hands  of  the  League. 

The  cardinal  had  taken  the  field  with  an  army  of  fifteen 
thousand  foot  and  three  thousand  horse,  assembled  at  Valen 
ciennes,  and  after  hesitating  some  time  whether  or  not  he 
should  attempt  to  relieve  La  Fere,  he  decided  instead  on 
a  diversion.  In  the  second  week  of  April,  De  Eosne  was 
detached  at  the  head  of  four  thousand  men,  and  suddenly 
appeared  before  Calais.19  The  city  had  been  long  governed 
by  De  Gordan,  but  this  wary  and  experienced  commander 
had  unfortunately  been  for  two  years  dead.  Still  more  un 
fortunately,  it  had  been  in  his  power  to  bequeath,  not  only 
his  fortune,  which  was  very  large,  but  the  government  of 
Calais,  considered  the  most  valuable  command  in  France, 
to  his  nephew,  De  Vidosan.  He  had,  however,  not  be 
queathed  to  him  his  administrative  and  military  genius. 

The  fortress  called  the  Kisban,  or  Kysbank,  which  entirely 
governed  the  harbour,  and  the  possession  of  which  made 
Calais  nearly  impregnable,  as  inexhaustible  supplies  could 
thus  be  poured  into  it  by  sea,  had  fallen  into  comparative 
decay.  De  Gordan  had  been  occupied  in  strengthening  the 
work,  but  since  his  death  the  nephew  had  entirely  neglected 
the  task.  On  the  land  side,  the  bridge  of  Nivelet  was  the  key 
to  the  place.  The  faubourg  was  held  by  two  Dutch  companies, 
under  Captains  Le  Gros  and  Dominique,  who  undertook  to 
prevent  the  entrance  of  the  archduke's  forces.  Vidosan,  how 
ever,  ordered  these  faithful  auxiliaries  into  the  citadel. 

De  Rosne,  acting  with  great  promptness,  seized  both  the 
bridge  of  Nivelet  and  the  fort  of  Eysbank  by  a  sudden  and 
well-concerted  movement.     This  having  been  accomplished, 
the   city   was  in  his   power,   and,   after   sustaining  a  brief 
cannonade,  it  surrendered.     Vidosan,  with  his  garrison,  how-r 
ever,   retired   into   the   citadel,  and  it  was   agreed    17  April 
between  himself  and  De  Kosne  that  unless  succour     1596. 
should  be  received  from  the  French  king  before  the  expira 
tion  of  six  days,  the  citadel  should  also  be  evacuated, 

19  D«  Thou,  xii.  631. 

VOL.  II— 13 


368  tffiE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  xxxn. 

Meantime  Henry,  who  was  at  Boulogne,  much  disgusted  at 
this  unexpected  disaster,  had  sent  couriers  to  the  Netherlands, 
demanding  assistance  of  the  States-General  and  of  the  stad- 
holder.  Maurice  had  speedily  responded  to  the  appeal. 
Proceeding  himself  to  Zeeland,  he  had  shipped  fifteen  com 
panies  of  picked  troops  from  Middelhurg,  together  with 
a  flotilla  laden  with  munitions  and  provisions  enough  to 
withstand  a  siege  of  several  weeks.  When  the  arrangements 
were  completed,  he  went  himself  on  board  of  a  ship  of  war 
to  take  command  of  the  expedition  in  person.20  On  the  17th 
of  April  he  arrived  with  his  succours  off  the  harbour  of 
Calais,  and  found  to  his  infinite  disappointment  that  the 
Rysbank  fort  was  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.21  As  not  a 
vessel  could  pass  the  bar  without  almost  touching  that 
fortress,  the  entrance  to  Calais  was  now  impossible.22  Had 
the  incompetent  Vidosan  heeded  the  advice  of  his  brave 
Dutch  officers,  the  place  might  still  have  been  saved,  for 
it  had  surrendered  in  a  panic  on  the  very  day  when  the  fleet 
of  Maurice  arrived  off  the  port. 

Henry  had  lost  no  time  in  sending,  also,  to  his  English 
allies  for  succour.  The  possession  of  Calais  by  the  Spaniards 
might  well  seem  alarming  to  Elizabeth,  who  could  not  well 
forget  that  up  to  the  time  of  her  sister  this  important 
position  had  been  for  two  centuries  an  English  stronghold. 
The  defeat  of  the  Spanish  husband  of  an  English  queen  had 
torn  from  England  the  last  trophies  of  the  Black  Prince,  and 
now  the  prize  had  again  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Spain  ;  but 
of  Spain  no  longer  in  alliance,  but  at  war,  with  England. 
Obviously  it  was  most  dangerous  to  the  interests  and  to  the 
safety  of  the  English  realm,  that  this  threatening  position,  so 
near  the  gates  of  London,  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  most 
powerful  potentate  in  the  world  and  the  dire  enemy  of 
England.  In  response  to  Henry's  appeal,  the  Earl  of  Essex 
was  despatched  with  a  force  of  six  thousand  men — raised 
by  express  command  of  the  queen  on  Sunday  when  the 
people  were  all  at  church — to  Dover,  where  shipping  was 

»  Bor,  IV.  188.  "  Ibid.  »  Ibid. 


1596.  PROPOSAL  OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.  359 

in  readiness  to  transport  the  troops  at  once  across  the 
Channel.  At  the  same  time,  the  politic  queen  and  some  of 
her  counsellors  thought  the  opening  a  good  one  to  profit 
by  the  calamity  of  their  dear  ally.  Certainly  it  was  'desirable 
to  prevent  Calais  from  falling  into  the  grasp  of  Philip.  But 
it  was  perhaps  equally  desirable,  now  that  the  place  without 
the  assistance  of  Elizabeth  could  no  longei  be  preserved  by 
Henry,  that  Elizabeth,  and  not  Henry,  should  henceforth  be 
its  possessor.  To  make  this  proposition  as  clear  to  the 
French  king  as  it  seemed  to  the  English  qiieen,  Sir  Kobert 
Sidney  was  despatched  in  all  haste  to  Boulogne,  even  while 
the  guns  of  De  Rosne  were  pointed  at  Calais  citadel,  and 
while  Maurice's  fleet,  baffled  by  the  cowardly  surrender  of  the 
Eisban,  was  on  its  retreat  from  the  harbour. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  21st  of  April,  Sidney 
landed   at   Boulogne.     Henry,   who   had   been  in-    2i  April 
tensely  impatient  to  hear  from  England,  and  who    1596. 
suspected  that  the  delay  was  boding  no  good  to  his  cause, 
went   down  to  the  strand  to   meet   the  envoy,  with  whom 
then  and  there  he  engaged  instantly  in  the  most  animated 
discourse. 

As  there  was  little  time  to  be  lost,  and  as  Sidney  on 
getting  out  of  the  vessel  found  himself  thus  confronted  with 
the  soldier-king  in  person,  he  at  once  made  the  demand  which 
he  had  been  sent  across  the  Channel  to  make.  He  requested 
the  king  to  deliver  up  the  town  and  citadel  of  Calais  to  the 
Queen  of  England  as  soon  as,  with  her  assistance,  he  should 
succeed  in  recovering  the  place.  He  assigned  as  her  Majesty's 
reasons  for  this  peremptory  summons  that  she  would  on  no 
other  terms  find  it  in  her  power  to  furnish  the  required  succour, 
Her  subjects,  she  said,  would  never  consent  to  it  except  on 
these  conditions.  It  was  perhaps  not  very  common  with  the 
queen  to  exhibit  so  much  deference  to  the  popular  will,  but  on 
this  occasion  the  supposed  inclinations  of  the  nation  furnished 
her  with  an  excellent  pretext  for  carrying  out  her  own. 
Sidney  urged  moreover  that  her  Majesty  felt  certain  of  being 
obliged — in  case  she  did  not  take  Calais  into  her  own  safe 

VOfc.  Hi,— 2  B 


370  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  -        CHAP.  XXXIL 

keeping  and  protection — to  come  to  the  rescue  again  within 
four  or  six  months  to  prevent  it  once  more  from  being 
besieged,  conquered,  and  sacked  by  the  enemy. 

The  king  had  feared  some  such  proposition  as  this,  and 
had  intimated  as  much  to  the  States'  envoy,  Calvaert,  who  had 
walked  with  him  down  to  the  strand,  and  had  left  him  when 
the  conference  began.  Henry  was  not  easily  thrown  from 
his  equanimity  nor  wont  to  exhibit  passion  on  any  occasion, 
least  of  all  in  his  discussions  with  the  ambassadors  of  England, 
but  the  cool  and  insolent  egotism  of  this  communication  was 
too  much  for  him. 

He  could  never  have  believed,  he  said  in  reply,  that  after 
the  repeated  assurances  of  her  Majesty's  affection  for  him 
which  he  had  received  from  the  late  Sir  Henry  Umtori  ffl  in 
their  recent  negotiations,  her  Majesty  would  now  so  dis 
courteously  seek  to  make  her  profit  out  of  his  misery.  He 
had  come  to  Boulogne,  he  continued,  on  the  pledge  given 
by  the  Earl  of  Essex  to  assist  him  with  seven  or  eight  thou 
sand  men  in  the  recovery  of  Calais.  If  this  after  all  should 
fail  him — although  his  own  reputation  would  be  more  in 
jured  by  the  capture  of  the  place  thus  before  his  eyes  than  if 
it  had  happened  in  his  absence — he  would  rather  a  hundred 
times  endure  the  loss  of  the  place  than  have  it  succoured 
with  such  injurious  and  dishonourable  conditions.  After  all, 
he  said,  the  loss  of  Calais  was  substantially  of  more  import 
ance  to  the  queen  than  to  himself.  To  him  the  chief  detri 
ment  would  be  in  the  breaking  up  of  his  easy  and  regular 
communications  with  his  neighbours  through  this  position, 
and  especially  with  her  Majesty.  But  as  her  affection  for  him 
was  now  proved  to  be  so  slender  as  to  allow  her  to  seek  a  profit 
from  his  misfortune  and  dishonour,  it  would  be  better  for  him 
to  dispense  with  her  friendship  altogether  and  to  strengthen  his 
connections  with  truer  and  more  honourable  friends.  Should 
the  worst  come  to  the  worst,  he  doubted  not  that  he  should 
be  able,  being  what  he  was  and  much  more  than  he  was  of 

83  Sir  Henry  Umton  had  died  in  France  soon  after  the  interview  with  Henry 
IV.  mentioned  on  a  previous  page  of  this  volume.    Meteren,  371. 


1596 


INDIGNATION  OF  HENRY. 


371 


old,  to  make  a  satisfactory  arrangement  with  the  King  of 
Spain.  He  was  ready  to  save  Calais  at  the  peril  of  his 
life,  to  conquer  it  in  person,  and  not  by  the  hands  of  any  of 
his  lieutenants  ;  but  having  done  so,  he  was  not  willing — at  so 
great  a  loss  of  reputation  without  and  at  so  much  peril 
within — to  deliver  it  to  her  Majesty  or  to  any  one  else.  He 
would  far  rather  see  it  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards. 

Thus  warmly  and  frankly  did  Henry  denounce  the  unhand 
some  proposition  made  in  the  name  of  the  queen,  while, 
during  his  vehement  expostulations,  Sidney  grew  red  with 
shame,  and  did  not  venture  to  look  the  king  for  one  moment 
in  the  face.24  He  then  sought  to  mitigate  the  eifect  of  his 
demand  by  intimating,  with  much  embarrassment  of  de 
meanour,  that  perhaps  her  Majesty  would  be  satisfied  with 
the  possession  of  Calais  for  her  own  life-time,  and — as  this 
was  at  once  plumply  refused — by  the  suggestion  of  a  pledge 
of  it  for  the  term  of  one  year.  But  the  king  only  grew  the 
more  indignant  as  the  bargaining  became  more  paltry,  and 
he  continued  to  heap  bitter  reproaches  upon  the  queen,  who, 
without  having  any  children  or  known  inheritor  of  her  pos 
sessions,  should  nevertheless  be  so  desirous  of  compassing 
his  eternal  disgrace  and  of  exciting  the  discontent  of  his  sub 
jects  for  the  sake  of  an  evanescent  gain  for  herself.  At  such 
a  price,  he  avowed,  he  had  no  wish  to  purchase  her  Majesty's 
friendship. 

After  this  explosion  the  conference  became  more  amicable. 
The  English  envoy  assured  the  king  that  there  could  be,  at 
all  events,  no  doubt  of  the  arrival  of  Essex  with  eight  thou 
sand  men  on  the  following  Thursday  to  assist  in  the  relief  of 
the  citadel  ;  notwithstanding  the  answer  which  he  had 
received  to  the  demand  of  her  Majesty. 

He  furthermore  expressed  the  strong  desire  which  he  felt 
that  the  king  might  be  induced  to  make  a  personal  visit  to 
the  queen  at  Dover,  whither  she  would  gladly  come  to  receive 


'4  "  Deur  dewelke  S.  M.  den  voors. 
A-inbassadeur  soo  scliaemroot  maekte, 
dat  hy  (soo  S.  M>  my  gheseyt  heeft) 


S.  M.  met  in't  aensicht  dorste  te  sien," 
&c.  &c.  Calvaert's  Despatch  in  De- 
renter,  ii.  166. 


372  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

him,  so  soon  as  Calais  should  have  been  saved.  To  this  the 
king  replied  with  gallantry,  that  it  was  one  of  the  things  in 
the  world  that  he  had  most  at  heart.  The  envoy  rejoined 
that  her  Majesty  would  consider  such  a  visit  a  special  honour 
and  favour.  She  had  said  that  she  could  leave  this  world 
more  cheerfully,  when  God  should  ordain,  after  she  had 
enjoyed  two  hours'  conversation  with  his  Majesty. 

Sidney  on  taking  his  departure  repeated  the  assurance  that 
the  troops  under  Essex  would  arrive  before  Calais  by  Thurs 
day,  and  that  they  were  fast  marching  to  the  English  coast ; 
forgetting,  apparently,  that,  at  the  beginning  of  the  inter 
view,  he  had  stated,  according  to  the  queen's  instructions, 
that  the  troops  had  been  forbidden  to  march  until  a  favour 
able  answer  had  been  returned  by  the  king  to  her  pro 
posal. 

Henry  then  retired  to  his  headquarters  for  the  purpose 
of  drawing  up  information  for  his  minister  in  England,  De 
Sancy,  who  had  not  yet  been  received  by  the  queen,  and 
who  had  been  kept  in  complete  ignorance  of  this  mission  of 
Sidney  and  of  its  purport. 

While  the  king  was  thus  occupied,  the  English  envoy  was 
left  in  the  company  of  Calvaert,  who  endeavoured,  without 
much  success,  to  obtain  from  him  the  result  of  the  conference 
which  had  just  taken  place.  Sidney  was  not  to  be  pumped 
by  the  Dutch  diplomatist,  adroit  as  he  unquestionably  was, 
but,  so  soon  as  the  queen's  ambassador  was  fairly  afloat 
again  on  his  homeward  track — which  was  the  case  within 
three  hours  after  his  arrival  at  Boulogne — Calvaert  received 
from  the  king  a  minute  account  of  the  whole  conversation.25 

Henry  expressed  unbounded  gratitude  to  the  States- 
General  of  the  republic  for  their  prompt  and  liberal  assist 
ance,  and  he  eagerly  contrasted  the  conduct  of  Prince 
Maurice — sailing  forth  in  person  so  chivalrously  to  his  rescue 
— with  the  sharp  bargainings  and  shortcomings  of  the  queen. 
He  despatched  a  special  messenger  to  convey  his  thanks  to 

96  Calvaert's  Letter  of  22  April,  1596,  recounting  this  remarkable  interview, 
is  given  at  length  in  Van  Deventer's  valuable  publication,  ii.  105-110. 


1596.  CALAIS  TAKEN   BY  STORM.  373 

the  prince,  and  he  expressed  his  hope  to  Calvaert  that  the 
States  might  be  willing  that  their  troops  should  return  to 
the  besieged  place  under  the  command  of  Maurice,  whose 
presence  alone,  as  he  loudly  and  publicly  protested,  was 
worth  four  thousand  men. 

But  it  was  too  late.  The  six  days  were  rapidly  passing 
away.  The  governor  of  Boulogne,  Campagnolo,  succeeded, 
by  Henry's  command,  in  bringing  a  small  reinforcement  of 
two  or  three  hundred  men  into  the  citadel  of  Calais  during 
the  night  of  the  22nd  of  April.  This  devoted  little  band 
made  their  way,  when  the  tide  was  low,  along  the  flats  which 
stretched  between  the  fort  of  Kysbank  and  the  sea.  Some 
times  wading  up  to  the  neck  in  water,  sometimes  swimming 
for  their  lives,  and  during  a  greater  part  of  their  perilous 
march  clinging  so  close  to  the  hostile  fortress  as  almost  to 
touch  its  guns,  the  gallant  adventurers  succeeded  in  getting 
into  the  citadel  in  time  to  be  butchered  with  the  rest  of  the 
garrison  on  the  following  day.  For  so  soon  as  the  handful 
of  men  had  gained  admittance  to  the  gates — although  other 
wise  the  aspect  of  affairs  was  quite  unchanged — the  rash  and 
weak  De  Vidosan  proclaimed  that  the  reinforcements  stipu 
lated  in  his  conditional  capitulation  having  arrived,  he 
should  now  resume  hostilities.  Whereupon  he  opened  fire 
upon  the  town,  and  a  sentry  was  killed.  De  Kosne,  furious 
at  what  he  considered  a  breach  of  faith,  directed  a  severe 
cannonade  against  the  not  very  formidable  walls  of  the  castle. 
During  the  artillery  engagement  which  ensued  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  who  had  accompanied  De  Kosne  to  the  siege,  had  a 
very  narrow  escape.  A  cannon-ball  from  the  town  took  off  the 
heads  of  two  Spaniards  standing  near  him,  bespattering  him 
with  their  blood  and  brains.  He  was  urged  to  retire,  but 
assured  those  about  him  that  he  came  of  too  good  a  house  to 
be  afraid.  His  courage  was  commendable,  but  it  seems  not 
to  have  occurred  to  him  that  the  place  for  his  father's  son 
was  not  by  the  side  of  the  general  who  was  doing  the  work  of 
his  father's  murderer.  While  his  brother  Maurice  with  a  fleet 
of  twenty  Dutch  war-ships  was  attempting  in  vain  to  rescue 


374 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXII. 


Calais  from  the  grasp  of  the  Spanish  king,  Philip  William  of 
Nassau  was  looking  on,  a  pleased  and  passive  spectator  of  the 
desperate  and  unsuccessful  efforts  at  defence.  The  assault 
was  then  ordered.26  The  first  storm  was  repulsed,  mainly  by 
the  Dutch  companies,  who  fought  in  the  breach  until  most 
of  their  numbers  were  killed  or  wounded,  their  captains 
Dominique  and  Le  Gros  having  both  fallen.  The  next  attack 
was  successful,  the  citadel  was  carried,  and  the  whole  garrison, 
with  exception  of  what  remained  of  the  Hollanders  and  Zee- 
landers,  put  to  the  sword.  De  Vidosan  himself  perished. 
Thus  Calais  was  once  more  a  Spanish  city,  and  was  re-annexed 
to  the  obedient  provinces  of  Flanders.  Of  five  thousand 
persons,  soldiers  and  citizens,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
castle,  all  were  killed  or  reduced  to  captivity.27 

The  conversion  of  this  important  naval  position  into  a 
Spanish-Flemish  station  was  almost  as  disastrous  to  the 
republic  as  it  was  mortifying  to  France  and  dangerous  to 
England.  The  neighbouring  Dunkirk  had  long  been  a  nest 
of  pirates,  whence  small,  fast-sailing  vessels  issued,  daily  and 
nightly,  to  prey  indiscriminately  upon  the  commerce  of  all 
nations.  These  corsairs  neither  gave  nor  took  quarter,  and 
were  in  the  habit,  after  they  had  plundered  their  prizes,  of 
setting  them  adrift,  with  the  sailors  nailed  to  the  deck  or 
chained  to  the  rigging  ;  while  the  officers  were  held  for 
ransom.  In  case  the  vessels  themselves  were  wanted,  the 
crews  were  indiscriminately  tossed  overboard  ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  buccaneers  rarely  hesitated  to  blow  up  their 
own  ships,  when  unable  to  escape  from  superior  force.  Cap 
ture  was  followed  by  speedy  execution,  and  it  was  but 
recently  that  one  of  these  freebooters  having  been  brought 
into  Kotterdam,  the  whole  crew,  forty-four  in  number,  were 
hanged  on  the  day  of  their  arrival,  while  some  five  and  twenty 
merchant-captains  held  for  ransom  by  the  pirates  thus  ob 
tained  their  liberty.28 


26  Meteren,  370,    De  la  Pise. 

87  Bor,  IV.  184-188.  De  Thou,  xii. 
631-637.  Meteren,  369,  370.  Benti- 
voglio,  439,  440.  Cojoma,  2H-317- 


Albert    to    Philip,    24    April,    1596 
(Arch  de  Simancas  MS.) 
28  Bor,  IV,  50, 129.   Meteren.    Reyd 


1596.  SCARCITY  OF  PROVISIONS— TAXATION.  375 

And  now  Calais  was  likely  to  become  a  second  and  more 
dangerous  sea-robbers'  cave  than  even  Dunkirk  had  been. 

Notwithstanding  this  unlucky  beginning  of  the  campaign 
for  the  three  allies,  it  was  determined  to  proceed  with  a 
considerable  undertaking  which  had  been  arranged  between 
England  and  the  republic.  For  the  time,  therefore,  the 
importunate  demands  of  the  queen  for  repayments  by  the 
States  of  her  disbursements  during  the  past  ten  years  were 
suspended.  It  had,  indeed,  never  been  more  difficult  than  at 
that  moment  for  the  republic  to  furnish  extraordinary  sums  of 
money,  The  year  1595  had  not  been  prosperous.  Although 
the  general  advance  in  commerce,  manufactures,  and  in  every 
department  of  national  development  had  been  very  remark 
able,  yet  there  had  recently  been,  for  exceptional  causes,  an 
apparent  falling  off;29  while,  on  the  other  hand,  there  had 
been  a  bad  harvest  in  the  north  of  Europe.  In  Holland, 
where  no  grain  was  grown,  and  which  yet  was  the  granary  of 
the  world,  the  prices  were  trebled.  One  hundred  and  eight 
bushels  (a  last)  of  rye,  which  ordinarily  was  worth  fifty  florins, 
now  sold  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  florins,  and  other  objects 
of  consumption  were  equally  enhanced  in  value.30  On  the 
other  hand,  the  expenses  of  the  war  were  steadily  increasing, 
and  were  fixed  for  this  year  at  five  millions  of  florins.  The 
republic,  and  especially  the  States  of  Holland,  never  hesitated 
to  tax  heroically.  The  commonwealth  had  no  income  except 
that  which  the  several  provinces  chose  to  impose  upon  them 
selves  in  order  to  fill  the  quota  assigned  to  them  by  the 
States-General ;  but  this  defect  in  their  political  organization 
was  not  sensibly  felt  so  long  as  the  enthusiasm  for  the  war 
continued  in  full  force.  The  people  of  the  Netherlands  knew 
full  well  that  there  was  no  liberty  for  them  without  fighting,  no 
fighting  without  an  army,  no  army  without  wages,  and  no  wages 
without  taxation  ;  and  although  by  the  end  of  the  century  the 
imposts  had  become  so  high  that,  in  the  language  of  that  keen 
observer,  Cardinal  Bentivoglio,  nuncio  at  Brussels,  they  could 
scarcely  be  imagined  higher,  yet,  according  to  the  same 

*  Reyd,  300.  30  Bor,  IV.  152. 


376  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XXXII 

authority,  they  were  laid  unflinchingly  and  paid  by  the  people 
without  a  murmur.31  During  this  year  and  the  next  the  States 
of  Holland,  whose  proportion  often  amounted  to  fifty  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  contribution  of  the  United  Provinces,  and  who 
ever  set  a  wholesome  example  in  taxation,  raised  the  duty  on 
imports  and  all  internal  taxes  by  one-eighth,  and  laid  a  fresh 
impost  on  such  articles  of  luxury  as  velvets  and  satins,  pleas 
and  processes.  Starch,  too,  became  a  source  of  considerable 
revenue.  With  the  fast-rising  prosperity  of  the  country  luxury 
had  risen  likewise,  and,  as  in  all  ages  and  countries  of  the  world 
of  which  there  is  record,  woman's  dress  signalized  itself  by 
extravagant  and  very  often  tasteless  conceptions.  In  a  coun 
try  where,  before  the  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty  had 
been  broached  in  any  part  of  the  world  by  the  most  specula 
tive  theorists,  very  vigorous  and  practical  examples  of 
democracy  had  been  afforded  to  Europe  ;  in  a  country  where, 
ages  before  the  science  of  political  economy  had  been 
dreamed  of,  lessons  of  free  trade  on  the  largest  scale  had 
been  taught  to  mankind  by  republican  traders  instinctively 
breaking  in  many  directions  through  the  nets  by  which 
monarchs  and  oligarchs,  guilds  and  corporations,  had  hampered 
the  movements  of  commerce ;  it  was  natural  that  fashion 
should  instinctively  rebel  against  restraint.  The  honest 
burgher's  vrow  of  Middelburg  or  Enkhuyzen  claimed  the 
right  to  make  herself  as  grotesque  as  Queen  Elizabeth  in  all 
her  glory.  Sumptuary  laws  were  an  unwholesome  part  of 
feudal  tyranny,  and,  as  such,  were  naturally  dropping  into 
oblivion  on  the  free  soil  of  the  Netherlands.  It  was  the  com 
plaint  therefore  of  moralists  that  unproductive  consumption 
was  alarmingly  increasing.  Formerly  starch  had  been  made 
of  the  refuse  parts  of  corn,  but  now  the  manufacturers  of  that 
article  made  use  of  the  bloom  of  the  wheat  and  consumed  as 
much  of  it  as  would  have  fed  great  cities.  In  the  little 
village  of  Wormer  the  starch-makers  used  between  three  and 
four  thousand  bushels  a  week.  Thus  a  substantial  gentle 
woman  in  fashionable  array  might  bear  the  food  of  a  parish 

31  Relazione  dolle  Provincie  Unite. 


1596.  RESTRICTION  IN  THE   USE  OF  STARCH.  377 

upon  her  ample  bosom.  A  single  manufacturer  in  Amsterdam 
required  four  hundred  weekly  bushels.  Such  was  the  demand 
for  the  stiffening  of  the  vast  ruffs,  the  wonderful  head-gear, 
the  elaborate  lace-work,  stomachers  and  streamers,  without 
which  no  lady  who  respected  herself  could  possibly  go  abroad 
to  make  her  daily  purchases  of  eggs  and  poultry  in  the 
market-place. 

"  May  God  preserve  us,"  exclaimed  a  contemporary 
chronicler,  unreasonably  excited  on  the  starch  question, 
"from  farther  luxury  and  wantonness,  and  abuse  of  His 
blessings  and  good  gifts,  that  the  punishment  of  Jeroboam, 
which  followed  upon  Solomon's  fortunate  reign  and  the  gold- 
ships  of  Ophir  may  not  come  upon  us."  M 

The  States  of  Holland  not  confounding — as  so  often  has 
been  the  case — the  precepts  of  moral  philosophy  with  those 
of  political  economy,  did  not,  out  of  fear  for  the  doom  of 
Jeroboam,  forbid  the  use  of  starch.  They  simply  laid  a  tax 
of  a  stiver  a  pound  on  the  commodity,33  or  about  six  per  cent, 
ad  valorem  ;  and  this  was  a  more  wholesome  way  of  serving 
the  State  than  by  abridging  the  liberty  of  the  people  in 
the  choice  of  personal  attire.  Meantime  the  preachers 
were  left  to  thunder  from  their  pulpits  upon  the  sinfulness 
of  starched  ruffles  and  ornamental  top-knots,  and  to  threaten 
their  fair  hearers  with  the  wrath  to  come,  with  as  much 
success  as  usually  attends  such  eloquence. 

There  had  been  uneasiness  in  the  provinces  in  regard  to 
the  designs  of  the  queen,  especially  since  the  States  had 
expressed  their  inability  to  comply  in  full  with  her  demands 
for  repayment.  Spanish  emissaries  had  been  busily  circu 
lating  calumnious  reports  that  her  Majesty  was  on  the  eve  of 
concluding  a  secret  peace  with  Philip,  and  that  it  was  her 
intention  to  deliver  the  cautionary  towns  to  the  king.  The 
Government  attached  little  credence  to  such  statements,  but 
it  was  natural  that  Envoy  Caron  should  be  anxious  at  their 
perpetual  recurrence  both  in  England  and  in  the  provinces. 
So;  one  day,  he  had  a  long  conversation  with  the  EJarl  of 

*  fteyd,  351,  »  tori. 


378  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS,  CHAP.  XXXII. 

Essex  on  the  subject ;  for  it  will  be  recollected  that  Lord 
Leicester  had  strenuously  attempted  at  an  earlier  day  to  get 
complete  possession,  not  only  of  the  pledged  cities  but  of 
Leyden  also,  in  order  to  control  the  whole  country.  Essex 
was  aflame  with  indignation  at  once,  and  expressed  himself 
with  his  customary  recklessness.  He  swore  that  if  her 
Majesty  were  so  far  forsaken  of  God  and  so  forgetful  of 
her  own  glory,  as  thiough  evil  counsel  to  think  of  making 
any  treaty  with  Spain  without  the  knowledge  of  the  States- 
General  and  in  order  to  cheat  them,  he  would  himself  make 
the  matter  as  public  as  it  was  possible  to  do,  and  would  place 
himself  in  direct  opposition  to  such  a  measure,  so  as  to  show 
the  whole  world  that  his  heart  and  soul  were  foreign  at  least 
to  any  vile  counsel  of  the  kind  that  might  have  been  given 
to  his  Sovereign.34  Caron  and  Essex  conversed  much  in  this 
vein,  and  although  the  envoy  especially  requested  him  not 
to  do  so,  the  earl,  who  was  not  distinguished  for  his  powers  of 
dissimulation,  and  who  suspected  Burleigh  of  again  tampering, 
as  he  had  often  before  tampered,  with  secret  agents  of  Philip, 
went  straight  to  the  queen  with  the  story.  Next  day,  Essex 
invited  Caron  to  dine  and  to  go  with  him  after  dinner  to  the 
queen.  This  was  done,  and,  so  soon  as  the  States'  envoy  was 
admitted  to  the  royal  presence,  her  Majesty  at  once  opened 
the  subject.  She  had  heard,  she  said,  that  the  reports  in 
question  had  been  spread  through  the  provinces,  and  she 
expressed  much  indignation  in  regard  to  them.  She  swore 
very  vehemently,  as  usual,  and  protested  that  she  had  better 
never  have  been  born  than  prove  so  miserable  a  princess  as 
these  tales  would  make  her.  The  histories  of  England,  she 
said,  should  never  describe  her  as  guilty  of  such  falsehood. 
She  could  find  a  more  honourable  and  fitting  means  of  making 
peace  than  by  delivering  up  cities  and  strongholds  so  sincerely 
and  confidingly  placed  in  her  hands.  She  hoped  to  restore 
them  as  faithfully  as  they  had  loyally  been  entrusted  to  her 
keeping.  She  begged  Caron  to  acquaint  the  States-General 
with  these  asseverations  ;  declaring  that  never  since  she  had 

34  Letter  of  Caron,  3  Dec.  1595,  apud  Bor,  IV.  150, 151. 


1596.  INTERVIEW  OF  CARON  WITH  ELIZABETH.  379 

sent  troops  to  the  Netherlands  had  she  lent  her  ear  to  those 
who  had  made  such  underhand  propositions.  She  was  aware 
that  Cardinal  Albert  had  propositions  to  make,  and  that  he 
was  desirous  of  inducing  both  the  French  king  and  herself 
to  consent  to  a  peace  with  Spain  :  but  she  promised  the 
States'  envoy  solemnly  before  God  to  apprise  him  of  any 
such  overtures,  so  soon  as  they  should  be  made  known  to 
herself.35 

Much  more  in  this  strain,  with  her  usual  vehemence  and 
mighty  oaths,  did  the  great  queen  aver,  and  the  republican 
envoy,  to  whom  she  was  on  this  occasion  very  gracious,  was  fain 
to  believe  in  her  sincerity.  Yet  the  remembrance  of  the  amazing 
negotiations  between  the  queen's  ministers  and  the  agents  of 
Alexander  Farnese,  by  which  the  invasion  of  the  Armada  had 
been  masked,  could  not  but  have  left  an  uneasy  feeling  in 
the  mind  of  every  Dutch  statesman.  "  I  trust  in  God,"  said 
Caron,  "  that  He  may  never  so  abandon  her  as  to  permit  her 
to  do  the  reverse  of  what  she  now  protests  with  so  much 
passion.  Should  it  be  otherwise — which  God  forbid — I  should 
think  that  He  would  send  such  chastisement  upon  her  and 
her  people  that  other  princes  would  see  their  fate  therein  as 
in  a  mirror,  should  they  make  and  break  such  oaths  and 
promises.  I  tell  you  these  things  as  they  occur,  because,  as 
I  often  feel  uneasiness  myself,  I  imagine  that  my  friends  on 
the  other  side  the  water  may  be  subject  to  the  same  anxiety. 
Nevertheless,  beat  the  bush  as  I  may,  I  can  obtain  no  better 
information  than  this  which  I  am  now  sending  you."36 

It  had  been  agreed  that  for  a  time  the  queen  should  desist 
from  her  demands  for  repayment — which,  according  to  the 
Treaty  of  1585,  was  to  be  made  only  after  conclusion  of  peace 
between  Spain  and  the  provinces,  but  which  Elizabeth  was 
frequently  urging  on  the  ground  that  the  States  could  now 
make  that  peace  when  they  chose — and  in  return  for  such 
remission  the  republic  promised  to  furnish  twenty-four  ships 
of  war  and  four  tenders  for  a  naval  expedition  which  was  now 
projected  against  the  Spanish  coast.  These  war-ships  were  to 
36  Letter  of  Caron,  vM  sup.  »  Ibid. 


380  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

be  of  four  hundred,  three  hundred,  and  two  hundred  tons — 
eight  of  each  dimension — and  the  estimated  expense  of  their 
fitting  out  for  five  months  was  512,796  florins.37 

Before  the  end  of  April,  notwithstanding  the  disappoint 
ment  occasioned  in  the  Netherlands  by  the  loss  of  Calais, 
which  the  States  had  so  energetically  striven  to  prevent, 
the  fleet  under  Admiral  John  of  Duvenwoord,  Seigneur  of 
Warmond,  and  Yice-Admirals  Jan  Gerbrantz  and  Cornelius 
Leusen,  had  arrived  at  Plymouth,  ready  to  sail  with  their 
English  allies.38  There  were  three  thousand  sailors  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland  on  board,  the  best  mariners  in  the  world,  and  two 
thousand  two  hundred  picked  veterans  from  the  garrisons  of 
the  Netherlands.39  These  land-troops  were  English,  but  they 
belonged  to  the  States'  army,  which  was  composed  of  Dutch, 
German,  Walloon,  Scotch,  and  Irish  soldiers,  and  it  was  a 
liberal  concession  on  the  part  of  the  republican  Government 
to  allow  them  to  serve  on  the  present  expedition.  By  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  the  queen  had  no  more  power  to  send 
these  companies  to  invade  Spain  than  to  campaign  against 
Tyr  Owen  in  Ireland,  while  at  a  moment  when  the  cardinal 
archduke  had  a  stronger  and  better-appointed  army  in 
Flanders  than  had  been  seen  for  many  years  in  the  pro 
vinces,  it  was  a  most  hazardous  experiment  for  the  States 
to  send  so  considerable  a  portion  of  their  land  and  naval  forces 
upon  a  distant  adventure.  It  was  also  a  serious  blow  to  them 
to  be  deprived  for  the  whole  season  of  that  valiant  and 
experienced  commander,  Sir  Francis  Yere,  the  most  valuable 
lieutenant,  save  Lewis  William,  that  Maurice  had  at  his 
disposition.  Yet  Yere  was  to  take  command  of  this  con 
tingent  thus  sent  to  the  coast  of  Spain,  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  republican  army  ought  to  issue  from  their  winter 
quarters  and  begin  active  operations  in  the  field.  The  conse 
quence  of  this  diminution  of  their  strength  and  drain  upon 
their  resources  was  that  the  States  were  unable  to  put  an 
army  in  the  field  during  the  current  year,  or  make  any 
attempt  at  a  campaign. 

8T  Bor,  IV.  148, 182.  38  Ibid.  191.  »  Ibid. 


1596.  EXPEDITION  AGAINST  SPAIN.  381 

The  queen  wrote  a  warm  letter  of  thanks  to  Admiral 
Warmond  for  the  promptness  and  efficiency  with  which  he 
had  brought  his  fleet  to  the  place  of  rendezvous,  and  now 
all  was  bustle  and  preparation  in  the  English  ports  for  the 
exciting  expedition  resolved  upon.  Never  during  Philip's 
life-time,  nor  for  several  years  before  his  birth,  had  a  hostile 
foot  trod  the  soil  of  Spain,  except  during  the  brief  landing  at 
Corunna  in  1590,  and,  although  the  king's  beard  had  been 
well  singed  ten  years  previously  by  Sir  Francis  Drake,  and 
although  the  coast  of  Portugal  had  still  more  recently  been 
invaded  by  Essex  and  Vere,  yet  the  present  adventure  was  on 
a  larger  scale,  and  held  out  brighter  prospects  of  success  than 
any  preceding  expedition  had  done.  In  an  age  when  the 
line  between  the  land  and  sea  service,  between  regular  cam 
paigners  and  volunteers,  between  public  and  private  warfare, 
between  chivalrous  knights-errant  and  buccaneers,  was  not 
very  distinctly  drawn,  there  could  be  nothing  more  exciting 
to  adventurous  spirits,  more  tempting  to  the  imagination  of 
those  who  hated  the  Pope  and  Philip,  who  loved  fighting, 
prize-money,  and  the  queen,  than  a  foray  into  Spain. 

It  was  time  to  return  the  visit  of  the  Armada.  Some  of 
the  sea-kings  were  gone.  Those  magnificent  freebooters, 
Brake  and  Hawkins,  had  just  died  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
doughty  Sir  Koger  Williams  had  left  the  world  in  which  he 
had  bustled  so  effectively,  bequeathing  to  posterity  a  classic 
memorial  of  near  a  half  century  of  hard  fighting,  written, 
one  might  almost  imagine,  in  his  demi-pique  saddle.  But 
that  most  genial,  valiant,  impracticable,  reckless,  fascinating 
hero  of  romance,  the  Earl  of  Essex — still  a  youth  although  a 
veteran  in  service — was  in  the  spring- tide  of  favour  and  glory, 
and  was  to  command  the  land-forces  now  assembled  at  Ply 
mouth.  That  other  corsair40 — as  the  Spaniards  called  him — 
that  other  charming  and  heroic  shape  in  England's  chequered 
chronicle  of  chivalry  and  crime — famous  in  arts  and  arms, 
politics,  science,  literature,  endowed  with  so  many  of  the  gifts 

40  "  Otro  corsario  llamado  Guateral"  says  the  historian  Herrera,  ingeniously 
fusing  into  one  the  Christian  and  family  names  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  iii.  585. 


382  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

by  which  men  confer  lustre  on  their  age  and  country,  whose 
name  was  already  a  part  of  England's  eternal  glory,  whose 
tragic  destiny  was  to  be  her  undying  shame — Raleigh,  the 
soldier,  sailor,  scholar,  statesman,  poet,  historian,  geographical 
discoverer,  planter  of  empires  yet  unborn — was  also  present, 
helping  to  organize  the  somewhat  chaotic  elements  of  which 
the  chief  Anglo-Dutch  enterprise  for  this  year  against  the 
Spanish  world-dominion  was  compounded. 

And,  again,  it  is  not  superfluous  to  recal  the  comparatively 
slender  materials,  both  in  bulk  and  numbers,  over  which  the 
vivid  intelligence  and  restless  energy  of  the  two  leading 
Protestant  powers,  the  Kingdom  and  the  Eepublic,  disposed. 
Their  contest  against  the  overshadowing  empire,  which  was 
so  obstinately  striving  to  become  the  fifth-monarchy  of 
history,  was  waged  by  land  and  naval  forces,  which  in  their 
aggregate  numbers  would  scarce  make  a  startling  list  of 
killed  and  wounded  in  a  single  modern  battle  ;  by  ships  such 
that  a  whole  fleet  of  them  might  be  swept  out  of  existence 
with  half-a-dozen  modern  broadsides  ;  by  weapons  which  would 
seem  to  modern  eyes  like  clumsy  toys  for  children.  Such  was 
the  machinery  by  which  the  world  was  to  be  lost  and  won,  less 
than  three  centuries  ago.  Could  science,  which  even  in  that 
age  had  made  gigantic  strides  out  of  the  preceding  darkness, 
have  revealed  its  later  miracles,  and  have  presented  its 
terrible  powers  to  the  despotism  which  was  seeking  to  crush 
all  Christendom  beneath  its  feet,  the  possible  result  might 
have  been  most  tragical  to  humanity.  While  there  are  few 
inventions  in  morals,  the  demon  Intellect  is  ever  at  his  work, 
knowing  no  fatigue  and  scorning  contentment  in  his  restless 
demands  upon  the  infinite  Unknown.  Yet  moral  truth  remains 
unchanged,  gradually  through  the  ages  extending  its  influence, 
and  it  is  only  by  conformity  to  its  simple  and  eternal  dictates 
that  nations,  like  individuals,  can  preserve  a  healthful  exist 
ence.  In  the  unending  warfare  between  right  and  wrong, 
between  liberty  and  despotism,  Evil  has  the  advantage  of 
rapidly  assuming  many  shapes.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
constant  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty.  The  tendency  of 


1590.      STRUGGLE  BETWEEN   LIBERTY  AND  DESPOTISM.        383 

our  own  times,  stimulated  by  scientific  discoveries  and  their 
practical  application,  is  to  political  consolidation,  to  the 
absorption  of  lesser  communities  in  greater,  just  as  dis 
integration  was  the  leading  characteristic  of  the  darker  ages. 
The  scheme  of  Charlemagne  to  organize  Europe  into  a  single 
despotism  was  a  brilliant  failure  because  the  forces  which 
were  driving  human  society  into  local  and  gradual  recon 
struction  around  various  centres  of  crystallization  were 
irresistible  to  any  countervailing  enginry  which  the  emperor 
had  at  his  disposal.  The  attempt  of  Philip,  eight  centuries 
later,  at  universal  monarchy,  was  frivolous,  although  he  could 
dispose  of  material  agencies  which  in  the  hands  of  Charle 
magne  might  have  made  the  dreams  of  Charlemagne  possible. 
It  was  frivolous  because  the  rising  instinct  of  the  age  was  for 
religious,  political,  and  commercial  freedom  in  a  far  intenser 
degree  than  those  who  lived  in  that  age  were  themselves 
aware.  A  considerable  republic  had  been  evolved  as  it  were 
involuntarily  out  of  the  necessities  of  the  time  almost  without 
self-consciousness  that  it  was  a  republic,  and  even  against 
the  desire  of  many  who  were  guiding  its  destinies.  And  it 
found  itself  in  constant  combination  with  two  monarchs, 
despotic  at  heart  and  of  enigmatical  or  indifferent  religious 
convictions,  who  yet  reigned  over  peoples  largely  influenced 
by  enthusiasm  for  freedom.  Thus  liberty  was  preserved 
for  the  world  ;  but,  as  the  law  of  human  progress  would 
seem  to  be  ever  by  a  spiral  movement,  it  seems  strange 
to  the  superficial  observer  not  prone  to  generalizing,  that 
Calvinism,  which  unquestionably  was  the  hard  receptacle  in 
which  the  germ  of  human  freedom  was  preserved  in  various 
countries  and  at  different  epochs,  should  have  so  often  de 
generated  into  tyranny.  Yet  notwithstanding  the  burning 
of  Servetus  at  Geneva,  and  the  hanging  of  Mary  Dyer  at 
Boston,  it  is  certain  that  France,  England,  the  Netherlands, 
and  America,  owe  a  large  share  of  such  political  liberty  as 
they  have  enjoyed  to  Calvinism.  It  may  be  possible  for 
large  masses  of  humanity  to  accept  for  ages  the  idea  of  one 
infallible  Church,  however  tyrannical  :  but  the  idea  once 


384  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

admitted  that  there  may  be  many  churches  ;  that  what  is 
called  the  State  can  be  separated  from  what  is  called  the 
Church  ;  the  plea  of  infallibility  and  of  authority  soon  becomes 
ridiculous — a  mere  fiction  of  political  or  fashionable  quackery 
to  impose  upon  the  uneducated  or  the  unreflecting. 

And  now  Essex,  Raleigh  and  Howard,  Vere,  Warmond  and 
Nassau  were  about  to  invade  the  shores  of  the  despot  who 
sat  in  his  study  plotting  to  annex  England,  Scotland,  Ireland, 
France,  the  Dutch  republic,  and  the  German  empire  to  the 
realms  of  Spain,  Portugal,  Naples,  Milan,  and  the  Eastern 
and  Western  Indies,  over  which  he  already  reigned. 

The  fleet  consisted  of  fifty-seven  ships  of  war,  of  which 
13  Jan.  twenty-four  were  Dutch  vessels  under  Admiral 
1596.  Warmond,  with  three  thousand  sailors  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland.  Besides  the  sailors,  there  was  a  force  of  six 
thousand  foot  soldiers,  including  the  English  veterans  from  the 
Netherlands  under  Sir  Francis  Vere.  There  were  also  fifty 
transports  laden  with  ammunition  and  stores.  The  expedi 
tion  was  under  the  joint  command  of  Lord  High  Admiral 
Howard  and  of  the  Earl  of  Essex.  Many  noble  and  knightly 
volunteers,  both  from  England  and  the  republic,  were  on 
board,  including,  besides  those  already  mentioned,  Lord 
Thomas  Howard,  son  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  Sir  John 
Wingfield,  who  had  commanded  at  Gertruydenburg,  when  it 
had  been  so  treacherously  surrendered  to  Farnese ;  Count 
Lewis  Gunther  of  Nassau,  who  had  so  recently  escaped  from 
the  disastrous  fight  with  Mondragon  in  the  Lippe,  and  was 
now  continuing  his  education  according  to  the  plan  laid 
down  for  him  by  his  elder  brother  Lewis  William  ;  Nicolas 
Meetkerk,  Peter  Regesmortes,  Don  Christopher  of  Portugal, 
son  of  Don  Antonio,  and  a  host  of  other  adventurers. 

On  the  last  day  of  June  the  expedition  arrived  off  Cadiz. 
Next  morning  they  found  a  splendid  Spanish  fleet  in  the  har 
bour  of  that  city,  including  four  of  the  famous  apostolic 
great  galleons,  St.  Philip,  St.  Matthew,  St.  Thomas,  and  St. 
Andrew,  with  twenty  or  thirty  great  war-ships  besides,  and 
fifty-seven  well-armed  Indiamen,  which  were  to  be  convoyed 


i596.  ATTACK  ON   THE  SPANISH  FLEET.  385 

on  their  outward  voyage,  with  a  cargo  estimated  at  twelve 
millions  of  ducats. 

The  St.  Philip  was  the  phenomenon  of  naval  architecture 
of  that  day,  larger  and  stronger  than  any  ship  before  i  July> 
known.  She  was  two  thousand  tons  burthen,  carried  1596- 
eighty-two  bronze  cannon,  and  had  a  crew  of  twelve  hundred 
men.  The  other  three  apostles  carried  each  fifty  guns  and 
four  hundred  men.  The  armament  of  the  other  war-ships 
varied  from  fifty-two  to  eighteen  guns  each.  The  presence 
of  such  a  formidable  force  might  have  seemed  a  motive  for 
discouragement,  or  at  least  of  caution.  On  the  contrary,  the 
adventurers  dashed  at  once  upon  their  prey  ;  thus  finding  a 
larger  booty  than  they  had  dared  to  expect.  There  was  but 
a  brief  engagement.  At  the  outset  a  Dutch  ship  accidentally 
blew  up,  and  gave  much  encouragement  to  the  Spaniards. 
Their  joy  was  but  short-lived.  Two  of  the  great  galleons 
were  soon  captured,  the  other  two,  the  St.  Philip  and  the 
St.  Thomas,  were  run  aground  and  burned.  The  rest  of 
the  war-ships  were  driven  within  the  harbour,  but  were 
unable  to  prevent  a  landing  of  the  enemy's  forces.  In  the 
eagerness  of  the  allies  to  seize  the  city,  they  unluckily 
allowed  many  of  the  Indiamen  to  effect  their  escape  through 
the  puente  del  Zuazzo,  which  had  not  been  supposed  a  navi 
gable  passage  for  ships  of  such  burthen.  Nine  hundred 
soldiers  under  Essex,  and  four  hundred  noble  volunteers 
under  Lewis  Gunther  of  Nassau,  now  sprang  on  shore,  and 
drove  some  eleven  hundred  Spanish  skirmishers  back  within 
the  gates  of  the  city,  or  into  a  bastion  recently  raised  to 
fortify  the  point  when  the  troops  had  landed.  Young  Nassau 
stormed  the  bulwark  sword  in  hand,  carried  it  at  the  first 
assault,  and  planted  his  colours  on  its  battlement.  It  was 
the  flag  of  William  the  Silent ;  for  the  republican  banner 
was  composed  of  the  family  colours  of  the  founder  of  the 
new  commonwealth.41  The  blazonry  of  the  proscribed  and 
assassinated  rebel  waved  at  last  defiantly  over  one  of  the 
chief  cities  of  Spain.  Essex  and  Nassau  and  all  the  rest 

41  Fruin,  357. 
VOL.  III. — 2  0 


386  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

then  entered  the  city.  There  was  little  fighting.  Twenty- 
five  English  and  Hollanders  were  killed,  and  about  as  many 
Spaniards.  Essex  knighted  about  fifty  gentlemen,  English 
men  and  Hollanders,  in  the  square  of  Cadiz  for  their  gal 
lantry.  Among  the  number  were  Lewis  Gunther  of  Nassau, 
Admiral  Warmond,  and  Peter  Regesmortes.  Colonel  Nicolas 
Meetkerke*  was  killed  in  the  brief  action,  and  Sir  John  Wing- 
field,  who  insisted  in  prancing  about  on  horseback  without 
his  armour,  defying  the  townspeople  and  neglecting  the 
urgent  appeal  of  Sir  Francis  Vere,  was  also  slain.  The 
Spanish  soldiers,  discouraged  by  the  defeat  of  the  ships  on 
which  they  had  relied  for  protection  of  the  town,  retreated 
with  a  great  portion  of  the  inhabitants  into  the  citadel. 
Next  morning  the  citadel  capitulated  without  striking  a  blow, 
although  there  were  six  thousand  able-bodied,  well-armed 
men  within  its  walls.  It  was  one  of  the  most  astonishing 
panics  ever  recorded.  The  great  fleet,  making  a 
Uy'  third  of  the  king's  navy,  the  city  of  Cadiz  and  its 
fortress,  were  surrendered  to  this  audacious  little  force,  which 
had  only  arrived  off  the  harbour  thirty-six  hours  before.  The 
invaders  had,  however,  committed  a  great  mistake.  They 
had  routed,  and,  as  it  were,  captured  the  Spanish  galleons, 
but  they  had  not  taken  possession  of  them,  such  had  been 
their  eagerness  to  enter  the  city.  It  was  now  agreed  that 
the  fleet  should  be  ransomed  for  two  million  ducats,  but  the 
proud  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  who  had  already  witnessed 
the  destruction  of  one  mighty  armada,  preferred  that  these 
splendid  ships  too  should  perish  rather  than  that  they  should 
pay  tribute  to  the  enemy.  Scorning  the  capitulation  of  the 
commandant  of  the  citadel,  he  ordered  the  fleet  to  be  set  on 
fire.  Thirty-two  ships,  most  of  them  vessels  of  war  of  the 
highest  class,  were  burned,  with  all  their  equipments.  Twelve 
hundred  cannon  sunk  at  once  to  the  bottom  of  the  Bay  of 
Cadiz,  besides  arms  for  five  or  six  thousand  men.  At  least 
one-third  of  Philip's  effective  navy  was  thus  destroyed. 

The  victors  now  sacked  the  city  very  thoroughly,  but  the 
results  were  disappointing.     A  large  portion  of  the  portable 


1596.  SACK  OF  CADIZ.  387 

wealth  of  the  inhabitants,  their  gold  and  their  jewelry,  had 
been  so  cunningly  concealed  that,  although  half  a  dozen 
persons  were  tortured  till  they  should  reveal  hidden  treasures, 
not  more  than  five  hundred  thousand  ducats  worth  of  plunder 
was  obtained.  Another  sum  of  equal  amount  having  been 
levied  upon  the  citizens  ;  forty  notable  personages,  among 
them  eighteen  ecclesiastical  dignitaries,  were  carried  off  as 
hostages  for  its  payment.  The  city  was  now  set  on  fire  by 
command  of  Essex  in  four  different  quarters.  Especially  the 
cathedral  and  other  churches,  the  convents  and  the  hospitals, 
were  burned.  It  was  perhaps  not  unnatural  that  both 
Englishmen  and  Hollanders  should  be  disposed  to  wreak  a 
barbarous  vengeance  on  everything  representative  of  the 
Church  which  they  abhorred,  and  from  which  such  endless 
misery  had  issued  to  the  uttermost  corners  of  their  own 
countries.  But  it  is  at  any  rate  refreshing  to  record  amid 
these  acts  of  pillage  and  destruction,  in  which,  as  must  ever 
be  the  case,  the  innocent  and  the  lowly  were  made  to  suffer 
for  the  crimes  of  crowned  and  mitred  culprits,  that  not  many 
special  acts  of  cruelty  were  committed  upon  individuals. 
No  man  was  murdered  in  cold  blood,  no  woman  was  out 
raged.42  The  beautiful  city  was  left  a  desolate  and  blackened 
ruin,  and  a  general  levy  of  spoil  was  made  for  the  benefit  of 
the  victors,  but  there  was  no  infringement  of  the  theory  and 
practice  of  the  laws  of  war  as  understood  in  that  day  or  in 
later  ages.  It  is  even  recorded  that  Essex  ordered  one  of 
his  soldiers,  who  was  found  stealing  a  woman's  gown,  to  be 
hanged  on  the  spot,  but  that,  wearied  by  the  intercession  of 
an  ecclesiastic  of  Cadiz,  the  canon  Quesada,  he  consented 
at  last  to  pardon  the  marauder.43 

It  was  the  earnest  desire  of  Essex  to  hold  Cadiz  instead  of 
destroying  it.  With  three  thousand  men,  and  with  temporary 
supplies  from  the  fleet,  the  place  could  be  maintained  against 


4S  This  is  the  express  testimony  of 
the  Spanish  historian  Herrera,  whose 
evidence  will  hardly  be  disputed.  Her 
rera,  iii.  645. 


43  The  chief  authorities  consulted  I  Fruin,  353-360. 


for  this  expedition  are  Bor,  IV.  232- 
235.  Meteren,  374-377.  Reyd,  278- 
281.  Herrera,  iii.  632-645.  De  Thou, 
xii.  671-674, 1. 116.  Camden,  517-523. 


388  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XXXIZ 

all  comers  ;  Holland  and  England  together  commanding  the 
seas.  Admiral  Warmond  and  all  the  Netherlanders  seconded 
the  scheme,  and  offered  at  once  to  put  ashore  from  their 
vessels  food  and  munitions  enough  to  serve  two  thousand 
men  for  two  months.  If  the  English  admiral  would  do  as 
much,  the  place  might  be  afterwards  supplied  without  limit 
and  held  till  doomsday,  a  perpetual  thorn  in  Philip's  side. 
Sir  Francis  Vere  was  likewise  warmly  in  favour  of  the  pro 
ject,  but  he  stood  alone.  All  the  other  Englishmen  opposed 
it  as  hazardous,  extravagant,  and  in  direct  contravention  of 
the  minute  instructions  of  the  queen.  With  a  sigh  or  a 
curse  for  what  he  considered  the  superfluous  caution  of  his 
royal  mistress,  and  the  exaggerated  docility  of  Lord  High 
Admiral  Howard,  Essex  was  fain  to  content  himself  with  the 
sack  and  the  conflagration,  and  the  allied  fleet  sailed  away 
from  Cadiz. 

On  their  way  towards  Lisbon  they  anchored  off  Faro,  and 
landed  a  force,  chiefly  of  Netherlanders,  who  expeditiously 
burned  and  plundered  the  place.  When  they  reached  the 
neighbourhood  of  Lisbon,  they  received  information  that  a 
great  fleet  of  Indiamen,  richly  laden,  were  daily  expected  from 
the  Flemish  islands,  as  the  Azores  were  then  denominated. 
Again  Essex  was  vehemently  disposed  to  steer  at  once  for 
that  station,  in  order  to  grasp  so  tempting  a  prize  ;  again 
he  was  strenuously  supported  by  the  Dutch  admiral  and 
Vere,  and  again  Lord  Howard  peremptorily  interdicted  the 
plan.  It  was  contrary  to  his  instructions  and  to  his  ideas  of 
duty,  he  said,  to  risk  so  valuable  a  portion  of  her  Majesty's 
fleet  on  so  doubtful  a  venture.  His  ships  were  not  fitted 
for  a  winter's  cruise,  he  urged.  Thus,  although  it  was  the 
very  heart  of  midsummer,  the  fleet  was  ordered  to  sail 
homeward.  The  usual  result  of  a  divided  command  was 
made  manifest,  and  it  proved  in  the  sequel  that,  had  they 
sailed  for  the  islands,  they  would  have  pounced  at  exactly 
the  right  moment  upon  an  unprotected  fleet  of  merchant 
men,  with  cargoes  valued  at  seven  millions  of  ducats.  Essex, 
aot  being  willing  to  undertake  the  foray  to,  the  Azores  with 


1596.  RETURN  OF  THE  ALLIED  FLEET.  339 

the  Dutch  ships  alone,  was  obliged  to  digest  his  spleen  as 
best  he  could.  Meantime  the  English  fleet  bore  away  for 
England,  leaving  Essex  in  his  own  ship,  together  with  the 
two  captured  Spanish  galleons,  to  his  fate.  That  fate  might 
have  been  a  disastrous  one,  for  his  prizes  were  not  fully 
manned,  his  own  vessel  was  far  from  powerful,  and  there 
were  many  rovers  and  cruisers  upon  the  seas.  The  Dutch 
admiral,  with  all  his  ships,  however,  remained  in  company, 
and  safely  convoyed  him  to  Plymouth,  where  they  14  Aug. 
arrived  only  a  day  or  two  later  than  Howard  and  1596- 
his  fleet.44  Warmond,  who  had  been  disposed  to  sail  up 
the  Thames  in  order  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  queen,  was 
informed  that  his  presence  would  not  be  desirable  but  rather 
an  embarrassment.  He,  however,  received  the  following 
letter  from  the  hand  of  Elizabeth. 

"  MONSIEUR  DUVENWOORD, — The  report  made  to  me  by  the 
generals  of  our  fleet,  just  happily  arrived  from  the  coast  of 
Spain,  of  the  devoirs  of  those  who  have  been  partakers  in  so 
famous  a  victory,  ascribes  so  much  of  it  to  the  valour,  skill, 
and  readiness  exhibited  by  yourself  and  our  other  friends 
from  the  Netherlands  under  your  command,  during  the  whole 
course  of  the  expedition,  as  to  fill  our  mind  with  special  joy 
and  satisfaction,  and  with  a  desire  to  impart  these  feelings  to 
you.  No  other  means  presenting  themselves  at  this  moment 
than  that  of  a  letter  (in  some  sense  darkening  the  picture  of 
the  conceptions  of  our  soul),  we  are  willing  to  make  use  of  it 
while  waiting  for  means  more  effectual.  Wishing  thus  to 
disburthen  ourselves  we  find  ourselves  confused,  not  knowing 
where  to  begin,  the  greatness  of  each  part  exceeding  the 
merit  of  the  other.  For,  the  vigour  and  promptness  with 
which  my  lords  the  States-General  stepped  into  the  enter 
prise,  made  us  acknowledge  that  the  good  favour,  which  we 
have  always  borne  the  United  Provinces  and  the  proofs 
thereof  which  we  have  given  in  the  benefits  conferred  by  us 
upon  them,  had  not  been  ill-bestowed.  The  valour,  skill, 

44  Bor,  Meteren,  Reyd,  De  Thou,  ubi  sup. 


390 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXII. 


and  discipline  manifested  by  you  in  this  enterprise  show  that 
you  and  your  whole  nation  are  worthy  the  favour  and  pro 
tection  of  princes  against  those  who  wish  to  tyrannize  over 
you.  But  the  honourableness  and  the  valour  shown  by  you, 
Sir  Admiral,  towards  our  cousin  the  Earl  of  Essex  on  his 
return,  when  he  unfortunately  was  cut  off  from  the  fleet,  and 
deep  in  the  night  was  deprived  of  all  support,  when  you  kept 
company  with  him  and  gave  him  escort  into  the  harbour  of 
Plymouth,  demonstrate  on  the  one  hand  your  foresight  in 
providing  thus  by  your  pains  and  patience  against  all  dis 
asters,  which  through  an  accident  falling  upon  one  of  the 
chiefs  of  our  armada  might  have  darkened  the  great  victory  ; 
and  on  the  other  hand  the  fervour  and  fire  of  the  affection 
which  you  bear  us,  increasing  thus,  through  a  double  bond, 
the  obligations  we  are  owing  you,  which  is  so  great  in  our 
hearts  that  we  have  felt  bound  to  discharge  a  part  of  it  by 
means  of  this  writing,  which  we  beg  you  to  communicate  to 
the  whole  company  of  our  friends  under  your  command  ; 
saying  to  them  besides,  that  they  may  feel  assured  that  even 
as  we  have  before  given  proof  of  our  goodwill  to  their  father 
land,  so  henceforth — incited  by  their  devoirs  and  merits — we 
are  ready  to  extend  our  bounty  and  affection  in  all  ways 
which  may  become  a  princess  recompensing  the  virtues  and 
gratitude  of  a  nation  so  worthy  as  yours. 

"ELIZABETH  R. 
"  I4th  August,  1596." 45 

This  letter  was  transmitted  by  the  admiral  to  the  States- 
General,  who  furnished  him  with  a  copy  of  it,  but  enrolled 
the  original  in  their  archives  ;  recording  as  it  did,  in  the  hand 


45  The  letter,  translated  of  course 
into  Flemish,  is  given  in  full  by  Bor, 
IV.  235.  Incredible  as  it  may  seem, 
Camden  not  only  makes  no  allusion  to 
this  special  and  memorable  service  of 
the  Dutch  Admiral,  and  to  the  enthu 
siastic  approbation  bestowed  upon  him 
and  his  comrades  by  the  queen,  but 
he  never  once  mentions  him  in  his 
account,  save  that  towards  the  end  of 
a  list  of  persons  knighted  after  the 


taking  of  the  city  the  name  of  John 
van  Duvenvord  appears.  The  English 
historian,  indeed,  carefully  suppresses 
the  share  taken  by  the  sailors  and 
soldiers  of  the  Dutch  republic  in  the 
expedition  ;  scarcely  the  faintest  allu 
sion  being  made  to  them  from  the  be 
ginning  to  the  end  of  his  narrative. 
The  whole  affair  is  represented  as  a 
purely  English  adventure  and  English 
triumph. 


1596.  PROPOSED  DISMEMBERMENT  OF  FRANCE.  391 

of  the  great  English  queen,  so  striking  a  testimony  to  the 
valour  and  the  good  conduct  of  Netherlanders.46 
.  The  results  of  this  expedition  were  considerable,  for  the 
king's  navy  was  crippled,  a  great  city  was  destroyed,  and 
some  millions  of  plunder  had  been  obtained.  But  the  per 
manent  possession  of  Cadiz,  which,  in  such  case,  Essex  hoped, 
to  exchange  for  Calais,  and  the  destruction  of  the  fleet  at  the 
Azores — possible  achievements  both,  and  unwisely  neglected 
— would  have  been  far  more  profitable,  at  least  to  England. 
It  was  also  matter  of  deep  regret  that  there  was  much  quar 
relling  between  the  Netherlanders  and  the  Englishmen  as  to 
their  respective  share  of  the  spoils  ;  the  Netherlanders  com 
plaining  loudly  that  they  had  been  defrauded.  Moreover  the 
merchants  of  Middelburg,  Amsterdam,  and  other  commercial 
cities  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  were,  as  it  proved,  the  real 
owners  of  a  large  portion  of  the  property  destroyed  or  pil 
laged  at  Cadiz  ;  so  that  a  loss  estimated  as  high  as  three 
hundred  thousand  florins  fell  upon  those  unfortunate  traders 
through  this  triumph  of  the  allies.47 

The  internal  consequences  of  the  fall  of  Calais  had 
threatened  at  the  first  moment  to  be  as  disastrous  as  the 
international  results  of  that  misfortune  had  already  proved. 
The  hour  for  the  definite  dismemberment  and  partition  of 
the  French  kingdom,  not  by  foreign  conquerors  but  among 
its  own  self-seeking  and  disloyal  grandees,  seemed  to  have 
struck.  The  indomitable  Henry,  ever  most  buoyant  when 
most  pressed  by  misfortune,  was  on  the  way  to  his  camp  at 
La  Fere,  encouraging  the  faint-hearted,  and  providing  as 
well  as  he  could  for  the  safety  of  the  places  most  menaced, 
when  he  was  met  at  St.  Quentin  by  a  solemn  deputation 
of  the  principal  nobles,  military  commanders,  and  provincial 
governors  of  France.  The  Duke  of  Montpensier  was  spokes 
man  of  the  assembly,  and,  in  an  harangue  carefully  prepared 
for  the  occasion,  made  an  elaborate  proposition  to  the  king 
that  the  provinces,  districts,  cities,  castles,  and  other  strong 
holds  throughout  the  kingdom  should  now  be  formally 

«  Bor,  ubi  »up,  47  Bor,  Meteren,  Reyd,  ubi  sup, 


392  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXII 

bestowed  upon  the  actual  governors  and  commandants  thereof 
in  perpetuity  and  as  hereditary  property,  on  condition  of 
rendering  a  certain  military  service  to  the  king  and  his 
descendants.  It  seemed  so  amazing  that  this  temporary 
disaster  to  the  national  arms  should  be  used  as  a  pretext  for 
parcelling  out  France,  and  converting  a  great  empire  into 
a  number  of  insignificant  duchies  and  petty  principalities  ; 
that  this  movement  should  be  made,  not  by  the  partisans  of 
Spain,  but  by  the  adherents  of  the  king ;  and  that  its  leader 
should  be  his  own  near  relative,  a  prince  of  the  blood,  and 
a  possible  successor  to  the  crown,  that  Henry  was  struck 
absolutely  dumb.  Misinterpreting  his  silence,  the  duke  pro 
ceeded  very  confidently  with  his  well-conned  harangue  ;  and 
was  eloquently  demonstrating  that,  under  such  a  system, 
Henry,  as  principal  feudal  chief,  would  have  greater  military 
forces  at  his  disposal  whenever  he  chose  to  summon  his  faith 
ful  vassals  to  the  field  than  could  be  the  case  while  the  mere 
shadow  of  royal  power  or  dignity  was  allowed  to  remain ; 
when  the  king,  finding  at  last  a  tongue,  rebuked  his  cousin, 
not  angrily,  but  with  a  grave  melancholy  which  was  more 
impressive  than  wrath. 

He  expressed  his  pity  for  the  duke  that  designing  intriguers 
should  have  thus  taken  advantage  of  his  facility  of  character  to 
cause  him  to  enact  a  part  so  entirely  unworthy  a  Frenchman, 
a  gentleman,  and  a  prince  of  the  blood.  He  had  himself,  at 
the  outset  of  his  career,  been  much  farther  from  the  throne 
than  Montpensier  was  at  that  moment ;  but  at  no  period  of 
his  life  would  he  have  consented  to  disgrace  himself  b^ 
attempting  the  dismemberment  of  the  realm.  So  far  from 
entering  for  a  moment  into  the  subject-matter  of  the  duke's 
discourse,  he  gave  him  and  all  his  colleagues  distinctly  to 
understand  that  he  would  rather  die  a  thousand  deaths  than 
listen  to  suggestions  which  would  cover  his  family  and  the 
royal  dignity  with  infamy.48  „ 

Barely  has    political    cynicism    been    displayed    in   more 

*s  Sully,  Memoirs,  t.  i.  lib.  vii.  pp.  417,  418.  Compare  De  Thou,  t.  xiii.  lilx 
cxviii.  p.  136. 


1596.  MILITARY  PROGRESS  IN    THE   NORTH.  393 

revolting  shape  than  in  this  deliberate  demonstration  by  the 
leading  patricians  and  generals  of  France,  to  whom  patriotism 
seemed  an  unimaginable  idea.  Thus  signally  was  their 
greediness  to  convert  a  national  disaster  into  personal  profit 
rebuked  by  the  king.  Henry  was  no  respecter  of  the  People, 
which  he  regarded  as  something  immeasurably  below  his 
feet.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  the  most  sublime  self-seeker 
of  them  all ;  but  his  courage,  his  intelligent  ambition,  his 
breadth  and  strength  of  purpose,  never  permitted  him  to 
ioubt  that  his  own  greatness  was  inseparable  from  the 
greatness  of  France.  Thus  he  represented  a  distinct  and 
wholesome  principle — the  national  integrity  of  a  great  homo 
geneous  people  at  a  period  when  that  integrity  seemed, 
through  domestic  treason  and  foreign  hatred,  to  be  hopelessly 
lost.  Hence  it  is  not  unnatural  that  he  should  hold  his 
place  in  the  national  chronicle  as  Henry  the  Great. 

Meantime,  while  the  military  events  just  recorded  had 
been  occurring  in  the  southern  peninsula,  the  progress  of  the 
archduke  and  his  lieutenants  in  the  north  against  the  king 
and  against  the  republic  had  been  gratifying  to  the  ambition 
of  that  martial  ecclesiastic.  Soon  after  the  fall  of  Calais,  De 
Kosne  had  seized  the  castles  of  Guynes  and  Hames,  22-23  May, 
while  De  Mexia  laid  siege  to  the  important  strong-  1596- 
hold  of  Ardres.  The  garrison,  commanded  by  Count  Belin, 
was  sufficiently  numerous  and  well  supplied  to  maintain  the 
place  until  Henry,  whose  triumph  at  La  Fere  could  hardly 
be  much  longer  delayed,  should  come  to  its  relief.  To  the 
king's  infinite  dissatisfaction,  however,  precisely  as  Don 
Alvario  de  Osorio  was  surrendering  La  Fere  to  him,  after  a 
seven  months'  siege,  Ardres  was  capitulating  to  De  Mexia. 
The  reproaches  upon  Belin  for  cowardice,  imbecility,  and  bad 
faith,  were  bitter  and  general.  All  his  officers  had  vehe 
mently  protested  against  the  surrender,  and  Henry  at  first 
talked  of  cutting  off  his  head.49  It  was  hardly  probable,  how 
ever — had  the  surrender  been  really  the  result  of  treachery — 
that  the  governor  would  have  put  himself,  as  he  did  at  once, 

4*  So  Justinus  of  Nassau  wrote  to  Prince  Maurice.    Bor,  IV.  194. 


394  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

in  the  king's  power  ;  for  the  garrison  marched  out  of  Ardres 
with  the  commandant  at  their  head,  banners  displayed,  drums 
beating,  matches  lighted  and  bullet  in  mouth,  twelve  hundred 
fighting  men  strong,  besides  invalids.  Belin  was  possessed  of 
too  much  influence,  and  had  the  means  of  rendering  too  many 
pieces  of  service  to  the  politic  king,  whose  rancour  against 
Spain  was  perhaps  not  really  so  intense  as  was  commonly  sup 
posed,  to  meet  with  the  condign  punishment  which  might 
have  been  the  fate  of  humbler  knaves. 

These  successes  having  been  obtained  in  Normandy,  the 
cardinal  with  a  force  of  nearly  fifteen  thousand  men  now 
took  the  field  in  Flanders  ;  and,  after  hesitating  for  a  time 
whether  he  should  attack  Breda,  Bergen,  Ostend,  or  Gertruy- 
denburg, — arid  after  making  occasional  feints  in  various 
directions, — came,  towards  the  end  of  June,  before  Hulst. 
This  rather  insignificant  place,  with  a  population  of  but  one 
thousand  inhabitants,  was  defended  by  a  strong  garrison  under 
command  of  that  eminent  and  experienced  officer  Count 
Everard  Solms.  Its  defences  were  made  more  complete 
by  a  system  of  sluices,  through  which  the  country  around 
could  be  laid  under  water  ;  and  Maurice,  whose  capture  of 
the  town  in  the  year  1591  had  been  one  of  his  earliest 
military  achievements,  was  disposed  to  hold  it  at  all  hazards. 
He  came  in  person  to  inspect  the  fortifications,  and  appeared 
to  be  so  eager  on  the  subject,  and  so  likely  to  encounter 
unnecessary  hazards,  that  the  States  of  Holland  passed  a 
resolution  imploring  him  "  that  he  would  not,  in  his  heroic 
enthusiasm  and  laudable  personal  service,  expose  a  life  on 
which  the  country  so  much  depended  to  manifest  dangers."  * 
The  place  was  soon  thoroughly  invested,  and  the  usual  series 
of  minings  and  counter-minings,  assaults,  and  sorties  followed, 
in  the  course  of  which  that  courageous  and  corpulent  rene 
gade,  De  Rosne,  had  his  head  taken  off  by  a  cannon-ball, 
while  his  son,  a  lad  of  sixteen,  was  fighting  by  his  side.51  On 
the  16th  August  the  cardinal  formally  demanded  the  sur 
render  of  the  place,  and  received  the  magnanimous  reply  that 

M  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  162.  B1  Bor,  IV.  219^.    Bentivoglio,  440. 


1596.  CAPITULATION  OF  HULST.  395 

Hulst  would  be  defended  to  the  death.  This  did  not,  how 
ever,  prevent  the  opening  of  negotiations  the  very  same 
day.  All  the  officers,  save  one,  united  in  urging  Solms  to 
capitulate  ;  and  Solms,  for  somewhat  mysterious  reasons,  and, 
as  was  stated,  in  much  confusion,  gave  his  consent.  The 
single  malcontent  was  the  well-named  Matthew  Held,  whose 
family  name  meant  Hero,  and  who  had  been  one  of  the  chief 
actors  in  the  far-famed  capture  of  Breda.  He  was  soon 
afterwards  killed  in  an  unsuccessful  attack  made  by  Maurice 
upon  Venlo. 

Hulst  capitulated  on  the  18th  August.52  The  terms  were 
honourable  ;  but  the  indignation  throughout  the  13 
country  against  Count  Solms  was  very  great.  The  • 1596- 
States  of  Zeeland,  of  whose  regiment  he  had  been  com 
mander  ever  since  the  death  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  dismissed 
him  from  their  service,  while  a  torrent  of  wrath  flowed  upon 
him  from  every  part  of  the  country.  Members  of  the  States- 
General  refused  to  salute  him  in  the  streets  ;  eminent  person-* 
ages  turned  their  backs  upon  him,  and  for  a  time  there  was 
no  one  willing  to  listen  to  a  word  in  his  defence.  The  usual 
reaction  in  such  cases  followed  ;  Maurice  sustained  the  com 
mander,  who  had  doubtless  committed  a  grave  error,  but  who 
had  often  rendered  honourable  service  to  the  republic,  and 
the  States-General  gave  him  a  command  as  important  as  that 
of  which  he  had  been  relieved  by  the  Zeeland  States.  It  was 
mainly  on  account  of  the  tempest  thus  created  within  the 
Netherlands,  that  an  affair  of  such  slight  importance  came  to 
occupy  so  large  a  space  in  contemporary  history.  The  de<- 
fenders  of  Solms  told  wild  stories  about  the  losses  of  the 
oesieging  army.  The  cardinal,  who  was  thought  prodigal 
of  blood,  and  who  was  often  quoted  as  saying  "  his  soldiers' 
lives  belonged  to  God  and  their  bodies  to  the  king/'  ^  had 
sacrificed,  it  was  ridiculously  said,  according  to  the  statement 
of  the  Spaniards  themselves,  five  thousand  soldiers  before  the 

•*  For  the  siegre  and  capture  of  Hulst,  see  Bor,  IV.  213-230.    Meteren,  380 
»egq.    Bentivoglio.  439,  440.     Reyd,  285-287.     Coloma,  225-229. 
w  Reyd,  ubi  sup. 


396 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXIL 


walls  of  Hulst.54  It  was  very  logically  deduced  therefrom 
that  the  capture  of  a  few  more  towns  of  a  thousand  inhabit 
ants  each  would  cost  him  his  whole  army.  People  told  each 
other,  too,  that  the  conqueror  had  refused  a  triumph  which 
the  burghers  of  Brussels  wished  to  prepare  for  him  on  his 
entrance  into  the  capital,  and  that  he  had  administered  the 
very  proper  rebuke  that,  if  they  had  more  money  than  they 
knew  what  to  do  with,  they  should  expend  it  in  aid  of  the 
wounded  and  of  the  families  of  the  fallen,  rather  than  in 
velvets  and  satins  and  triumphal  arches.55  The  humanity  of 
the  suggestion  hardly  tallied  with  the  bloodthirstiness  of  which 
he  was  at  the  same  time  so  unjustly  accused — although  it 
might  well  be  doubted  whether  the  commander-in-chief,  even 
if  he  could  witness  unflinchingly  the  destruction  of  five  thou 
sand  soldiers  on  the.  battle-field,  would  dare  to  confront  a 
new  demonstration  of  schoolmaster  Houwaerts  and  his  fellow- 
pedants. 

The  fact  was,  however,  that  the  list  of  casualties  in  the 
cardinal's  camp  during  the  six  weeks'  siege  amounted  to  six 
hundred,  while  the  losses  within  the  city  were  at  least  as 
many.55  There  was  no  attempt  to  relieve  the  place  ;  for  the 
States,  as  before  observed,  had  been  too  much  cramped  by 
the  strain  upon  their  resources  and  by  the  removal  of  so 
many  veterans  for  the  expedition  against  Cadiz  to  be  able  to 
muster  any  considerable  forces  in  the  field  during  the  whole 
of  this  year. 

For  a  vast  war  in  which  the  four  leading  powers  of  the 
earth  were  engaged,  the  events,  to^  modern  eyes,  of  the  cam 
paign  of  1596  seem  sufficiently  meagre.  Meantime,  during 
all  this  campaigning  by  land  and  sea  in  the  west,  there  had 
been  great  but  profitless  bloodshed  in  the  east.  With  diffi 
culty  did  the  holy  Koman  Empire  withstand  the  terrible, 
ever-renewed  assaults  of  the  unholy  realm  of  Ottoman — then 
in  the  full  flush  of  its  power — but  the  two  empires  still  coun- 


64  Bor,  Meteren,  Reyd,  Coloma,  ubi 
9up.,  especially  Reyd. 

65  Reyd. 

M  Belacjon  $$  la  presa  de  1$  villa 


de  Hulst  en  Flandes,  17  Aug.  1596. 
There  seems  no  reason  why  the  car 
dinal  in  these  private  despatches 
should  not  have  to!4  the  truth 


1596  PROJECTED  ALLIANCE  AGAINST  SPAIN.  $97 

terbalanced  each,  other,  and  contended  with  each  other  at  the 
gates  of  Vienna. 

As  the  fighting  became  more  languid,  however,  in  the 
western  part  of  Christendom,  the  negotiations  and  intrigues 
grew  only  the  more  active.  It  was  most  desirable  for  the 
republic  to  effect,  if  possible,  a  formal  alliance  offensive  and 
defensive  with  France  and  England  against  Spain.  The 
diplomacy  of  the  Netherlands  had  been  very  efficient  in 
bringing  about  the  declaration  of  war  by  Henry  against 
Philip,  by  which  the  current  year  had  opened,  after  Henry 
and  Philip  had  been  doing  their  best  to  destroy  each  other 
and  each  other's  subjects  during  the  half-dozen  previous 
years.  Elizabeth,  too,  although  she  had  seen  her  shores  in 
vaded  by  Philip  with  the  most  tremendous  armaments  that 
had  ever  floated  on  the  seas,  and  although  she  had  herself 
just  been  sending  fire  and  sword  into  the  heart  of  Spain,  had 
very  recently  made  the  observation57  that  she  and  Philip  were 
not  formally  at  war  with  each  other.  It  seemed,  therefore, 
desirable  to  the  States-General  that  this  very  practical  war 
fare  should  be,  as  it  were,  reduced  to  a  theorem.  In  this  case 
the  position  of  the  republic  to  both  powers  and  to  Spain  itself 
might  perhaps  be  more  accurately  defined. 

Calvaert,  the  States'  envoy — to  use  his  own  words — haunted 
Henry  like  his  perpetual  shadow,  and  was  ever  doing  his  best 
to  persuade  him  of  the  necessity  of  this  alliance.58  De  Sancy, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  just  arrived  in  England,  when  the  cool 
proposition  of  the  queen  to  rescue  Calais  from  Philip  on 
condition  of  keeping  it  for  herself  had  been  brought  to 
Boulogne  by  Sidney.  Notwithstanding  the  indignation  of 
the  king,  he  had  been  induced  directly  afterwards  to  send  an 
additional  embassy  to  Elizabeth,  with  the  Duke  of  Bouillon 
at  its  head  ;  and  he  had  insisted  upon  Calvaert's  accompanying 
the  mission.  He  had,  as  he  frequently  observed,59  no  secrets 
from  the  States-General,  or  from  Calvaert,  who  had  been 
negotiating  upon  these  affairs  for  two  years  past  and  was  so 

67  «  "r  welck  haer  Mag.  pretendeerde  tot  nocb.  nict  gedaen  te  bebben."  Cal- 
Vert  to  the  States-General,  apud  Deventer,  ii.  117.    58  Ibid.  114.     M  Ibid.  11& 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXU. 

well  acquainted  with  all  their  bearings.  The  Dutch  envoy 
was  reluctant  to  go, — for  he  was  seriously  ill  and  very  poor 
in  purse, — but  Henry  urged  the  point  so  vehemently,  that 
Calvaert  found  himself  on  board  ship  within  six  hours  of  the 
making  of  the  proposition.60  The  incident  shows  of  how  much 
account  the  republican  diplomatist  was  held  by  so  keen  a 
judge  of  mankind  as  the  Bearnese  ;  but  it  will  subsequently 
appear  that  the  candour  of  the  king  towards  the  States-General 
and  their  representative  was  by  no  means  without  certain 
convenient  limitations. 

De  Sancy  had  arrived  just  as — without  his  knowledge — 
Sidney  had  been  despatched  across  the  channel  with  the  brief 
mission  already  mentioned.  When  he  was  presented  to  the 
queen,  the  next  day,  she  excused  herself  for  the  propositions 
by  which  Henry  had  been  so  much  enraged,  by  assuring  the 
envoy  that  it  had  been  her  intention  only  to  keep  Calais  out 
of  the  enemy's  hand,  so  long  as  the  king's  forces  were  too 
much  occupied  at  a  distance  to  provide  for  its  safety.  As 
diplomatic  conferences  were  about  to  begin  in  which — even 
more  than  in  that  age,  at  least,  was  usually  the  case — the 
object  of  the  two  conferring  powers  was  to  deceive  each 
other,  and  at  the  same  time  still  more  decidedly  to  defraud 
other  states,  Sancy  accepted  the  royal  explanation,  although 
Henry's  special  messenger,  Lomenie,  had  just  brought  him 
from  the  camp  at  Boulogne  a  minute  account  of  the  propo 
sitions  of  Sidney.61 

The  envoy  had,  immediately  afterwards,  an  interview  with 
Lord  Burghley,  and  at  once  perceived  that  he  was  no  friend 
to  his  master.  Cecil  observed  that  the  queen  had  formerly 
been  much  bound  to  the  king  for  religion's  sake.  As  this 
tie  no  longer  existed,  there  was  nothing  now  to  unite  them 
save  the  proximity  of  the  two  States  to  each  other  and  their 
ancient  alliances,  a  bond  purely  of  interest  which  existed  only 
so  long  as  princes  found  therein  a  special  advantage. 

60  Calvert  to  States-General,  apud  Deventer,  ii.  118. 

61  See  especially  for  these  negotiations  De  Thou,  t.  xii.  lib.  116,  p.  247, 
tegq.     Compare  Bor,  IV.  253-257. 


1596.       THE  FRENCH  ENVOY  AND  LOHD  BURUHLE?.       399 

De  Sancy  replied  that  the  safety  of  the  two  crowns 
depended  upon  their  close  alliance  against  a  very  powerful 
foe  who  was  equally  menacing  to  them  both.  Cecil  rejoined 
that  he  considered  the  Spaniards  deserving  of  the  very  high 
est  praise  for  having  been  able  to  plan  so  important  an 
enterprise,  and  to  have  so  well  deceived  the  King  of  France 
by  the  promptness  and  the  secrecy  of  their  operations  as  to 
allow  him  to  conceive  no  suspicion  as  to  their  designs. 

To  this  not  very  friendly  sarcasm  the  envoy,  indignant  that 
France  should  thus  be  insulted  in  her  misfortunes,  exclaimed 
that  he  prayed  to  God  that  the  affairs  of  Englishmen  might 
never  be  reduced  to  such  a  point  as  to  induce  the  world  to 
judge  by  the  result  merely,  as  to  the  sagacity  of  their  counsels. 
He  added  that  there  were  many  passages  through  which  to 
enter  France,  and  that  it  was  difficult  to  be  present  every 
where,  in  order  to  defend  them  all  against  the  enemy. 

A   few  days    afterwards   the    Duke   of    Bouillon    arrived 
in  London.     He  had  seen  Lord  Essex  at  Dover  as    7  May, 
he  passed,  and  had  endeavoured  without  success  to    1596> 
dissuade  him  from  his  expedition  against  the  Spanish  coast. 
The    conferences    opened   on   the   7th   May,   at   Greenwich, 
between  Burghley,  Cobham,  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  and  one 
or  two   other   commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  queen,  and 
Bouillon,  Sancy,  Du  Vair,  and  Ancel,  as  plenipotentiaries  of 
Henry. 

There  was  the  usual  indispensable  series  of  feints  at  the 
outset,  as  if  it  were  impossible  for  statesmen  to  meet  around 
a  green  table  except  as  fencers  in  the  field  or  pugilists  in  the 
ring. 

"  We  have  nothing  to  do,"  said  Burghley,  "  except  to  listen 
to  such  propositions  as  may  be  made  on  the  part  of  the  king, 
and  to  repeat  them  to  her  Highness  the  queen." 

"You  cannot  be  ignorant,"  replied  Bouillon,  "of  the  purpose 
for  which  we  have  been  sent  hither  by  his  Very  Christian 
Majesty.  You  know  very  well  that  it  is  to  conclude  a  league 
with  England.  'Tis  necessary,  therefore,  for  the  English  to 
begin  by  declaring  whether  they  are  disposed  to  enter  into 

VOL.  11—14 


400  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIL 

such  an  alliance.  This  point  once  settled,  the  French  can 
make  their  propositions,  but  it  would  be  idle  to  dispute  about 
the  conditions  of  a  treaty,  if  there  is  after  all  no  treaty  to  be 
made/' 

To  this  Cecil  rejoined,  that,  if  the  king  were  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  asking  succour  from  the  queen,  and  of  begging 
for  her  alliance,  it  was  necessary  for  them,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  see  what  he  was  ready  to  do  for  the  queen  in  return,  and 
to  learn  what  advantage  she  could  expect  from  the  league. 

The  duke  said  that  the  English  statesmen  were  perfectly 
aware  of  the  French  intention  of  proposing  a  league  against 
the  common  enemy  of  both  nations,  and  that  it  would  be 
unquestionably  for  the  advantage  of  both  to  unite  their  forces 
for  a  vigorous  attack  upon  Spain,  in  which  case  it  would  be 
more  difficult  for  the  Spanish  to  resist  them  than  if  each  were 
acting  separately.  It  was  no  secret  that  the  Spaniards  would 
rather  attack  England  than  France,  because  their  war  against 
England,  being  coloured  by  a  religious  motive,  would  be  much 
less  odious,  and  would  even  have  a  specious  pretext.  More 
over  the  conquest  of  England  would  give  them  an  excellent 
vantage  ground  to  recover  what  they  had  lost  in  the  Nether 
lands.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  enemy  should  throw  himself 
with  his  whole  force  upon  France,  the  king,  who  would  per 
haps  lose  many  places  at  once,  and  might  hardly  be  able  to 
maintain  himself  single-handed  against  domestic  treason  and 
a  concentrated  effort  on  the  part  of  Spain,  would  probably 
find  it  necessary  to  make  a  peace  with  that  power.  Nothing 
could  be  more  desirable  for  Spain  than  such  a  result,  for  she 
would  then  be  free  to  attack  England  and  Holland,  undis 
turbed  by  any  fear  of  France.  This  was  a  piece  of  advice, 
the  duke  said,  which  the  king  offered,  in  the  most  friendly 
spirit,  and  as  a  proof  of  his  affection,  to  her  Majesty's  earnest 
consideration. 

Burghley  replied  that  all  this  seemed  to  him  no  reason  for 
making  a  league.  "  What  more  can  the  queen  do/'  he 
observed,  "  than  she  is  already  doing  ?  She  has  invaded 
Spain  by  land  and  sea,  she  has  sent  troops  to  Spain,  France, 


1596.  DE  SANCY'S  APPEAL  FOR  ENGLISH  AID.  4Q1 

and  the  Netherlands  ;  she  has  lent  the  king  fifteen  hundred 
thousand  crowns  in  gold.  In  short,  the  envoys  ought  rather 
to  be  studying  how  to  repay  her  Majesty  for  her  former 
benefits  than  to  be  soliciting  fresh  assistance."  He  added 
that  the  king  was  so  much  stronger  by  the  recent  gain  of 
Marseilles  as  to  be  easily  able  to  bear  the  loss  of  places  of  far 
less  importance,  while  Ireland,  on  the  contrary,  was  a  constant 
danger  to  the  queen.  The  country  was  already  in  a  blaze, 
on  account  of  the  recent  landing  effected  there  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  it  was  a  very  ancient  proverb  among  the 
English,  that  to  attack  England  it  was  necessary  to  take 
the  road  of  Ireland. 

Bouillon  replied  that  in  this  war  there  was  much  difference 
between  the  position  of  France  and  that  of  England.  The 
queen,  notwithstanding  hostilities,  obtained  her  annual  revenue 
as  usual,  while  the  king  was  cut  off  from  his  resources  and 
obliged  to  ruin  his  kingdom  in  order  to  wage  war.  Sancy 
added,  that  it  must  be  obvious  to  the  English  ministers  that 
the  peril  of  Holland  was  likewise  the  peril  of  England  and 
of  France,  but  that  at  the  same  time  they  could  plainly  see 
that  the  king,  if  not  succoured,  would  be  forced  to  a  peace 
with  Spain.  All  his  counsellors  were  urging  him  to  this, 
and  it  was  the  interest  of  all  his  neighbours  to  prevent  such 
a  step.  Moreover,  the  proposed  league  could  not  but  be 
advantageous  to  the  English  ;  whether  by  restraining  the 
Spaniards  from  entering  England,  or  by  facilitating  a  com 
bined  attack  upon  the  common  enemy.  The  queen  might 
invade  any  portion  of  the  Flemish  coast  at  her  pleasure,  while 
the  king's  fleet  could  sail  with  troops  from  his  ports  to 
prevent  any  attack  upon  her  realms. 

At  this  Burghley  turned  to  his  colleagues  and  said,  in 
English,  "  The  French  are  acting  according  to  the  proverb  ; 
they  wish  to  sell  us  the  bear-skin  before  they  have  killed  the 
bear."  62 

Sancy,  who  understood  English,  rejoined,  "  We  have  no 

6«  De  Thou,  653.  The  historian,  probably,  according  to  Frujn,  340,  took 
his  account  from  the  papers  of  Du  Vajr, 

voi,,  in,— 2  D 


402  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

bear-skin  to  sell,  but  we  are  giving  you  a  very  good  and 
salutary  piece  of  advice.  It  is  for  you  to  profit  by  it  as  you 
may." 

"  Where  are  these  ships  of  war,  of  which  you  were 
speaking  ?  "  asked  Burghley. 

"  They  are  at  Kochelle,  at  Bordeaux,  and  at  St.  Malo," 
replied  de  Sancy. 

"  And  these  ports  are  not  in  the  king's  possession/'  said  the 
Lord  Treasurer. 

The  discussion  was  growing  warm.  The  Duke  of  Bouillon, 
:n  order  to  put  an  end  to  it,  said  that  what  England  had  most 
to  tear  was  a  descent  by  Spain  upon  her  coasts,  and  that  the 
true  way  to  prevent  this  was  to  give  occupation  to  Philip's 
army  in  Flanders.  The  soldiers  in  the  fleet  then  preparing 
were  raw  levies  with  which  he  would  not  venture  to  assail 
her  kingdom.  The  veterans  in  Flanders  were  the  men  on 
whom  he  relied  for  that  purpose.  Moreover  the  queen,  who 
had  great  influence  with  the  States-General,  would  procure 
from  them  a  prohibition  of  all  commerce  between  the  pro 
vinces  and  Spain  ;  all  the  Netherlands  would  be  lost  to 
Philip,  his  armies  would  disperse  of  their  own  accord  ;  the 
princes  of  Italy,  to  whom  the  power  of  Spain  was  a  perpetual 
menace,  would  secretly  supply  funds  to  the  allied  powers,  and 
the  Germans,  declared  enemies  of  Philip,  would  furnish 
troops. 

Burghley  asserted  confidently  that  this  could  never  be 
obtained  from  the  Hollanders,  who  lived  by  commerce  alone. 
Upon  which  Sancy,  wearied  with  all  these  difficulties,  inter 
rupted  the  Lord  Treasurer  by  exclaiming,  "  If  the  king  is  to 
expect  neither  an  alliance  nor  any  succour  on  your  part,  he 
will  be  very  much  obliged  to  the  queen  if  she  will  be  good 
enough  to  inform  him  of  the  decision  taken  by  her,  in  order 
that  he  may,  upon  his  side,  take  the  steps  most  suitable  to 
the  present  position  of  his  affairs." 

The  session  then  terminated.  Two  days  afterwards,  in 
another  conference,  Burghley  offered  three  thousand  men  on 
the  part  of  the  queen,  on  condition  that  they  should  be  raised 


1596.      FURTHER  CONFERENCE  WITH  LORD  BURGHLEY.       403 

at  the  king's  expense,  and  that  they  should  not  leave  England 
until  they  had  received  a  month's  pay  in  advance. 

The  Duke  of  Bouillon  said  this  was  far  from  being  what 
had  been  expected  of  the  generosity  of  her  Majesty,  that  if 
the  king  had  money  he  would  find  no  difficulty  in  raising 
troops  in  Switzerland  and  Germany,  and  that  there  was  a 
very  great  difference  between  hired  princes  and  allies.63  The 
English  ministers  having  answered  that  this  was  all  the  queen 
could  do,  the  duke  and  Sancy  rose  in  much  excitement, 
saying  that  they  had  then  no  further  business  than  to  ask  for 
an  audience  of  leave,  and  to  return  to  France  as  fast  as 
possible. 

Before  they  bade  farewell  to  the  queen,  however,  the 
envoys  sent  a  memoir  to  her  Majesty,  in  which  they  set  forth 
that  the  first  proposition  as  to  a  league  had  been  made  by 
Sir  Henry  Umton,  and  that  now,  when  the  king  had  sent 
commissioners  to  treat  concerning  an  alliance,  already  recom 
mended  by  the  queen's  ambassador  in  France,  they  had  been 
received  in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate  a  desire  to  mock  them 
rather  than  to  treat  with  them.  They  could  not  believe,  they 
said,  that  it  was  her  Majesty's  desire  to  use  such  language  as 
had  been  addressed  to  them,  and  they  therefore  implored  her 
plainly  to  declare  her  intentions,  in  order  that  they  might 
waste  no  more  time  unnecessarily,  especially  as  the  high 
offices  with  which  their  sovereign  had  honoured  them  did  not 
allow  them  to  remain  for  a  long  time  absent  from  France. 

The  effect  of  this  memoir  upon  the  queen  was,  that  fresh 
conferences  were  suggested,  which  took  place  at  intervals 
between  the  llth  and  the  26th  of  May.  They  were  charac 
terized  by  the  same  mutual  complaints  of  overreachings  and 
of  shortcomings  by  which  all  the  previous  discussions  had 
been  distinguished.  On  the  17th  May  the  French  envoys 
even  insisted  on  taking  formal  farewell  of  the  queen,  and 
were  deceived  by  her  Majesty  for  that  purpose  at  a  final 
audience.  After  they  had  left  the  presence — the  preparations 

63  "  Beaucoup  de  difference  entre  des  princes  a  gages  et  des  allies." — De  Thou. 
655. 


404  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXU 

for  their  homeward  journey  being  already  made — the  queen 
sent  Sir  Robert  Cecil.  Henry  Brooke,  son  of  Lord 

17  May. 

Cobhain,  and  La  Fontaine,  minister  of  a  French 
church  in  England,  to  say  to  them  how  very  much  mortified 
she  was  that  the  state  of  her  affairs  did  not  permit  her 
to  give  the  king  as  much  assistance  as  he  desired,  and  to 
express  her  wish  to  speak  to  them  once  more  before  their 
departure. 

The  result  of  the  audience  given  accordingly  to  the  envoys, 
two  days  later,  was  t  e  communication  of  her  decision  to 
enter  into  the  league  proposed,  but  without  definitely  con 
cluding  the  treaty  until  it  should  be  ratified  by  the  king. 

On  the  26th  May  articles  were  finally  agreed  upon,  by 
which  the  king  and  queen  agreed  to  defend  each 
ay*  other's  dominions,  to  unite  in  attacking  the  com 
mon  enemy,  and  to  invite  other  princes  and  states  equally 
interested  with  themselves  in  resisting  the  ambitious  projects 
of  Spain,  to  join  in  the  league.  It  was  arranged  that  an 
army  should  be  put  in  the  field  as  soon  as  possible,  at  the 
expense  of  the  king  and  queen,  and  of  such  other  powers  as 
should  associate  themselves  in  the  proposed  alliance  ;  that 
this  army  should  invade  the  dominions  of  the  Spanish 
monarch,  that  the  king  and  queen  were  never,  without  each 
other's  consent,  to  make  peace  or  truce  with  Philip  ;  that  the 
queen  should  immediately  raise  four  thousand  infantry  to 
serve  six  months  of  every  year  in  Picardy  and  Normandy, 
with  the  condition  that  they  were  never  to  be  sent  to  a 
distance  of  more  than  fifty  leaguas  from  Boulogne  ;  that  when 
the  troubles  of  Ireland  should  be  over  the  queen  should  be 
at  liberty  to  add  new  troops  to  the  four  thousand  men  thus 
promised  by  her  to  the  league  ;  that  the  queen  was  to  furnish 
to  these  four  thousand  men  six  months'  pay  in  advance  before 
they  should  leave  England,  and  that  the  king  should  agree  to 
repay  the  amount  six  months  afterwards,  sending  meaAHvhile 
four  nobles  to  England  as  hostages.  If  the  dominions  of  the 
queen  should  be  attacked  it  was  stipulated  that,  at  two 
months'  notice,  the  king  should  raise  four  thousand  men  at 


1596.  FORMATION  OF  THE  ALLIANCE.  405 

the  expense  of  the  queen  and  send  them  to  her  assistance, 
and  that  they  were  to  serve  for  six  months  at  her  charge,  hut 
were  not  to  be  sent  to  a  distance  of  more  than  fifty  leagues 
from  the  coasts  of  France.64 

The  English  were  not  willing  that  the  States-General 
should  be  comprehended  among  the  powers  to  be  invited  to 
join  the  league,  because  being  under  the  protection  of  the 
Queen  of  England  they  were  supposed  to  have  no  will  but 
hers.65  Burghley  insisted  accordingly  that,  in  speaking  of 
those  who  were  thus  to  be  asked,  no  mention  was  to  be  made 
of  peoples  nor  of  states,  for  fear  lest  the  States-General  might 
be  included  under  those  terms.66  The  queen  was,  however, 
brought  at  last  to  yield  the  point,  and  consented,  in  order  to 
satisfy  the  French  envoys,  that  to  the  word  princes  should  be 
added  the  general  expression  orders  or  estates.66  The  obstacle 
thus  interposed  to  the  formation  of  the  league  by  the  hatred 
of  the  queen  and  of  the  privileged  classes  of  England  to 
popular  liberty,  and  by  the  secret  desire  entertained  of 
regaining  that  sovereignty  over  the  provinces  which  had 
been  refused  ten  years  before  by  Elizabeth,  was  at  length  set 
aside.  The  republic,  which  might  have  been  stifled  at  its 
birth,  was  now  a  formidable  fact,  and  could  neither  be 
annexed  to  the  English  dominions  nor  deprived  of  its  ex 
istence  as  a  new  member  of  the*  European  family. 

It  being  no  longer  possible  to  gainsay  the  presence  of 
the  young  commonwealth  among  the  nations,  the  next 
best  thing — so  it  was  thought — was  to  defraud  her  in 
the  treaty  to  which  she  was  now  invited  to  accede.  This, 
as  it  will  presently  appear,  the  King  of  France  and  the 
Queen  of  England  succeeded  in  doing  very  thoroughly,  and 
they  accomplished  it  notwithstanding  the  astuteness  and  the 
diligence  of  the  States'  envoy,  who  at  Henry's  urgent  request 
had  accompanied  the  French  mission  to  England.  Calvaert 
had  been  very  active  in  bringing  about  the  arrangement,  to 
assist  in  which  he  had,  as  we  have  seen,  risen  from  a  sick  bed 

64  De  Thou,  647-660,  seqq.  66  Ibid.  660. 

•«  Bor,  IV.  256.     De  Thou,  uU  sup.  K  Ibid 


406  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

and  made  the  journey  to  England.  "  The  proposition  for  an 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance  was  agreed  to  by  her  Ma 
jesty's  Council,  but  under  intolerable  and  impracticable  con 
ditions,"  said  he,  "  and,  as  such,  rejected  by  the  duke  and 
Sancy,  so  that  they  took  leave  of  her  Majesty.  At  last, 
after  some  negotiation  in  which,  without  boasting,  I  may  say 
that  I  did  some  service,  it  was  again  taken  in  hand,  and  at 
last,  thank  G-od,  although  with  much  difficulty,  the  league 
has  been  concluded."67 

When  the  task  was  finished  the  French  envoys  departed 
to  obtain  their  master's  ratification  of  the  treaty.  Elizabeth 
expressed  herself  warmly  in  regard  to  her  royal  brother, 
inviting  him  earnestly  to  pay  her  a  visit,  in  which  case  she 
said  she  would  gladly  meet  him  half  way  ;  for  a  sight  of  him 
would  be  her  only  consolation  in  the  midst  of  her  adversity 
and  annoyance.  "  He  may  see  other  princesses  of  a  more 
lovely  appearance,"  she  added,  "but  he  will  never  make  a 
visit  to  a  more  faithful  friend."68 

But  the  treaty  thus  concluded  was  for  the  public.  The 
real  agreement  between  France  and  England  was  made  by 
the  commissioners  a  few  days  later,  and  reduced  the  osten 
sible  arrangement  to  a  sham,  a  mere  decoy  to  foreign 
nations,  especially  to  the  Dutch  republic,  to  induce  them  to 
imitate  England  in  joining  the  league,  and  to  emulate  her 
likewise  in  affording  that  substantial  assistance  to  the  league 
which  in  reality  England  was  very  far  from  giving. 

"  Two  contracts  were  made,"  said  Secretary  of  State 
Villeroy  ;  "  the  one  public,  to  give  credit  and  reputation  to 
the  said  league,  the  other  secret,  which  destroyed  the  effects  and 
the  promises  of  the  first.  By  the  first  his  Majesty  was  to  be 
succoured  by  four  thousand  infantry,  which  number  was 
limited  by  the  second  contract  to  two  thousand.,  who  were  to 
reside  and  to  serve  only  in  the  cities  of  Boulogne  and  Montreuil, 
assisted  by  an  equal  number  of  French,  and  not  otherwise, 
and  on  condition  of  not  being  removed  from  those  towns 
unless  his  Majesty  should  be  personally  present  in  Picardy 
Report,  in  Deyenter,  U7.  9*  Jbj<J, 


1596.  DUPLICITY  OF  THE  TREATY. 

with  an  army,  in  which  case  they  might  serve  in  Picardy,  but 
nowhere  else."69 

An  English  garrison  in  a  couple  of  French  seaports,  over 
against  the  English  coast,  would  hardly  have  seemed  a 
sufficient  inducement  to  other  princes  and  states  to  put  large 
armies  in  the  field  to  sustain  the  Protestant  league,  had  they 
known  that  this  was  the  meagre  result  of  the  protocolling 
and  disputations  that  had  been  going  on  all  the  summer  at 
Greenwich. 

Nevertheless  the  decoy  did  its  work.  The  envoys  returned 
to  France,  and  it  was  not  until  three  months  later  26 
that  the  Duke  of  Bouillon  again  made  his  appearance  1596> 
in  England,  bringing  the  treaty  duly  ratified  by  Henry.  The 
league  was  then  solemnized,  on  the  26th  August,  by  the 
queen  with  much  pomp  and  ceremony.  Three  peers  of  the 
realm  waited  upon  the  French  ambassador  at  his  lodgings, 
and  escorted  him  and  his  suite  in  seventeen  royal  coaches 
to  the  Tower.  Seven  splendid  barges  then  conveyed  them 
along  the  Thames  to  Greenwich.  On  the  pier  the  ambassador 
was  received  by  the  Earl  of  Derby  at  the  head  of  a  great 
suite  of  nobles  and  high  functionaries,  and  conducted  to  the 
palace  of  Nonesuch.70 

There  was  a  religious  ceremony  in  the  royal  chapel,  where 
a  special  pavilion  had  been  constructed.  Standing  within 
this  sanctuary,  the  queen,  with  her  hand  on  her  breast,  swore 
faithfully  to  maintain  the  league  just  concluded.  She  then 
gave  her  hand  to  the  Duke  of  Bouillon,  who  held  it  in  both 
his  own,  while  psalms  were  sung  and  the  organ  resounded 
through  the  chapel.  Afterwards  there  was  a  splendid  ban 
quet  in  the  palace,  the  duke  sitting  in  solitary  grandeur  at 


69  Fruin,  in  his  masterly  '  Tien 
Jaren  uit  den  tachtigjarigen  Oorlog,' 
is  the  first,  so  far  as  I  know,  that  ever 
called  public  attention  to  the  extraor 
dinary  perfidy  of  these  transactions. 
See  in  particular,  pp.  372-374. 

Camden,  however,  alludes  to  the 


two  thousand  English  should  be  sent 
over,  which  should  serve  only  in  Bou 
logne  and  Monstreul,  unless  the  king 
should  come  personally  to  Picardy,  &c. 
(b.  iv.  p.  525).  But  the  essence  of  this 
"  other  treaty"  was,  that  it  was  kept 
secret  from  those  most  interested  in 


fact  that  "  shortly  after  there  was  j  knowing  its  existence, 
another  treaty  had,  wherein  it  was  70  Bor,  IV.  256,  257. 
agreed  that  this  year  no  more  than  I 


408  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII 

the  royal  table,  being  placed  at  a  respectful  distance  from 
her  Majesty,  and  the  dishes  being  placed  on  the  board  by  the 
highest  nobles  of  the  realm,  who,  upon  their  knees,  served 
the  queen  with  wine.  No  one  save  the  ambassador  sat  at 
Elizabeth's  table,  but  in  the  same  hall  was  spread  another, 
at  which  the  Earl  of  Essex  entertained  many  distinguished 
guests,  young  Count  Lewis  Gunther  of  Nassau  among  the 
number. 

In  the  midsummer  twilight  the  brilliantly  decorated  barges 
were  again  floating  on  the  historic  river,  the  gaily-coloured 
lanterns  lighting  the  sweep  of  the  oars,  and  the  sound  of  lute 
and  viol  floating  merrily  across  the  water.  As  the  ambassa-. 
dor  came  into  the  courtyard  of  his  house,  he  found  a  crowd 
of  several  thousand  people  assembled,  who  shouted  welcome 
to  the  representative  of  Henry,  and  invoked  blessings  on  the 
head  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  of  her  royal  brother  of  France. 
Meanwhile  all  the  bells  of  London  were  ringing,  artillery 
was  thundering,  and  bonfires  were  blazing,  until  the  night 
was  half  spent.71 

Such  was  the  holiday-making  by  which  the  league  between 
the  great  Protestant  queen  and  the  ex-chief  of  the  Hugue 
nots  of  France  was  celebrated  within  a  year  after  the  pope 
had  received  him,  a  repentant  sinner,  into  the  fold  of  the 
Church.  Truly  it  might  be  said  that  religion  was  rapidly 
ceasing  to  be  the  line  of  demarcation  among  the  nations,  as 
had  been  the  case  for  the  two  last  generations  of  mankind. 

The  Duke  of  Bouillon  soon  afterwards  departed  for  the 
Netherlands,  where  the  regular  envoy  to  the  commonwealth, 
Paul  Chouart  Seigneur  de  Buzanval,  had  already  been  pre 
paring  the  States-General  for  their  entrance  into  the  league. 

11  Sept.   Of  course  it  was  duly  impressed  upon  those  repub- 

1596.  Hcans  that  they  should  think  themselves  highly 
honoured  by  the  privilege  of  associating  themselves  with  so 
august  an  alliance.  The  queen  wrote  an  earnest  ietter  to 
the  States  urging  them  to  join  the  league/  "Especially 
should  you  do  so/'  she  said,  "  on  account  of  the  reputation 

«  Bor,  IV.  256,  257. 


1596.  OBJECTS  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  LEAGUE.  409 

which  you  will  thereby  gain  for  your  affairs  with  the  people 
who  are  under  you,  seeing  you  thus  sustained  (besides  the 
certainty  which  you  have  of  our  favour)  by  the  friendship  of 
other  confederated  princes,  and  particularly  by  that  of  the 
most  Christian  king. " 72 

On  the  31st  October  the  articles  of  agreement  under  which 
the  republic  acceded  to  the  new  confederation  were  31  Oct. 
signed  at  the  Hague.  Of  course  it  was  not  the  1596- 
exact  counterpart  of  the  famous  Catholic  association.  Madam 
League,  after  struggling  feebly  for  the  past  few  years,  a 
decrepit  beldame,  was  at  last  dead  and  buried.  But  there 
had  been  a  time  when  she  was  filled  with  exuberant  and 
terrible  life.  She,  at  least,  had  known  the  object  of  her 
creation,  and  never,  so  long  as  life  was  in  her,  had  she 
faltered  in  her  dread  purpose.  To  extirpate  Protestantism, 
to  murder  Protestants,  to  burn,  hang,  butcher,  bury  them 
alive,  to  dethrone  every  Protestant  sovereign  in  Europe, 
especially  to  assassinate  the  Queen  of  England,  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  with  all  his  race,  and  Henry  of  Navarre,  and  to 
unite  in  the  accomplishment  of  these  simple  purposes  all  the 
powers  of  Christendom  under  the  universal  monarchy  of 
Philip  of  Spain — for  all  this,  blood  was  shed  in  torrents,  and 
the  precious  metals  of  the  "  Indies  "  squandered  as  fast  as 
the  poor  savages,  who  were  thus  taking  their  first  lessons  in 
the  doctrines  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  could  dig  it  from  the 
mines.  For  this  America  had  been  summoned,  as  it  were  by 
almighty  fiat,  out  of  previous  darkness,  in  order  that  it  might 
furnish  money  with  which  to  massacre  all  the  heretics  of  the 
earth.  For  this  great  purpose  was  the  sublime  discovery  of 
the  Genoese  sailor  to  be  turned  to  account.  These  aims  were 
intelligible,  and  had  in  part  been  attained.  William  of 
Orange  had  fallen,  and  a  patent  of  nobility,  with  a  handsome 
fortune,  had  been  bestowed  upon  his  assassin.  Elizabeth's 
life  had  been  frequently  attempted.  So  had  those  of  Henry, 
of  Maurice,  of  Olden- Barne veld.  Divine  providence  might 
perhaps  guide  the  hand  of  future  murderers  with  greater 

78  Bor,  IV.  260, 


410  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII, 

accuracy,  for  even  if  Madam  League  were  dead,  her  ghost 
still  walked  among  the  Jesuits  and  summoned  them  to  com 
plete  the  crimes  left  yet  unfinished. 

But  what  was  the  design  of  the  new  confederacy  ?  It  was 
not  a  Protestant  league.  Henry  of  Navarre  could  no  longer 
be  the  chief  of  such  an  association,  although  it  was  to 
Protestant  powers  only  that  he  could  turn  for  assistance. 
It  was  to  the  commonwealth  of  the  Netherlands,  to  the 
northern  potentates  and  to  the  Calvinist  and  Lutheran  princes 
of  Germany,  that  the  king  and  queen  could  alone  appeal  in 
their  designs  against  Philip  of  Spain. 

The  position  of  Henry  was  essentially  a  false  one  from  the 
beginning.  He  felt  it  to  be  so,  and  the  ink  was  scarce  dry 
with  which  he  signed  the  new  treaty  before  he  was  secretly 
casting  about  him  to  make  peace  with  that  power  with  which 
he  was  apparently  summoning  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  to 
do  battle.  Even  the  cautious  Elizabeth  was  deceived  by  the 
crafty  Bearnese,  while  both  united  to  hoodwink  the  other 
states  and  princes. 

On  the  31st  October,  accordingly,  the  States-General  agreed 
31  Oct.  to  go  into  the  league  with  England  and  France, 
1596.  am  order  to  resist  the  enterprises  and  ambitious 
designs  of  the  King  of  Spain  against  all  the  princes  and 
potentates  of  Christendom."  As  the  queen  had  engaged — 
according  to  the  public  treaty  or  decoy — to  furnish  four 
thousand  infantry  to  the  league,  the  States  now  agreed  to 
raise  and  pay  for  another  four  thousand  to  be  maintained  in 
the  king's  service  at  a  cost  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
florins  annually,  to  be  paid  by  the  month.  The  king  pro 
mised,  in  case  the  Netherlands  should  be  invaded  by  the 
enemy  with  the  greater  part  of  his  force,  that  these  four 
thousand  soldiers  should  return  to  the  Netherlands.  The 
king  further  bound  himself  to  carry  on  a  sharp  offensive  war 
in  Artois  and  Hainault.73 


"  Articles  of  agreement  between  the  King  and  the  States-General  of  the 
Netherlands,  signed  by  Bouillon  and  Buzanval,  31  Oct.  1596,  apud  Bor,  IV, 
265-367. 


1506.  AFFAIRS  IN  GERMANY.  4H 

The  States-General  would  have  liked  a  condition  inserted 
in  the  treaty  that  no  peace  should  be  made  with  Spain  by 
England  or  France  without  the  consent  of  the  provinces  ;  but 
this  was  peremptorily  refused. 

Perhaps  the  republic  had  no  special  reason  to  be  grateful 
for  the  grudging  and  almost  contemptuous  manner  in  which 
it  had  thus  been  virtually  admitted  into  the  community  of 
sovereigns  ;  but  the  men  who  directed  its  affairs  were  far  too 
enlightened  not  to  see  how  great  a  step  was  taken  when  their 
political  position,  now  conceded  to  them,  had  been  secured. 
In  good  faith  they  intended  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the 
new  treaty,  and  they  immediately  turned  their  attention  to 
the  vital  matters  of  making  new  levies  and  of  imposing  new 
taxes,  by  means  of  which  they  might  render  themselves 
useful  to  their  new  allies. 

Meantime  Ancel  was  deputed  by  Henry  to  visit  the 
various  courts  of  Germany  and  the  north  in  order  to  obtain, 
if  possible,  new  members  for  the  league.74  But  Germany 
was  difficult  to  rouse.  The  dissensions  among  Protestants 
were  ever  inviting  the  assaults  of  the  Papists.  Its  multitude 
of  sovereigns  were  passing  their  leisure  moments  in  wrangling 
among  themselves  as  usual  on  abstruse  points  of  theology 
and  devoting  their  serious  hours  to  banquetting,  deep 
drinking,  and  the  pleasures  of  the  chase.  The  jeremiads  of 
old  John  of  Nassau  grew  louder  than  ever,  but  his  voice  was 
of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness.  The  wrath  to  come  of  that 
horrible  Thirty  Years7  War,  which  he  was  not  to  witness^ 
seemed  to  inspire  all  his  prophetic  diatribes.  But  there  were 
few  to  heed  them.  Two  great  dangers  seemed  ever  impend 
ing  over  Christendom,  and  it  is  difficult  to  decide  which 
fate  would  have  been  the  more  terrible,  the  establishment  of 
the  universal  monarchy  of  Philip  II.,  or  the  conquest  of 
Germany  by  the  Grand  Turk.  But  when  Ancel  and  other 
emissaries  sought  to  obtain  succour  against  the  danger  from 
the  south-west,  he  was  answered  by  the  clash  of  arms  and 

14  See  an  account  of  Ancel's  missions,  speeches,  and  negotiations,  in  De 
Thou,  xiii.  77-87, 1.  118.  Bor,  IV.  289. 


412  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XXXII. 

the  shrieks  of  horror  which  came  daily  from  the  south-east.75 
In  vain  was  it  urged,  and  urged  with  truth,  that  the  Alcoran 
was  less  cruel  than  the  Inquisition,  that  the  soil  of  Europe 
might  be  overrun  by  Turks  and  Tartars,  and  the  crescent 
planted  triumphantly  in  every  village,  with  less  disaster  to 
the  human  race,  and  with  better  hope  that  the  germs  of 
civilization  and  the  precepts  of  Christianity  might  survive 
the  invasion,  than  if  the  system  of  Philip,  of  Torquemada, 
and  of  Alva,  should  become  the  universal  law.  But  the 
Turk  was  a  frank  enemy  of  Christianity,  while  Philip  mur 
dered  Christians  in  the  name  of  Christ.  The  distinction 
imposed  upon  the  multitudes,  with  whom  words  were  things. 
Moreover,  the  danger  from  the  young  and  enterprising 
Mahomet  seemed  more  appalling  to  the  imagination  than  the 
menace,  from  which  experience  had  taken  something  of  its 
terrors,  of  the  old  and  decrepit  Philip. 

The  Ottoman  empire,  in  its  exact  discipline,  in  its  terrible 
concentration  of  purpose,  in  its  contempt  for  all  arts  and 
sciences,  and  all  human  occupation  save  the  trade  of  war 
and  the  pursuit  of  military  dominion,  offered  a  strong 
contrast  to  the  distracted  condition  of  the  holy  Koman 
empire,  where  an  intellectual  and  industrious  people,  dis- 

75  "  J'ai  cru  de  devoir  ici  sur  la  foi  de  i  vaste  progress  n'auront  plus  rien  qui 


ceux  qui  en  ont  ete  temoins  oculaires, 
afin  de  dormer  par  la  une  juste  idee 
de  la  splendeur  de  1'empire  Ottoman, 
de  ses  richesses,  de  sa  puissance  et  de 
la  discipline  exacte  qui  s'observe  au 
dedans  et  au  dehors,  afin  que  nos  peu- 
ples  ne  soient  plus  etonnes  ni  si  in- 
dignes,  si  tandis  que  nos  princes  Chre 
tiens  languissent  dans  1'oisevete  et 
dans  une  mollesse  infame  et  travaillent 


surprenne."  Such  are  the  admiring- 
words  of  so  enlightened  a  statesman 
and  historian  as  Jacques  Auguste  de 
Thou,  xii.  580, 1.  115. 

"  Wol  zu  wiinschen  wehre,"  said 
old  John  of  Nassau,  "  das  man  in 
Zeiten  uffwachen  und  uff  die  wege 
gedenken  wolte,  wie  nicht,  allein 
diesem  bluthundt  dem  Tiirken  son- 
dern  auch  dem  Pabst,  welchen  D.  Lu- 


sans  cesse  a  se  detruire  les  uns  les  j  ther  seliger  in  seinem  christlichen 
autres  par  leurs  haines  ou  par  leurs  Gesang,  '  Erhalt  uns  Herrbei  deinem 
jalousies,  les  Turcsdont  les  commence- 1  Wort,'  vorund  den  Turken  nachsetzt, 
ments  ont  ete  si  peu  de  chose  ont  forme  mit  verleihung  Gottlicher  hiilffe  moge 
un  si  grand  empire.  Quand  on  feraj  widerstanden,  und  vier  jamer  und 
reflexion  sur  la  severite  de  leur  disci-  ehlendt  undblut  v^ergiessenja  diever- 
pline,  sur  leur  eloignement  du  luxe  herung  der  ganzen  Teutschen  nation 
et  de  tous  les  vices  que  traine  avec  sambt  andren  christlichen  Konigrei- 
soi  la  mollesse,  et  qu'il  n'y  a  point  j  chen  und  Landern  vorkommen  wer- 
d'autre  route  parmi  eux  pour  s'eleverj  den,"  &c.,  &c.  Groen  v.  Prinsterer, 
aux  grands  emplois,  et  faire  de  grandes  j  Archives,  I.  330  (2e  serie). 
fortunes,  que  les  vertus  militaires,leurs  I 


1596.       WAR  BETWEEN   THE  EMPEROR  AND  THE  TURK.       413 

tracted  by  half  a  century  of  religious  controversy  and  groan 
ing  under  one  of  the  most  elaborately  perverse  of  all  the 
political  systems  ever  invented  by  man,  seemed  to  offer  itself 
an  easy  prey  to  any  conqueror.  The  Turkish  power  was  in 
the  fulness  of  its  aggressive  strength,  and  seemed  far  more 
formidable  than  it  would  have  done  had  there  been  clearer 
perceptions  of  what  constitutes  the  strength  and  the  wealth 
of  nations.  Could  the  simple  truth  have  been  thoroughly 
comprehended  that  a  realm  founded  upon  such  principles 
was  the  grossest  of  absurdities,  the  Eastern  might  have 
seemed  less  terrible  than  the  Western  danger. 

But  a  great  campaign,  at  no  considerable  distance  from 
the  walls  of  Vienna,  had  occupied  the  attention  of  Germany 
during  the  autumn.     Mahomet  had  taken  the  field  in  person 
with  a  hundred   thousand   men,  and   the  emperor's  brother, 
Maximilian,  in  conjunction  with  the  Prince  of  Transylvania, 
at  the  head  of  a  force  of  equal  magnitude,  had  gone  forth  to 
give  him  battle.     Between  the  Theiss   and  the  Danube,   at 
Keveste,  not  far  from  the  city  of  Erlau,  on  the  26th    gg  Oct. 
October,  the  terrible  encounter  on  which   the  fate    1596- 
of  Christendom  seemed  to  hang  at  last  took  place,  and  Europe 
held  its  breath  in  awful  suspense  until  its  fate  should  be 
decided.     When  the  result  at  last  became  known,  a  horrible 
blending  of  the  comic  and  the  tragic,  such  as  has  rarely  been 
presented  in  history,  startled  the  world.     Seventy  thousand 
human  beings — Moslems  and  Christians — were  lying  dead  or 
wounded  on  the  banks  of  a  nameless  little  stream  which  flows 
into  the  Theiss,  and  the  commanders-in-chief  of  both  armies 
were  running  away  as  fast  as  horses  could  carry  them.     Each 
army  believed    itself   hopelessly  defeated,   and    abandoning 
tents,   baggage,  artillery,  ammunition,  the  remnants  of  each 
betook   themselves   to   panic-stricken  flight.      Generalissimo 
Maximilian  never  looked  behind  him  as  he  fled,  until  he  had 
taken  refuge  in   Kaschan,   and  had   thence  made  his  way, 
deeply  mortified  and  despondent,  to  Vienna.     The  Prince  of 
Transylvania   retreated   into   the   depths   of   his   own    prin 
cipality.     Mahomet,  with  his  principal  officers,,  shut  himself 


414 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXIi. 


up  in  Buda,  after  which  he  returned  to  Constantinople  and 
abandoned  himself  for  a  time  to  a  voluptuous  ease,  incon 
sistent  with  the  Ottoman  projects  of  conquering  the  world. 
The  Turks,  less  prone  to  desperation  than  the  Christians, 
had  been  utterly  overthrown  in  the  early  part  of  the  action, 
but  when  the  victors  were,  as  usual,  greedily  bent  upon 
plunder  before  the  victory  had  been  fairly  secured,  the  tide 
of  battle  was  turned  by  the  famous  Italian  renegade  Cicala. 
The  Turks,  too,  had  the  good  sense  to  send  two  days  after 
wards  and  recover  their  artillery,  trains,  and  other  pro 
perty,  which  ever  since  the  battle  had  been  left  at  the  mercy 
of  the  first  comers.76 

So  ended  the  Turkish  campaign  of  the  year  1596.77  Ancel, 
accordingly,  fared  ill  in  his  negotiations  with  Germany.  On 
the  other  hand  Mendoza,  Admiral  of  Arragon,  had  been 
industriously  but  secretly  canvassing  the  same  regions  as  the 
representative  of  the  Spanish  king.78  It  was  important  for 
Philip,  who  put  more  faith  in  the  league  of  the  three 
powers  than  Henry  himself  did,  to  lose  no  time  in  counter 
acting  its  influence.  The  condition  of  the  holy  Koman 
empire  had  for  some  time  occupied  his  most  serious  thoughts. 
It  seemed  plain  that  Rudolph  would  never  marry.  Certainly 
he  would  never  marry  the  Infanta,  although  he  was  very 
angry  that  his  brother  should  aspire  to  the  hand  which  he 
himself  rejected.  In  case  of  his  death  without  children,  Philip 
thought  it  possible  that  there  might  be  a  Protestant  revolu 
tion  in  Germany,  and  that  the  house  of  Habsburg  might  lose 
the  imperial  crown  altogether.  It  was  even  said  that  the 
emperor  himself  was  of  that  opinion,  and  preferred  that  the 
empire  should  end  with  his  own  life.79  Philip  considered80 
that  neither  Matthias  nor  Maximilian  was  fit  to  succeed 


w  De  Thou,  xii.  567-594,  1.  115. 
Meteren,  388.  Reyd,  297. 

71  Ibid.  «  Bor,  IV.  293. 

79  "Siendo  comun  opinion  en  Alema- 
nla  que  desea  que  con  su  muerte  se 
acabe  el  imperio  en  estas  paries." — 
Relacion  de  lo  que  el  Almirante  de 
Aragon  ha  colegido  en  el  tiempo  que 


ha  estado  en  Alemaiia  y  en  la  corte 
Cesarea  tratando  con  personas  pruden- 
tes  cerca  el  nego  de  Rey  de  Romanes 
y  sucesion  a  los  estados  electivos  de 
Bohemia,  Moravia,  Silesia  y  Ungria. 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 

80  Admiral   of  Arragon  to   Philip. 
17  Dec.  1596.     (Arch  de  Sim.  MS.) 


1596.  PHILIP'S  INTERFERENCE  IN  GERMANY.  415 

their  brother,  being  both  of  them  lukewarm  in  the  Catholic 
faith.81  In  other  words,  he  chose  that  his  destined  son-in-law, 
the  Cardinal  Albert,  should  supersede  them,  and  he  was 
anxious  to  have  him  appointed  as  soon  as  possible  King  of 
the  Komans. 

"  His  Holiness  the  Pope  and  the  King  of  Spain/'  said  the 
Admiral  of  Arragon,  "  think  it  necessary  to  apply  most 
stringent  measures  to  the  emperor  to  compel  him  to  appoint 
a  successor,  because,  in  case  of  his  death  without  one,  the 
administration  during  the  vacancy  would  fall  to  the  elector 
palatine, — a  most  perverse  Calvinistic  heretic,  and  as  great 
an  enemy  of  the  house  of  Austria  and  of  our  holy  religion  as 
the  Turk  himself — as  sufficiently  appears  in  those  diabolical 
laws  of  his  published  in  the  palatinate  a  few  months  since. 
A  vacancy  is  so  dreadful,  that  in  the  north  of  Germany  the 
world  would  come  to  an .  end  ;  yet  the  emperor,  being  of 
rather  a  timid  nature  than  otherwise,  is  inclined  to  quiet, 
and  shrinks  from  the  discussions  and  conflicts  likely  to  be 
caused  by  an  appointment.  Therefore  his  Holiness  and  his 
Catholic  Majesty,  not  choosing  that  we  should  all  live  in 
danger  of  the  world's  falling  in  ruins,  have  resolved  to 
provide  the  remedy.  They  are  to  permit  the  electors  to  use 
the  faculty  which  they  possess  of  suspending  the  emperor 
and  depriving  him  of  his  power  ;  there  being  examples  of 
this  in  other  times  against  emperors  who  governed  ill."  82 

The  Admiral  farther  alluded  to  the  great  effort  made 
two  years  before  to  elect  the  King  of  Denmark  emperor, 
reminding  Philip  that  in  Hamburg  they  had  erected  triumphal 
arches,  and  made  other  preparations  to  receive  him.  This 
year,  he  observed,  the  Protestants  were  renewing  their 
schemes.  On  the  occasion  of  the  baptism  of  the  child  of 
the  elector  palatine,  the  English  envoy  being  present,  and 
Queen  Elizabeth  being  god-mother,  they  had  agreed  upon 
nine  articles  of  faith  much  more  hostile  to  the  Catholic  creed 
than  anything  ever  yet  professed.  In  case  of  the  death  of 

n  Admiral  of  Arragon  to  Philip,  17  Dec.  1596.    (Arch,  de  Sim.  MS,) 
P  Relation  del  Almirante  de  Aragon,  &c.,  ubi  sup. 


416  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXII. 

the  emperor,  this  elector  palatine  would  of  course  make 
much  trouble,  and  the  emperor  should  therefore  be  induced, 
by  fair  means  if  possible,  on  account  of  the  great  incon 
venience  of  forcing  him,  but  not  without  a  hint  o±  com 
pulsion,  to  acquiesce  in  the  necessary  measures.  Philip  was 
represented  as  willing  to  assist  the  empire  with  considerable 
force  against  the  Turk — as  there  could  be  no  doubt  that 
Hungary  was  in  great  danger — but  in  recompense  it  was 
necessary  to  elect  a  King  of  the  Komans  in  all  respects 
satisfactory  to  him.  There  were  three  objections  to  the 
election  of  Albert,  whose  recent  victories  and  great  abilities 
entitled  him  in  Philip's  opinion  to  the  crown.  Firstly, 
there  was  a  doubt  whether  the  kingdoms  of  Hungary  and 
Bohemia  were  elective  or  hereditary,  and  it  was  very  im 
portant  that  the  King  of  the  Komans  should  succeed  to  those 
two  crowns,  because  the  electors  and  other  princes  having 
fiefs  within  those  kingdoms  would  be  unwilling  to  swear 
fealty  to  two  suzerains,  and  as  Albert  was  younger  than  his 
brothers  he  could  scarcely  expect  to  take  by  inheritance. 

Secondly,  Albert  had  no  property  of  his  own,  but  the 
Admiral  suggested  that  the  emperor  might  be  made  to 
abandon  to  him  the  income  of  the  Tyrol. 

Thirdly,  it  was  undesirable  for  Albert  to  leave  the  Nether 
lands  at  that  juncture.  Nevertheless,  it  was  suggested  by 
the  easy-going  Admiral,  with  the  same  tranquil  insolence 
which  marked  all  his  proposed  arrangements,  that  as  Kudolph 
would  retire  from  the  government  altogether,  Albert,  as  King 
of  the  Komans  and  acting  emperor,  could  very  well  take 
care  of  the  Netherlands  as  part  of  his  whole  realm.  Albert 
being  moreover  about  to  marry  the  Infanta,  the  handsome 
dowry  which  he  would  receive  with  her  from  the  king  would 
enable  him  to  sustain  his  dignity.83 

Thus  did  Philip,  who  had  been  so  industrious  during  the 
many  past  years  in  his  endeavours  to  expel  the  heretic 
Queen  of  England  and  the  Huguenot  Henry  from  the  realms 

83  Relacion  del  Almirante,  ubi  sup.  Letter  of  the  Admiral,  17  Dec.  1596, 
last  cited. 


1596.  HENRY'S  INTRIGUE  WITH  PHILIP.  417 

of  their  ancestors,  and  to  seat  himself  or  his  daughter,  or  one 
or  another  of  his  nephews,  in  their  places,  now  busy  himself 
with  schemes  to  discrown  Eudolph  of  Habsburg,  and  to  place 
the  ubiquitous  Infanta  and  her  future  husband  on  his  throne. 
Time  would  show  the  result. 

Meantime,  while  the  Protestant  Ancel  and  other  agents 
of  the  new  league  against  Philip  were  travelling  about  from 
one  court  of  Europe  to  another  to  gain  adherents  to  their 
cause,  the  great  founder  of  the  confederacy  was  already 
secretly  intriguing  for  a  peace  with  that  monarch.  The  ink 
was  scarce  dry  on  the  treaty  to  which  he  had  affixed  his 
signature  before  he  was  closeted  with  the  agents  of  the 
Archduke  Albert,  and  receiving  affectionate  messages  anc( 
splendid  presents  from  that  military  ecclesiastic. 

In  November,  1596,  La  Balvena,  formerly  a  gentleman  of 
the  Count  de  la  Fera,  came  to  Kouen.  He  had  a 
very  secret  interview  with  Henry  IY.  at  three  o'clock 
one  morning,  and  soon  afterwards  at  a  very  late  hour  in  the 
night.  The  king  asked  him  why  the  archduke  was  not 
willing  to  make  a  general  peace,  including  England  and 
Holland.  Balvena  replied  that  he  had  no  authority  to  treat 
on  that  subject ;  it  being  well  known,  however,  that  the  King 
of  Spain  would  never  consent  to  a  peace  with  the  rebels, 
except  on  the  ground  of  the  exclusive  maintenance  of  the 
Catholic  religion.84 

He  is  taking  the  very  course  to  destroy  that  religion,  said 
Henry.  The  king  then  avowed  himself  in  favour  of  peace 
for  the  sake  of  the  poor  afflicted  people  of  all  countries.  He 
was  not  tired  of  arms,  he  said,  which  were  so  familiar  to  him, 
but  his  wish  was  to  join  in  a  general  crusade  against  the 
Turk.  This  would  be  better  for  the  Catholic  religion  than 
the  present  occupations  of  all  parties.  He  avowed  that  the 


84  Relation  de  lo  que  ha  heclia  la 
Balvena,  November,  1596.  (Arch,  de 
Simancas  MS.) 

I  am  not  quite  sure  as  to  the  ortho 
graphy  of  the  name  of  this  secret 


ish  are  nearly  identical,  I  am  inclined 
to  prefer  the  name  given  in  the  text.  It 
is,  however,  difficult  to  ascertain  how 
obscurer  men  were  correctly  called  in 
days  when  grave  historians  could  de- 


agent.  Van  Deventer,  ii.  141-146  prints  j  signate  so  illustrious  a  personage  ae 
'•i  Vulneve,  but  as  the  Band  V  in  Span-  •  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  as  Guateral. 
VOL.   III. — 2  E 


418  THE!  TlNlf  ED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXlt. 

Queen  of  England  was  his  very  good  friend,  and  said  he  had 
never  yet  broken  his  faith  with  her,  and  never  would  do  so. 
She  had  sent  him  the  Garter,  and  he  had  accepted  it,  as 
his  brother  Henry  III.  had  done  before  him,  and  he  would 
negotiate  no  peace  which  did  not  include  her.85  The  not 
very  distant  future  was  to  show  how  much  these  stout  pro 
fessions  of  sincerity  were  worth.  Meantime  Henry  charged 
Balvena  to  keep  their  interviews  a  profound  secret,  especially 
from  every  one  in  France.  The  king  expressed  great  anxiety 
lest  the  Huguenots  should  hear  of  it,  and  the  agent  observed 
that  any  suspicion  of  peace  negotiations  would  make  great 
disturbance  among  the  heretics,  as  one  of  the  conditions  of 
the  king's  absolution  by  the  pope  was  supposed  to  be  that 
he  should  make  war  upon  his  Protestant  subjects.  On  his 
return  from  Rouen  the  emissary  made  a  visit  to  Monlevet, 
marshal  of  the  camp  to  Henry  IV.  and  a  Calvinist.  There 
was  much  conversation  about  peace,  in  the  course  of  which 
Monlevet  observed,  "  We  are  much  afraid  of  you  in  negotiation, 
for  we  know  that  you  Spaniards  far  surpass  us  in  astuteness/' 

"  Nay/'  said  Balvena,  "  I  will  only  repeat  the  words  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  V. — 'The  Spaniards  seem  wise,  and  are 
madmen  ;  the  French  seem  madmen,  and  are  wise.86 ' ' 

A   few  weeks  later  the  archduke   sent   Balvena   again  to 

Rouen.     He  had  another  interview  with  the  king, 

at  which  not  only  Villeroy  and  other  Catholics  were 

present,  but  Monlevet  also.     This  proved  a  great  obstacle  to 

freedom  of  conversation.     The  result  was  the  same  as  before. 

There  were  strong  professions  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the 

king  for  a  peace,  but  it  was  for  a  general  peace ;  nothing 

further. 

On  the  4th  December  Balvena  was  sent  for  by  the  king 
before  daylight,  just  as  he  was  mounting  his  horse  for  the 
chase. 

"  Tell  his  Highness,"  said  Henry,  "  that  I  am  all  frankness, 

85  2a  Relacion  que  Balvena  ha  hecha  I  M  "  Los  Espafioles  parecen  sabios  y 
a  su  Alteza  volviendo  de  Francia.  De-  ]  son  locos,  y  los  francesea  parecen  locoa 
cember,  1596.  (Archives  de  Simancas  y  son  sabios." 


1596. 


PHILIP'S  DESIGNS  AGAINST  ENGLAND. 


419 


and  incapable  of  dissimulation,  and  that  I  believe  him  too 
much  a  man  of  honour  to  wish  to  deceive  me.  Go  tell  him 
that  I  am  most  anxious  for  peace,  and  that  I  deeply  regret 
the  defeat  that  has  been  sustained  against  the  Turk.  Had  I 
been  there  I  would  have  come  out  dead  or  victorious.  Let 
him  arrange  an  agreement  between  us,  so  that  presto  he  may 
see  me  there  with  my  brave  nobles,  with  infantry  and  with 
plenty  of  Switzers.  Tell  him  that  I  am  his  friend.  Begone. 
Be  diligent."  w 

On  the  last  day  but  two  of  the  year,  the  archduke,  having 
heard   this   faithful  report   of  Henry's   affectionate     39  Dec. 
sentiments,   sent   him  a  suit   of   splendid  armour,     1596- 
such  as  was  then  made  better  in  Antwerp  than  anywhere 
else,  magnificently  burnished  of  a  blue  colour,  according  to 
an  entirely  new  fashion.88 

With  such  secret  courtesies  between  his  most  Catholic 
Majesty's  vicegerent  and  himself  was  Henry's  league  with 
the  two  Protestant  powers  accompanied. 

Exactly  at  the  same  epoch  Philip  was  again  preparing  an 
invasion  of  the  queen's  dominions.  An  armada  of  a  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  ships,  with  a  force  of  fourteen  thousand 
infantry  and  three  thousand  horse,  had  been  assembled 
during  the  autumn  of  this  year  at  Lisbon,  notwithstanding 
the  almost  crushing  blow  that  the  English  and  Hollanders 
had  dealt  the  king's  navy  so  recently  at  Cadiz.89  This  new 
expedition  was  intended  for  Ireland,  where  it  was  supposed 
that  the  Catholics  would  be  easily  roused.  It  was  also 
hoped  that  the  King  of  Scots  might  be  induced  to  embrace 
this  opportunity  of  wreaking  vengeance  on  his  mother's 
destroyer.  "  He  was  on  the  watch  the  last  time  that  my 
armada  went  forth  against  the  English,"  said  Philip,  "  and 
he  has  now  no  reason  to  do  the  contrary,  especially  if  he 
remembers  that  here  is  a  chance  to  requite  the  cruelty  which 
was  practised  on  his  mother."  *° 


87  2a  Relacion,  &c. 

88  Albert  to  Philip,  29  Dec.  1596. 
(Arch,   de   Simancas  MS.)      "Armas 
buenas  de  las  que  se  labran  en  Anveres 


que  son  pabonadas  de  cierta  labor 
neuva."     Compare  Reyd,  290. 

89  Philip  to  Albert,  4  October,  1596. 
(Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.)  «°  IbicL 


420  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXII. 

The  fleet  sailed  on  the  5th  October  under  the  command  of 
5  Oct.  the  Count  Santa  Gadea.  Its  immediate  destination 
1596.  wag  the  coast  Of  lreland;  where  they  were  to  find 
some  favourable  point  for  disembarking  the  troops.  Having 
accomplished  this,  the  ships,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  light 
vessels,  were  to  take  their  departure  and  pass  the  winter 
in  Ferrol.  In  case  the  fleet  should  be  forced  by  stress  of 
weather  on  the  English  coast,  the  port  of  Milford  Haven  in 
Wales  was  to  be  seized,  "  because,"  said  Philip,  "  there  are 
a  great  many  Catholics  there  well  affected  to  our  cause,  and 
who  have  a  special  enmity  to  the  English."  In  case  the 
English  fleet  should  come  forth  to  give  battle,  Philip  sent 
directions  that  it  was  to  be  conquered  at  once,  and  that  after 
the  victory  Milford  Haven  was  to  be  firmly  held.91 

This  was  easily  said.  But  it  was  not  fated  that  this 
expedition  should  be  more  triumphant  than  that  of  the 
unconquerable  armada  which  had  been  so  signally'  conquered 
eight  years  before.  Scarcely  had  the  fleet  put  to  sea  when 
it  was  overtaken  by  a  tremendous  storm,  in  which  forty  ships 
foundered  with  five  thousand  men.92  The  shattered  remnants 
took  refuge  in  Ferrol.  There  the  ships  were  to  refit,  and  in 
the  spring  the  attempt  was  to  be  renewed.  Thus  it  was  ever 
with  the  King  of  Spain.  There  was  a  placid  unconsciousness 
on  his  part  of  defeat  which  sycophants  thought  sublime.  And 
such  insensibility  might  have  been  sublimity  had  the  monarch 
been  in  person  on  the  deck  of  a  frigate  in  the  howling 
tempest,  seeing  ship  after  ship  go  down  before  his  eyes, 
and  exerting  himself  with  tranquil  energy  and  skill  to 
encourage  his  followers,  and  to  preserve  what  remained 
afloat  from  destruction.  Certainly  such  exhibitions  of  human 
superiority  to  the  elements  are  in  the  highest  degree  inspiring. 
His  father  had  shown  himself  on  more  than  one  occasion  the 
master  of  his  fate.  The  King  of  France,  to,o,  bare-headed,  in 
his  iron  corslet,  leading  a  forlorn  hope,  and,  by  the  personal 
charm  of  his  valour,  changing  fugitives  into  heroes  and  defeat 

91  Philip  to  Albert,  5  October,  1596.     (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS} 
99  $ame  to  same,  31  December,  1596.    (Ibid.)    Reyd,  297. N 


1596.  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  SPANISH  FLEET.  421 

into  victory,  had  afforded  many  examples  of  sublime  un 
consciousness  of  disaster,  such  as  must  ever  thrill  the  souls 
of  mankind.  But  it  is  more  difficult  to  be  calm  in  battle  and 
shipwreck  than  at  the  writing  desk  ;  nor  is  that  the  highest 
degree  of  fortitude  which  enables  a  monarch — himself  in 
safety — to  endure  without  flinching  the  destruction  of  his 
fellow  creatures. 

No  sooner,  however,  was  the  remnant  of  the  tempest-tost 
fleet  safe  in  Ferrol  than  the  king  requested  the  cardinal  to 
collect  an  army  at  Calais  and  forthwith  to  invade  England. 
He  asked  his  nephew  whether  he  could  not  manage  to  send 
his  troops  across  the  channel  in  vessels  of*  light  draught,  such 
as  he  already  had  at  command,  together  with  some  others 
which  might  be  furnished  him  from  Spain.  In  this  way  he 
was  directed  to  gain  a  foot-hold  in  England,  and  he  was  to 
state  immediately  whether  he  could  accomplish  this  with  his 
own  resources,  or  should  require  the  assistance  of  the  fleet 
at  Ferrol.  The  king  further  suggested  that  the  enemy, 
encouraged  by  his  success  at  Cadiz  the  previous  summer, 
might  be  preparing  a  fresh  expedition  against  Spain,  in 
which  case  the  invasion  of  England  would  be  easier  to  ac 
complish. 

Thus  on  the  last  day  of  1596,  Philip,  whose  fleet  sent 
forth  for  the  conquest  of  Ireland  and  England  had  been  too 
crippled  to  prosecute  the  adventure,  was  proposing  to  his 
nephew  to  conquer  England  without  any  fleet  at  all.  He 
had  given  the  same  advice  to  Alexander  Farnese  so  soon  as 
he  heard  of  the  destruction  of  the  invincible  armada. 


422  THE  UNitEB  NETHERLANDS.      CHAP, 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

Struggle  of  the  Netherlands  against  Spain  —  March  to  Turnhout  —  Retreat  ot 
the  Spanish  commander  —  Pursuit  and  attack  —  Demolition  of  the  Spanish 
army  —  Surrender  of  the  garrison  of  Turnhout  —  Improved  military  science 

—  Moral   effect  of  the  battle  —  The  campaign  in   France — Attack  on 
Amiens  by  the  Spaniards  —  Sack  and  burning  of  the  city  —  De  Rosny's 
plan  for  reorganization  of  the  finances — Jobbery  and  speculation  — Philip's 
repudiation  of  his  debts  —  Effects  of  the  measure  —  Renewal  of  persecution 
by  the  Jesuits  —  Contention  between  Turk  and  Christian  —  Envoy  from 
the  King  of  Poland  to  the  Hague  to  plead  for  reconciliation  with  Philip 

—  His  subsequent  presentation  to  Queen  Elizabeth  —  Military  events  — 
Recovery  of  Amiens  —  Feeble  operations  of  the  confederate  powers  against 
Spain  —  Marriage  of  the  Princess  Emilia,  sister  of  Maurice  —  Reduction  of 
the  castle  and  town  of  Alphen  —  Surrender  of  Rheinberg  —  Capitulation 
of  Meurs  —  Surrender  of  Grol  —  Storming  and  taking  of  Brevoort  — 
Capitulation  of  Enschede,  Ootmarsum,  Oldenzaal,  and  Lingen  —  Rebellion 
of  the  Spanish  garrisons  in  Antwerp  and  Ghent  —  Progress  of  the  peace 
movement  between  Henry  and  Philip  —  Relations  of  the  three  confederate 
powers  —  Henry's  scheme  for  reconciliation  with  Spain  —  His  acceptance  of 
Philip's  offer  of  peace  announced  to  Elizabeth  —  Endeavours  for  a  general 
peace. 

THE  old  year  had  closed  with  an  abortive  attempt  of  Philip 
to  fulfil  his  favourite  dream — the  conquest  of  England.  The 
new  year  opened  with  a  spirited  effort  of  Prince  Maurice  to 
measure  himself  in  the  open  field  with  the  veteran  legions  of 
Spain. 

Turnhout,  in  Brabant,  was  an  open  village— the  largest  in 
all  the  Netherlands — lying  about  twenty-five  English  miles 
in  almost  a  direct  line  south  from  Gertruydenburg.  It  was 
nearly  as  far  distant  in  an  easterly  direction  from  Antwerp, 
and  was  about  five  miles  nearer  Breda  than  it  was  to  Gertruy- 
denberg. 

At  this  place  the  cardinal-archduke  had  gathered  a  con 
siderable  force,  numbering  at  least  four  thousand  of  his  best 
infantry,  with  several  squadrons  of  cavalry,  the  whole  under 


1597.  MARCH  TO  TURNHOUT.  423 

command  of  the  general-in-chief  of  artillery,  Count  Varax. 
People  in  the  neighbourhood  were  growing  uneasy,  for  it  was 
uncertain  in  what  direction  it  might  be  intended  to  use  this 
formidable  force.  It  was  perhaps  the  cardinal's  intention  to 
make  a  sudden  assault  upon  Breda,  the  governor  of  which 
seemed  not  inclined  to  carry  out  his  proposition  to  transfer 
that  important  city  to  the  king,  or  it  was  thought  that  he 
might  take  advantage  of  a  hard  frost  and  cross  the  frozen 
morasses  and  estuaries  into  the  land  of  Ter  Tholen,  where  he 
might  overmaster  some  of  the  important  strongholds  of 
Zeeland. 

Marcellus  Bax,  that  boldest  and  most  brilliant  of  Holland's 
cavalry  officers,  had  come  to  Maurice  early  in  January  with 
an  urgent  suggestion  that  no  time  might  be  lost  in  making 
an  attack  upon  the  force  of  Turnhout,  before  they  should 
succeed  in  doing  any  mischief.  The  prince  pondered  the 
proposition,  for  a  little  time,  by  himself,  and  then  conferred 
very  privately  upon  the  subject  with  the  state-council.  On 
the  14th  January  it  was  agreed  with  that  body  that  the  enter 
prise  should  be  attempted,  but  with  the  utmost  secrecy.  A 
week  later  the  council  sent  an  express  messenger  to  Maurice 
urging  him  not  to  expose  his  own  life  to  peril,  but  to  apprise 
them  as  soon  as  possible  as  to  the  results  of  the  adventure. 

Meantime,  patents  had  been  sent  to  the  various  garrisons 
for  fifty  companies  of  foot  and  sixteen  squadrons  of  22  Jan. 
horse.     On  the  22nd  January  Maurice  came  to  Ger-    1597- 
truydenberg,  the  place  of  rendezvous,  attended  by  Sir  Francis 
Vere  and  Count   Solms.      Colonel   Kloetingen  was   already 
there  with  the  transports  of  ammunition  and  a  few  pieces  of 
artillery  from  Zeeland,  and  in  the  course  of  the  day  the  whole 
infantry  force   had   assembled.      Nothing   could   have  been 
managed  with  greater  promptness  or  secrecy. 

Next  day,  before  dawn,  the  march  began.     The  battalia 
was  led  by  Van  der  Noot,  with  six  companies  of  33  j^. 
Hollanders.     Then  came  Vere,  with  eight  companies    1597- 
of  the  reserve,  Dockray  with  eight  companies  of  Englishmen, 
Murray  with  eight  companies  of  Scotch,  and  Kloetingen  and 


424  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIII. 

La  Corde  with  twelve  companies  of  Dutch  and  Zeelanders. 
In  front  of  the  last  troop  under  La  Corde  marched  the  com 
mander  of  the  artillery,  with  two  demi-cannon  and  two  field- 
pieces,  followed  by  the  ammunition  and  baggage  trains. 
Hohenlo  arrived  just  as  the  march  was  beginning,  to  whom 
the  stadholder,  notwithstanding  their  frequent  differences, 
communicated  his  plans,  and  entrusted  the  general  command 
of  the  cavalry.  That  force  met  the  expedition  at  Osterhout, 
a  league's  distance  from  Grertruydenberg,  and  consisted  of  the 
best  mounted  companies,  English  and  Dutch,  from  the  gar 
risons  of  Breda,  Bergen,  Nymegen,  and  the  Zutphen  districts. 

It  was  a  dismal,  drizzly,  foggy  morning  ;  the  weather 
changing  to  steady  rain  as  the  expedition  advanced.  There 
had  been  alternate  frost  and  thaw  for  the  few  previous  weeks, 
and  had  that  condition  of  the  atmosphere  continued  the 
adventure  could  not  have  been  attempted.  It  had  now  turned 
completely  'to  thaw.  The  roads  were  all  under  water,  and  the 
march  was  sufficiently  difficult.  Nevertheless,  it  was  possible ; 
so  the  stout  Hollanders,  Zeelanders,  and  Englishmen  struggled 
on  manfully,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  through  the  mist  and  the 
mire.  By  nightfall  the  expedition  had  reached  Ravels,  at 
less  than  a  league's  distance  from  Turnhout,  having  accom 
plished,  under  the  circumstances,  a  very  remarkable  march 
of  over  twenty  miles.  A  stream  of  water,  the  Nee  the,  one  of 
the  tributaries  of  the  Scheld,  separated  Ravels  from  Turnhout, 
and  was  crossed  by  a  stone  bridge.  It  was  an  anxious  moment. 
Maurice  discovered  by  his  scouts  that  he  was  almost  within 
cannon-shot  of  several  of  the  most  famous  regiments  in  the 
Spanish  army  lying  fresh,  securely  posted,  and  capable  of 
making  an  attack  at  any  moment.  He  instantly  threw  for 
ward  Marcellus  Bax  with  four  squadrons  of  Bergen  cavalry, 
who,  jaded  as  they  were  by  their  day's  work,  were  to  watch 
the  bridge  that  night,  and  to  hold  it  against  all  comers  and 
at  every  hazard. 

The  Spanish  commander,  on  his  part,  had  reconnoitred  the 
advancing  foe,  for  it  was  impossible  for  the  movement  to  have 
been  so  secret  or  so  swift  over  those  inundated  roads  as  to  be 


1597.  RETREAT  OF  THE  GARRISON.  425 

shrouded  to  the  last  moment  in  complete  mystery.  It  was 
naturally  to  be  expected  therefore  that  those  splendid  legions 
— the  famous  Neapolitan  tercio  of  Trevico,  the  veteran  troops 
of  Sultz  and  Hachicourt,  the  picked  Epirote  and  Spanish 
cavalry  of  Nicolas  Basta  and  Guzman — would  be  hurled  upon 
the  wearied,  benumbed,  bemired  soldiers  of  the  republic,  as 
they  came  slowly  along  after  their  long  march  through  the 
cold  winter's  rain. 

Varax  took  no  such  heroic  resolution.  Had  he  done  so  that 
January  afternoon,  the  career  of  Maurice  of  Nassau  might 
have  been  brought  to  a  sudden  close,  despite  the  affectionate 
warning  of  the  state-council.  Certainly  it  was  difficult  for 
any  commander  to  be  placed  in  a  more  perilous  position  than 
that  in  which  the  stadholder  found  himself.  He  remained 
awake  and  afoot  the  whole  night,  perfecting  his  arrangements 
for  the  morning,  arid  watching  every  indication  of  a  possible 
advance  on  the  part  of  the  enemy.  Marcellus  Bax  and  his 
troopers  remained  at  the  bridge  till  morning,  and  were  so 
near  the  Spaniards  that  they  heard  the  voices  of  their  pickets, 
and  could  even  distinguish  in  the  distance  the  various  move 
ments  in  their  camp. 

But  no  attack  was  made,  and  the  little  army  of  Maurice 
was  allowed  to  sleep  off  its  fatigue.  With  the  dawn  of  the 
24th  January,  a  reconnoitring  party,  sent  out  from  24jan. 
the  republican  camp,  discovered  that  Varax,  having  1597- 
no  stomach  for  an  encounter,  had  given  his  enemies  the  slip. 
Long  before  daylight  his  baggage  and  ammunition  trains  had 
been  sent  off  in  a  southerly  direction,  and  his  whole  force 
had  already  left  the  village  of  Turnhout.  It  was  the  inten 
tion  of  the  commander  to  take  refuge  in  the  fortified  city  of 
Herenthals,  and  there  await  the  attack  of  Maurice.  Accord 
ingly,  when  the  stadholder  arrived  on  the  fields  beyond  the 
immediate  precincts  of  the  village,  he  saw  the  last  of  the 
enemy's  rearguard  just  disappearing  from  view.  The  situation 
was  a  very  peculiar  one. 

The  rain  and  thaw,  following  upon  frosty  weather,  had  con 
verted  the  fenny  country  in  many  directions  into  a  shallow 


426  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXttl. 

lake.  The  little  river  which  flowed  by  the  village  had  risen 
above  its  almost  level  banks,  and  could  with  difficulty  be 
traversed  at  any  point,  while  there  was  no  permanent  bridge, 
such  as  there  was  at  Ravels.  The  retreating  Spaniards  had 
made  their  way  through  a  narrow  passage,  where  a  roughly- 
constructed  causeway  of  planks  had  enabled  the  infantry  to 
cross  the  waters  almost  in  single  file,  while  the  cavalry  had 
floundered  through  as  best  they  might.  Those  who  were 
acquainted  with  the  country  reported  that  beyond  this  defile 
there  was  an  upland  heath,  a  league  in  extent,  full  of  furze 
and  thickets,  where  it  would  be  easy  enough  for  Varax  to 
draw  up  his  army  in  battle  array,  and  conceal  it  from  view. 
Maurice's  scouts,  too,  brought  information  that  the  Spanish 
commander  had  left  a  force  of  musketeers  to  guard  the  pas 
sage  at  the  farther  end. 

This  looked  very  like  an  ambush.  In  the  opinion  of 
Hohenlo,  of  Solms,  and  of  Sidney,  an  advance  was  not  to  be 
thought  of;  and  if  the  adventure  seemed  perilous  to  such 
hardy  and  experienced  campaigners  as  these  three,  the  stad- 
holder  might  well  hesitate.  Nevertheless,  Maurice  had  made 
up  his  mind.  Sir  Francis  Vere  and  Marcellus  Bax  confirmed 
him  in  his  determination,  and  spoke  fiercely  of  the  disgrace 
which  would  come  upon  the  arms  of  the  republic  if  now, 
after  having  made  a  day's  march  to  meet  the  enemy,  they 
should  turn  their  backs  upon  him  just  as  he  was  doing  his 
best  to  escape. 

On  leave  obtained  from  the  prince,  these  two  champions, 
the  Englishman  and  the  Hollander,  spurred  their  horses 
through  the  narrow  pass,  with  the  waters  up  to  the  saddle-bow, 
at  the  head  of  a  mere  handful  of  troopers,  not  more  than  a 
dozen  men  in  all.  Two  hundred  musketeers  followed,  picking 
their  way  across  the  planks.  As  they  emerged  into  the  open 
country  beyond,  the  Spanish  soldiers  guarding  the  passage 
fled  without  firing  a  shot.  Such  was  already  the  discouraging 
effect  produced  upon  veterans  by  the  unexpected  order  given 
that  morning  to  retreat.  Vere  and  Bax  sent  word  for  all  the 
cavalry  to  advance  at  once,  ana  meantime  hovered  about 


1597.  PURSUIT  OF   THE  FUGITIVES.  427 

the  rearguard  of  the  retreating  enemy,  ready  to  charge  upon 
him  so  soon  as  they  should  be  strong  enough. 

Maurice  lost  no  time  in  plunging  with  his  whole  mounted 
force  through  the  watery  defile  ;  directing  the  infantry  to 
follow  as  fast  as  practicable.  When  the  commander-in-chief 
with  his  eight  hundred  horsemen,  Englishmen,  Zeelanders, 
Hollanders,  and  Germans,  came  upon  the  heath,  the  position 
and  purpose  of  the  enemy  were  plainly  visible.  He  was  not 
drawn  up  in  battle  order,  waiting  to  sweep  down  upon  his 
rash  assailants  so  soon  as,  after  struggling  through  the  diffi 
cult  pass,  they  should  be  delivered  into  his  hands.  On  the 
contrary,  it  was  obvious  at  a  glance  that  his  object  was  still 
to  escape.  The  heath  of  Tiel,  on  which  Spaniards,  Italians, 
Walloons,  Germans,  Dutchmen,  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish 
men  now  all  found  themselves  together,  was  a  ridgy,  spongy 
expanse  of  country,  bordered  on  one  side  by  the  swollen  river, 
here  flowing  again  through  steeper  banks  which  were  over 
grown  with  alders  and  pollard  willows.  Along  the  left  of  the 
Spanish  army,  as  they  moved  in  the  direction  of  Herenthals, 
was  a  continuous  fringe  of  scrub-oaks,  intermixed  with  tall 
beeches,  skirting  the  heath,  and  forming  a  leafless  but  almost 
impervious  screen  for  the  movements  of  small  detachments  of 
troops.  Quite  at  the  termination  of  the  open  space,  these 
thickets  becoming  closely  crowded,  overhung  another  ex 
tremely  narrow  passage,  which  formed  the  only  outlet  from 
the  plain.  Thus  the  heath  of  Tiel,  upon  that  winter's 
morning,  had  but  a  single  entrance  and  a  single  exit,  each 
very  dangerous  or  very  fortunate  for  those  capable  of  taking 
or  neglecting  the  advantages  offered  by  the  position. 

The  whole  force  of  Varax,  at  least  five  thousand  strong, 
was  advancing  in  close  marching  order  towards  the  narrow 
passage  by  which  only  they  could  emerge  from  the  heath. 
Should  they  reach  this  point  in  time,  and  thus  effect  their 
escape,  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  follow  them,  for,  as 
was  the  case  with  the  first  defile,  it  was  not  possible  for  two 
abreast  to  go  through,  while  beyond  was  a  swampy  country 
in  which  military  operations  were  impossible.  Yet  there 


428  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIII. 

remained  less  than  half  a  league's  space  for  the  retreating 
soldiers  to  traverse,  while  not  a  single  foot-soldier  of  Maurice's 
army  had  thus  far  made  his  appearance  on  the  heath.  All 
were  still  wallowing  and  struggling,  single  file,  in  the  marshy 
entrance,  through  which  only  the  cavalry  had  forced  their 
way.  Here  was  a  dilemma.  Should  Maurice  look  calmly  on 
while  the  enemy,  whom  he  had  made  so  painful  a  forced 
.march  to  meet,  moved  off  out  of  reach  before  his  eyes  ?  Yet 
certainly  this  was  no  slight  triumph  in  itself.  There  sat  the 
stadholder  on  his  horse  at  the  head  of  eight  hundred  cara 
bineers,  and  there  marched  four"  of  Philip's  best  infantry 
regiments,  garnished  with  some  of  his  most  renowned  cavalry 
squadrons,  anxious  not  to  seek  but  to  avoid  a  combat.  First 
came  the  Germans  of  Count  Sultz,  the  musketeers  in  front, 
and  the  spearsmen,  of  which  the  bulk  of  this  and  of  all  the 
regiments  was  composed,  marching  in  closely  serried  squares, 
with  the  company  standards  waving  over  each.  Next,  ar 
ranged  in  the  same  manner,  came  the  Walloon  regiments  of 
Hachicourt  and  of  La  Barlotte.  Fourth  and  last  came  the 
famous  Neapolitans  of  Marquis  Trevico.  The  cavalry  squad 
rons  rode  on  the  left  of  the  infantry,  and  were  commanded  by 
Nicolas  Basta,  a  man  who  had  been  trampling  upon  the 
Netherlanders  ever  since  the  days  of  Alva,  with  whom  he  had 
first  come  to  the  country. 

And  these  were  the  legions — these  very  men  or  their  im 
mediate  predecessors — these  Italians,  Spaniards,  Germans, 
and  Walloons,  who  during  so  many  terrible  years  had  stormed 
and  sacked  almost  every  city  of  the  Netherlands,  and  swept 
over  the  whole  breadth  of  those  little  provinces  as  with  the 
besom  of  destruction. 

Both  infantry  and  cavalry,  that  picked  little  army  of  Varax 
was  of  the  very  best  that  had  shared  in  the  devil's  work  which 
had  been  the  chief  industry  practised  for  so  long  in  the 
obedient  Netherlands.  Was  it  not  madness  for  the  stad 
holder,  at  the  head  of  eight  hundred  horsemen,  to  assail  such 
an  army  as  this  ?  Was  it  not  to  invoke  upon  his  head  thb 
swift  vengeance  of  Heaven  ?  Nevertheless,  the  painstaking, 


1597.  INTERCEPTION  AND  ATTACK.  429 

cautious  Maurice  did  not  hesitate.  He  ordered  Hohenlo,  with 
all  the  Brabantine  cavalry,  to  ride  as  rapidly  as  their  horses 
could  carry  them  along  the  edge  of  the  plain,  and  behind  the 
tangled  woodland,  by  which  the  movement  would  be  concealed. 
He  was  at  all  hazards  to  intercept  the  enemy's  vanguard 
before  it  should  reach  the  fatal  pass.  Vere  and  Marcellus 
Bax  meanwhile,  supported  now  by  Edmont  with  the  Nymegen 
squadrons,  were  to  threaten  the  Spanish  rear.  A  company  of 
two  under  Laurentz  was  kept  by  Maurice  near  his  person 
in  reserve. 

The  Spaniards  steadily  continued  their  march,  but  as  they 
became  aware  of  certain  slight  and  indefinite  movements  on 
their  left,  their  cavalry,  changing  their  position,  were  trans 
ferred  from  the  right  to  the  left  of  the  line  of  march,,  and  now 
rode  between  the  infantry  and  the  belt  of  woods. 

In  a  few  minutes  after  the  orders  given  to  Hohenlo,  that 
dashing  soldier  had  circumvented  the  Spaniards,  and  emerged 
upon  the  plain  between  them  and  the  entrance  to  the  defile, 
The  next  instant  the  trumpets  sounded  a  charge,  and  Hohenlo 
fell  upon  the  foremost  regiment,  that  of  Sultz,  while  the 
rearguard,  consisting  of  Trevico's  Neapolitan  regiment,  was 
assailed  by  Du  Bois,  Donck,  Kysoir,  Marcellus  Bax,  and  Sir 
Francis  Vere.  The  effect  seemed  almost  supernatural.  The 
Spanish  cavalry — those  far-famed  squadrons  of  Guzman  and 
Basta — broke  at  the  first  onset  and  galloped  off  for  the  pass 
as  if  they  had  been  riding  a  race.  Most  of  them  escaped 
through  the  hollow  into  the  morass  beyond.  The  musketeers 
of  Sultz's  regiment  hardly  fired  a  shot,  and  fell  back  in  con 
fusion  upon  the  thickly  clustered  pikemen.  The  assailants 
every  one  of  them  in'  complete  armour,  on  powerful  horses, 
and  armed  not  with  lances  but  with  carbines,  trampled  over 
the  panic-struck  and  struggling  masses"  of  leather-jerkined 
pikemen  and  shot  them  at  arm's  length.  The  charge  upon 
Trcvico's  men  at  the  same  moment  was  just  as  decisive^  In 
less  time  than  it  took  afterwards  to  describe  the  scene,  those 
renowned  veterans  were  broken  into  a  helpless  mass  of  dying, 
wounded,  or  fugitive  creatures,  incapable  of  striking  a  blow. 


430  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAR  XXXItt. 

Thus  the  Germans  in  the  front  and  the  Neapolitans  in  the 
rear  had  been  simultaneously  shattered,  and  rolled  together 
upon  the  two  other  regiments,  those  of  Hachicourt  and  La 
Barlotte,  which  were  placed  between  them.  Nor  did  these 
troops  offer  any  better  resistance,  but  were  paralysed  and 
hurled  out  of  existence  like  the  rest.  In  less  than  an  hour 
the  Spanish  army  was  demolished.  Varax  himself  lay  dead 
upon  the  field,  too  fortunate  not  to  survive  his  disgrace.  It 
was  hardly  more  than  daylight  on  that  dull  January  morning  ; 
nine  o'clock  had  scarce  chimed  from  the  old  brick  steeples  of 
Turnhout,  yet  two  thousand  Spaniards  had  fallen  before  the 
blows  of  eight  hundred  Netherlanders,  and  there  were  five 
hundred  prisoners  beside.  Of  Maurice's  army  not  more  than 
nine  or  ten  were  slain.  The  story  sounds  like  a  wild  legend. 
It  was  as  if  the  arm  of  each  Netherlander  had  been  nerved 
by  the  memory  of  fifty  years  of  outrage,  as  if  the  spectre  of 
their  half-century  of  crime  had  appalled  the  soul  of  every 
Spaniard.  Like  a  thunderbolt  the  son  of  William  the  Silent 
smote  that  army  of  Philip,  and  in  an  instant  it  lay  blasted  on 
the  heath  of  Tiel.  At  least  it  could  hardly  be  called  saga 
cious  generalship  on  the  part  of  the  stadholder.  The  chances 
were  all  against  him,  and  if  instead  of  Varax  those  legions 
had  been  commanded  that  morning  by  old  Christopher 
Mondragon,  there  might  perhaps  have  been  another  tale  to 
tell.  Even  as  it  was,  there  had  been  a  supreme  moment 
when  the  Spanish  disaster  had  nearly  been  changed  to 
victory.  The  fight  was  almost  done,  when  a  small  party  of 
States7  cavalry,  who  at  the  beginning  of  the  action  had 
followed  the  enemy's  horse  in  its  sudden  retreat  through  the 
gap,  came  whirling  back  over  the  plain  in  wild  confusion, 
pursued  by  about  forty  of  the  enemy's  lancers.  They  swept 
by  the  spot  where  Maurice,  with  not  more  4  than  ten  horsemen 
around  him,  was  directing  and  watching  the  battle,  and  in 
vain  the  prince  threw  himself  in  front  of  them  and  strove  to 
check  their  flight.  They  were  panic-struck,  and  Maurice 
would  himself  have  been  swept  off  the  field,  had  not  Marcellus 
Bax  and  Edmont,  with  half  a  dozen  heavy  troopers,  come  to 


1507.  VICTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDERS.  43] 

the  rescue.  A  grave  error  had  been  committed  by  Parker, 
who,  upon  being  ordered  by  Maurice  to  cause  Louis  Laurentz 
to  charge,  had  himself  charged  with  the  whole  reserve  and 
left  the  stadholder  almost  alone  upon  the  field.  Thus  the 
culprits — who  after  pursuing  the  Spanish  cavalry  through  the 
pass  had  been  plundering  the  enemy's  baggage  until  they 
were  set  upon  by  the  handful  left  to  guard  it,  and  had  become 
fugitives  in  their  turn — might  possibly  have  caused  the  loss 
of  the  day  after  the  victory  had  been  won,  had  there  been  a 
man  on  the  Spanish  side  to  take  in  the  situation  at  a  glance. 
But  it  is  probable  that  the  rout  had  been  too  absolute  to 
allow  of  any  such  sudden  turning  to  account  of  the*  serious 
errors  of  the  victors.  The  cavalry,  except  this  handful,  had 
long  disappeared,  at  least  half  the  infantry  lay  dead  or 
wounded  in  the  field,  while  the  remainder,  throwing  away 
pipe  and  matchlock,  were  running  helter-skelter  for  their 
lives. 

Besides  Prince  Maurice  himself,  to  whom  the  chief  credit 
of  the  whole  expedition  justly  belonged,  nearly  all  the  com 
manders  engaged  obtained  great  distinction  by  their  skill  and 
valour.  Sir  Francis  Vere,  as  usual,  was  ever  foremost  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fray,  and  had  a  horse  killed  under  him. 
Parker  erred  by  too  much  readiness  to  engage,  but  bore 
himself  manfully  throughout  the  battle.  Hohenlo,  Solms, 
Sidney,  Louis  Laurentz,  Du  Bois,  all  displayed  their  usual 
prowess  ;  but  the  real  hero  of  the  hour,  the  personal  embodi 
ment  of  the  fortunate  madness  which  prompted  and  won  the 
battle,  was  undoubtedly  Marcellus  Bax.1 

Maurice  remained  an  hour  or  two  on  the  field  of  battle, 
and  then,  returning  towards  the  village  of  Turnhout,  sum 
moned  its  stronghold.  The  garrison  of  sixty,  under  Captain 
Van  der  Delf,  instantly  surrendered.  The  victor  allowed 


1  I  place  together  in  one  note  the 
authorities  used  by  me  for  this  famous 
action.  Not  an  incident  is  mentioned 
that  is  not  vouched  for  by  one  or  more 
of  the  contemporary  chronicles  or 
letter-writers  cited,  but  I  have  not 
thought  it  necessary  to  encumber  each 
VOL.  II— 15 


paragraph  with  reference  to  a  footnote. 
Bor,  IV.  301-304.  Meteren,  393,  394. 
Bentivoglio,  443, 444.  Reyd,  302, 
Carnero,  402-407.  Coloma,  237. 
bert  to  Philip,  30  Jan.  1597.  (Arch, 
de  Simancas  MS.)  Van  der  Kemp, 
ii.  25-29,  167-171. 


432 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXIII. 


these  troops  to  go  off  scot  free,  saying  that  there  had  been 
blood  enough  shed  that  day.  Every  standard  borne  by  the 
Spaniards  in  the  battle — thirty-eight  in  number — was  taken, 
besides  nearly  all  their  arms.  The  banners  were  sent  to  the 
Hague  to  be  hung  up  in  the  great  hall  of  the  castle.  The 
dead  body  of  Varax  was  sent  to  the  archduke  with  a  cour 
teous  letter,  in  which,  however,  a  categorical  explanation  was 
demanded  as  to  a  statement  in  circulation  that  Albert  had 
decided  to  give  the  soldiers  of  the  republic  no  quarter.2 

No  answer  being  immediately  returned,  Maurice  ordered 
the  five  hundred  prisoners  to  be  hanged  or  drowned  unless 
ransomed  within  twenty  days,  and  this  horrible  decree  appears 
from  official  documents  to  be  consistent  with  the  military 
usages  of  the  period.  The  arrival  of  the  letter  from  the 
cardinal-archduke,  who  levied  the  money  for  the  ransom  on 
the  villagers  of  Brabant,3  prevented,  however,  the  execution 
of  the  menace,  which  could  hardly  have  been  seriously  in 
tended.4 

Within  a  week  from  the  time  of  his  departure  from  the 
Hague  to  engage  in  this  daring  adventure,  the  stadholder  had 
returned  to  that  little  capital,  having  achieved  a  complete 


2  The  letter  of  Maurice  was  as  fol 
lows  • — 

"  SIR — I  had  intended  to  send  the 
soldiers  who  were  taken  prisoners  yes 
terday,  and  to  manifest  the  same  cour 
tesy  which  I  am  accustomed  to  show 
towards  those  who  fall  into  my  hands. 
But  as  I  have  been  apprized  that  your 
Highness  has  published  an  order,  ac 
cording  to  which  military  commanders 
are  forbidden  henceforth  to  give  quar 
ter  to  those  of  this  side,  I  have  de 
sired  first  to  have  this  doubt  made 
jlear  to  me,  before  I  permit  them  to 
go  free,  in  order  that,  having  under 
stood  your  Highness's  intention  on 
this  point,  I  may  conduct  myself  as 
I  shall  find  most  fitting.  Herewith 
I  humbly  kiss  the  hands  of  your  High 
ness,  and  pray  God  to  give  you  long 
and  healthy  life. 

"  Turnkout,  25  January,  1597." 
The  archduke  thus  replied  : — 
"  COUNT — I    have    received    your 
letter,  and  can  do  no  otherwise  than 


praise  the  courtesy  which  you  have 
manifested  towards  the  dead  body  of 
the  late  Count  Varax,  and  signify  to 
you  the  thanks  which  you  deserve,  and 
which  I  render  you  from  my  heart. 
Touching  the  other  point  you  will  not 
find  that  I  have  thus  far  resolved  on 
keeping  no  quarter,  and  I  hope  never 
to  have  occasion  for  such  a  determina 
tion,  inasmuch  as  to  do  so  is  against  my 
nature.  And,  inasmuch  as  in  this  con- 
juncture  you  use  the  courtesy  towards 
me  which  you  signify  in  your  letter,  I 
shall  take  care  to  do  the  same  when 
occasions  present  themselves.  And 
herewith  I  pray  the  Creator  to  have 
you  in  his  holy  Keeping. 

"  Your  good  friend, 

"  ALBERT,  Cardinal. 

"Brussels,  28  Jan.  1597." 

8  Meteren,  b.  xix.  394. 

4  Ibid.  Van  der  Kemp,  28, 171,  who 
cites  Resol.  St.  Gen.  18  May,  1599,  for 
an  example. 


1597.  MAGNITUDE  OF  THE  ACHIEVEMENT.  433 

success.  The  enthusiastic  demonstrations  throughout  the 
land  on  account  of  so  signal  a  victory  can  easily  be  imagined. 
Nothing  like  this  had  ever  before  been  recorded  in  the 
archives  of  the  young  commonwealth.  There  had  been 
glorious  defences  of  beleaguered  cities,  where  scenes  of  heroic 
endurance  and  self-sacrifice  had  been  enacted,  such  as  never 
can  be  forgotten  so  long  as  the  history  of  human  liberty  shall 
endure,  but  a  victory  won  in  the  open  field  over  the  most 
famous  legions  of  Spain  and  against  overwhelming  numbers, 
was  an  achievement  entirely  without  example.  It  is  beyond 
all  doubt  that  the  force  under  Varax  was  at  least  four  times 
as  large  as  that  portion  of  the  States'  army  which  alone  was 
engaged  ;  for  Maurice  had  not  a  foot-soldier  on  the  field  until 
the  battle  was  over,  save  the  handful  of  musketeers  who  had 
followed  Vere  and  Bax  at  the  beginning  of  the  action. 

Therefore  it  is  that  this  remarkable  action  merits  a  much 
more  attentive  consideration  than  it  might  deserve,  regarded 
purely  as  a  military  exploit.  To  the  military  student  a 
mere  cavalry  affair,  fought  out  upon  an  obscure  Brabantine 
heath  between  a  party  of  Dutch  carabineers  and  Spanish 
pikemen,  may  seem  of  little  account — a  subject  fitted  by  pic 
turesque  costume  and  animated  action  for  the  pencil  of  a 
Wouvermanns  or  a  Terburg,  but  conveying  little  instruction. 
As  illustrating  a  period  of  transition  in  which  heavy  armoured 
troopers — each  one  a  human  iron-clad  fortress  moving  at 
speed  and  furnished  with  the  most  formidable  portable  artil 
lery  then  known — could  overcome  the  resistance  of  almost 
any  number  of  foot-soldiers  in  light  marching  gear  and 
armed  with  the  antiquated  pike,  the  affair  may  be  worthy  of 
a  moment's  attention  ;  and  for  this  improvement — itself  now 
as  obsolete  as  the  slings  and  cataphracts  of  Koman  legions 
^ — the  world  was  indebted  to  Maurice.  But  the  shock  of 
mighty  armies,  the  manoeuvring  of  vast  masses  in  one  mag 
nificent  combination,  by  which  the  fate  of  empires,  the 
happiness  or  the  misery  of  the  peoples  for  generations,  may 
perhaps  be  decided  in  a  few  hours,  undoubtedly  require  a 
higher  constructive  genius  than  could  be  displayed  in  any 

VOL,  in,— 2  F 


434  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIII 

such  hand-to-hand  encounter  as  that  of  Turnhout,  scientifi 
cally  managed  as  it  unquestionably  was.  The  true  and 
abiding  interest  of  the  battle  is  derived  from  its  moral 
effect,  from  its  influence  on  the  people  of  the  Netherlands. 
And  this  could  scarcely  be  exaggerated.  The  nation  was 
electrified,  transformed  in  an  instant.  Who  now  should 
henceforth  dare  to  say  that  one  Spanish  fighting-man  was 
equal  to  five  or  ten  Hollanders  ?  At  last  the  days  of  Jem- 
mingen  and  Mooker-heath  needed  no  longer  to  be  remem 
bered  by  every  patriot  with  a  shudder  of  shame.  Here  at 
least  in  the  open  field  a  Spanish  army,  after  in  vain  refusing 
a  combat  and  endeavouring  to  escape,  had  literally  bitten  the 
dust  before  one  fourth  of  its  own  number.  And  this  effect 
was  a  permanent  one.  Thenceforth  for  foreign  powers  to 
talk  of  mediation  between  the  republic  and  the  ancient 
master,  to  suggest  schemes  of  reconciliation  and  of  a  return 
to  obedience,  was  to  offer  gratuitous  and  trivial  insult,  and  we 
shall  very  soon  have  occasion  to  mark  the  simple  eloquence 
with  which  the  thirty-eight  Spanish  standards  of  Turnhout, 
hung  up  in  the  old  hall  of  the  Hague,  were  made  to  reply  to 
the  pompous  rhetoric  of  an  interfering  ambassador. 

This  brief  episode  was  not  immediately  followed  by  other 
military  events  of  importance  in  the  provinces  during  what 
remained  of  the  winter.  Very  early  in  the  spring,  however, 
it  was  probable  that  the  campaign  might  open  simultaneously 
in  France  and  on  the  frontiers  of  Flanders.  Of  all  the  cities 
in  the  north  of  France  there  was  none,  after  Kouen,  so  im 
portant,  so  populous,  so  wealthy  as  Amiens.  Situate  in 
fertile  fields,  within  three  days  march  of  Paris,  with  no  inter 
vening  forests  or  other  impediments  of  a  physical  nature  to 
free  communication,  it  was  the  key  to  the  gates  of  the  capital. 
It  had  no  garrison,  for  the  population  numbered  fifteen 
thousand  men  able  to  bear  arms,  and  the  inhabitants  valued 
themselves  on  the  prowess  of  their  trained  militiamen,  five 
thousand  of  whom  they  boasted  to  be  able  to  bring  into 
the  field  at  an  hour's  notice — and  they  were  perfectly  loyal  to 
Henry. 


1597.  ATTACK  AND   CAPTURE  OF  AMIENS.  435 

i 

One  morning  in  March  there  came  a  party  of  peasants, 
fifteen  or  twenty  in  number,  laden  with  sacks  u  March, 
of  chestnuts  and  walnuts,  to  the  northernmost  gate  1597- 
of  the  town.  They  offered  them  for  sale,  as  usual,  to  the 
soldiers  at  the  guard-house,  and  chaffered  and  jested — as  boors 
and  soldiers  are  wont  to  do — over  their  wares.  It  so  hap 
pened  that  in  the  course  of  the  bargaining  one  of  the  bags 
became  untied,  and  its  contents,  much  to  the  dissatisfaction 
of  the  proprietor,  were  emptied  on  the  ground.  There  was  a 
scramble  for  the  walnuts,  and  much  shouting,  kicking,  and 
squabbling  ensued,  growing  almost  into  a  quarrel  between 
the  burgher-soldiers  and  the  peasants.  As  the  altercation 
was  at  its  height  a  heavy  wagon,  laden  with  long  planks, 
came  towards  the  gate  for  the  use  of  carpenters  and  architects 
within  the  town.  The  portcullis  was  drawn  up  to  admit 
this  lumbering  vehicle,  but  in  the  confusion  caused  by  the 
chance  medley  going  on  at  the  guard-house,  the  gate  dropped 
again  before  the  wagon  had  fairly  got  through  the  passage, 
and  remained  resting  upon  the  timber  with  which  it  was 
piled. 

At  that  instant  a  shrill  whistle  was  heard,  and  as  if  by 
magic  the  twenty  chestnut-selling  peasants  were  suddenly 
transformed  to  Spanish  and  Walloon  soldiers  armed  to  the 
teeth,  who  were  presently  reinforced  by  as  many  more  of 
their  comrades,  who  sprang  from  beneath  the  plank- work  by 
which  the  real  contents  of  the  wagon  had  thus  been  screened. 
Captain  Dognano,  his  brother  the  sergeant-major,  Captain 
d'Arco,  and  other  officers  of  a  Walloon  regiment  stationed  in 
Bourlans,  were  the  leaders  of  the  little  party,  and  while  they 
were  busily  occupied  in  putting  the  soldiers  of  the  watch, 
thus  taken  unawares,  to  death,  the  master-spirit  of  the  whole 
adventure  suddenly  made  his  appearance  and  entered  the 
city  at  the  head  of  fifteen  hundred  men.  This  was  an  ex 
tremely  small,  yellow,  dried  up,  energetic  Spanish  captain.5 
with  a  long  red  beard,  Hernan  Tello  de  Porto  Carrero  by 
name,  governor  of  the  neighbouring  city  of  Dourlens,  who 

1  Coloma,  262, 


436 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIII. 


had  conceived  this  plan  for  obtaining  possession  of  Amiens. 
Having  sent  these  disguised  soldiers  on  before  him,  he  had 
passed  the  night  with  his  men  in  ambush  until  the  signal 
should  sound.  The  burghers  of  the  town  were  mostly  in 
church  ;  none  were  dreaming  of  an  attack,  as  men  rarely  do — 
for  otherwise  how  should  they  ever  be  surprised — and  in  half 
an  hour  Amiens  .was  the  property  of  Philip  of  Spain.  There 
were  not  very  many  lives  lost,  for  the  resistance  was  small, 
but  great  numbers  were  tortured  for  ransom  and  few  women 
escaped  outrage.  The  sack  was  famous,  for  the  city  was  rich 
and  the  captors  were  few  in  number,  so  that  each  soldier 
had  two  or  three  houses  to  plunder  for  his  own  profit. 

When  the  work  was  done,  the  faubourgs  were  all  destroyed, 
for  it  was  the  intention  of  the  conquerors  to  occupy  the  place, 
which  would  be  a  most  convenient  basis  of  operations  for  any 
attack  upon  Paris,  and  it  was  desirable  to  contract  the  limits 
to  be  defended.  Fifteen  hundred  houses,  many  of  them 
beautiful  villas  surrounded  with  orchards  and  pleasure 
gardens,  were  soon  in  flames,  and  afterwards  razed  to 
the  ground.  The  governor  of  the  place,  Count  St.  Pol, 
managed  to  effect  his  escape.  His  place  was  now  supplied 
by  the  Marquis  of  Montenegro,  an  Italian  in  the  service  of 
the  Spanish  king.  Such  was  the  fate  of  Amiens  in  the 
month  of  March,  1597 6;  such  the  result  of  the  refusal  by  the 
citizens  to  accept  the  garrison  urged  upon  them  by  Henry. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  consternation  pro 
duced  throughout  France  by  this  astounding  and  altogether 
unlocked  for  event.  "  It  seemed,"  said  President  De  Thou,  "as 
if  it  had  extinguished  in  a  moment  the  royal  majesty  and  the 
French  name."  A  few  nights  later  than  the  date  of  this 
occurrence,  Maximilian  de  Bethune 7  (afterwards  Duke  of 
Sully,  but  then  called  Marquis  de  Kosny)  was  asleep  in 
his  bed  in  Paris.  He  had  returned,  at  past  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  from  a  magnificent  ball  given  by  the  Constable  of 


8  Bor,  IV.  314,  315.  Meteren,  395, 
396.  Bentivoglio,  447.  Coloma,  238- 
862.  De  Thou,  xiii.  103-109,  118. 


Albert  to    Philip,   14  March, 
(Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 
7  De  Thou,  uU  sup.  109. 


1597: 


1597.  CONSTERNATION  OF  THE  KING.  437 

France.  The  capital  had  been  uncommonly  brilliant  during 
the  winter  with  banquets  and  dances,  tourneys  and  mas 
querades,  as  if  to  cast  a  lurid  glare  over  the  unutterable 
misery  of  the  people  and  the  complete  desolation  of  the 
country ;  but  this  entertainment — given  by  Montmorency  in 
honour  of  a  fair  dame  with  whom  he  supposed  himself  des 
perately  in  love,  the  young  bride  of  a  very  ancient  courtier — 
surpassed  in  splendour  every  festival  that  had  been  heard  of 
for  years.  De  Bethune  had  hardly  lost  himself  in  slumber 
when  he  was  startled  by  Beringen,  who,  on  drawing  his 
curtains  in  this  dead  hour  of  the  night,  presented  such  a 
ghastly  visage  that  the  faithful  friend  of  Henry  instantly 
imagined  some  personal  disaster  to  his  well-beloved  sovereign. 
"  Is  the  King  dead  ?  "  he  cried.8 

Being  re-assured  as  to  this  point  and  told  to  hasten  to 
the  Louvre,  Kosny  instantly  complied  with  the  command. 
When  he  reached  the  palace  he  was  admitted  at  once  to  the 
royal  bed-chamber,  where  he  found  the  king  in  the  most 
unsophisticated  of  costumes,  striding  up  and  down  the  room, 
with  his  hands  clasped  together  behind  his  head,  and  with  an 
expression  of  agony  upon  his  face.  Many  courtiers  were 
assembled  there,  stuck  all  of  them  like  images  against  the 
wall,  staring  before  them  in  helpless  perplexity.9 

Henry  rushed  forward  as  Kosny  entered,  and  wringing  him 
by  the  hand,  exclaimed,  "  Ah,  my  friend,  what  a  misfortune, 
Amiens  is  taken  ! " 

"  Very  well,"  replied  the  financier,  with  unperturbed 
visage  ;  "  I  have  just  completed  a  plan  which  will  restore  to 
your  Majesty  not  only  Amiens  but  many  other  places." 

The  king  drew  a  great  sigh  of  relief  and  asked  for  his 
project.  Kosny,  saying  that  he  would  instantly  go  and  fetch 
his  papers,  left  the  apartment  for  an  interval,  in  order  to  give 
vent  to  the  horrible  agitation  which  he  had  been  enduring 
and  so  bravely  concealing  ever  since  the  fatal  words  had  been 
spoken.  That  a  city  so  important,  the  key  to  Paris,  without 
a  moment's  warning,  without  the  semblance  of  a  siege,  should 

«  Sully,  Memoires,  i.  484,  seqq.  •  Ibid. 


438  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIII 

thus  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  was  a  blow  as  directly 
to  the  heart  of  De  Bethune  as  it  could  have  been  to  any  other 
of  Henry's  adherents.  But  while  they  had  been  distracting 
the  king  by  unavailing  curses  or  waitings,  Henry,  who  had 
received  the  intelligence  just  as  he  was  getting  into  bed,  had 
sent  for  support  and  consolation  to  the  tried  friend  of  years, 
and  he  now  reproachfully  contrasted  their  pusillanimity  with 
De  Rosny's  fortitude. 

A  great  plan  for  reorganising  the  finances  of  the  kingdom 
was  that  very  night  submitted  by  Rosny  to  the  king,  and  it 
was  wrought  upon  day  by  day  thereafter  until  it  was  carried 
into  effect. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  crudities  and  immoralities 
which  the  project  revealed  do  not  inspire  the  political  student 
of  modern  days  with  so  high  a  conception  of  the  financial 
genius  of  the  great  minister  as  his  calm  and  heroic  deport 
ment  on  trying  occasions,  whether  on  the  battle-field  or  in 
the  council-chamber,  does  of  his  natural  authority  over  his 
fellow-men,  The  scheme  was  devised  to  put  money  in  the 
king's  coffers,  which  at  that  moment  were  completely  empty. 
Its  chief  features  were  to  create  a  great  many  new  offices  in 
the  various  courts  of  justice  and  tribunals  of  administration, 
all  to  be  disposed  of  by  sale  to  the  highest  bidder  ;  to  extort 
a  considerable  loan  from  the  chief  courtiers  and  from  the 
richest  burghers  in  the  principal  towns  ;  to  compel  all  the 
leading  peculators — whose  name  in  the  public  service  was 
legion — to  disgorge  a  portion  of  their  ill-gotten  gains,  on 
being  released  from  prosecution  ;  and  to  increase  the  tax 
upon  salt.10 

Such  a  project  hardly  seems  a  masterpiece  of  ethics  or 
political  economy,  but  it  was  hailed  with  rapture  by  the 
needy  monarch.  At  once  there  was  a  wild  excitement  amongst 
the  jobbers  and  speculators  in  places.  The  creation  of 
an  indefinite  number  of  new  judgeships  and  magistracies, 
to  be  disposed  of  at  auction,  was  a  tempting  opportunity 
even  in  that  age  of  corruption.  One  of  the  most  notorious 

10  Sully,  Memoires,  i.  lib.  ix.  p.  485,  seqq. 


Z597.  JOBBERY  AND  SPECULATION.  439 

traders  in  the  judicial  ermine,  limping  Robin  de  Tours  by 
name,  at  once  made  a  private  visit  to  Madame  de  Eosny 
and  offered  seventy-two  thousand  crowns  for  the  exclusive 
right  to  distribute  these  new  offices.  If  this  could  be 
managed  to  his  satisfaction,  he  promised  to  give  her  a 
diamond  worth  two  thousand  crowns,  and  another,  worth  six 
thousand,  to  her  husband.  The  wife  of  the  great  minister, 
who  did  not  comprehend  the  whole  amount  of  the  insult, 
presented  Eobin  to  her  husband.  She  was  enlightened, 
however,  as  to  the  barefaced  iniquity  of  the  offer,  when  she 
heard  De  Bethune's  indignant  reply,  and  saw  the  jobber  limp 
away,  crest-fallen  and  amazed.  That  a  financier  or  a  magis 
trate  should  decline  a  bribe  or  interfere  with  the  private  sale 
of  places,  which  were  after  all  objects  of  merchandise,  was  to 
him  incomprehensible.  The  industrious  Robin,  accordingly, 
recovering  from  his  discomfiture,  went  straightway  to  the 
chancellor,  and  concluded  the  same  bargain  in  the  council 
chamber  which  had  been  rejected  by  De  Bethune,  with  the 
slight  difference  that  the  distribution  of  the  places  was 
assigned  to  the  speculator  for  seventy-five  thousand  instead 
of  seventy-two  thousand  crowns.  It  was  with  great  difficulty 
that  De  Bethune.  who  went  at  once  to  the  king  with  com 
plaints  and  insinuations  as  to  the  cleanness  of  the  chancellor's 
hands,  was  able  to  cancel  the  operation.11  The  day  was  fast 
approaching  when  the  universal  impoverishment  of  the  great 
nobles  and  landholders — the  result  of  the  long,  hideous, 
senseless  massacres  called  the  wars  of  religion — was  to 
open  the  way  for  the  labouring  classes  to  acquire  a  pro 
perty  in  the  soil.  Thus  that  famous  fowl  in  every  pot  was  to 
make  its  appearance,  which  vulgar  tradition  ascribes  to  the 
bounty  of  a  king  who  hated  everything  like  popular  rights, 
and  loved  nothing  but  his  own  glory  and  his  own  amusement. 
It  was  not  until  the  days  of  his  grandchildren  and  great 
grandchildren  that  Privilege  could  renew  those  horrible 
outrages  on  the  People,  which  were  to  be  avenged  by  a 
dread  series  of  wars,  massacres,  and  crimes,  compared  to 

11  Sully,  Memoires,  i.  lib.  ix.  p.  490. 


440  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIIL 

which  even  the  religious  conflicts  of  the  sixteenth  century 
grow  pale. 

Meantime  De  Bethune  comforted  his  master  with  these 
financial  plans,  and  assured  him  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy  that 
the  King  of  Spain,  now  tottering  as  it  was  thought  to  his 
grave,  would  soon  be  glad  to  make  a  favourable  peace  with 
France,  even  if  he  felt  obliged  to  restore  not  only  Amiens  but 
every  other  city  or  stronghold  that  he  had  ever  conquered  in 
that  kingdom.  Time  would  soon  show  whether  this  predic 
tion  were  correct  or  delusive  ;  but  while  the  secret  negotiations 
between  Henry  and  the  Pope  were  vigorously  proceeding  for 
that  peace  with  Spain  which  the  world  in  general  and  the 
commonwealth  of  the  Netherlands  in  particular  thought  to 
be  farthest  from  the  warlike  king's  wishes,  it  was  necessary 
to  set  about  the  siege  of  Amiens. 

Henry  assembled  a  force  of  some  twelve  or  fifteen  thousand 
men  for  that  purpose,  while  the  cardinal-archduke,  upon  his 
part,  did  his  best  to  put  an  army  in  the  field  in  order  to 
relieve  the  threatened  city  so  recently  acquired  by  a  coarse 
but  successful  artifice. 

But  Albert  was  in  even  a  worse  plight  than  that  in  which, 
his  great  antagonist  found  himself.  When  he  had  first 
arrived  in  the  provinces,  his  exchequer  was  overflowing,  and 
he  was  even  supposed  to  devote  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
military  funds  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  magnificent 
housekeeping  at  Brussels.12  But  those  halcyon  days  were 
over.  A  gigantic  fraud,  just  perpetrated  by  Philip,  had 
descended  like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the  provinces  and  upon  all 
commercial  Europe,  and  had  utterly  blasted  the  unfortunate 
viceroy.  In  the  latter  days  of  the  preceding  year  the  king 
had  issued  a  general  repudiation  of  his  debts. 

He  did  it  solemnly,  too,  and  with  great  religious  unction, 
for  it  was  a  peculiarity  of  this  remarkable  sovereign  that  he 


"Non  possiede  1*  amore  di  quei 
>li  quanto  bisognerebbe,  oltrecche 
a  nome  di  non  favorir  molto  la  solda- 
tesca  e  di  gettar  gran  parte  di  denaro 
ehe  doverebbe  essor  distribuito  alle 


popo 
ha  IN 


e  nel  sostentarla  propria  albagia.  Da 
che  nasce  poi  che  si  veggono  tante  sol- 
levazioni  e  le  cose  di  quella  guerra 
prendono  sempre  peggior  piega." — 


milizie  in  quelli  della  sua  propria  casa  l  168. 


Soranzo.     Relazione,  before  cited,  p. 


1597. 


PHILIP'S    REPUDIATION   OF  HIS  DEBTS. 


441 


was  ever  wont  to  accomplish  his  darkest  crimes,  whether 
murders  or  stratagems,  as  if  they  were  acts  of  virtue.  Perhaps 
he  really  believed  them  to  he  such,  for  a  man,  before  whom 
so  many  millions  of  his  fellow  worms  had  been  writhing  for 
half  a  century  in  the  dust,  might  well  imagine  himself  a 
deity. 

So  the  king,  on  the  20th  November,  1596,  had  publicly 
revoked  all  the  assignments,  mortgages,  and  other  deeds 
by  which  the  royal  domains,  revenues,  taxes,  and  other 
public  property  had  been  transferred  or  pledged  for  moneys 
already  advanced  to  merchants,  bankers,  and  other  companies 
or  individuals,  and  formally  took  them  again  into  his  own 
possession,  on  the  ground  that  his  exertions  in  carrying  on 
this  long  war  to  save  Christianity  from  destruction  had  re 
duced  him  to  beggary,  while  the  money-lenders,  by  charging 
him  exorbitant  interest,  had  all  grown  rich  at  his  expense.13 

re  "Whereas  it  has  come  to  our 
knowledge/'  so  ran  this  famous  pro 
clamation  of  repudiation  in  its  prin 
cipal  paragraphs,  "  that  notwithstand 
ing  all  which  our  royal  incomes  from 
this  monarchy  and  from  without  have 
yielded  ;  together  with  the  assistance 
rendered  to  us  by  his  Holiness  to  main 
tain  the  war  against  the  English,  and 
to  protect  the  Catholic  religion,  and 
with  the  steady  burthens  borne  for  this 
object  by  the  subjects  and  vassals  of 
the  crown,  according  to  their  ancient 
and  great  fidelity;  and  besides  the 
great  abundance  of  the  gold  and  silver 
produced  by  our  Indies  ;  likewise  all 
that  has  come  from  the  sums  furnished 
by  the  farmers  of  our  finances  and 
revenues,  we  find  ourselves  now  so 
wholly  exhausted  and  ruined,  and  our 
royal  inherited  estates  so  diminished, 
and  as  it  were  reduced  to  nothing, 
that,  although  the  foremost  cause  of 
this  ruin  is  the  great  and  incredible 
expense  which  we  have  sustained  and 
are  still  enduring  for  the  protection  of 
Christendom,  of  our  kingdom  and  do 
mains  ;  other  chief  causes  are  the 
grievous  damages,  discounts,  and  in 
terest  which  have  been  forced  upon 
us,  and  which  at  present  obtain  in 
the  finances,  bills  of  exchange,  and 
other  obligations,  whicl}  have  been 


made  and  taken  up  in  our  name,  since 
we  could  not  escape  the  same  in  orde* 
to  be  able  to  provide  for  our  so  en 
tirely  necessary  and  pressing  necessi- 
ties.  Thus  all  our  domains,  taxes,  re 
venues,  and  all  ordinary  and  extraor. 
dinary  resources  stand,  burthened  and 
covered  with  obligations  in  the  hands 
of  merchants.  And  what  is  most  op 
pressive,  our  affairs  are  come  to  extre 
mities  through  our  having  no  means 
by  which  we  might  help  ourselves,  nor 
do  we  know  of  any  other  resources  that 
we  can  make  use  of.  And  now  the 
said  merchants,  who  hitherto  have 
given  on  bills  of  exchange  such  monies 
as  were  necessary  to  provide  for  the 
protection  of  our  royal  state  and  to 
carry  on  the  war  which  we  are  waging 
forthese  righteous  and  special  reasons, 
refuse  to  do  this  any  longer,  and  make 
difficulties  in  further  dealing  with  us, 
seeing  that  they  have  in  their  own 
hands  and  power  all  the  royal  reve 
nues  by  means  of  the  said  pledges,  cer 
tificates,  and  transfers,  and  hereby 
such  embarrassments  arise  that  if  they 
are  not  provided  against,  it  would  be 
enough  to  put  in  hazard  all  that  which 
God  the  Lordhas  so  highly  commanded 
us  to  perform,  namely,  the  protection 
and  maintenance  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  of  pur  subjects  «,nd  vassals 


442 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXIII. 


This  was  perfectly  simple.  There  was  no  attempt  to  dis 
guise  the  villany  of  the  transaction.  The  massacre  of  so 
many  millions  of  Protestants,  the  gigantic  but  puerile 
attempts  to  subjugate  the  Dutch  republic,  and  to  annex 
France,  England,  and  the  German  empire  to  his  hereditary 
dominions,  had  been  attended  with  more  expense  than  Philip 
had  calculated  upon.  The  enormous  wealth  which  a  long 
series  of  marriages,  inheritances,  conquests,  and  maritime  dis 
coveries  had  heaped  upon  Spain  had  been  exhausted  by  the 
insane  ambition  of  the  king  to  exterminate  heresy  throughout 
the  world,  and  to  make  himself  the  sovereign  of  one  undi 
vided,  universal,  catholic  monarchy.  All  the  gold  and  silver 
;>f  America  had  not  sufficed  for  this  purpose,  and  he  had  seen, 
with  an  ever  rising  indignation,  those  very  precious  metals 


fud  all  those  who   dwell  under  our 

government 

"Therefore  to  put  an  end  to  such 
financiering  and  unhallowed  practices 
with  bills  of  exchange  which  have  been 
introduced  and  have  spread  abroad 
among  so  many  people,  who  in  order 
to  follow  such  pursuits  have  abandoned 
agriculture,  cattle-raising,  and  mecha 
nical  works,  and  embarked  in  trade, 
finding  therein  gain  and  profit  to  the 
disservice  of  the  Lord  God  and  of  us, 
with  great  injury  to  our  kingdom.  . 
.  .  .  and  which  have  brought  great 
masses  of  coin  and  species  to  flow  out 
of  India  (i.  e.  America)  into  the  king 
doms  and  lands  of  the  rebels  and  foes 
of  Christianity  and  of  us,  enabling 
them  to  keep  every  thing  in  commo 
tion,  so  that  we  are  compelled  to  in 
crease  our  armaments  and  our  forces, 
and  to  incur  more  expenses.  We  have 
now  given  command  to  devise  some 
means  of  restoring  order,  and  of  ac 
complishing  in  the  best  possible  way 
that  which  we  are  so  highly  and  legally 
bound  to  do,  whereupon  hang  the  pro 
tection  of  Christendom  and  the  secu 
rity  of  our  realms  ;  and  we  have  found 
no  other  remedy  than  to  call  in  and  to 
disburthen  our  royal  incomes,  liberat 
ing  the  same  from  the  unjust  damage 
put  upon  them  through  this  financier 
ing  and  bills  of  exchange,  which  we 
have  suffered  and  are  continuing  to  suf 
fer  a.t  the  time  we  made  such  contracts, 


in  order  to  avoid  still  greater  embarrass 
ments  that  would  have  arisen  had 
there  been  want  of  provision  for  our 

military  affairs Having 

decided  to  cancel  and  annihilate  all 
the  aforesaid  interests  and  impositions, 
we  shall  afterwards  meditate  upon 
ways  and  means  by  which  may  be 
paid  to  the  merchants  and  traders  what 
may  seem  to  us  properly  due  to  them 
in  regard  to  these  contracts,  transfers, 
and  assignments Accord 
ingly  we  suspend  and  declare  sus 
pended  all  such  assignations  made  by 
us  in  any  manner  whatsoever  since 
Sept.  1, 1575,  and  Dec.  1, 1577,  unto  this 
date,  to  the  said  merchants  and  traders, 
whether  of  taxes,  gifts,  domains,  rents, 
or  any  other  property  or  revenues  what 
soever,  on  account  of  such  bills  of  ex 
change  or  other  advances.  And  we 
order  the  monies  coming  from  such 
pledged  property  to  be  henceforth 
paid  into  our  royal  treasury,  for  the 
support  of  our  own  necessities,  de 
claring  from  this 'day  forth  all  pay 
ments  otherwise  made  to  be  null  and 
void. 

"  20  November,  1596." 

Bor,  III.  318,  319.  Herrera,  iii.  711, 
seqq.  Compare  Reyd,  301,  302.  Me- 
teren,  388-391 .  It  was  found  necessary 
after  the  expiration  of  a  year  to  revoke 
these  orders,  as  the  usual  consequence* 
of  repudiation  followed. 


1697.  EFFECTS  OF  PHILIPS  ACT.  443 

which,  in  his  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  trade,  he  considered 
his  exclusive  property  flowing  speedily  into  the  coffers  of  the 
merchants  of  Europe,  especially  those  of  the  hated  common 
wealth  of  the  rebellious  Netherlands. 

Therefore  he  solemnly  renounced  all  his  contracts,  and 
took  God  to  witness  that  it  was  to  serve  His  Divine  will.14 
How  else  could  he  hope  to  continue  his  massacre  of  the 
Protestants  ? 

The  effect  of  the  promulgation  of  this  measure  was  instan 
taneous.  Two  millions  and  a  half  of  bills  of  exchange  sold  by 
the  Cardinal  Albert  came  back  in  one  day  protested.  The 
chief  merchants  and  bankers  of  Europe  suspended  payment. 
Their  creditors  became  bankrupt.  At  the  Frankfort  fair 
there  were  more  failures  in  one  day  than  there  had  ever 
been  in  all  the  years  since  Frankfort  existed.15  In  Genoa 
alone  a  million  dollars  of  interest  were  confiscated.16  It  was 
no  better  in  Antwerp ;  but  Antwerp  was  already  ruined. 
There  was  a  general  howl  of  indignation  and  despair  upon 
every  exchange,  in  every  counting-room,  in  every  palace, 
in  every  cottage  of  Christendom.  Such  a  tremendous  repudia 
tion  of  national  debts  was  never  heard  of  before.  There  had 
been  debasements  of  the  currency,  petty  frauds  by  kings  upon 
their  unfortunate  peoples,  but  such  a  crime  as  this  had  never 
been  conceived  by  human  heart  before. 

The  archduke  was  fain  to  pawn  his  jewelry,  his  plate,  his 
furniture,  to  support  the  daily  expenses  of  his  household. 
Meantime  he  was  to  set  an  army  in  the  field  to  relieve  a  city, 
beleaguered  by  the  most  warlike  monarch  in  Christendom. 
Fortunately  for  him,  that  prince  was  in  very  similar  straits, 
for  the  pressure  upon  the  public  swindlers  and  the  auction 
sales  of  judicial  ermine  throughout  his  kingdom  were  not  as 
rapidly  productive  as  had  been  hoped. 

It  was  precisely  at  this  moment,  too,  that  an  incident  of 
another  nature  occurred  in  Antwerp,  which  did  not  tend 
to  make  the  believers  in  the  possibility  of  religious  oi 

14  Bor,  Herrera,  ubi  mp.  16  Bor,  Reyd,  vM  mp.  "  Ibid. 


444  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIII. 

political  freedom  more  in  love  with  the  system  of  Spain  and 
Rome.  Those  blood-dripping  edicts  against  heresy  in  the 
Netherlands,  of  which  enough  has  been  said  in  previous 
volumes  of  this  history,  and  which  had  caused  the  deaths,  by 
axe,  faggot,  halter,  or  burial  alive,  of  at  least  fifty  thousand 
human  creatures — however  historical  scepticism  may  shut 
its  eyes  to  evidence — had  now  been  dormant  for  twenty 
years.  Their  activity  had  ceased  with  the  pacification  of 
Ghent  ;  but  the  devilish  spirit  which  had  inspired  them  still 
lived  in  the  persons  of  the  Jesuits,  and  there  were  now  more 
Jesuits  in  the  obedient  provinces  than  there  had  been  for 
years.  We  have  seen  that  Champagny's  remedy  for  the  ills 
the  country  was  enduring  was  "  more  Jesuits."  And  this, 
too,  was  Albert's  recipe.  Always  more  Jesuits.17  And  now 
the  time  had  come  when  the  Jesuits  thought  that  they  might 
step  openly  with  their  works  into  the  daylight  again.  Of  late 
years  they  had  shrouded  themselves  in  comparative  mystery, 
but  from  their  seminaries  and  colleges  had  gone  forth  a 
plentiful  company  of  assassins  against  Elizabeth  and  Henry, 
Nassau,  Barneveld,  and  others  who,  whether  avowedly  or 
involuntarily,  were  prominent  in  the  party  of  human  progress. 
Some  important  murders  had  already  been  accomplished,  and 
the  prospect  was  fair  that  still  others  might  follow,  if  the 
Jesuits  persevered.  Meantime  those  ecclesiastics  thought 
that  a  wholesome  example  might  be  set  to  humbler  heretics 
by  the  spectacle  of  a  public  execution. 

Two  maiden  ladies  lived  on  the  north  rampart  of  Antwerp. 
They  had  formerly  professed  the  Protestant  religion,  and  had 
been  thrown  into  prison  for  that  crime ;  but  the  fear  of 
further  persecution,  human  weakness,  or*  perhaps  sincere 
conviction,  had  caused  them  to  renounce  the  error  of  their 
ways,  and  they  now  went  to  mass.  But  they  had  a  maid 
servant,  forty  years  of  age,  Anna  van  den  Hove  by  name, 
who  was  staunch  in  that  reformed  faith  in  which  she  had 
been  born  and  bred.  The  Jesuits  denounced  this  maid- 

N'%    «  Albert  to  Philip,  3  May,  1596.     (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 


1597.  PERSECUTION  OF  ANNA  VAN   DEN  HOVE.  445 

servant  to  the  civil  authority,  and  claimed  her  condemnation 
and  execution  under  the  edicts  of  1540,  decrees  which  every 
one  had  supposed  as  obsolete  as  the  statutes  of  Draco,  which 
they  had  so  entirely  put  to  shame. 

The  sentence  having  been  obtained  from  the  docile  and 
priest-ridden  magistrates,  Anna  van  den  Hove  was  brought  to 
Brussels  and  informed  that  she  was  at  once  to  be  buried 
alive.  At  the  same  time,  the  Jesuits  told  her  that  by  con 
verting  herself  to  the  Church  she  might  escape  punishment.18 

When  King  Henry  IV.  was  summoned  to  renounce 
that  same  Huguenot  faith,  of  which  he  was  the  political 
embodiment  and  the  military  champion,  the  candid  man 
answered  by  the  simple  demand  to  be  instructed.  When  the 
proper  moment  came,  the  instruction  was  accomplished  by  an 
archbishop  with  the  rapidity  of  magic.  Half  an  hour  undid 
the  work  of  half  a  life-time.  Thus  expeditiously  could 
religious  conversion  be  effected  when  an  earthly  crown  was 
its  guerdon.  The  poor  serving-maid  was  less  open  to  con 
viction.  In  her  simple  fanaticism  she  too  talked  of  a  crown, 
and  saw  it  descending  from  Heaven  on  her  poor  forlorn  head 
as  the  reward,  not  of  apostasy,  but  of  steadfastness.  She 
asked  her  tormentors  how  they  could  expect  her  to  abandon 
her  religion  for  fear  of  death.  She  had  read  her  Bible  every 
day,  she  said,  and  had  found  nothing  there  of  the  pope 
or  purgatory,  masses,  invocation  of  saints,  or  the  absolution 
of  sins  except  through  the  blood  of  the  blessed  Kedeemer. 
She  interfered  with  no  one  who  thought  differently ;  she 
quarrelled  with  no  one's  religious  belief.  She  had  prayed  for 
enlightenment  from  Him,  if  she  were  in  error,  and  the  result 
was  that  she  felt  strengthened  in  her  simplicty,  and  resolved 
to  do  nothing  against  her  conscience.  Bather  than  add  this 
sin  to  the  manifold  ones  committed  by  her,  she  preferred,  she 
said,  to  die  the  death.  So  Anna  van  den  Hove  was  led,  one 
fine  midsummer  morning,  to  the  hay-field  outside  of  Brussels, 
between  two  Jesuits,  followed  by  a  number  of  a  peculiar  kind 

18  Bor,  IV.  334,  335.     Meteren,  400. 


446  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIII. 

of  monks  called  love-brothers.  Those  holy  men  goaded  her 
as  she  went,  telling  her  that  she  was  the  devil's  carrion,  and 
calling  on  her  to  repent  at  the  last  moment,  and  thus  save 
her  life  and  escape  eternal  damnation  beside.  But  the  poor 
soul  had  no  ear  for  them,  and  cried  out  that,  like  Stephen, 
she  saw  the  heavens  opening,  and  the  angels  stooping  down 
to  conduct  her  far  away  from  the  power  of  the  evil  one. 
When  they  came  to  the  hay-field  they  found  the  pit  already 
dug,  and  the  maid-servant  was  ordered  to  descend  into  it. 
The  executioner  then  covered  her  with  earth  up  to  the  waist, 
and  a  last  summons  was  made  to  her  to  renounce  her  errors. 
She  refused,  and  then  the  earth  was  piled  upon  her,  and  the 
hangman  jumped  upon  the  grave  till  it  was  flattened  and 
firm.19 

Of  all  the  religious  murders  done  in  that  hideous  sixteenth 
century  in  the  Netherlands,  the  burial  of  the  Antwerp  servant- 
maid  was  the  last  and  the  worst.  The  worst,  because  it  was 
a  cynical  and  deliberate  attempt  to  revive  the  demon  whose 
thirst  for  blood  had  been  at  last  allayed,  and  who  had  sunk 
into  repose.  And  it  was  a  spasmodic  revival  only,  for,  in  the 
provinces  at  least,  that  demon  had  finished  his  work. 

Still,  on  the  eastern  borders  of  what  was  called  civilization, 
Turk  and  Christian  were  contending  for  the  mastery.  The 
great  battle  of  Kovesd  had  decided  nothing,  and  the  crescent 
still  shone  over  the  fortified  and  most  important  Hungarian 
stronghold  of  Raab,  within  arm's  length  of  Vienna.  How 
rapidly  might  that  fatal  and  menacing  emblem  fill  its  horns, 
should  it  once  be  planted  on  the  walls  of  the  Imperial 
capital  !  It  was  not  wonderful  that  a  sincere  impatience 
should  be  felt  by  all  the  frontier  States  for  the  termination 
of  the  insurrection  of  the  Netherlands.  Would  that  rebellious 
and  heretical  republic  only  consent  to  go  out  of  existence, 
again  bow  its  stubborn  knee  to  Philip  and  the  Pope,  what 
a  magnificent  campaign  might  be  made  against  Mahomet ! 
The  King  of  Spain  was  the  only  potentate  at  all  comparable 

19  Bor,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


1597,  TURK  AND  CHRISTIAN.  447 

in  power  to  the  grand  Turk.  The  King  of  France,  most 
warlike  of  men,  desired  nothing  better,  as  he  avowed,  than  to 
lead  his  brave  nobles  into  Hungary  to  smite  the  unbelievers. 
Even  Prince  Maurice,  it  was  fondly  hoped,  might  be  induced 
to  accept  a  high  command  in  the  united  armies  of  Christendom, 
and  seek  for  glory  by  campaigning,  in  alliance  with  Philip, 
Rudolph,  and  Henry,  against  the  Ottoman,  rather  than 
against  his  natural  sovereign.  Such  were  the  sagacity,  the 
insight,  the  power  of  forecasting  the  future  possessed  in  those 
days  by  monarchs,  statesmen,  and  diplomatists  who  were 
imagining  that  they  held  the  world's  destiny  in  their  hands, 

There  was  this  summer  a  solemn  embassy  from  the 
emperor  to  the  States-General  proposing  mediation  refer 
ring  in  the  usual  conventional  phraseology  to  the  right  of 
kings  to  command,  and  to  the  duty  of  the  people  to  submit, 
and  urging  the  gentle-mindedness  and  readiness  to  forgive 
which  characterised  the  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands  and  of 
Spain. 

And  the  statesmen  of  the  republic  had  answered  as  they 
always  did,  showing  with  courteous  language,  irresistible 
logic,  and  at  unmerciful  length,  that  there  never  had  beeu 
kings  in  the  Netherlands  at  all,  and  that  the  gentle-minded- 
ness  of  Philip  had  been  exhibited  in  the  massacre  of  a 
hundred  thousand  Netherlanders  in  various  sieges  and  battles, 
and  in  the  murder,  under  the  Duke  of  Alva  alone,  of  twenty 
thousand  human  beings  by  the  hangman.20 

They  liked  not  such  divine  right  nor  such  gentle-minded- 
ness.  They  recognised  no  duty  on  their  part  to  consent  to 
such  a  system.  Even  the  friendly  King  of  Denmark  sent  a 
legation  for  a  similar  purpose,  which  was  respectfully  but 
very  decidedly  allowed  to  return  as  it  came  ; 2l  but  the  most 
persistent  in  schemes  of  interference  for  the  purpose  of 
putting  an  end  to  the  effusion  of  blood  in  the  Netherlands 
was  Sigismund  of  Poland.  This  monarch,  who  occupied  two 
very  incompatible  positions,  being  sovereign  at  once  of 

90  Bor,  IV.  358.  21  Ibid.  376. 


448  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIII, 

fanatically  Protestant  Sweden  and  of  orthodox  Poland,  and 
who  was,  moreover,  son-in-law  of  Archduke  Charles  of  Styria 
—whose  other  daughter  was  soon  to  be  espoused  by  the 
Prince  of  Spain — was  personally  and  geographically  interested 
in  liberating  Philip  from  the  inconvenience  of  his  Netherland 
war.  Only  thus  could  he  hope  to  bring  the  Spanish  power 
to  the  rescue  of  Christendom  against  the  Turk.  Troubles 
enough  were  in  store  for  Sigismund  in  his  hereditary  northern 
realms,  and  he  was  to  learn  that  his  intermarriage  with  the 
great  Catholic  and  Imperial  house  did  not  enable  him  to 
trample  out  Protestantism  in  those  hardy  Scandinavian 
and  Flemish  regions  where  it  had  taken  secure  root.  Mean 
time  he  despatched,  in  solemn  mission  to  the  republic  and 
to  the  heretic  queen,  a  diplomatist  whose  name  and  whose 
oratorical  efforts  have  by  a  caprice  of  history  been  allowed  to 
endure  to  our  times. 

Paul  Dialyn  was  solemnly  received  at  the  Hague  on  the 
21  July,  21st  July.22  A  pragmatical  fop,  attired  in  a  long, 
1597-  magnificent  Polish  robe,  covered  with  diamonds  and 
other  jewels,  he  was  yet  recognised  by  some  of  those  present 
as  having  been  several  years  before  a  student  at  Leyden  under 
a  different  name,  and  with  far  less  gorgeous  surroundings.23 
He  took  up  his  position  in  the  council-chamber,  in  the 
presence  of  the  stadholder  and  the  leading  members  of  the 
States-General,  and  pronounced  a  long  Latin  oration,  in 
the  manner,  as  it  was  said,  of  a  monk  delivering  a  sermon 
from  the  pulpit.  He  kept  his  eyes  steadily  fixed  on  the 
ceiling,  never  once  looking  at  the  men  whom  he  was 
addressing,  and  speaking  in  a  loud,  nasal,  dictatorial  tone, 
not  at  all  agreeable  to  the  audience.  He  dwelt  in  terms  of 
extravagant  eulogy  on  the  benignity  and  gentleness  of  the 
King  of  Spain — qualities  in  which  he  asserted  that  no  prince 
on  earth  could  be  compared  to  him — and  he  said  this  to 
the  very  fa'ce  of  Maurice  of  Nassau.  That  the  benignant 
and  gentle  king  had  caused  the  stadholder's  father  to  be 

*  Bor,  IV.  332-334.    Reyd,  304-305.  *»  Reyd,  ubi  sup. 


1597.  EMBASSY  FROM  THE  KING  OF  POLAND.  449 

assassinated,  and  that  he  had  rewarded  the  murderer's  family 
with  a  patent  of  nobility,  and  with  an  ample  revenue  taken 
from  the  murdered  man's  property,  appeared  of  no  account 
to  the  envoy  in  the  full  sweep  of  his  rhetoric.  Yet  the 
reminiscence  caused  a  shudder  of  disgust  in  all  who  heard 
him. 

He  then  stated  the  wish  of  his  master  the  Polish  king  to 
be  that,  in  consideration  of  the  present  state  of  Europe  in 
regard  to  the  Turk,  the  provinces  might  reconcile  themselves 
to  their  natural  master,  who  was  the  most  powerful  monarch 
in  Christendom,  and  the  only  one  able  to  make  head  against 
the  common  foe.  They  were  solemnly  warned  of  the  enor 
mous  power  and  resources  of  the  great  king,  with  whom  it 
was  hopeless  for  them  to  protract  a  struggle  sure  to  end  at 
last  in  their  uttermost  destruction.  It  was  for  kings  to  issue 
commands,  he  said,  and  for  the  people  to  obey  ;  but  Philip 
was  full  of  sweetness,  and  would  accord  them  full  forgiveness 
for  their  manifold  sins  against  him.  The  wish  to  come  to 
the  rescue  of  Christendom,  in  this  extreme  peril  from  the 
Turk,  was  with  him  paramount  to  all  other  considerations.24 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  substance  of  the  long  Latin  harangue 
by  which  it  was  thought  possible  to  induce  those  sturdy 
republicans  and  Calvinists  to  renounce  their  vigorous  national 
existence  and  to  fall  on  their  knees  before  the  most  Catholic 
king.  This  was  understood  to  be  mediation,  statesmanship, 
diplomacy,  in  deference  to  which  the  world  was  to  pause 
and  the  course  of  events  to  flow  backwards.  Truly,  despots 
and  their  lackeys  were  destined  to  learn  some  rude  lessons 
from  that  vigorous  little  commonwealth  in  the  North  Sea, 
before  it  should  have  accomplished  its  mission  on  earth. 

The  States-General  dissembled  their  disgust,  however,  for 
it  was  not  desirable  to  make  open  enemies  of  Sigismund  or 
Rudolph.  They  refused  to  accept  a  copy  of  the  oration,  but 
they  promised  to  send  him  a  categorical  answer  to  it  in 
writing.  Meantime  the  envoy  had  the  honour  of  walking 


24  Bor,  ubi  sup. 
VOL.  III.— 2  G 


450  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS          CHAP.  XXXIII 

about  the  castle  with  the  stadholder,  and,  in  the  course  of 
their  promenade,  Maurice  pointed  to  the  thirty-eight  standards 
taken  at  the  battle  of  Turnhout,  which  hung  from  the 
cedarn  rafters  of  the  ancient  banquetting  hall.25  The  mute 
eloquence  of  those  tattered  banners  seemed  a  not  illogical 
reply  to  the  diplomatic  Paul's  rhetoric  in  regard  to  the  hope 
lessness  of  a  contest  with  Spanish  armies. 

Next,  Van  der  Werken — pensionary  of  Leyden,  and  a 
23  July,  classical  scholar — waited  upon  the  envoy  with  a  Latin 
1597.  reply  to  his  harangue,  together  with  a  courteous 
letter  for  Sigismund.  Both  documents  were  scathing  denun 
ciations  of  the  policy  pursued  by  the  King  of  Spain  and  by 
all  his  aiders  and  abettors,  and  a  distinct  but  polished  refusal 
to  listen  to  a  single  word  in  favour  of  mediation  or  of  peace. 

Paul  Dialyn  then  received  a  courteous  permission  to  leave 
the  territory  of  the  republic,  and  was  subsequently  forwarded 
in  a  States'  vessel  of  war  to  England. 

His  reception,  about  a  month  later,  by  Queen  Elizabeth  is 
an  event  on  which  all  English  historians  are  fond  of  dwelling. 
The  pedant,  on  being  presented  to  that  imperious  and  accom 
plished  sovereign,  deported  himself  with  the  same  ludicrous 
arrogance  which  had  characterised  him  at  the  Hague.  His 
Latin  oration,  which  had  been  duly  drawn  up  for  him  by  the 
Chancellor  of  Sweden,  was  quite  as  impertinent  as  his 
harangue  to  the  States-General  had  been,  and  was  delivered 
with  the  same  conceited  air.  The  queen  replied  on  the 
instant  in  the  same  tongue.  She  was  somewhat  in  a  passion, 
but  spoke  with  majestic  moderation.26 

"  Oh,  how  I  have  been  deceived  !"  she  exclaimed.  "  I 
expected  an  ambassador,  and  behold  a  herald*!  In  all  my  life 
I  never  heard  of  such  an  oration.  Your  boldness  and  unad 
vised  temerity  I  cannot  sufficiently  admire.  But  if  the 
king  your  master  has  given  you  any  such  thing  in  charge 
— which  I  much  doubt — I  believe  it  is  because,  being  but  a 

K  Bor,  ubi  sup. 

26  Cam  den,  536,  537.  Bor,  IV.  350.  Wright,  '  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her 
Times,'  ii.  480. 


1597.  DIALYN'S  RECEPTION  BY  ELIZABETH.  451 

young  man,  and  lately  advanced  to  the  crown,  not  by  ordi 
nary  succession  of  blood,  but  by  election,  he  understandeth 
not  yet  the  way  of  such  affairs."  And  so  on  for  several 
minutes  longer. 

Never  did  envoy  receive  such  a  setting  down  from  sove 
reign. 

"  God's  death,  my  lords  !"  said  the  queen  to  her  ministers, 
as  she  concluded,  "  I  have  been  enforced  this  day  to  scour  up 
my  old  Latin  that  hath  lain  long  in  rusting."  * 

This  combination  of  ready  wit,  high  spirit,  and  good  Latin, 
justly  excited  the  enthusiasm  of  the  queen's  subjects,  and 
endeared  her  still  more  to  every  English  heart.  It  may,  how 
ever,  be  doubted  whether  the  famous  reply  was  in  reality  so 
entirely  extemporaneous  as  it  has  usually  been  considered. 
The  States-General  had  lost  no  time  in  forwarding  to  Eng 
land  a  minute  account  of  the  proceedings  of  Paul  Dialyn  at 
the  Hague,  together  with  a  sketch  of  his  harangue  and  of 
the  reply  qp.  behalf  of  the  States.28  Her  Majesty  and  her 
counsellors  therefore,  knowing  that  the  same  envoy  was  on 
his  way  to  England  with  a  similar  errand,  may  be  supposed 
to  have  had  leisure  to  prepare  the  famous  impromptu.  More 
over,  it  is  difficult  to  understand,  on  the  presumption  that 
these  classic  utterances  were  purely  extemporaneous,  how 
they  have  kept  their  place  in  all  chronicles  and  histories  from 
that  day  to  the  present,  without  change  of  a  word  in  the 
text.  Surely  there  was  no  stenographer  present  to  take  down 
the  queen's  words  as  they  fell  from  her  lips. 

The  military  events  of  the  year  did  not  testify  to  a  much 
more  successful  activity  on  the  part  of  the  new  league  in  the 
field  than  it  had  displayed  in  the  sphere  of  diplomacy.  In 
vain  did  the  envoy  of  the  republic  urge  Henry  and  his 
counsellors  to  follow  up  the  crushing  blow  dealt  to  the  car 
dinal  at  Turnhout  by  vigorous  operations  in  conjunction  with 
the  States'  forces  in  Artois  and  Hainault.29  For  Amiens  had 

27  Wright,  ubi  mp.  28  Bor,  iM  sup. 

89  Calvaert  to  the  States-General,  in  Deventer,  ii.  141,  aeqq. 


452  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXX I1L 

meantime  been  taken,  and  it  was  now  necessary  for  the  king 
to  employ  all  his  energy  and  all  his  resources  to  recover  that 
important  city.  So  much  damage  to  the  cause  of  the  re 
public  and  of  the  new  league  had  the  little  yellow  Spanish 
captain  inflicted  in  an  hour,  with  his  bags  of  chestnuts  and 
walnuts.  The  siege  of  Amiens  lasted  nearly  six  months,  and 
was  the  main  event  of  the  campaign,  so  far  as  Henry  was 
concerned.  It  is  true — as  the  reader  has  already  seen,  and  as 
will  soon  be  more  clearly  developed — that  Henry's  heart  had 
been  fixed  on  peace  from  the  moment  that  he  consented  in 
conjunction  with  the  republic  to  declare  war,  and  that  he 
had  entered  into  secret  and  separate  negotiations  for  that 
purpose  with  the  agents  of  Philip  so  soon  as  he  had  bound 
himself  by  solemn  covenant  with  Elizabeth  to  have  no 
negotiations  whatever  with  him  except  with  her  full  know 
ledge  and  consent. 

The  siege  of  Amiens,  however,  was  considered  a  military 
masterpiece,  and  its  whole  progress  showed  the«  revolution 
which  the  stadholder  of  Holland  had  already  effected  in 
European  warfare.  Henry  IV.  beleaguered  Amiens  as  if  he 
were  a  pupil  of  Maurice,  and  contemporaries  were  enthusi 
astic  over  the  science,  the  patience,  the  inventive  ingenuity 
which  were  at  last  crowned  with  success.  The  heroic 
Hernan  Tello  de  Porto  Carrero  was  killed  in  a  sortie  during 
the  defence  of  the  place  which  he  had  so  gallantly  won, 
19  Sept.  and  when  the  city  was  surrendered  to  the  king 
1597  on  the  19th  of  September  it  was  stipulated  in 
the  first  article  of  the  capitulation  that  the  tomb,  epitaph, 
and  trophies,  by  which  his  memory  was  honoured  in  the 
principal  church,  should  not  be  disturbed,  and  that  his  body 
might  be  removed  whenever  and  whither  it  seemed  good  to 
his  sovereign.  In  vain  the  cardinal  had  taken  the  field 
with  an  army  of  eighteen  thousand  foot  and  fifteen  hundred 
light  cavalry.  The  king  had  learned  so  well  to  entrench 
himself  and  to  moderate  his  ardour  for  inopportune  pitched 
battles,  that  the  relieving  force  could  find  no  occasion  to  effect 
its  purpose,  The  archduke  retired,  He  came  to  Amiens  like 


1597. 


RECOVERY  OF  AMIENS. 


453 


a  soldier,  said  Henry,  but  he  went  back  like  a  priest.  More 
over,  he  was  obliged  to  renounce,  besides  the  city,  a  most 
tempting  prize  which  he  thought  that  he  had  secured  within 
the  city.  Alexander  Farnese,  in  his  last  French  campaign, 
had  procured  and  sent  to  his  uncle  the  foot  of  St.  Philip  and  ' 
the  head  of  St.  Lawrence  ;  but  what  was  Albert's  delight 
when  he  learned  that  in  Amiens  cathedral  there  was  a 
large  piece  of  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist  !  "  There  will 
be  a  great  scandal  about  it  in  this  kingdom,"  he  wrote  to 
Philip,  "  if  I  undertake  to  transport  it  out  of  the  country, 
but  I  will  try  to  contrive  it  as  your  Majesty  desires."  * 

Bnt  the  military  events  of  the  year  prevented  the  cardinal 
from  gratifying  the  king  in  regard  to  these  choice  curi 
osities. 

After  the  reduction  of  the  city  Henry  went  a  considerable 
distance  with  his  army  towards  the  frontier  of  Flanders,  in 
order  to  return,  as  he  said,  his  cousin's  visit.31  But  the 
recovery  of  Amiens  had  placed  too  winning  a  card  in  the 
secret  game  which  he  was  then  playing  to  allow  him  to  push 
his  nominal  adversary  to  extremities. 

The  result,  suspected  very  early  in  the  year  by  the  states 
men  of  the  republic,  was  already  very  plainly  foreshadowing 
itself  as  the  winter  advanced. 

Nor  had  the  other  two  members  of  the  league  effected 
much  in  the  field.  Again  an  expedition  had  been  fitted  forth 
under  Essex  against  the  Spanish  coast  to  return  the  compli 
ment  which  Philip  had  intended  with  the  unlucky  armada 
under  Santa  Gadea  ;  and  again  Sir  Francis  Vere,  with  two 
thousand  veterans  from  the  Netherlands,  and  the  Dutch 
admirals,  with  ten  ships  of  war  and  a  large  number  of  tenders 
and  transports,  had  faithfully  taken  part  in  the  adventure. 


80  Albert  to  Philip,  14  March,  1597. 
Same  to  same,  16  Aug.  1597.  (Arch, 
he  Sim,  MS.) 

"  Es  cosa  cierta  que  esta  en  Amiens 
gran  parte  de  la  cabeza  de  San  Juan 
Baptista.  Ann  podria  causar  en  aquel 
Reyno  algun  scandalo  el  tratar  de  un 
traslacion  pero  procurare  que  se  guie 


como  mas  convenga  conforme  a  lo  que 
V.  Magd.  me  manda,"  &c.  &c. 

81  For  the  siege  of  Amiens,  see  De 
Thou,  xiii.  109-126.  Meteren,  396.  Ben- 
tivoglio,  458,  seqg.  Carnero,  407,  seqq., 
and  especially  Coloma,  238-271.  Albert 
to  Philip,  30  Sept.  1597.  (Arch,  de 
Simancas  MS.) 


454  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIII. 

The  fleet  was  tempest-tossed  tor  ten  days,  during  which  it 
reached  the  threatened  coast  and  was  blown  off  again.  It 
returned  at  last  into  the  English  ports,  having  accomplished 
nothing,  and  having  expended  superfluously  a  considerable 
amount  of  money  and  trouble.  Essex,  with  a  few  of  the 
vessels,  subsequently  made  a  cruise  towards  the  Azores,  but, 
beyond  the  capture  of  a  Spanish  merchantman  or  two,  gained 
no  glory  and  inflicted  no  damage.32 

Nothing  could  be  feebler  than  the  military  operations  of 
the  three  confederated  powers  ever  since  they  had  so  solemnly 
confederated  themselves. 

Sick  at  heart  with  the  political  intrigues  of  his  allies, 
which  had  brought  a  paralysis  upon  his  arms  which  the 
blows  of  the  enemy  could  hardly  have  effected,  Maurice  took 
the  field  in  August  for  an  autumnal  campaign  on  the  eastern 
frontier  of  the  republic.  Foiled  in  his  efforts  for  a  combined 
attack  by  the  whole  force  of  the  league  upon  Philip's  power 
in  the  west,  he  thought  it  at  least  expedient  to  liberate  the 
Ehine,  to  secure  the  important  provinces  of  Zutphen,  Gelder- 
land,  and  Overyssel  from  attack,  and  to  provide  against  the 
dangerous  intrigues  and  concealed  warfare  carried  on  by  Spain 
in  the  territories  of  the  mad  Duke  of  Juliers,  Cleves  and 
Berg.  For  the  seeds  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  of  Germany 
were  already  sown  broadcast  in  those  fatal  duchies,  and  it 
was  the  determination  of  the  agents  of  Spain  to  acquire  the 
mastery  of  that  most  eligible  military  position,  that  excellent 
sedes  belli,  whenever  Protestantism  was  to  be  assailed  in 
England,  the  Netherlands,  or  Germany. 

Meantime  the  Hispaniolated  counsellors  of  Duke  John  had 
strangled — as  it  was  strongly  suspected — Jiis  duchess,  who 
having  gone  to  bed  in  perfect  health  one  evening  was  found 
dead  in  her  bed  next  morning,  with  an  ugly  mark  on  her 
throat ;  ^  and  it  was  now  the  purpose  of  these  statesmen  to 
find  a  new  bride  for  their  insane  sovereign  in  the  ever  ready 
and  ever  orthodox  house  of  Lorraine.34  And  the  Protestant 

»  Bor,  IV.  335-337.    Camden,  529-535.  M  Reyd,  319.  M  Ibid. 


1597.  MARRIAGE  OF  THE  PRINCESS  EMILIA.  455 

brothers-in-law  and  nephews  and  nieces  were  making  every 
possible  combination  in  order  to  check  such  dark  designs, 
and  to  save  these  important  territories  from  the  ubiquitous 
power  of  Spain. 

The  stadholder  had  also  family  troubles  at  this  period. 
His  sister  Emilia  had  conceived  a  desperate  passion  for  Don 
Emmanuel,  the  pauper  son  of  the  forlorn  pretender  to 
Portugal,  Don  Antonio,  who  had  at  last  departed  this  life. 
Maurice  was  indignant  that  a  Catholic,  an  outcast,  and,  as 
it  was  supposed,  a  bastard,  should  dare  to  mate  with  the 
daughter  of  William  of  Orange-Nassau ;  and  there  were 
many  scenes  of  tenderness,  reproaches,  recriminations,  and 
liysterica  passio,  in  which  not  only  the  lovers,  the  stad 
holder  and  his  family,  but  also  the  high  and  mighty  States- 
General,  were  obliged  to  enact  their  parts.  The  chronicles 
are  filled  with  the  incidents,  which,  however,  never  turned  to 
tragedy,  nor  even  to  romance,  but  ended,  without  a  cata 
strophe,  in  a  rather  insipid  marriage.  The  Princess  Emilia 
remained  true  both  to  her  religion  and  her  husband  during  a 
somewhat  obscure  wedded  life,  and  after  her  death  Don 
Emmanuel  found  means  to  reconcile  himself  with  the  King 
of  Spain  and  to  espouse,  in  second  nuptials,  a  Spanish  lady.35 

On  the  4th  of  August,  Maurice  arrived  at  Arnhem  with  a 
force  of  seven  thousand  foot  and   twelve  hundred    4  Aug. 
horse.     Hohenlo  was  with  him,  and  William  Lewis,    15t)7- 
and  there  was  yet  another  of  the  illustrious  house  of  Nassau 
in  the  camp,  Frederick  Henry,  a  boy  in  his  thirteenth   year, 
the  youngest  born  of  William   the   Silent,    the  grandson  of 
Admiral  de  Coligny,  now  about,  in  this  his  first  campaign,  to 
take  the  first  step  in  a  long  and  noble  career.36 

Having  reduced  the  town  and  castle  of  Alphen,  the  stad 
holder  came  before  Kheinberg,  which  he  very  expeditiously 
invested.  During  a  preliminary  skirmish  William  Lewis 
received  a  wound  in  the  leg,  while  during  the  brief  siege 


86  Bor,  IV.  322-324.    Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  36-40,  183^194, 
88  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  31,32, 


456  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIIL 

Maurice  had  a  narrow  escape  from  death,  a  cannon-ball  pass 
ing  through  his  tent  and  over  his  head  as  he  lay  taking  a 
brief  repose  upon  his  couch.87 

On  the  19th,  Kheinberg,   the  key  to   that  portion  of  the 

19  Aug.    river,    surrendered.      On  the  31st    the    stadholder 

1597.        opened  his  batteries  upon  the  city  of  Meurs,  which 

capitulated   on  the    2nd  of    September;    the  commandant, 

Andrew  Miranda,  stipulating  that  he  should  carry  off  an  old 

fifty-pounder,  the  only  piece  of  cannon  in  the  place.     Maurice 

gave   his  permission  with  a  laugh,  begging  Miranda  not  to 

batter  down  any  cities  with  his  big  gun.38 

On  the  8th  September  the  stadholder  threw  a  bridge  over 
the  Rhine,  and  crossing  that  river  and  the  Lippe,  came  on  the 
llth  before  Grol.  There  was  no  Christopher  Mondragon 
now  in  his  path  to  check  his  progress  and  spoil  his  campaign, 
so  that  in  seventeen  days  the  city,  being  completely  sur 
rounded  with  galleries  and  covered  ways  up  to  its  walls, 
surrendered.  Count  van  Stirum,  royal  governor  of  the  place, 
dined  with  the  stadholder  on  that  day,  and  the  garrison,  from 
twelve  hundred  to  fifteen  hundred  strong,  together  with  such 
of  the  townsfolk  as  chose  to  be  subjects  of  Philip  rather 
than  citizens  of  the  republic,  were  permitted  to  depart  in 
peace.39 

On  the  9th  October  the  town  and  castle  of  Brevoort  were 
taken  by  storm  and  the  town  was  burned.40 

On  the  18th  October,  Maurice  having  summoned  Enschede, 
the  commandant  requested  permission  to  examine  the  artil 
lery  by  which  it  was  proposed  to  reduce  the  city.  Leave 
being  granted,  two  captains  were  deputed  accordingly  as 
inspectors,  who  reported  that  resistance  was  useless.  The 
place  accordingly  capitulated  at  once.41 

Here,  again,  was  an  improvement  on  the  heroic  practice  of 
Alva  and  Romero. 

On  the  21st  and  22nd  October,  Ootmarsum  and  Oldenzaa] 

37  Bor,  IV.  345.    Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  32. 

88  Keyd,  xiv.  312.  39  Bor,  IV.  349.    Meteren.  411-417. 

40  Ibid.  41  Letter  of  Maurice,  in  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  180, 


1597.  RESULTS  OF  MAURICE'S  CAMPAIGN.  457 

were  taken,  and  on  the  28th  the  little  army  came  before 
Lingen.  This  important  city  surrendered  after  a  fortnight's 
siege. 

Thus  closed  a  sagacious,  business-like,  three-months'  cam 
paign,  in  the  course  of  which  the  stadholder,  although  with 
a  slender  force,  had  by  means  of  his  excellent  organization 
and  his  profound  practical  science,  achieved  very  considerable 
results.  He  had  taken  nine  strongly-fortified  cities  and  five 
castles,  opened  the  navigation  of  the  Khine,  and  strengthened 
the  whole  eastern  bulwarks  of  the  republic.42  He  was  censured 
by  the  superficial  critics  of  the  old  school  for  his  humanity 
towards  the  conquered  garrisons.  At  least  it  was  thought 
quite  superfluous  to  let  these  Spanish  soldiers  go  scot  free. 
Five  thousand  veterans  had  thus  been  liberated  to  swell  the 
ranks  of  the  cardinal's  army,  but  the  result  soon  proved  the 
policy  of  Maurice  to  be,  in  many  ways,  wholesome.  The  great 
repudiation  by  Philip,  and  the  consequent  bankruptcy  of 
Albert,  converted  large  numbers  of  the  royal  troops  into 
mutineers,  and  these  garrisons  from  the  eastern  frontier  were 
glad  to  join  in  the  game. 

After  the  successful  siege  of  Hulst  in  the  previous  year 
the  cardinal  had  reduced  the  formidable  mutiny  which  had 
organized  itself  at  Tirlemont  and  Chapelle  in  the  days  of  his 
luckless  predecessor.  Those  rebels  had  been  paid  off  and  had 
mainly  returned  to  Italy  and  other  lands  to  spend  their  money. 
But  soon  a  new  rebellion  in  all  the  customary  forms  estab 
lished  itself  in  Antwerp  citadel  during  the  temporary  absence 
of  Mexia,  the  governor,  and  great  was  the  misery  of  the 
unhappy  burghers  thus  placed  at  the  mercy  of  the  guns  of 
that  famous  pentagon.  They  were  obliged  to  furnish  large 
sums  to  the  whole  garrison,  paying  every  common  foot-soldier 
twelve  stivers  a  day  and  the  officers  in  proportion,  while  the 
great  Eletto  demanded,  beside  his  salary,  a  coach  and  six. 
a  state  bed  with  satin  curtains  and  fine  linen,  and  the  materials 
for  banquetting  sumptuously  every  day.43  At  the  slightest 

"  Bor,  IV.  345-368.     Van  der  Kemp,  ii  31-35,  177,  seqq.    Meteren,  iM  sup. 

43  Bor.  IV.  468. 


458  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIII. 

demur  to  these  demands  the  bombardment  from  the  citadel 
would  begin,  and  the  accurate  artillery  practice  of  those 
experienced  cannoneers  soon  convinced  the  loyal  citizens  of 
the  propriety  of  the  arrangement.44  The  example  spread. 
The  garrison  of  Ghent  broke  into  open  revolt,  and  a  general 
military  rebellion  lasted  for  more  than  a  year. 

While  the  loyal  cities  of  the  obedient  provinces  were  thus 
enjoying  the  fruits  of  their  loyalty  and  obedience,  the  rebellious 
capital  of  the  republic  was  receiving  its  stadholder  with 
exuberant  demonstrations  of  gratitude.  The  year,  begun 
with  the  signal  victory  of  Turnhout,  had  worthily  terminated, 
so  far  as  military  events  were  concerned,  with  the  autumnal 
campaign  on  the  Khine,  and  great  were  the  rejoicings  through 
out  the  little  commonwealth. 

Thus,  with  diminished  resources,  had  the  republic  been 
doing  its  share  of  the  work  which  the  an ti- Spanish  league 
had  been  called  into  existence  to  accomplish.  But,  as  already 
intimated,  this  league  was  a  mere  fraud  upon  the  Nether 
lands,  which  their  statesmen  were  not  slow  in  discovering. 
Of  course  it  was  the  object  of  Philip  and  of  the  pope  to 
destroy  this  formidable  triple  alliance  as  soon  as  formed,  and 
they  found  potent  assistance,  not  only  in  Henry's  counsellors, 
but  in  the  bosom  of  that  crafty  monarch  himself.  Clement 
hated  Philip  as  much  as  he  feared  him,  so  that  the  prospect 
both  of  obtaining  Henry  as  a  counterpoise  to  his  own  most 
oppressive  and  most  Catholic  protector,  and  of  breaking  up 
the  great  convert's  alliance  with  the  heretic  queen  and  the 
rebellious  republic,  was  a  most  tempting  one  to  his  Holiness. 
Therefore  he  employed,  indefatigably,  the  matchless  powers 
of  intrigue  possessed  by  Kome  to  effect  this  great  purpose. 
As  for  Elizabeth,  she  was  weary  of  the  war,  most  anxious  to  be 
reimbursed  her  advances  to  the  States,  and  profoundly  jealous 
of  the  rising  commercial  and  naval  greatness  of  the  new 
commonwealth.  If  the  league  therefore  proved  impotent 
from  the  beginning,  certainly  it  was  not  the  fault  of  the 

44  Bor,  IV.  468. 


1597.  POSITION  OF  THE  ANTI-SPANISH  LEAGUE.  459 

United  Netherlands.  We  have  seen  how  much  the  king 
deplored,  in  intimate  conversation  with  De  Bethune,45  his 
formal  declaration  of  war  against  Spain  which  the  Dutch 
diplomatists  had  induced  him  to  make ;  and  indeed  nothing 
can  be  more  certain  than  that  this  public  declaration  of  war, 
and  this  solemn  formation  of  the  triple  alliance  against 
Philip;  were  instantly  accompanied  on  Henry's  part  by  secret 
peace  negotiations  with  Philip's  agents.  Villeroy  told  Envoy 
Calvaert  that  as  for  himself  he  always  trembled  when  he 
thought  on  what  he  had  done,  in  seconding  the  will  of  his 
Majesty  in  that  declaration  at  the  instance  of  the  States- 
General,  of  which  measure  so  many  losses  and  such  bitter 
fruits  had  been  the  result. 6  He  complained,  too,  of  the 
little  assistance  or  co-operation  yielded  by  England.47  Calvaert 
replied  that  he  had  nothing  to  say  in  defence  of  England,48 
but  that  certainly  the  king  could  have  no  cause  to  censure 
the  States.  The  republic,  however,  had  good  ground,  he 
said,  to  complain  that  nothing  had  been  done  by  France,  that 
all  favourable  occasions  had  been  neglected,  and  that  there 
was  a  perpetual  change  of  counsels.  The  envoy  especially, 
and  justly,  reproached  the  royal  government  for  having  taken 
no  advantage  of  the  opportunity  offered  by  the  victory  of 
Turnhout,  in  which  the  republic  had  utterly  defeated  the 
principal  forces  of  the  common  enemy.  He  bluntly  re 
marked,  too,  that  the  mysterious  comings  and  goings  of 
Balvena  had  naturally  excited  suspicions  in  the  Netherlands, 
and  that  it  would  be  better  that  all  such  practices  should  be 
at  once  abandoned.  They  did  his  Majesty  no  service,  and 
it  was  no  wonder  that  they  caused  uneasiness  to  his  allies. 
Villeroy  replied  that  the  king  had  good  reasons  to  give 
satisfaction  to  those  who  were  yearning  for  peace.49 

As  Henry  himself  was  yearning  in  this  regard  as  much  as 
any  of  his  subjects,  it  was  natural  enough  that  he  should 
listen  to  Balvena  and  all  other  informal  negotiators  whom 

46  Antea.     Vide  Sully,  Memoires  I.  viii.  412.    Van  Deventer,  ii.  143. 
46  Calvaert's  letter,  in  Deventer,  ii.  141-146.  41  Ibid. 

«  Ibid.    "  Dat  ick  England  daer  liet."  49 


460  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIII. 

Cardinal  Albert  might  send  from  Brussels  or  Clement  from 
Rome.  It  will  be  recollected  that  Henry's  parting  words 
to  Balvena  at  Rouen  had  been :  "  Tell  the  archduke  that 
I  am  very  much  his  friend.  Let  him  arrange  a  peace. 
Begone.  Be  diligent."  » 

But  the  king's  reply  to  Calvaert,  when,  after  the  interview 
with  Villeroy,  that  envoy  was  admitted  to  the  royal  dressing- 
room  for  private  conversation  and  took  the  occasion  to  re 
monstrate  with  his  Majesty  on  these  intrigues  with  the 
Spanish  agent,  was  that  he  should  send  off  Balvena  in  such 
fashion  that  it  would  take  from  the  cardinal-archduke  all 
hope  of  troubling  him  with  any  further  propositions.51 

It  has  been  seen,  too,  with  what  an  outbreak  of  wrath  the 
proposition,  made  by  Elizabeth  through  Robert  Sydney,  that 
she  should  succour  Calais  on  condition  of  keeping  it  for  herself, 
had  been  received  by  Henry.  At  a  somewhat  later  moment, 
when  Calais  had  passed  entirely  into  the  possession  of  Spain, 
the  queen  offered  to  lay  siege  to  that  city  with  twelve 
thousand  men,  but  with  the  understanding  that  the  success 
was  to  be  entirely  for  her  own  profit.  Again  the  king 
had  expressed  great  astonishment  and  indignation  at  the 
proposition.52 

Nevertheless,  after  Amiens  had  been  lost,  Henry  had 
sent  Fonquerolles  on  a  special  mission  to  England,53  asking 
Elizabeth's  assistance  in  the  siege  for  its  recovery,  and  offering 
that  she  should  keep  Calais  as  a  pledge  for  expenses  thus 
incurred,  on  the  same  terms  as  those  on  which  she  held  the 
Brill  and  Flushing  in  the  Netherlands.  This  proposal,  how 
ever,  to  make  a  considerable  campaign  in  Picardy,  and  to  be 
indemnified  by  Henry  for  her  trouble  with  the  pledge  of  a 
city  which  was  not  his  property,  did  not  seem  tempting  to 
Elizabeth.  The  mission  of  Fonquerolles  was  fruitless,  as  might 
have  been  .supposed.54  Nothing  certainly  in  the  queen's 
attitude,  up  to  that  moment,  could  induce  the  supposition 

60  Anted.  61  Caron  to  the  States,  in  Deventer,  libi  sup.  M  Ibid. 

53  Instructions  for  Fonquerolles,  in  Prevost  Paradol,  Elizabeth  et  Henri  IV 
H  Calyaejt  to  States-General,  in  Deventer,  ii,  47, 


1597.        BUZANVAL'S  COMMUNICATION  TO  THE  STATES. 

that  she  would  help  to  reduce  Amiens  for  the  sake  of  the 
privilege  of  conquering  Calais  if  she  could. 

So  soon  as  her  refusal  was  made  certain,  Henry  dropped 
the  mask.  Buzanval,  the  regular  French  envoy  at  the 
Hague — even  while  amazing  the  States  by  rebukes  for  their 
short-comings  in  the  field  and  by  demands  for  immediate 
co-operation  in  the  king's  campaign,  when  the  king  was 
doing  nothing  but  besiege  Amiens — astonished  the  republican 
statesmen  still  further  by  telling  them  that  his  master  was 
listening  seriously  to  the  pope's  secret  offers.55 

His  Holiness  had  assured  the  king,  through  the  legate  at 
Paris,  that  he  could  easily  bring  about  a  peace  between  him 
and  Philip,  if  Henry  would  agree  to  make  it  alone,  and  he 
would  so  manage  it  that  the  king's  name  should  not  be  mixed 
up  with  the  negotiations,  and  that  he  should  not  appear  as 
seeking  for  peace.  It  was  to  be  considered  however — so 
Henry's  envoy  intimated  both  at  Greenwich  and  the  Hague — • 
that  if  the  king  should  accept  the  pope's  intervention  he 
would  be  obliged  to  exclude  from  a  share  in  it  the  queen  and 
all  others  not  of  the  Catholic  religion,  and  it  was  feared  that 
the  same  necessity  which  had  compelled  him  to  listen  to 
these  overtures  would  force  him  still  further  in  the  same 
path.  He  dreaded  lest,  between  peace  and  war,  he  might 
fall  into  a  position  in  which  the  law  would  be  dictated  to  him 
either  by  the  enemy  or  by  those  who  had  undertaken  to  help 
him  out  of  danger. 

Much  more  information  to  this  effect  did  Buzanval  com 
municate  to  the  States  on  the  authority  of  a  private  letter 
from  the  king,  telling  him  of  the  ill-success  of  the  mission  of 
Fonquerolles.56  That  diplomatist  had  brought  back  nothing 
from  England,  it  appeared,  save  excuses,  general  phrases, 
and  many  references  to  the  troubles  in  Ireland  and  to  the 
danger  of  a  new  Spanish  Armada. 

It  was  now  for  the  first  time,  moreover,  that  the  States 
learned  how  they  had  been  duped  both  by  England  and 

55  Bor,  IV.  324,  325.    »  An  abstract  of  the  letter  is  given  by  Bor,  ubi  mp. 


462  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIII. 

France  in  the  matter  of  the  League.  To  their  surprise  they 
were  informed  that  while  they  were  themselves  furnishing 
four  thousand  men,  according  to  the  contract  signed  by  the 
three  powers,  the  queen  had  in  reality  only  agreed  to  con 
tribute  two  thousand  soldiers,  and  these  only  for  four  months' 
service,  within  a  very  strict  territorial  limit,  and  under 
promise  of  immediate  reimbursement  of  the  expenses  thus 
incurred.57 

These  facts,  together  with  the  avowal  that  their  mag« 
nanimous  ally  had  all  along  been  secretly  treating  for  peace 
with  the  common  enemy,  did  not  make  a  cheerful  impression 
upon  those  plain-spoken  republicans,  nor  was  it  much  con 
solation  to  them  to  receive  the  assurance  that  "  after  the 
king's  death  his  affection  and  gratitude  towards  the  States 
would  be  found  deeply  engraved  upon  his  heart."  M 

The  result  of  such  a  future  autopsy  might  seem  a  matter 
of  comparative  indifference,  since  meantime  the  present  effect 
to  the  republic  of  those  deep  emotions  was  a  treacherous 
desertion.  Calvaert,  too,  who  had  so  long  haunted  the  king 
like  his  perpetual  shadow,  and  who  had  believed  him — at 
least  so  far  as  the  Netherlands  were  concerned — to  be  almost 
without  guile,59  had  been  destined  after  all  to  a  rude  awaken 
ing.  Sick  and  suffering,  he  did  not  cease,  so  long  as  life  was 
in  him,  to  warn  the  States-General  of  the  dangers  impending 
over  them  from  the  secret  negotiations  which  their  royal  ally 
was  doing  his  best  to  conceal  from  them,  and  as  to  which  he 
had  for  a  time  succeeded  so  dexterously  in  hoodwinking  their 
envoy  himself.  But  the  honest  and  energetic  agent  of  the 
republic  did  not  live  to  see  the  consummation  of  these 
manoeuvres  of  Henry  and  the  pope.  He  died  in  Paris  during 
the  month  of  June  of  this  year.60 

Certainly  the  efforts  of  Spanish  and  Papal  diplomacy  had 


67  Bor,  ubi  sup.     Vide  antea. 

58  Bor,  ubi  sup. 

69  "  Deurien,  S.M."  wrote  Calvaert 
in  June,  1596,  "(Sender  jactantie  ge- 
sproken)  binnen  den  tyt  ick  by  hem 
geweest  ben,  my  luttel  particularitei- 


met  expresse  woorden,  en  soo  ick 
geloove  sonder  fictie  (die  in  hem  deyn 
is)  [!]  dat  hy  niet  begeerde  de  kennis 
syner  handelingen  desen  oorlog  raa- 
kende,  aen  U.  M.  E.  te  onttrecken." 
Calvaert  to  the  States-General,  Deven- 


ten  verborgen  heeft,  seggende  dikmael  1  ter,  ii.  118.     w  Van  Deventer,  ii.  148. 


1591  tfRAFtflC  Otf  THE  Sf  Af  ES  WIT  It  gPAItf.  463 

not  been   unsuccessful  in  bringing   about   a   dissolution  of 

the   bonds   of  amity  by  which   the  three  powers 

J      J  June,  1597. 

seemed   so  lately  to   be  drawing   themselves  very 

closely  together.  The  republic  and  Henry  IV.  were  now  on 
a  most  uncomfortable  footing  towards  each  other.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  queen  was  in  a  very  ill  humour  with  the 
States  and  very  angry  with  Henry.  Especially  the  persistent 
manner  in  which  the  Hollanders  carried  on  trade  with  Spain, 
and  were  at  the  same  time  making  fortunes  for  themselves 
and  feeding  the  enemy,  while  Englishmen,  on  pain  of  death, 
were  debarred  from  participation  in  such  traffic,  excited  great 
and  general  indignation  in  England.  In  vain  was  it  repre 
sented  that  this  trade,  if  prohibited  to  the  commonwealth, 
would  fall  into  the  hands  of  neutral  powers,  and  that  Spain 
would  derive  her  supplies  from  the  Baltic  and  other  regions 
as  regularly  as  ever,  while  the  republic,  whose  whole  life  was 
in  her  foreign  commerce,  would  not  only  become  incapable  of 
carrying  on  the  war  but  would  perish  of  inanition.  The 
English  statesmen  threatened  to  declare  all  such  trade  con 
traband,  and  vessels  engaging  in  it  lawful  prize  to  English 
cruisers.61 

Burghley  declared,  with  much  excitement,  to  Caron,  that 
he,  as  well  as  all  the  council,  considered  the  conduct  of  the 
Hollanders  so  unjustifiable  as  to  make  them  regret  that  their 
princess  had  ever  embarked  with  a  State  which  chose  to  aid 
its  own  enemies  in  the  destruction  of  itself  and  its  allies. 
Such  conduct  was  so  monstrous  that  tnose  who  were  told  of 
it  would  hardly  believe  it.62 

The  Dutch  envoy  observed  that  there  were  thirty  thousand 
sailors  engaged  in  this  trade,  and  he  asked  the  Lord  Treasurer 
whether  he  proposed  that  these  people  should  all  starve  or  be 
driven  into  the  service  of  the  enemy.  Burghley  rejoined  that 
the  Hollanders  had  the  whole  world  beside  to  pursue  their 
traffic  in,  that  they  did  indeed  trade  over  the  whole  world, 

tl  "  Ende  VOOT  vrybuyt  doen  verklaren  alle  sulcke  schepen,"  &c. — Caron  to 
the  States-General,  24  Sept.  1597,  in  Deveuter,  157-161. 
•*  Oaron's  despatch,  last  cited. 
VOL.  II— 16 


464  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIII 

and  had  thereby  become  so  extraordinarily,  monstrously  rich 
that  there  was  no  believing  it.63 

Caron  declared  his  sincere  wish  that  this  was  tme,  but 
said,  on  the  contrary,  that  he  knew  too  well  what  extreme 
trouble  and  labour  the  States-General  had  in  providing  for 
the  expenses  of  the  war  and  in  extracting  the  necessary 
funds  from  the  various  communities.  This  would  hardly 
be  the  case  were  such  great  wealth  in  the  land  as  was 
imagined.  But  still  the  English  counsellors  protested  that 
they  would  stop  this  trading  with  the  enemy  at  every 
hazard.6* 

On  the  question  of  peace  or  war  itself  the  republican 
diplomatists  were  often  baffled  as  to  the  true  intentions  of 
the  English  Government.  "  As  the  queen  is  fine  and  false," 
said  Marquis  Havre,  observing  and  aiding  in  the  various 
intrigues  which  were  weaving  at  Brussels,  "  and  her  council 
much  the  same,  she  is  practising  towards  the  Hollanders 
a  double  stratagem.  On  the  one  hand  she  induces  them  to 
incline  to  a  general  peace.  On  the  other,  her  adherents,  ten 
or  twelve  in  number  of  those  who  govern  Holland  and  have 
credit  with  the  people,  insist  that  the  true  interest  of  the 
State  is  in  a  continuation  of  the  war.5'65 

But  Havre,  adept  in  diplomatic  chicane  as  he  undoubtedly 
was,  would  have  found  it  difficult  to  find  any  man  of  intelli 
gence  or  influence  in  that  rebellious  commonwealth,  of  which 
he  was  once  a  servant,  who  had  any  douDt  on  that  subject. 
It  needed  no  English  argument  to  persuade  Olden-Barneveld, 
and  the  other  statesmen  who  guided  the  destiny  of  the 
republic,  that  peace  would  be  destruction.  Moreover,  there 
is  no  question  that  both  the  queen  and  Burghley  would  have 
been  truly  grateful  had  the  States-General  been  willing  to 
make  peace  and  return  to  the  allegiance  which  they  had  long 
since  spurned. 

Nevertheless  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  there  were  at 
this  moment  more  of 'animosity  in  Elizabeth's  mind  towards 

w  Caron's  despatch,  last  cited.  Ibid 

«*  Deventer,  169,  from  the  Belgian  Archives.    Havre  to  Archdune  Albert. 


1597  ELIZABETH  ON   THE  PEACE  QUESTION.  465 

her  backsliding  ally,  with  whom  she  had  so  recently  and 
so  pompously  sworn  an  eternal  friendship,  or  towards  her 
ancient  enemy.  Although  she  longed  for  peace,  she  hardly 
saw  her  way  to  it,  for  she  felt  that  the  secret  movements  of 
Henry  had  in  a  manner  barred  the  path.  She  confessed  to 
the  States'  envoy  that  it  was  as  easy  for  her  to  make  black 
white  as  to  make  peace  with  Spain.66  To  this  Caron  cordi 
ally  assented,  saying  with  much  energy,  "  There  is  as  much 
chance  for  your  Majesty  and  for  us  to  make  peace,  during  the 
life  of  the  present  King  of  Spain,  as  to  find  redemption  in 
hell."67 

To  the  Danish  ambassadors,  who  had  come  to  England  with 
proposals  of  mediation,  the  queen  had  replied  that  the  King 
of  Spain  had  attacked  her  dominions  many  times,  and  had 
very  often  attempted  her  assassination;68  that  after  long 
patience  she  had  begun  to  defend  herself,  and  had  been 
willing  to  show  him  that  she  had  the  courage  and  the  means, 
not  only  to  maintain  herself  against  his  assaults,  but  also 
to  invade  his  realms  ;  that,  therefore,  she  was  not  disposed 
to  speak  first,  nor  to  lay  down  any  conditions.  Yet,  if  she  saw 
that  the  King  of  Spain  had  any  remorse  for  his  former 
offences  against  her,  and  wished  to  make  atonement  for 
them,  she  was  willing  to  declare  that  her  heart  was  not  so 
alienated  from  peace,  but  that  she  could  listen  to  propositions 
on  the  subject.69 

She  said,  too,  that  such  a  peace  must  be  a  general  one, 
including  both  the  King  of  France  and  the  States  ol  the 
Netherlands,  for  with  these  powers  she  had  but  lately  made 
an  offensive  and  defensive  league  against  the  King  of  Spain, 
from  which  she  protested  that  for  no  consideration  in  the 
world  would  she  ever  swerve  one  jot. 

Certainly  these  were  words  of  Christian  charity  and  good 
faith,  but  such  professions  are  the  common  staple  of  orations 
and  documents  for  public  consumption.  As  the  accounts 


e6  Caron    to    the    States-General, 
Sept.  1597.    Deventer,  ii.  153-156. 
*  Ibid.  156. 
*8  "  Ende  seer  dickmael  naer  haer 

VOL,  III,— 2  H 


lyfe  ende  leven  heeft  doen  staen." — C* 
ron  to  States-General,  24  Sept.  1597 
Deventer,  ii.  159.  «9  Ibid. 


466  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIII. 

became  more  and  more  minute,  however,  of  Henry's  intrigues 
with  Albert,  Philip,  and  Clement,  the  queen  grew  more 
angry. 

She  told  Caron  that  she  was  quite  aware  that  the  king 
16  Nov  nad  l°ng  keen  m  communication  with  the  cardinal's 
1597.  emissaries,  and  that  he  had  even  sent  some  of  his 
principal  counsellors  to  confer  with  the  cardinal  himself  at 
Arras,  in  direct  violation  of  the  stipulations  of  the  league. 
She  expressed  her  amazement  at  the  king's  conduct ;  for 
she  knew  very  well,  she  said,  that  the  league  had  hardly 
been  confirmed  and  sworn  to,  before  he  was  treating  with 
secret  agents  sent  to  him  by  the  cardinal.  "  And  now,"  she 
continued,  "  they  propose  to  send  an  ambassador  to  inform  me 
of  the  whole  proceeding,  and  to  ask  my  advice  and  consent 
in  regard  to  negotiations  which  they  have,  perchance,  entirely 
concluded." 

She  further  informed  the  republican  envoy  that  the  king 
had  recently  been  taking  the  ground  in  these  dealings  with 
the  common  enemy  ;  that  the  two  kingdoms  of  France  and 
England  must  first  be  provided  for  ;  that  when  the  basis 
between  these  powers  and  Spain  had  been  arranged,  it  would 
be  time  to  make  arrangements  for  the  States,  and  that  it 
would  probably  be  found  advisable  to  obtain  a  truce  of  three 
or  four  years  between  them  and  Spain,  in  which  interval  the 
government  of  the  provinces  might  remain  on  its  actual 
footing.  During  this  armistice  the  King  of  Spain  was  to 
withdraw  all  Spanish  troops  from  the  Netherlands,  in  conse 
quence  of  which  measure  all  distrust  would  by  degrees 
vanish,  and  the  community,  becoming  more  and  more  en 
couraged,  would  in  time  recognise  the  king  for  their  sove 
reign  once  more.70 

This,  according  to  the  information  received  by  Elizabeth 
from  her  resident  minister  in  France,  was  Henry's  scheme 
for  carrying  out  the  principles  of  the  offensive  and  defensive 
league,  which  only  the  year  before  he  had  so  solemnly  con 
cluded  with  the  Dutch  republic.  Instead  of  assisting  that 

TO  Caron  to  States-General,  19  Nov.  1597.     Deventer,  ii.  161-164. 


1597.  PROBABLE  EFFECT  OF  PEACE  WITH  SPAIN.  467 

commonwealth  in  waging  her  war  of  independence  against 
Spain,  he  would  endeavour  to  make  it  easy  for  her  to  return 
peacefully  to  her  ancient  thraldom.71 

The  queen  asked  Caron  what  he  thought  of  the  project. 
How  could  that  diplomatist  reply  but  with  polite  scorn  ?  Not 
a  year  of  such  an  armistice  would  elapse,  he  said,  before 
the  Spanish  partisans  would  have  it  all  their  own  way  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  King,  of  Spain  would  be  master  of 
the  whole  country.  Again  and  again  he  repeated  that 
peace,  so  long  as  Philip  lived,  was  an  impossibility  for  the 
States.  No  doubt  that  monarch  would  gladly  consent  to 
the  proposed  truce,  for  it  would  be  indeed  strange  if  by 
means  of  it  he  could  not  so  establish  himself  in  the  provinces 
as  to  easily  overthrow  the  sovereigns  who  were  thus  helping 
him  to  so  advantageous  a  position.72 

The  queen  listened  patiently  to  a  long  and  earnest  remon 
strance  in  this  vein  made  by  the  envoy,  and  assured  him 
that  not  even  to  gain  another  kingdom  would  she  be  the 
cause  of  a  return  of  the  provinces  to  the  dominion  of  Spain. 
She  would  do  her  best  to  dissuade  the  king  from  his  peace 
negotiations  ;  but  she  would  listen  to  De  Maisse,  the  new 
special  envoy  from  Henry,  and  would  then  faithfully  report  to 
Caron,  by  word  of  mouth,  the  substance  of  the  conversation. 
The  States-General  did  not  deserve  to  be  deceived,  nor  would 
she  be  a  party  to  any  deception,  unless  she  were  first  cheated 
herself.  "  I  feel  indeed,"  she  added,  "  that  matters  are  not 
always  managed  as  they  should  be  by  your  Government, 
and  that  you  have  not  always  treated  princes,  especially 
myself,  as  we  deserve  to  be  treated.  Nevertheless,  your 
State  is  not  a  monarchy,  and  so  we  must  take  all  things 
into  consideration,  and  weigh  its  faults  against  its  'many 
perfections/'73 


71  Caron  to  States-General,  19  Nov. 
1597.  Deventer,  ii.  161-164. 

'2  Ibid. 

73  "  Ick  bevinde  wel  (seide  sy)  dat 
het  niet  al  recht  soo  't  behoorde  in 


tincteren  soo  wy  wel  in  hun  regart 
verdient  hebben ;  doch  hun  staet  is 
oock  geen  monarchic,  en  daarom  wy 
moeten  alles  considereren  en  de  faul- 
ten  met  vele  perfection  die  sy  hebben 


hunne  regeeringe  toegaet,'en  dat  sy   tegenelkanderlaetengemoeten." — Ga 
rnet  altyts  de  Princen  immers  niet  my  j  ron's  Despatch,  last  cited. 


468  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIII. 

With  this  philosophical — and  in  the  mouth  of  Elizabeth 
Tudor,  surely  very  liberal — reflection,  the  queen  terminated 
the  interview  with  the  republican  envoy. 

Meantime  the  conferences  with  the  special  ambassador  of 
France  proceeded.  For,  so  soon  as  Henry  had  completed 
all  his  arrangements,  and  taken  his  decision  to  accept  the 
very  profitable  peace  offered  to  him  by  Spain,  he  assumed 
that  air  of  frankness  which  so  well  became  him,  and  candidly 
avowed  his  intention  of  doing  what  he  had  already  done. 
Hurault  de  Maisse  arrived  in  England  not  long  before  the 
time  when  the  peace-commissioners  were  about  assembling 
at  Vervins.  He  was  instructed  to  inform  her  Majesty  that 
he  had  done  his  best  to  bring  about  a  general  alliance  of  the 
European  powers  from  which  alone  the  league  concluded 
between  England,  France,  and  the  Netherlands  would  have 
derived  substantial  strength.74 

But  as  nothing  was  to  be  hoped  for  from  Germany,  as 
England  offered  but  little  assistance,  and  as  France  was  ex- 
nausted  by  her  perpetual  conflicts,  it  had  become  necessary 
for  the  king  to  negotiate  for  a  peace.  He  now  wished  to 
prove,  therefore,  to  the  queen,  as  to  a  sister  to  whom  he  was 
under  such  obligations,  that  the  interests  of  England  were 
as  dear  to  him  as  those  of  France. 

The  proof  of  these  generous  sentiments  did  not,  however, 
seem  so  clear  as  could  be  wished,  and  there  were  very  stormy 
debates,  so  soon  as  the  ambassador  found  himself  in  con 
ference  with  her  Majesty's  counsellors.  The  English  states 
men  bitterly  reproached  the  French  for  having  thus  lightly 
thrown  away  the  alliance  between  the  two  countries,  and 
they  insisted  upon  the  duty  of  the  king  to  fulfil  his  solemn 
engagements. 

The  reply  was  very  frank  and  very  decided.  Kings,  said 
De  Maisse,  never  make  treaties  except  with  the  tacit  condi 
tion  to  embrace  every  thing  that  may  be  useful  to  them, 
and  carefully  to  avoid  every  thing  prejudicial  to  their  in 
terests.76 

74  De  Thou,  xiii.  306,  seqq.,  1. 120.  TO  Ibid. 


1597. 


DUPLICITY  OF  HENRY'S  CONDUCT. 


469 


The  corollary  from  this  convenient  and  sweeping  maxim 
was  simple  enough.  The  king  could  not  be  expected  by  his 
allies  to  reject  an  offered  peace  which  was  very  profitable, 
nor  to  continue  a  war  which  was  very  detrimental.  All 
that  they  could  expect  was  that  he  should  communicate  his 
intentions  to  them,  and  this  he  was  now  very  cheerfully  doing. 
Such  in  brief  were  the  statements  of  De  Maisse.76 

The  English  were  indignant.  They  also  said  a  stout  word 
for  the  provinces,  although  it  has  been  made  sufficiently 
clear  that  they  did  not  love  that  upstart  republic.  But  the 
French  ambassador  replied  that  his  master  really  meant 
secretly  to  assist  the  States  in  carrying  on  the  war  until  they 
should  make  an  arrangement.77  He  should  send  them  very 
powerful  succours  for  this  purpose,  and  he  expected  confi 
dently  that  England  would  assist  him  in  this  line  of  conduct.78 
Thus  Henry  was  secretly  pledging  himself  to  make  under 
hand  but  substantial  war  against  Spain,  with  which  power  he 
was  at  that  instant  concluding  peace,  while  at  the  same  time 
he  was  abandoning  his  warlike  league  with  the  queen  and 
the  republic,  in  order  to  affect  that  very  pacification.  Truly 
the  morality  of  the  governing  powers  of  the  earth  was  not 
entirely  according  to  the  apostolic  standard. 

The  interviews  between  the  queen  and  the  new  ambassador 
were,  of  course,  on  his  part,  more  courteous  in  tone  than 
those  with  the  counsellors,  but  mainly  to  the  same  effect. 
De  Maisse  stated  that  the  Spanish  king  had  offered  to  restore 
every  place  that  he  held  in  France,  including  Calais,  Brittany, 
and  the  Marquisate  of  Saluces,  and  as  he  likewise  manifested 
a  willingness  to  come  to  favourable  terms  with  her  Majesty 
and  with  the  States,  it  was  obviously  the  duty  of  Henry  to 
make  these  matters  known  to  her  Majesty,  in  whose  hands 
was  thus  placed  the  decision  between  peace  or  continuation 


19  De  Thou,  xiii.  206,  seqq,  1. 120. 

"  Ibid. 

18  "  Qu'en  faisant  la  paix  avec  les 
Espagnols  il  ne  laisseroit  pas  de  four- 
nir  secretement  aux  Etats-Generaux 
de  puissans  secours  jusqu'a  ce  que 


leur  accommodement  fiit  fait,  et  qu'il 
souhaitoit  se  joindre  avec  FAngleterre 
pour  les  aider  et  les  soutenir,  soit  en 
paix,  soit  en  guerre." — De  Thou,  ubi 
sup. 


470  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIII. 

of  the  war.79  The  queen  asked  what  was  the  authority  for 
the  supposition  that  England  was  to  be  included  by  Spain  in 
the  pacification.  De  Maisse  quoted  President  Kichardot. 
In  that  case,  the  queen  remarked,  it  was  time  for  her 
to  prepare  for  a  third  Spanish  armada.  When  a  former 
envoy  from  France  had  alluded  to  Kichardot  as  expressing 
the  same  friendly  sentiments  on  the  part  of  his  sovereign  and 
himself,  she  had  replied  by  referring  to  the  sham  negotia 
tions  of  Bourbourg,  by  which  the  famous  invasion  of  1588 
had  been  veiled,  and  she  had  intimated  her  expectation 
that  another  Spanish  fleet  would  soon  be  at  her  throat. 
And  within  three  weeks  of  the  utterance  of  her  prophecy 
the  second  armada,  under  Santa  Gadea,  had  issued  from 
Spain  to  assail  her  realms.  Now  then,  as  Kichardot  was 
again  cited  as  a  peace  negotiator,  it  was  time  to  look  for 
a  third  invasion.  It  was  an  impertinence  for  Secretary  of 
State  Villeroy  to  send  her  word  about  Richardot.  It  was  not 
an  impertinence  in  King  Henry,  who  understood  war-matters 
better  than  he  did  affairs  of  state,  in  which  kings  were  gene 
rally  governed  by  their  counsellors  and  secretaries,  but  it 
was  very  strange  that  Villeroy  should  be  made  quiet  with  a 
simple  declaration  of  Richardot.80 

The  queen  protested  that  she  would  never  consent  to  a 
peace  with  Spain,  except  with  the  knowledge  and  consent  of 
the  States.  De  Maisse  replied  that  the  king  was  of  the 
same  mind,  upon  which  her  Majesty  remarked  that  in  that 
case  he  had  better  have  apprised  her  and  the  States  of  his 
intentions  before  treating  alone  and  secretly  with  the  enemy. 
The  envoy  denied  that  the  king  had  been  treating.  He  had 
only  been  listening  to  what  the  King  of  Spain  had  to  propose, 
and  suggesting  his  own  wishes  and  intentions.  The  queen 
rejoined  that  this  was  treating  if  anything  was,  and  certainly 
her  Majesty  was  in  the  right  if  the  term  has  any  meaning 
at  all. 

Elizabeth  further  reproachfully  observed,    that   although 

79  Caron  to  the  States-General,  10  December,  1597  (O.  S.),  in  Deventer,  U. 


1597.  EXERTIONS  OP  BARNfiVELt).  471 

the  king  talked  about  continuing  the  war,  he  seemed  really 
tired  of  that  dangerous  pursuit,  in  which  he  had  exercised 
himself  so  many  long  years,  and  that  he  was  probably  be 
ginning  to  find  a  quiet  and  agreeable  life  more  to  his  taste. 
She  expressed  the  hope,  however,  that  he  would  acquit  him 
self  honourably  towards  herself  and  her  allies,  and  keep  the 
oaths  which  he  had  so  solemnly  sworn  before  God. 

Such  was  the  substance  of  the  queen's  conversations  with 
De  Maisse,  as  she  herself  subsequently  reported  them  to  the 
States'  envoy.81 

The  republican  statesmen  had  certainly  cause  enough  to 
suspect  Henry's  intentions,  but  they  did  not  implicitly  trust 
Elizabeth.  They  feared  that  both  king  and  queen  were 
heartily  sick  of  the  war,  and  disposed  to  abandon  the  league, 
while  each  was  bent  on  securing  better  terms  than  the  other 
in  any  negotiations  for  peace.  Barneveld — on  the  whole  the 
most  sagacious  of  the  men  then  guiding  the  affairs  of  Europe, 
although  he  could  dispose  of  but  comparatively  slender 
resources,  and  was  merely  the  chief  minister  of  a  scarcely 
born  little  commonwealth  of  some  three  million  souls — was 
doing  his  best  to  save  the  league  and  to  divert  Henry  from 
thoughts  of  peace.  Feeling  that  the  queen,  notwithstanding 
her  professions  to  Caron  and  others,  would  have  gladly  en 
tered  into  negotiations  with  Philip,  had  she  found  the  door  as 
wide  open  as  Henry  had  found  it,  he  did  his  best  to  prevent 
both  his  allies  from  proceeding  farther  in  that  direction.  He 
promised  the  French  envoy  at  the  Hague  that  not  only  would 
the  republic  continue  to  furnish  the  four  thousand  soldiers  as 
stipulated  in  the  league,  but  that  if  Henry  would  recom 
mence  active  operations,  a  States'  army  of  nine  thousand  foot 
and  two  thousand  horse  should  at  once  take  the  field  on  the 
Flemish  frontier  of  France,  and  aid  in  the  campaign  to  the 
full  extent  of  their  resources.82  If  the  king  were  disposed  to 
undertake  the  siege  of  Calais,  the  Advocate  engaged  that  he 
should  be  likewise  energetically  assisted  in  that  enterprise.83 

81  Caron's  Despatch,  last  cited. 

82  Letters  of  Buzanval,  cited  by  Deventer,  ii.  164, 165.  M  Ibid, 


472  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIII. 

Nor  was  it  suggested  in  case  the  important  maritime  strong 
hold  were  recovered  that  it  should  be  transferred,  not  to  the 
sovereign  of  France,  but  to  the  dominions  of  the  republic. 
That  was  the  queen's  method  of  assisting  an  ally,  but  it  was 
not  the  practice  of  the  States.  Buzanval,  who  was  quite 
aware  of  his  master's  decision  to  conclude  peace,  suggested 
Henry's  notion  of  a  preliminary  and  general  truce  for  six 
months.  But  of  course  Barneveld  rejected  the  idea  with 
horror.  He  felt,  as  every  intelligent  statesman  of  the  com- 
monwealth  could  not  but  feel,  that  an  armistice  would  be  a 
death-blow.  It  would  be  better,  he  said,  for  the  States  to  lose 
one  or  two  towns  than  to  make  a  truce,  for  there  were  so 
many  people  in  the  commonwealth  sure  to  be  dazzled  by  the 
false  show  of  a  pacification,  that  they  would  be  likely,  after 
getting  into  the  suburbs,  to  wish  to  enter  the  heart  of  the 
city.  "  If,"  said  the  Advocate,  "  the  French  and  the  English 
know  what  they  are  doing  when  they  are  facilitating  the 
Spanish  dominion  in  the  provinces,  they  would  prefer  to  lose 
a  third  of  their  own  kingdoms  to  seeing  the  Spaniard  absolute 
master  here."84 

It  was  determined,  in  this  grave  position  of  affairs,  to  send 
a  special  mission  both  to  France  and  to  England  with  the 
Advocate  as  its  chief.  Henry  made  no  objections  to  this 
step,  but,  on  the  contrary,  affected  much  impatience  for  the 
arrival  of  the  envoys,  and  ascribed  the  delay  to  the  intrigues 
of  Elizabeth.  He  sent  word  to  Prince  Maurice  and  to  Barne 
veld  that  he  suspected  the  queen  of  endeavouring  to  get 
before  him  in  negotiating  with  Spain  in  order  to  obtain  Calais 
for  herself.85  And,  in  truth,  Elizabeth  very  soon  afterwards 
informed  Barneveld  that  she  might  really  have  had  Calais, 
and  have  got  the  better  of  the  king  in  these  secret  trans 
actions.86 

Meantime,  while  the  special  mission  to  France  and  Eng 
land  was  getting  ready  to  depart,  an  amateur  diplo 
matist  appeared  in  Brussels,  and  made  a  feeble 

84  Letters  of  Buzanval,  cited  by  Deventer,  ii.  164,  165. 

85  Verhaal  van  Olden-Barneveld,  in  Deventer,  ii.  171.    86  Ibid- 


1598.  PROPOSITIONS  OF  ALBERT  TO  THE  STATES.  473 

effort  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between  the  republic  and  the 
cardinal. 

This  was  a  certain  Van  der  Meulen,  an  Antwerp  merchant, 
who,  for  religious  reasons,  had  emigrated  to  Leyden,  and  who 
was  now  invited  by  the  cardinal  archduke  to  Brussels  to 
confer  with  his  counsellors  as  to  the  possibility  of  the  rebel 
lious  States  accepting  his  authority.87  For,  as  will  soon  be 
indicated,  Philip  had  recently  resolved  on  a  most  important 
step.  He  was  about  to  transfer  the  sovereignty  of  all  the 
Netherlands  to  his  daughter  Isabella  and  her  destined  hus 
band,  Cardinal  Albert.  It  would,  obviously,  therefore,  be  an 
excessively  advantageous  arrangement  for  those  new  sove 
reigns  if  the  rebellious  States  would  join  hands  with  the 
obedient  provinces,  accept  the  dominion  of  Albert  and  Isabella^ 
and  give  up  their  attempt  to  establish  a  republican  govern 
ment.  Accordingly  the  cardinal  had  intimated  that  the 
States  would  be  allowed  the  practice  of  their  religion,  while 
the  military  and  civil  functionaries  might  retain  office.  He 
even  suggested  that  he  would  appoint  Maurice  of  Nassau  his 
stadholder  for  the  northern  provinces,  unless  he  should  prefer 
a  high  position  in  the  Imperial  armies.88  Such  was  the 
general  admiration  felt  in  Spain  and  elsewhere  for  the  mili 
tary  talents  of  the  prince,  that  he  would  probably  be  ap 
pointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  against  Mahomet.89 
Van  der  Meulen  duly  reported  all  these  ingenious  schemes  to 
the  States,  but  the  sturdy  republicans  only  laughed  at  them. 
They  saw  clearly  enough  through  such  slight  attempts  to  sow 
discord  in  their  commonwealth,  and  to  send  their  great  chief 
tain  to  Turkey. 

A  most  affectionate  letter,  written  by  the  cardinal-arch 
duke  to  the  States-General,  inviting  them  to  accept  his 
sovereignty,  and  another  from  the  obedient  provinces  to  the 
united  States  of  the  same  purport,  remained  unanswered.90 

But  the  Antwerp  merchant,  in  his  interviews  with  the 
crafty  politicians  who  surrounded  the  cardinal,  was  able  at 
least  to  obtain  some  insight  into  the  opinions  prevalent  at 

w  Bor,  IV.  468,  88  Ibid,  *•  Ibid.  «°  Ibid. 


474  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIH 

Brussels  ;  and  these  were  undoubtedly  to  the  effect  that  both 
England  and  France  were  willing  enough  to  abandon  the 
cause  of  the  Netherlands,  provided  only  that  they  could 
obtain  satisfactory  arrangements  for  themselves. 

Van  der  Meulen  remarked  to  Richardot  that  in  all  their 
talk  about  a  general  peace  nothing  had  been  said  of  the 
Queen  of  England,  to  whom  the  States  were  under  so  great 
obligations,  and  without  whom  they  would  never  enter  into 
any  negotiations. 

Richardot  replied  that  the  queen  had  very  sagaciously 
provided  for  the  safety  of  her  own  kingdom,  and  had  kept  up 
the  fire  everywhere  else  in  order  to  shelter  herself.  There 
was  more  difficulty  for  this  lady,  he  said,  than  for  any  of  the 
rest.  She  had  shown  herself  very  obstinate,  and  had  done 
them  a  great  deal  of  mischief.  They  knew  very  well  that 
the  King  of  France  did  not  love  her.  Nevertheless,  as  they 
had  resolved  upon  a  general  peace,  they  were  willing  to  treat 
frith  her  as  well  as  with  the  others.91 

91  Verhaal  van  Van  d«r  Meulen,  cited  by  Deventer,  ii.  173. 


1598.  MISSION  Of  THE  ADVOCATE.  475 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

Mission  of  the  States  to  Henry  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  peace  with 
Spain  —  Proposal  of  Henry  to  elevate  Prince  Maurice  to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  States  —  Embarkation  of  the  States'  envoys  for  England — Their 
interview  with  Queen  Elizabeth  —  Return  of  the  envoys  from  England — . 
Demand  of  Elizabeth  for  repayment  of  her  advances  to  the  republic  -> 
Second  embassy  to  England  —  Final  arrangement  between  the  Queen 
and  the  States. 

THE  great  Advocate  was  now  to  start  on  his  journey  in 
order  to  make  a  supreme  effort  both  with  Henry  and  with 
Elizabeth  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  this  fatal  peace. 
Admiral  Justinus  of  Nassau,  natural  son  of  William  the 
Silent,  was  associated  with  Barneveld  in  the  mission,  a  brave 
fighting  man,  a  staunch  patriot,  and  a  sagacious  counsellor ; 
but  the  Advocate  on  this  occasion,  as  in  other  vital  emer 
gencies  of  the  commonwealth,  was  all  in  all. 

The  instructions  of  the  envoys  were  simple.  They  were  to 
summon  the  king  to  fulfil  his  solemnly  sworn  covenants  with 
the  league.  The  States-General  had  never  doubted,  they 
said,  that  so  soon  as  the  enemy  had  begun  to  feel  the  effects 
of  that  league  he  would  endeavour  to  make  a  composition 
with  one  or  other  of  the  parties  in  order  to  separate  them, 
and  to  break  up  that  united  strength  which  otherwise  he 
could  never  resist.  The  king  was  accordingly  called  upon  to 
continue  the  war  against  the  common  enemy,  and  the  States- 
General  offered,  over  and  above  the  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  florins  promised  by  them  for  the  support  of  the  four 
thousand  infantry  for  the  year  1598,  to  bring  their  whole 
military  power,  horse  and  foot,  into  the  field  to  sustain  his 
Majesty  in  the  war,  whether  separately  or  in  conjunction, 
whether  in  the  siege  of  cities  or  in  open  campaigns.1  Cer 
tainly  they  could  hardly  offer  fairer  terms  than  these. 

1  Instructions,  &c.,  in  Deventer,  ii.  177-181. 


476  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIV. 

Henry  had  complained,  and  not  unreasonably,  that  Eliza 
beth  had  made  no  offers  of  assistance  for  carrying  on  the  war 
either  to  Fonquerolles  or  to  Hurault  de  Maisse  ;  but  he  cer 
tainly  could  make  no  reproach  of  that  nature  against  the 
republic,  nor  assign  their  lukewarmness  as  an  excuse  for  his 
desertion. 

The  envoys  were  ready  to  take  their  departure  for  France 
on  the  last  day  of  January. 

It  might  be  a  curious  subject  to  consider  how  far  historical 
events  are  modified  and  the  world's  destiny  affected  by  the 
different  material  agencies  which  man  at  various  epochs  has 
had  at  his  disposal.  The  human  creature  in  his  passions 
and  ambitions,  his  sensual  or  sordid  desires,  his  emotional  and 
moral  nature,  undergoes  less  change  than  might  be  hoped 
from  age  to  age.  The  tyrant,  the  patriot,  the  demagogue,  the 
voluptuary,  the  peasant,  the  trader,  the  intriguing  politician, 
the  hair-splitting  diplomatist,  the  self-sacrificing  martyr,  the 
self-seeking  courtier,  present  essentially  one  type  in  the 
twelfth,  the  sixteenth,  the  nineteenth,  or  any  other  century. 
The  human  tragi-comedy  seems  ever  to  repeat  itself  with 
the  same  bustle,  with  the  same  excitement  for  immediate 
interests,  for  the  development  of  the  instant  plot  or  passing 
episode,  as  if  the  universe  began  and  ended  with  each 
generation — as  in  reality  it  would  appear  to  do  for  the  great 
multitude  of  the  actors.  There  seems  but  a  change  of  masks, 
of  costume,  of  phraseology,  combined  with  a  noisy  but  eternal 
monotony.  Yet  while  men  are  produced  and  are  whirled 
away  again  in  endless  succession,  Man  remains,  and  to  all 
appearance  is  perpetual  and  immortal  even  on  this  earth. 
Whatever  science  acquires  man  inherits.  Whatever  stead 
fastness  is  gained  for  great  moral  truths  which  change  not 
through  the  ages — however  they  may  be  thought,  in  dark  or 
falsely  brilliant  epochs,  to  resolve  themselves  into  elemental 
vapour — gives  man  a  securer  foothold  in  his  onward  and 
upward  progress.  The  great,  continuous  history  of  that  pro 
gress  is  not  made  up  of  the  reigns  of  kings  or  the  lives  ot 
politicians,  with  whose  names  history  has  often  found  it  con- 


1598.  DEPARTURE  OF  THE  ENVOYS  FOR  FRANCE.  477 

venient  to  mark  its  epochs.  These  are  but  milestones  on  the 
turnpike.  Human  progress  is  over  a  vast  field,  and  it  is 
only  at  considerable  intervals  that  a  retrospective  view  en 
ables  us  to  discern  whether  the  movement  has  been  slow  or 
rapid,  onward  or  retrograde. 

The  record  of  our  race  is  essentially  unwritten.  What  we 
call  history  is  but  made  up  of  a  few  scattered  fragments,  while 
it  is  scarcely  given  to  human  intelligence  to  comprehend  the 
great  whole.  Yet  it  is  strange  to  reflect  upon  the  leisurely 
manner  in  which  great  affairs  were  conducted  in  the  period 
with  which  we  are  now  occupied,  as  compared  with  the  fever 
and  whirl  of  our  own  times,  in  which  the  stupendous  powers 
of  steam  and  electricity  are  ever  ready  to  serve  the  most 
sublime  or  the  most  vulgar  purposes  of  mankind.  Whether 
there  were  ever  a  critical  moment  in  which  a  rapid  change 
might  have  been  effected  in  royal  or  national  councils,  had 
telegraphic  wires  and  express  trains  been  at  the  command  of 
Henry,  or  Burghley,  or  Barneveld,  or  the  Cardinal  Albert, 
need  not  and  cannot  be  decided.  It  is  almost  diverting, 
however,  to  see  how  closely  the  intrigues  of  cabinets,  the 
movements  of  armies,  the  plans  of  patriots,  were  once  de 
pendent  on  those  natural  elements  over  which  man  has  now 
gained  almost  despotic  control. 

Here  was  the  republic  intensely  eager  to  prevent,  with  all 
speed,  the  consummation  of  a  treaty  between  its  ally  and  its 
enemy — a  step  which  it  was  feared  might  be  fatal  to  its 
national  existence,  and  concerning  which  there  seemed  a 
momentary  hesitation.  Yet  Barneveld  and  Justinus  of  Nassau, 
although  ready  on  the  last  day  of  January,  were  not  able  to 
sail  from  the  Brill  to  Dieppe  until  the  18th  March,  on  account 
of  a  persistent  south-west  wind. 

After  forty-six  days  of  waiting,  the  envoys,  accompanied 
by  Buzanval,  Henry's  resident  at  the  Hague,  were  ig  March, 
at  last,  on  the  18th  March,  enabled  to  set  sail  1598> 
with  a  favourable  breeze.  As  it  was  necessary  for  travellers 
in  that  day  to  provide  themselves  with  every  possible  material 
for  their  journey — carriages,  horses,  hosts  of  servants,  and 


478  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIV 

beds,  fortunate  enough  if  they  found  roads  and  occasionally 
food — Barneveld  and  Nassau  were  furnished  with  three  ships 
of  war,  while  another  legation  on  its  way  to  England  had 
embarked  in  two  other  vessels  of  the  same  class.  A  fleet  of 
forty  or  fifty  merchantmen  sailed  under  their  convoy.  De 
parting  from  the  Brill  in  this  imposing  manner,  they  sailed 
by  Calais,  varying  the  monotony  of  the  voyage  by  a  trifling 
sea-fight  with  some  cruisers  from  that  Spanish  port,  neither 
side  receiving  any  damage.2 

Landing  at  Dieppe  on  the  morning  of  the  20th,  the 
envoys  were  received  with  much  ceremony  at  the  city  gates 
by  the  governor  of  the  place,  who  conducted  them  in  a  stately 
manner  to  a  house  called  the  king's  mansion,  which  he 
politely  placed  at  their  disposal.  "As  we  learned,  however," 
says  Barneveld,  with  grave  simplicity,  "that  there  was  no 
furniture  whatever  in  that  royal  abode,  we  thanked  his 
Excellency,  and  declared  that  we  would  rather  go  to  a 
tavern." 

After  three  days  of  repose  and  preparation  in  Dieppe 
23  March,  they  started  at  dawn  on  their  journey  to  Rouen, 
1598.  where  they  arrived  at  sundown. 

On  the  next  morning  but  one  they  set  off  again  on  their 

travels,  and  slept  that  night  at  Louviers.     Another 

'  long  day's  journey  brought  them   to   Evreux.     On 

the  27th  they  came  to  Dreux,  on  the  28th  to  Chartres,  and 

on  the  29th  to  Chateaudun.     On  the  30th,  having  started 

an  hour  before  sunrise,  they  were  enabled  after  a  toilsome 

journey  to  reach  Blois  at  an  hour  after  dark.     Exhausted 

with  fatigue,  they  reposed  in  that  city  for  a  day,  and  on  the 

1st  April  proceeded,  partly  by  the  river  Loire  and  partly  by 


2  The  journey  and  the  whole  pro 
gress  of  the  negotiations  have  been  mi 
nutely  described  by  Olden-Barneveld, 
in  his  Report  to  the  States-General, 
made  5  June,  1598. 

"  Verhaal  van  ons  Justinus  ende 
Johan  van  Olden-Barnevelt  van  het 
besoigne  gevallen  in  onse  Legatie  aan 


de  Con.  Mat.  van  Vranckryck  gedaen    pp.  176-245. 
in  den  jaere  1598  (Minuut  van  Olden- 


Barnevelt)." 

Of  this  very  important  MS.,  long 
unpublished,  I  possess  a  copy,  taken 
from  the  original  in  the  royal  Archives 
of  the  Hague.  Subsequently,  how 
ever,  it  has  been  printed,  for  the  first 
time,  I  believe,  by  Deventer,  in  his 
valuable  collection,  No.  cxvi  vol.  ii. 


1598.  DELAYS  OF  THE  VOYAGE.  479 

the  road,  as  far  as  Tours.  Here  they  were  visited  by  nobody, 
said  Barneveld,  but  fiddlers  and  drummers,  and  were  execrably 
lodged.  Nevertheless  they  thought  the  town  in  other  respects 
agreeable,  and  apparently  beginning  to  struggle  out  of  the 
general  desolation  of  France.  On  the  2nd  April  they  slept 
at  Langeais,  and  on  the  night  of  the  3rd  reached  Saumur, 
where  they  were  disappointed  at  the  absence  of  the  illustrious 
Duplessis  Mornay,  then  governor  of  that  city.  A  glance  at 
any  map  of  France  will  show  the  course  of  the  journey 
taken  by  the  travellers,  which,  after  very  hard  work  and  great 
fatigue,  had  thus  brought  them  from  Dieppe  to  Saumur  in 
about  as  much  time  as  is  now  consumed  by  an  average  voyage 
from  Europe  to  America.  In  their  whole  journey  from  Hol 
land  to  Saumur,  inclusive  of  the  waiting  upon  the  wind  and 
other  enforced  delays,  more  than  two  months  had  been  con 
sumed.  Twenty-four  hours  would  suffice  at  present  for  the 
excursion. 

At  Saumur  they  received  letters  informing  them  that  the 
king  was  "  expecting  them  with  great  devotion  at  Angiers." 
A  despatch  from  Cecil,  who  was  already  with  Henry,  also 
apprised  them  that  he  found  "  matters  entirely  arranged  for 
a  peace."  This  would  be  very  easily  accomplished,  he  said, 
for  France  and  England,  but  the  great  difficulty  was  for  the 
Netherlands.  He  had  come  to  France  principally  for  the 
sake  of  managing  affairs  for  the  advantage  of  the  States,  but 
he  begged  the  envoys  not  to  demean  themselves  as  if  entirely 
bent  on  war.3 

They  arrived  at  Angiers  next  day  before  dark,  and  were 
met  at   a  league's  distance   from  the  gates  by  the 
governor  of  the   castle,  attended  by  young    Prince 
Frederic  Henry  of  Nassau,  followed  by  a  long  train  of  nobles 
and  mounted  troops.     Welcomed  in  this  stately  manner  on 
behalf  of  the  king,  the  envoys  were  escorted  to  the  lodgings 
provided  for  them  in  the  city.      The   same    evening   they 
waited  on  the  widowed  princess  of  Orange,  Louisa  of  Coligny, 
then  residing  temporarily  with  her  son  in  Angiers,  and  were 

3  Verhaal,  &c, 


480  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIV. 

informed  by  her  that  the  king's  mind  was  irrevocably  fixed 
on  peace.  She  communicated,  however,  the  advice  of  her 
step-son  in  law,  the  Duke  of  Bouillon,  that  they  should  openly 
express  their  determination  to  continue  the  war,  notwith 
standing  that  both  their  Majesties  of  England  and  France 
wished  to  negotiate.  Thus  the  counsels  of  Bouillon  to  the 
envoys  were  distinctly  opposed  to  those,  of  Cecil,  and  it  was 
well  known  to  them  that  the  duke  was  himself  sincerely 
anxious  that  the  king  should  refuse  the  pacific  offers  of 
Spain. 

Next  morning,  5th  April,  they  were  received  at  the  gates 
of  the  castle  by  the  governor  of  Anjou  and  the  commandant 
of  the  citadel  of  Angiers,  attended  by  a  splendid  retinue,  and 
were  conducted  to  the  king,  who  was  walking  in  the  garden 
of  the  fortress.  Henry  received  them  with  great  demonstra 
tions  of  respect,  assuring  them  that  he  considered  the  States- 
General  the  best  and  most  faithful  friends  that  he  possessed 
in  the  world,  and  that  he  had  always  been  assisted  by  them 
in  time  of  his  utmost  need  with  resoluteness  and  affection. 

The  approach  of  the  English  ambassador,  accompanied  by 
the  Chancellor  of  France  and  several  other  persons,  soon 
brought  the  interview  to  a  termination.  Barneveld  then  pre 
sented  several  gentlemen  attached  to  the  mission,  especially 
his  son  and  Hugo  Grotius,  then  a  lad  of  fifteen,  but  who  had 
already  gained  such  distinction  at  Leyden  that  Scaliger, 
Pontanus,  Heinsius,  Dousa,  and  other  professors,  foretold 
that  he  would  become  more  famous  than  Erasmus.  They 
were  all  very  cordially  received  by  the  king,  who  subse 
quently  bestowed  especial  marks  of  his  consideration  upon 
t!ie  youthful  Grotius. 

The  same  day  the  betrothal  of  Monsieur  Ca3sar  with  the 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Mercoeur  was  celebrated,  and  there 
was  afterwards  much  dancing  and  banqueting  at  the  castle. 
It  was  obvious  enough  to  the  envoys  that  the  matter  of  peace 
and  war  was  decided.  The  general  of  the  Franciscans,  sent 
by  the  pope,  had  been  flitting  very  busily  for  many  months 
between  Kome3  Madrid,  Brussels,  and  Paris,  and  there  could 


1593.  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS.  481 

be  little  doubt  that  every  detail  of  the  negotiations  between 
France  and  Spain  had  been  arranged  while  Olden-Barneveld 
and  his  colleague  had  been  waiting  for  the  head- wind  to  blow 
itself  out  at  the  Brill. 

Nevertheless   no   treaty  had   as   yet  been  signed,   and  it 
was  the  business  of  the  republican  diplomatists  to    7A  ril 
prevent  the  signature  if  possible.     They  felt,  how 
ever,  that  they  were  endeavouring  to  cause  water  to  run  up 
hill.     Villeroy,  De   Maisse,  and  Buzanval   came  to  them  to 
recount,  by  the  king's  order,  everything  that  had  taken  place. 
This   favour  was,  however,  the  less   highly  appreciated  by 
them,  as  they  felt  that  the  whole  world  was  in  a  very  short 
time  to  be  taken  as  well  into  the  royal  confidence. 

These  French  politicians  stated  that  the  king,  after  receiving 
the  most  liberal  offers  of  peace  on  the  part  of  Spain,  had  com 
municated  all  the  facts  to  the  queen,  and  had  proposed,  not 
withstanding  these  most  profitable  overtures,  to  continue  the 
war  as  long  as  her  Majesty  and  the  States-General  would 
assist  him  in  it.  De  Maisse  had  been  informed,  however,  by 
the  queen  that  she  had  no  means  to  assist  the  king  withal,  and 
was,  on  the  contrary,  very  well  disposed  to  make  peace.4  The 
lord  treasurer  had  avowed  the  same  opinions  as  his  sovereign, 
had  declared  himself  to  be  a  man  of  peace,  and  had  exclaimed 
that  peace  once  made  he  would  sing  "  Nunc  dimitte  servum 
tuurn  Domine."5  Thereupon,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  legate, 
negotiations  had  begun  at  Vervins,  and  although  nothing  was 
absolutely  concluded,  yet  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  having  just  been 
sent  as  special  ambassador  from  the  queen,  had  brought  no 
propositions  whatever  of  assistance  in  carrying  on  the  war, 
but  plenty  of  excuses  about  armadas,  Irish  rebellions,  and 
the  want  of  funds.  There  was  nothing  in  all  this,  they  said, 
but  want  of  good  will.  The  queen  had  done  nothing  and 
would  do  nothing  for  the  league  herself,  nor  would  she 
solicit  for  it  the  adherence  of  other  kings  and  princes.  The 
king,  by  making  peace,  could  restore  his  kingdom  to  pros 
perity,  relieve  the  distress  of  his  subjects,  and  get  back  all  his 

4  Verhaal,  &c.,  199.  6  Ibid. 

VOL.  III. — 2  I 


482  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIV 

lost  cities — Calais,  Ardres,  Dourlens,  Blavet,  and .  many  more 
• — without  any  expense  of  treasure  or  of  blood. 

Certainly  there  was  cogency  in  this  reasoning  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  French  king,  but  it  would  have  been  as 
well  to  state,  when  he  was  so  pompously  making  a  league  for 
offensive  and  defensive  war,  that  his  real  interests  and  his 
real  purposes  were  peace.  Much  excellent  diplomacy,  much 
ringing  of  bells,  firing  of  artillery,  and  singing  of  anthems  in 
royal  chapels,  and  much  disappointment  to  honest  Dutchmen, 
might  have  thus  been  saved.  It  is  also  instructive  to  observe 
the  difference  between  the  accounts  of  De  Maisse's  negotiations 
in  England  given  by  that  diplomatist  himself,  and  those 
rendered  by  the  queen  to  the  States'  envoy. 

Of  course  the  objurgations  of  the  Hollanders  that  the  king, 
in  a  very  fallacious  hope  of  temporary  gain  to  himself,  was 
about  to  break  his  solemn  promises  to  his  allies  and  leave 
them  to  their  fate,  drew  but  few  tears  down  the  iron  cheeks 
of  such  practised  diplomatists  as  Villeroy  and  his  friends. 

The  envoys  visited  De  Kosny,  who  assured  them  that  he 
was  very  much  their  friend,  but  gave  them  to  understand 
that  there  was  not  the  slightest  possibility  of  inducing  the 
king  to  break  off  the  negotiations. 

Before  taking  final  leave  of  his  Majesty  they  concluded,  by 
advice  of  the  Princess  of  Orange  and  of  Buzanval,  to  make 
the  presents  which  they  had  brought  with  them  from  the 
States-General.  Accordingly  they  sent,  through  the  hands 
of  the  princess,  four  pieces  of  damask  linen  and  two  pieces  of 
fine  linen  to  the  king's  sister,  Madame  Catherine,  two  pieces 
of  linen  to  Villeroy,  and  two  to  the  beautiful  Gabrielle.  The 
two  remaining  pieces  were  bestowed  upon  Buzanval  for  his 
pains  in  accompanying  them  on  the  journey  and  on  their 
arrival  at  court.7 

The  incident  shows  the  high  esteem  in  which  the  Nether- 
land  fabrics  were  held  at  that  period. 

There  was  a  solemn  conference  at  last  between  the  leading 
counsellors  of  the  king,  the  chancellor,  the  Dukes  of  Es- 

7  Verhaal,  &c.,  201. 


1598.  FRUITLESSNESS  OF  THE  CONFERENCE.  483 

pernon  and  Bouillon,  Count  Schomberg,  and  De  Sancy, 
Plessis,  Buzanval,  Maisse,  the  Dutch  envoys,  and  the  English 
ambassador  and  commissioner  Herbert.  Cecil  presided,  and 
Barneveld  once  more  went  over  the  whole  ground,  resuming 
with  his  usual  vigour  all  the  arguments  by  which  the  king's 
interest  and  honour  were  proved  to  require  him  to  desist 
from  the  peace  negotiations.  And  the  orator  had  as  much 
success  as  is  usual  with  those  who  argue  against  a  foregone 
conclusion.  Everyone  had  made  up  his  mind.  Everyone 
knew  that  peace  was  made.  It  is  unnecessary,  therefore,  to 
repeat  the  familiar  train  of  reasoning.  It  is  superfluous  to 
say  that  the  conference  was  barren.  On  the  same  evening 
Villeroy  called  on  the  States7  envoys,  and  informed  them 
plainly,  on  the  part  of  the  king,  that  his  Majesty  had  fully 
made  up  his  mind. 

On  the  23rd  April — three  mortal  weeks  having  thus  been 
wasted  in  diplomatic  trifling — Barneveld  was  admitted  to  his 
Majesty's  dressing-room.  The  Advocate  at  the  king's  request 
came  without  his  colleague,  and  was  attended  only  by  his 
son.  No  other  persons  were  present  in  the  chamber,  save 
Buzanval  and  Beringen.  The  king  on  this  occasion  confirmed 
what  had  so  recently  been  stated  by  Villeroy.  He  had 
thoroughly  pondered,  he  said,  all  the  arguments  used  by  the 
States  to  dissuade  him  from  the  negotiation,  and  had  found 
them  of  much  weight.  The  necessities  of  his  kingdom,  how 
ever,  compelled  him  to  accept  a  period  of  repose.  He  would 
not,  however,  in  the  slightest  degree  urge  the  States  to  join 
in  the  treaty.  He  desired  their  security,  and  would  aid  in 
maintaining  it.  What  had  most  vexed  him  was  that  the 
Protestants  with  great  injustice  accused  him  of  intending  to 
make  war  upon  them.  But  innumerable  and  amazing  reports 
were  flying  abroad,  both  among  his  own  subjects,  the  English, 
and  the  enemies'  spies,  as  to  these  secret  conferences.  He 
then  said  that  he  would  tell  the  Duke  of  Bouillon  to  speak 
with  Sir  Kobert  Cecil  concerning  a  subject  which  now  for  the 
first  time  he  would  mention  privately  to  Olden-Barneveld. 

The  king  then  made  a   remarkable  and  unexpected  sug- 


484  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIV. 

gestion.  Alluding  to  the  constitution  of  the  Netherlands, 
he  remarked  that  a  popular  government  in  such  emergencies 
as  those  then  existing  was  subject  to  more  danger  than 
monarchies  were,  and  he  asked  the  Advocate  if  he  thought 
there  was  no  disposition  to  elect  a  prince.8 

Barneveld  replied  that  the  general  inclination  was  rather 
for  a  good  republic.  The  government,  however,  he  said, 
was  not  of  the  people,  but  aristocratic,  and  the  state  was 
administered  according  to  laws  and  charters  by  the  prin 
cipal  inhabitants,  whether  nobles  or  magistrates  of  cities. 
Since  the  death  of  the  late  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the  offer 
made  to  the  King  of  France,  and  subsequently  to  the  Queen 
of  England,  of  the  sovereignty,  there  had  been  no  more  talk 
on  that  subject,  and  to  discuss  again  so  delicate  a  matter 
might  cause  divisions  and  other  difficulties  in  the  State.9 

Henry  then  spoke  of  Prince  Maurice,  and  asked  whether, 
if  he  should  be  supported  by  the  Queen  of  England  and 
the  King  of  France,  it  would  not  be  possible  to  confer  the 
sovereignty  upon  him. 

Here  certainly  was  an  astounding  question  to  be  discharged 
like  a  pistol-shot  full  in  the  face  of  a  republican  minister. 

The  answer  of  the  Advocate  was  sufficiently  adroit  if  not 
excessively  sincere. 

If  your  Majesty,  said  he,  together  with  her  Majesty  the 
queen,  think  the  plan  expedient,  and  are  both  willing  on 
this  footing  to  continue  the  war,  to  rescue  all  the  Netherlands 
from  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  and  their  adherents,  and 
thus  render  the  States  eternally  obliged  to  the  sovereigns 
and  kingdoms  of  France  and  England,  my  lords  the  States- 
General  would  probably  be  willing  to  accept  this  advice.10 

But  the  king  replied  by  repeating  that  repose  was  indis 
pensable  to  him.11 

Without  inquiring  for  the  present  whether  the  project  of 
elevating  Maurice  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands,  at 
the  expense  of  the  republican  constitution,  was  in  harmony 

8  Verhaal,  &c.,  218,  .and  Toespraak  van  Olden-Barnevelt  tot  Elizabeth.  De- 
Venter,  iif  2. 46,  9  Toespraak,  &c.  Deventer,  ii.  246.  10  Ibid.  "  Ibid, 


1598.  DEPARTURE  OF  THE  ENVOYS.  485 

or  not  with  the  private  opinions  of  Barneveld  at  that  period, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  condition  he  thus  suggested  was 
a  very  safe  one  to  offer.  He  had  thoroughly  satisfied  himself 
during  the  period  in  which  he  had  been  baffled  by  the  south 
west  gales  at  the  Brill  and  by  the  still  more  persistent  head 
winds  which  he  had  found  prevailing  at  the  French  court, 
that  it  was  hopeless  to  strive  for  that  much-desired  haven,  a 
general  war.  The  admiral  and  himself  might  as  well  have 
endeavoured  to  persuade  Mahomet  III.  and  Sigismund  of 
Poland  to  join  the  States  in  a  campaign  against  Cardinal 
Albert,  as  to  hope  for  the  same  good  offices  from  Elizabeth 
and  Henry. 

Having  received  exactly  the  answer  which  he  expected,  he 
secretly  communicated,  next  day,  to  Cecil  the  proposition 
thus  made  by  the  king.  Subsequently  he  narrated  the 
whole  conversation  to  the  Queen  of  England. 

On  the  27th  April  both  Barneveld  and  Nassau  were  ad 
mitted  to  the  royal  dressing-room  in  Nantes  citadel 
for  a  final  audience.     Here,  after  the  usual  common 
places  concerning  his  affection  for  the  Netherlands,  and  the 
bitter  necessity  which  compelled  him  to  desert  the  alliance, 
Henry  again  referred  to  his  suggestion  in  regard  to  Prince 
Maurice  ;  urging  a  change  from  a  republican  to  a  monarchical 
form   of  government   as   the  best  means  of  preserving  the 
State. 

The  envoys  thanked  the  king  for  all  the  honours  conferred 
upon  them,  but  declared  themselves  grieved  to  the  heart  by 
his  refusal  to  grant  their  request.  The  course  pursued  by 
his  Majesty,  they  said,  would  be  found  very  hard  of  digestion 
by  the  States,  both  in  regard  to  the  whole  force  of  the  enemy 
which  would  now  come  upon  their  throats,  and  because  of  the 
bad  example  thus  set  for  other  powers. 

They  then  took  leave,  with  the  usual  exchange  of  compli 
ments.  At  their  departure  his  Majesty  personally  conducted 
them  through  various  apartments  until  they  came  to  the 
chamber  of  his  mistress,  the  Duchess  of  Beaufort,  then  lying 
in  childbed.  Here  he  drew  wide  open  the  bed-curtains,,  and 


486  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXiV 

bade  them  kiss  the  lady.  They  complied,  and  begging  the 
duchess  to  use  her  influence  in  their  behalf,  respectfully  bade 
her  farewell.  She  promised  not  to  forget  their  request,  and 
thanked  them  for  the  presents  of  damask  and  fine  linen. 

Such  was  the  result  of  the  mission  of  the  great  Advocate 
and  his  colleague  to  Henry  IV.,  from  which  so  much  had 
been  hoped  ;  and  for  anything  useful  accomplished,  after  such 
an  expenditure  of  time,  money,  and  eloquence,  the  whole 
transaction  might  have  begun  and  ended  in  this  touching 
interview  with  the  beautiful  Gabrielle. 

On  the  19th  of  May  the  envoys  embarked  at  Dieppe  for 
England,  and  on  the  25th  were  safely  lodged  with 
the  resident  minister  of  the  republic,  Noel  de 
Caron,  at  the  village  of  Clapham.12 

Having  so  ill-succeeded  in  their  attempts  to  prevent  the 
treaty  between  France  and  Spain,  they  were  now  engaged 
in  what  seemed  also  a  forlorn  hope,  the  preservation  of  their 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with  England.  They  were 
well  aware  that  many  of  the  leading  counsellors  of  Elizabeth, 
especially  Burghley  and  Buckhurst,  were  determined  upon 
peace.  They  knew  that  'the  queen  was  also  heartily  weary 
of  the  war  and  of  the  pugnacious  little  commonwealth  which 
had  caused  her  so  much  expense.  But  they  knew,  too,  that 
Henry,  having  now  secured  the  repose  of  his  own  kingdom, 
was  anything  but  desirous  that  his  deserted  allies  should 
enjoy  the  same  advantage.  The  king  did  not  cease  to 
assure  the  States  that  he  would  secretly  give  them  assistance 
in  their  warfare  against  his  new  ally,  while  Secretary  of 
State  Yilleroy,  as  they  knew,  would  place  every  possible 
impediment  in  the  way  of  the  queen's  negotiations  with 
Spain.13 

Elizabeth,  on  her  part,  was  vexed  with  everybody.  What 
the  States  most  feared  was  that  she  might,  in  her  anger  or 
her  avarice,  make  use  of  the  cautionary  towns  in  her  nego 
tiations  with  Philip.  At  any  rate,  said  Francis  Aerssens, 

12  Verhaal,  &c.,  233. 

M  Aerssens  to  Olden-Barneveld,  29  May,  1598,  in  Deventer,  248-250. 


1598. 


ELIZABETH   DISPOSED  FOR  PEACE. 


487 


then  States'  minister  in  France,  she  will  bring  us  to  the 
brink  of  the  precipice,  that  we  may  then  throw  ourselves  into 
her  arms  in  despair.14 

The  queen  was  in  truth  resolved  to  conclude  a  peace  if  a 
peace  could  be  made.  If  not,  she  was  determined  to  make 
as  good  a  bargain  with  the  States  as  possible,  in  regard  to 
the  long  outstanding  account  of  her  advances.  Certainly  it 
was  not  unreasonable  that  she  should  wish  to  see  her  ex 
chequer  reimbursed  by  people  who,  as  she  believed,  were 
rolling  in  wealth,  the  fruit  of  a  contraband  commerce  which 
she  denied  to  her  own  subjects,  and  who  were  in  honour 
bound  to  pay  their  debts  to  her  now,  if  they  wished  her  aid 
to  be  continued.  Her  subjects  were  impoverished  and  panting 
for  peace,  and  although,  as  she  remarked,  "  their  sense  of 
duty  restrained  them  from  the  slightest  disobedience  to  her 
absolute  commands,"  still  she  could  not  forgive  herself  for 
thus  exposing  them  to  perpetual  danger.15 

She  preferred  on  the  whole,  however,  that  the  common 
wealth  should  consent  to  its  own  dissolution  ;  for  she  thought 
it  unreasonable  that — after  this  war  of  thirty  years,  during 
fifteen  of  which  she  had  herself  actively  assisted  them — these 
republican  Calvinists  should  refuse  to  return  to  the  dominion 
of  their  old  tyrant  and  the  pope.  To  Barneveld,  Maurice  of 
Nassau,  and  the  States-General  this  did  not  seem  a  very 
logical  termination  to  so  much  hard  fighting. 

Accordingly,  when  on  the  26th  of  May  the   two   envoys 
fell  on  their  knees — as  the  custom  was — before  the   35  M&V 
great  queen,  and  had  been  raised  by  her  to  their   1598- 
feet    again,   they  foun$    her    Majesty  in    marvellously   ill- 
humour.     Olden- Barneveld  recounted   to  her  the  results  of 
their  mission  to  France,  and  said  that  from  beginning  to  end 
it  had  been  obvious  that  there  could  be  no  other  issue.     The 
king  was  indifferent,  he  had  said,  whether  the  States  preferred 


14  Aerssens  to  Olden-Barneveld,  29 
May,  1598,  in  Deventer,  248-250. 

16  "  Et  nonobstant  que  Sa  Ma1,  le 
peust  dire  avecq  un  singulier  conten 
tment  que  leur  debyoir  les  retient  de 


la  moindre  desobeissance  centre  ses 
absolutes  commandements,"  &c.  &c. — 
Proposition  by  Vere  and  Gilpin  to  the 
States-General,  25  June,  1598,  in  D*- 
yenter,  ij.  259,  segy. 


488  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIV. 

peace  or  war,  but  in  making  his  treaty  he  knew  that  he  had 
secured  a  profit  for  himself,  inflicted  damage  on  his  enemy, 
and  done  no  harm  to  his  friends.16 

Her  Majesty  then  interrupted  the  speaker  by  violent 
invectives  against  the  French  king  for  his  treachery.  She 
had  written  with  her  own  hand,  she  said,  to  tell  him  that 
she  never  had  believed  him  capable  of  doing  what  secretaries 
and  other  servants  had  reported  concerning  him,  but  which 
had  now  proved  true. 

Then  she  became  very  abusive  to  the  Dutch  envoys,  telling 
them  that  they  were  quite  unjustifiable  in  not  following 
Sir  Robert  Cecil's  advice,  and  in  not  engaging  with  him  at 
once  in  peace  negotiations  ;  at  least  so  far  as  to  discover  what 
the  enemy's  intentions  might  be.  She  added,  pettishly,  that 
if  Prince  Maurice  and  other  functionaries  were  left  in  the 
enjoyment  of  their  offices,  and  if  the  Spaniards  were  sent 
out  of  the  country,  there  seemed  no  reason  why  such  terms 
should  not  be  accepted. 

Barneveld  replied  that  such  accommodation  was  of  course 
impossible,  unless  they  accepted  their  ancient  sovereign  as 
prince.  Then  came  the  eternal  two  points — obedience  to 
God,  which  meant  submission  to  the  pope,  and  obedience 
to  the  king,  that  was  to  say,  subjection  to  his  despotic 
authority.  Thus  the  Christian  religion  would  be  ruined 
throughout  the  provinces,  and  the  whole  land  be  made  a 
bridge  and  a  ladder  for  Spanish  ambition. 

The  queen  here  broke  forth  into  mighty  oaths,  interrupting 
the  envoy's  discourse,  protesting  over  and  over  again  by  the 
living  God  that  she  would  not  and  could  not  give  the  States 
any  further  assistance  ;  that  she  would  leave  them  to  their 
fate ;  that  her  aid  rendered  in  their  war  had  lasted  much 
longer  than  the  siege  of  Troy  did,  and  swearing  that  she  had 
been  a  fool  to  help  them  and  the  king  of  France  as  she 
had  done,  for  it  was  nothing  but  evil  passions  that  kept  the 
States  so  obstinate.17 

16  Verhaal,  &c.,  before  cited,  284.       I  init  exclamatie  ende  protestatie  repe- 

17  "  Haere  Mat.  interrompeerde  ons  J  terende  dickwils,  par  le  Dieu  vivant. 


1598.  HER  TRIFLING   WITH  THE  ADVOCATE.  489 

The  envoy  endeavoured  to  soothe  her,  urging  that  as  she 
had  gained  the  reputation  over  the  whole  world  of  adminis 
tering  her  affairs  with  admirable,  yea  with  almost  divine 
wisdom,  she  should  now  make  use  of  that  sagacity  in  the 
present  very  difficult  matter.  She  ought  to  believe  that  it  was 
not  evil  passion,  nor  ambition,  nor  obstinacy  that  prevented 
the  States  from  joining  in  these  negotiations,  but  the  determi 
nation  to  maintain  their  national  existence,  the  Christian 
religion,  and  their  ancient  liberties  and  laws.  They  did  not 
pretend,  he  said,  to  be  wiser  than  great  monarchs  or  their 
counsellors,  but  the  difference  between  their  form  of  govern 
ment  and  a  monarchy  must  be  their  excuse. 

Monarchs,  when  they  made  treaties,  remained  masters,  and 
could  protect  their  realms  and  their  subjects  from  danger. 
The  States-General  could  not  accept  a  prince  without  placing 
themselves  under  his  absolute  authority,  and  the  Nether- 
landers  would  never  subject  themselves  to  their  deadly  enemy, 
whom  they  had  long  ago  solemnly  renounced.18 

Surely  these  remarks  of  the  Advocate  should  have  seemed 
entirely  unanswerable.  Surely  there  was  no  politician  in 
Europe  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  that  any  treaty  of  peace 
between  Philip  and  the  States  meant  their  unconditional 
subjugation  and  the  complete  abolition  of  the  Protestant 
religion.  Least  of  all  did  the  Queen  of  England  require 
information  on  this  great  matter  of  state.  It  was  cruel 
trifling  therefore,  it  was  inhuman  insolence  on  her  part,  to 
suggest  anything  like  a  return  of  the  States  to  the  dominion 
of  Spain. 

But  her  desire  for  peace  and  her  determination  to  get  back 
her  money  overpowered  at  that  time  all  other  considerations. 

The  States  wished  to  govern  themselves,  she  said  ;  why 
then  could  they  not  make  arrangements  against  all  dangers, 
and  why  could  they  not  lay  down  conditions  under  which  the 


dat  sy  niet  en  wilde  nochte  en  konde 
den  Staten  vorder  assisteren,  dat  By 
henselven  wilden  verlaten,  dat  sy 
langer  haer  assistentie  hadde  gedean 
als  het  oorloge  van  Troien  hadde  ge- 
duurt,  seggende  dat  sysot  was  geweest 


doende  sulcke  assistentie  aen  ons  ende 
den  Coninck  van  Vranckryck  dat  het 
niet  den  passien  en  waeren  die  de 
Staten  dus  obstinaet  hielden." — Ver 
haal,  &c.,  236. 
18  Ibid.  237. 


490  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP  XXXVI. 

king  would  not  really  be  their  master ;  especially  if  France 
and  England  should  guarantee  them  against  any  infraction  of 
their  rights.  By  the  living  God !  by  the  living  God !  by  the 
living  God !  she  swore  over  and  over  again  as  her  anger  rose, 
she  would  never  more  have  anything  to  do  with  such  people  ; 
and  she  deeply  regretted  having  thrown  away  her  money 
and  the  lives  of  her  subjects  in  so  stupid  a  manner.19 

Again  the  grave  and  experienced  envoy  of  the  republic 
strove  with  calm  and  earnest  words  to  stay  the  torrent  of  her 
wrath  ;  representing  that  her  money  and  her  pains  had  by 
no  means  been  wasted,  that  the  enemy  had  been  brought  to 
shame  and  his  finances  to  confusion  ;  and  urging  her,  without 
paying  any  heed  to  the  course  pursued  by  the  King  of 
France,  to  allow  the  republic  to  make  levies  of  troops,  at  its 
own  expense,  within  her  kingdom. 

But  her  Majesty  was  obdurate.  "  How  am  I  to  defend 
myself  ?  "  she  cried ;  "how  are  the  affairs  of  Ireland  to  be  pro 
vided  for  ?  how  am  I  ever  to  get  back  my  money  ?  who  is  to 
pay  the  garrisons  of  Brill  and  Flushing  ?  "  And  with  this 
she  left  the  apartment,  saying  that  her  counsellors  would 
confer  with  the  envoys.20 

From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  interview  the  queen 
was  in  a  very  evil  temper,  and  took  no  pains  to  conceal  her 
dissatisfaction  with  all  the  world. 

Now  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  subsidies  fur 
nished  by  England  to  the  common  cause  were  very  con 
siderable,  amounting  in  fourteen  years,  according  to  the 
queen's  calculation,  to  nearly  fourteen  hundred  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  But  in  her  interviews  with  the  republican 
statesmen  she  was  too  prone  to  forget  that  it  was  a  common 
cause,  to  forget  that  the  man  who  had  over  and  over  again 
attempted  her  assassination,  who  had  repeatedly  attempted 
the  invasion  of  her  realms  with  the  whole  strength  of  the 
most  powerful  military  organization  in  the  world,  whose 
dearest  wish  on  earth  was  still  to  accomplish  her  dethrone 
ment  and  murder,  to  extirpate  from  England  the  religion 

19  Verhaal,  &c.,  237.  J0  Ibid. 


1598. 


ENGLISH  STATESMEN  FAVOURABLE  TO  PEACE. 


491 


professed  by  the  majority  of  living  Englishmen,  and  to  place 
upon  her  vacant  throne  a  Spanish,  German,  or  Italian  prince, 
was  as  much  her  enemy  as  he  was  the  foe  of  his  ancient 
subjects  in  the  Netherlands.  At  that  very  epoch  Philip  was 
occupied  in  reminding  the  pope  that  the  two  had  always 
agreed  as  to  the  justice  of  the  claims  of  the  Infanta  Isabella 
to  the  English  crown,  and  calling  on  his  Holiness  to  sustain 
those  pretensions,  now  that  she  had  been  obliged,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  treaty  with  the  Prince  of  Bearne,  to  renounce 
her  right  to  reign  over  France.21 

Certainly  it  was  fair  enough  for  the  queen  and  her  coun 
sellors  to  stand  out  for  an  equitable  arrangement  of  the 
debt ;  but  there  was  much  to  dispute  in  the  figures.  When 
was  ever  an  account  of  fifteen  years'  standing  adjusted, 
whether  between  nations  or  individuals,  without  much 
wrangling  ?  Meantime  her  Majesty  held  excellent  security 
in  two  thriving  and  most  important  Netherland  cities.  But 
had  the  States  consented  to  re-establish  the  Spanish  authority 
over  the  whole  of  their  little  Protestant  republic,  was  there 
an  English  child  so  ignorant  of  arithmetic  or  of  history  as 
not  to  see  how  vast  would  be  the  peril,  and  how  incalculable 
the  expense,  thus  caused  to  England  ? 

Yet  besides  the  Cecils  and  the  lord  high  admiral,  other  less 
influential  counsellors  of  the  crown— even  the  upright  and 
accomplished  Buckhurst,  who  had  so  often  proved  his  friend 
ship  for  the  States — were  in  favour  of  negotiation.  There 
were  many  conferences  with  meagre  results.  The  English 
men  urged  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  States  to  repay 
the  queen's  advances,  to  relieve  her  from  future  subsidies, 
to  assume  the  payment  of  the  garrisons  in  the  cautionary 


51  "  Y  aqui  sera  bien  que  acordeis  a 
Su  Santd.  asimismo  lo  que  mas  de  una 
vez  os  ha  dicho  de  quanto  deseaba  en- 
caminar  la  sucesion  de  la  Infanta  mi 
hija  a  Ynglaterra  quedando  reyno  por 
si  y  allanando  para  ello  los  impedi- 
mentos  de  Francia  y  aun  procurando 
su  ayuda  en  consideracion  de  remitir 
les  desta  parte  los  grandes  derechos 
de  la  Infanta  y  tarn  bien  los  mios  a  la 


recompensa  de  los  excesivos  gastos 
hechos  en  su  beneficio  y  vereis  si  por 
aqui  podreis  inclinar  al  papa  a  que 
trata  de  desunir  a  franceses  de  ingleses, 
acordando  a  los  franceses  que  los  in 
gleses  son  BUS  antiques  enemiges,"  &c. 
&c. — Philip  to  Duke  of  Sesa,  his  envoy 
at  Rome,  16  March,  1597.  (Arch,  de 
Simancas  MS.) 


492  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIV. 

towns,  and  to  furnish  a  force  in  defence  of  England  when 
attacked.  Such  was  the  condition  of  the  kingdom,  they  said 
— being,  as  it  was,  entirely  without  fortified  cities — that  a 
single  battle  would  imperil  the  whole  realm,  so  that  it  was 
necessary  to  keep  the  enemy  out  of  it  altogether.22 

These  arguments  were  not  unreasonable,  but  the  inference 
was  surely  illogical.  The  special  envoys  from  the  republic 
had  not  been  instructed  to  treat  about  the  debt.  This  had 
been  the  subject  of  perpetual  negotiation.  It  was  discussed 
almost  every  day  by  the  queen's  commissioners  at  the  Hague 
and  by  the  States'  resident  minister  at  London.  Olden- 
Bameveld  and  the  admiral  had  been  sent  forth  by  the  States 
in  what  in  those  days  was  considered  great  haste  to  prevent 
a  conclusion  of  a  treaty  between  their  two  allies  and  the 
common  enemy.  They  had  been  too  late  in  France,  and 
now,  on  arriving  in  England,  they  found  that  government 
steadily  drifting  towards  what  seemed  the  hopeless  shipwreck 
of  a  general  peace. 

What  must  have  been  the  grief  of  Olden-Barneveld  when 
he  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  enlightened  Buckhurst  that  the 
treaty  of  1585  had  been  arranged  to  expire — according  to  the 
original  limitation — with  a  peace,  and  that  as  the  States 
could  now  make  peace  and  did  not  choose  to  do  so,  her 
Majesty  must  be  considered  as  relieved  from  her  contract  of 
alliance,  and  as  justified  in  demanding  repayment  of  her 
advances  ! s 

To  this  perfidious  suggestion  what  could  the  States'  envoy 
reply  but  that  as  a  peace  such  as  the  treaty  of  1585  presup 
posed — to  wit,  with  security  for  the  Protestant  religion  and 
for  the  laws  and  liberties  of  the  provinces — was  impossible, 
sjiould  the  States  now  treat  with  the  king  or  the  cardinal  ? 

The  envoys  had  but  one  more  interview  with  the  queen, 
in  which  she  was  more  benignant  in  manner  but  quite  as 
peremptory  in  her  demands.  Let  the  States  either  thoroughly 
satisfy  her  as  to  past  claims  and  present  necessities,  or  let 
them  be  prepared  for  her  immediate  negotiation  with  the 

28  Yerhaal,  &c.,  239,  M  Ibid 


1597.        THE  ENVOYS'  LAST  AUDIENCE  OF  THE  QUEEN.        493 

enemy.  Should  she  decide  to  treat,  she  would  not  be  un 
mindful  of  their  interests,  she  said,  nor  deliver  them  over 
into  the  enemy's  hands.  She  repeated,  however,  the  absurd 
opinion  that  there  were  means  enough  of  making  Philip 
nominal  sovereign  of  all  the  Netherlands,  without  allowing 
him  to  exercise  any  authority  over  them.  As  if  the  most 
Catholic  and  most  absolute  monarch  that  ever  breathed  could 
be  tied  down  by  the  cobwebs  of  constitutional  or  treaty 
stipulations  ;  as  if  the  previous  forty  years  could  be  effaced 
from  the  record  of  history. 

She  asked,  too,  in  case  the  rumours  of  the  intended 
transfer  of  the  Netherlands  to  the  cardinal  or  the  Infanta 
should  prove  true,  which  she  doubted,  whether  this  arrange 
ment  would  make  any  difference  in  the  sentiments  of  the 
States. 

Barneveld  replied  that  the  transfer  was  still  uncertain,  but 
that  they  had  no  more  confidence  in  the  cardinal  or  the 
Infanta  than  in  the  King  of  Spain  himself. 

On  taking  leave  of  the  queen  the  envoys  waited  upon  Lord 
Burghley,  whom  they  found  sitting  in  an  arm-chair  in  his 
bedchamber,  suffering  from  the  gout  and  with  a  very  fierce 
countenance.24  He  made  no  secret  of  his  opinions  in  favour 
of  negotiation,  said  that  the  contracts  made  by  monarchs 
should  always  be  interpreted  reasonably,  and  pronounced  a 
warm  eulogy  on  the  course  pursued  by  the  King  of  France. 
It  was  his  Majesty's  duty,  he  said,  to  seize  the  best  oppor 
tunity  for  restoring  repose  to  his  subjects  and  his  realms,  and 
it  was  the  duty  of  other  sovereigns  to  do  the  same. 

The  envoys  replied  that  they  were  not  disposed  at  that 
moment  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  king's  actions.  They 
would  content  themselves  with  remarking  that  in  their 
opinion  even  kings  and  princes  were  bound  by  their  con 
tracts,  oaths,  and  pledges  before  God  and  man  ;  and  with  this 
wholesome  sentiment  they  took  leave  of  the  lord  high 
treasurer.25 

44  "  Toonende  een  fier  gelaat." — Ver-  I  25  "  Wy  seyden  dat  ons  niet  toe  en 
baal,  &c.;  243.  |  stonde  van  de  actie  van  de  Coninck 


494 


THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


They  left  London  immediately,  on  the  last  day  of  May, 
31  May,  without  passports  or  despatches  of  recal,  and  em- 
1598.  barked  at  Gravesend  in  the  midst  of  a  gale  of  wind. 

Lord  Essex,  the  sincere  friend  of  the  republic,  was  both 
surprised  and  disturbed  at  their  sudden  departure,  and  sent 
a  special  courier  after  them  to  express  his  regrets  at  the 
unsatisfactory  termination  to  their  mission.  "  My  mistress 
knows  very  well,"  said  he,  "  that  she  is  an  absolute  princess, 
and  that,  when  her  ministers  have  done  their  extreme  duty, 
she  wills  what  she  wills."  * 

The  negotiations  between  England  and  Spain  were  de 
ferred,  however,  for  a  brief  space,  and  a  special  message  was 
despatched  to  the  Hague  as  to  the  arrangement  of  the  debt. 
"  Peace  at  once  with  Philip,"  said  the  queen,  "  or  else  full 
satisfaction  of  my  demands." 

Now  it  was  close  dealing  between  such  very  thrifty  and 
acute  bargainers  as  the  queen  and  the  Netherland  republic. 

Two  years  before,  the  States  had  offered  to  pay  twenty 
thousand  pounds  a  year  on  her  Majesty's  birthday  so  long 
as  the  war  should  last,  and  after  a  peace,  eighty  thousand 
pounds  annually  for  four  years.27  The  queen,  on  her  part, 
fixed  the  sum  total  of  the  debt  at  nearly  a  million  and  a  half 
sterling,  and  required  instant  payment  of  at  least  one  hun 
dred  thousand  pounds  on  account,  besides  provision  for  a 
considerable  annual  refunding,  assumption  by  the  States  of 
the  whole  cost  of  the  garrisons  in  the  cautionary  towns,  and 
assurance  of  assistance  in  case  of  an  attack  upon  England.28 
Thus  there  was  a  whole  ocean  between  the  disputants. 

Vere  and  Gilpin  were  protocolling  and  marshalling  ac 
counts  at  the  Hague,  and  conducting  themselves  with  much 
arrogance  and  bitterness,  while,  meantime,  Barneveld  had 


te  oordelen  maer  dat  wy  meinden  dat 
oock  Coningen  ende  Prinsen  aen  haer 
contracten,  beloften  ende  eeden  voor 
Godt  ende  de  werelt  verbonden  waren  ; 
daermede  wy  van  den  vooschr. 
Heere  Groote  Tresorier  syn  geschey- 
den."— Verhaal,  &c.,  244. 

16  Essex  to  Nassau  and  Olden-Bar- 


neveld,  22  May,  1598.  (O.  S.) 

"  Et  que  ma  maitresse  scait  bien 
qu'elle  est  princesse  absolue,  et  que 
quant  ses  ministres  ont  fait  leur  es- 
treme  devoyer  elle  veult  ce  qu'elle 
veult." — Deventer,  iii.  247. 

27  Agreement  in  Bor,  IV.  245. 

28  Meteren,  406.     Deventer,  ii.  258. 


1598.  RETURN  OF  THE  LEGATION  TO  ENGLAND.  495 

hardly  had  time  to  set  his  foot  on  his  native  shores  before  he 
was  sent  back  again  to  England  at  the  head  of  another 
solemn  legation.  One  more  effort  was  to  be  made  to 
arrange  this  financial  problem  and  to  defeat  the  English 
peace  party. 

The  offer  of  the  year  1596  just  alluded  to  was  renewed  -and 
instantly  rejected.  Naturally  enough,  the  Dutch  envoys  were 
disposed,  in  the  exhausting  warfare  which  was  so  steadily 
draining  their  finances,  to  pay  down  as  little  as  possible  on 
the  nail,  while  providing  for  what  they  considered  a  liberal 
annual  sinking  fund. 

The  English,  on  the  contrary,  were  for  a  good  round  sum 
in  actual  cash,  and  held  the  threatened  negotiation  with 
Spain  over  the  heads  of  the  unfortunate  envoys  like  a  whip. 

So  the  queen's  counsellors  and  the  republican  envoys  tra 
velled  again  and  again  over  the  well-worn  path. 
On  the  29th  June,  Buckhurst  took  Olden-Barneveld  29June' 
into  his  cabinet,  and  opened  his  heart  to  him,  not  as  a  servant 
of  her  Majesty,  he  said,  but  as  a  private  Englishman.29  He 
was  entirely  for  peace.  Now  that  peace  was  offered  to  her 
Majesty,  a  continuance  of  the  war  was  unrighteous,  and  the 
Lord  God's  blessing  could  not  be  upon  it.  Without  God's 
blessing  no  resistance  could  be  made  by  the  queen  nor  by  the 
States  to  the  enemy,  who  was  ten  times  more  powerful  than 
her  Majesty  in  kingdoms,  provinces,  number  of  subjects,  and 
money.  He  had  the  pope,  the  emperor,  the  Dukes  of  Savoy 
and  Lorraine,  and  the  republic  of  Genoa,  for  his  allies.  He 
feared  that  the  war  might  come  upon  England,  and  that  they 
might  be  fated  on  one  single  day  to  win  or  lose  all.  The 
queen  possessed  no  mines,  and  was  obliged  to  carry  on  the 
war  by  taxing  her  people.  The  king  had  ever-flowing  foun 
tains  in  his  mines  ;  the  queen  nothing  but  a  stagnant  pool, 
which,  when  all  the  water  was  pumped  out,  must  in  the 
end  be  dry.  He  concluded,  therefore,  that  as  her  Majesty 
had  no  allies  but  the  Netherlands,  peace  was  best  for  England, 

49  Conference  between  Olden-Barneveld  and  Buckhurst  in  Deventer  ii. 
26^266. 

VOL.  11—17 


496  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIV. 

and  advisable  for  the  provinces.     Arrangements  could  easily 
be  made  to  limit  the  absolute  authority  of  Spain.30     . 

This  highly  figurative  view  of  the  subject — more  becoming  to 
the  author  of  Ferrex  and  Porrex  than  to  so  experienced  a  states 
man  as  Sackville  had  become  since  his  dramatic  days — did  not 
much  impress  Barneveld.  He  answered  that,  although  the  King 
of  Spain  was  unquestionably  very  powerful,  the  Lord  God  was 
still  stronger  ;  that  England  and  the  Netherlands  together 
could  maintain  the  empire  of  the  seas,  which  was  of  the 
utmost  importance,  especially  for  England  ;  but  that  if  the 
republic  were  to  make  her  submission  to  Spain,  and  become 
incorporate  with  that  power,  the  control  of  the  seas  was  lost 
for  ever  to  England. 

The  Advocate  added  the  unanswerable  argument  that  to 
admit  Philip  as  sovereign,  and  then  to  attempt  a  limitation 
of  his  despotism,  was  a  foolish  dream. 

Buckhurst  repeated  that  the  republic  was  the  only  ally  of 
England,  that  there  was  no  confidence  to  be  placed,  by  her 
in  any  other  power,  and  that  for  himself,  he  was,  as  always, 
very  much  the  friend  of  the  States. 

Olden-Barneveld  might  well  have  prayed,  however,  to  be 
delivered  from  such  friends.  To  thrust  one's  head  into  the 
lion's  mouth,  while  one's  friends  urge  moderation  on  the  noble 
animal,  can  never  be  considered  a  cheerful  or  prudent  pro 
ceeding. 

At  last,  after  all  offers  had  been  rejected  which  the  envoys 
had  ventured  to  make,  Elizabeth  sent  for  Olden-Barneveld  and 
Caron  and  demanded  their  ultimatum  within  twenty-four 
hours.  Should  it  prove  unsatisfactory,  she  would  at  once 
make  peace  with  Spain.32 

On  the  1st  August  the  envoys  accordingly  proposed  to 
Cecil  and  the  other  ministers  to  pay  thirty  thousand  pounds  a 
year,  instead  of  twenty  thousand,  so  long  as  the  war  should 
last,  but  they  claimed  the  right  of  redeeming  the  cautionary 
towns  at  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  each.  This  seemed 

80  Conference,  &c.,  vhi  sup.  8I  Ibid. 

88  Minutes  of  Olden-Barneveld.     Deventer,  ii.  267, 268. 


1598. 


FINAL  AGREEMENT   WITH  ELIZABETH. 


497 


admissible,  and  Cecil  and  his  colleagues  pronounced  the 
affair  arranged.  But  they  had  reckoned  without  the  queen 
after  all. 

Elizabeth  sent  for  Caron  as  soon  as  she  heard  of  the 
agreement,  flew  into  a  great  rage,  refused  the  terms,  swore 
that  she  would  instantly  make  peace  with  Spain,  and  thun 
dered  loudly  against  her  ministers. 

"  They  were  great  beasts/'  she  said,  "  if  they  had  stated 
that  she  would  not  treat  with  the  enemy.  She  had  merely 
intended  to  defer  the  negotiations."33 

So  the  whole  business  was  to  be  done  over  again.  At  last 
the  sum  claimed  by  the  queen,  fourteen  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  was  reduced  by  agreement  to  eight  hundred  thousand, 
and  one-half  of  this  the  envoys  undertook  on  the  part  of 
the  States  to  refund  in  annual  payments  of  thirty  thousand 
pounds,  while  the  remaining  four  hundred  thousand  should 
be  provided  for  by  some  subsequent  arrangement.  All  at 
tempts,  however,  to  obtain  a  promise  from  the  queen  to 
restore  the  cautionary  towns  to  the  republic  in  case  of  a  peace 
between  Spain  and  England  remained  futile.34 

That  was  to  be  a  bone  of  contention  for  many  years. 

It  was  further  agreed  by  the  treaty,  which  was  definitely 
signed  on  the  16th  August,  that,  in  case  England    IQ  Aug. 
were  invaded   by  the  common  enemy,  the   States    1598- 
should  send  to   the  queen's  assistance  at  least  thirty  ships 
of  war,  besides  five  thousand  infantry  and  five  squadrons  of 
horse.35 


33  "  Sy  waren  groote  beesten,  indien 
ey  ons  geseit  hadden  dat  sy  niet  met 
den  viand  tracteren  soude  ;  sy  wilde  de 
handelinge  slechts  differeren." — V«r- 


haal  van  Duivenoorde  Olden-Barnevelt^ 
enz.,"  cited  by  Deventer,  ii.  268. 

34  Ibid. 

36  Treaty,  apud  Bor,  IV.  476-478. 


VOL,  HI,— 2  K 


498  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV 


CHAPTER     XXXV. 

Negotiations  between  France  and  Spain  —  Conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  peace 

Purchase  of  the  allegiance  of  the  French  nobles  —  Transfer  of  the  Nether 

lands  to  Albert  and  Isabella  —  Marriage  of  the  Infante  and  the  Infanta 

Illness  of  Philip  II.  —  Horrible  nature  of  his  malady  — His  last  hours  and 
death  — Review  of  his  reign  —  Extent  of  the  Spanish  dominions — Causes 
of  the  greatness  of  Spain,  and  of  its  downfall  —  Philip's  wars  and  their 
expenses  —  The  Crown  revenues  of  Spain  —  Character  of  the  people  — 
Their  inordinate  self-esteem  —  Consequent  deficiency  of  labour  —  Ecclesi 
astical  Government  —  Revenues  of  the  Church  —  Characteristics  of  the 
Spanish  clergy  —  Foreign  commerce  of  Spain  —  Governmental  system  of 
Philip  II.  —  Founded  on  the  popular  ignorance  and  superstition  —  Ex. 
tinction  of  liberty  in  Spain  —  The  Holy  Inquisition  —  The  work  and 
character  of  Philip. 

WHILE  the  utterly  barren  conferences  had  been  going  on  at 
Anglers  and  Nantes  between  Henry  IV.  and  the  republican 
envoys,  the  negotiations  had  been  proceeding  at  Vervins. 

President  Bichardot  on  behalf  of  Spain,  and  Secretary  of 
State  Villeroy  as  commissioner  of  Henry,  were  the  chief 
negotiators.1 

Two  old  acquaintances,  two  ancient  Leaguers,  two  bitter 
haters  of  Protestants  and  rebels,  two  thorough  adepts  in  diplo 
matic  chicane,  they  went  into  this  contest  like  gladiators 
who  thoroughly  understood  and  respected  each  other's  skill. 

Kichardot  was  recognized  by  all  as  the  sharpest  and  most 
unscrupulous  politician  in  the  obedient  Netherlands.  Villeroy 
had  conducted  every  intrigue  of  France  during  a  whole  gene 
ration  of  mankind.  They  scarcely  did  more  than  measure 
swords  and  test  each  other's  objects,  before  arriving  at  a  con 
viction  as  to  the  inevitable  result  of  the  encounter. 

It  was  obvious  at  once  to  Villeroy  that  Philip  was  deter 
mined  to  make  peace  with  France  in  order  that  the  triple 
alliance  might  be  broken  up.  It  was  also  known  to  the 

1  Relazion  del  Presidente  Richardot,  April,  1598.    (Arch,  de  Simancas  MS.) 


1598.  FRANCO-SPANISH  NEGOTIATIONS.  499 

French  diplomatist  that  the  Spanish  king  was  ready  for 
almost  every  concession  to  Henry,  in  order  that  this  object 
might  be  accomplished. 

All  that  Richardot  hoped  to  save  out  of  the  various  con 
quests  made  by  Spain  over  France  was  Calais. 

But  Villeroy  told  him  that  it  was  useless  to  say  a  word  on 
that  subject.  His  king  insisted  on  the  restoration  of  the 
place.  Otherwise  he  would  make  no  peace.  It  was  enough, 
he  said,  that  his  Majesty  said  nothing  about  Navarre. 

Eichardot  urged  that  at  the  time  when  the  English  had  con 
quered  Calais  it  had  belonged  to  Artois,  not  to  France.  It 
was  no  more  than  equitable,  then,  that  it  should  be  retained 
by  its  original  proprietor. 

The  general  of  the  Franciscans,  who  acted  as  a  kind  of 
umpire  in  the  transactions,  then  took  each  negotiator  sepa 
rately  aside  and  whispered  in  his  ear.2 

Villeroy  shook  his  head,  and  said  he  had  given  his  ulti 
matum.  Richardot  acknowledged  that  he  had  something  in 
reserve,  upon  which  the  monk  said  that  it  was  time  to  make 
it  known. 

Accordingly — the  two  being  all  ears — Richardot  observed 
that  what  he  was  about  to  state  he  said  with  fear  and  trem 
bling.  He  knew  not  what  the  King  of  Spain  would  think  of 
his  proposition,  but  he  would,  nevertheless,  utter  the  sug 
gestion  that  Calais  should  be  handed  over  to  the  pope.3 

His  Holiness  would  keep  the  city  in  pledge  until  the  war 
with  the  rebels  was  over,  and  then  there  would  be  leisure 
enough  to  make  definite  arrangements  on  the  subject. 

Now  Villeroy  was  too  experienced  a  practitioner  to  be 
imposed  upon  by  this  ingenious  artifice.  Moreover,  he  hap 
pened  to  have  an  intercepted  letter  in  his  possession  in  which 
Philip  told  the  cardinal  that  Calais  was  to  be  given  up  if  the 
French  made  its  restitution  a  sine  qua  non.  So  Villeroy  did 
make  it  a  sine  qua  non,  and  the  conferences  soon  after  ter 
minated  in  an  agreement  on  the  part  of  Spain  to  surrender  all 
its  conquests  in  France.4 

2  Relazion,  &c.    (Arch,  de  Sim.  MS.)  3  Ibid.  4  Ibid. 


500  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXV. 

Certainly  no  more  profitable  peace  than  this  could  have 
been  made  by  the  French  king  under  such  circumstances, 
and  Philip  at  the  last  moment  had  consented  to  pay  a  heavy 
price  for  bringing  discord  between  the  three  friends.  The 
treaty  was  signed  at  Vervins  on  the  2nd  May,  and  contained 
thirty-five  articles.  Its  basis  was  that  of  the  treaty  of  Gateau 
Cambresis  of  1559.  Restitution  of  all  places  conquered  by 
either  party  within  the  dominions  of  the  other  since  the 
day  of  that  treaty  was  stipulated.  Henry  recovered  Calais, 
Ardres,  Dourlens,  Blavet,  and  many  other  places,  and  gave 
up  the  country  of  Charolois.  Prisoners  were  to  be  surren 
dered  on  both  sides  without  ransom,  and  such  of  those  cap 
tives  of  war  as  had  been  enslaved  at  the  galleys  should  be 
set  free. 

The  pope,  the  emperor,  all  his  cousins,  and  those  electors, 
states,  and  cities  under  their  obedience  or  control,  the  Duke  of 
Savoy,  the  King  of  Poland  and  Sweden,  the  Kings  of  Den 
mark  and  Scotland,  the  Dukes  of  Lorraine  and  Tuscany, 
the  Doge  of  Venice,  the  republic  of  Genoa,  and  many  lesser 
states  and  potentates,  were  included  in  the  treaty.  The 
famous  Edict  of  Nantes  in  favour  of  the  Protestant  subjects  of 
the  French  king  was  drawn  up  and  signed  in  the  city  of 
which  it  bears  the  name  at  about  the  same  time  with  these 
negotiations.  Its  publication  was,  however,  deferred  until 
after  the  departure  of  the  legate  from  France  in  the  following 
year.5 

The  treaty  of  Cateau  Cambresis  had  been  pronounced  the 
most  disgraceful  and  disastrous  one  that  had  ever  been  ratified 
by  a  French  monarch  ;  and  surely  Henry  had  now  wiped 
away  that  disgrace  and  repaired  that  disaster.  It  was  natural 
enough  that  he  should  congratulate  himself  on  the  rewards 
which  he  had  gathered  by  deserting  his  allies. 

He  had   now  sufficient  occupation  for  a  time  in  devising 

ways  and  means,  with  the  aid  of  the  indefatigable  Bethune, 

to  pay  the  prodigious  sums  with  which  he  had  purchased 

the  allegiance  of  the  great  nobles  and  lesser  gentlemen  of 

•  Treaty,  apud  Bor,  IV.  445-450.     De  Thou,  xiii.  208,  seqq.,  1.  120. 


1598.       TRANSFER  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  TO  ISABELLA.       501 

France.  Thirty-two  millions  of  livres  were  not  sufficient  to 
satisfy  the  claims  of  these  patriots,  most  of  whom  had  been 
drawing  enormous  pensions  from  the  King  of  Spain  up  to  the 
very  moment,  or  beyond  it,  when  they  consented  to  acknow 
ledge  the  sovereign  of  their  own  country.  Scarcely  a  great 
name  in  the  golden  book  of  France  but  was  recorded  among 
these  bills  of  sale. 

Mayenne,  Lorraine,  Guise,  Nemours,  Mercceur,  Mont- 
pensier,  Joyeuse,  Epernon,  Brissac,  D'Arlincourt,  Balagny, 
Kochefort,  Villeroy,  Yillars,  Montespan,  Le  vis  ton,  Beauvillars, 
and  countless  others,  figured  in  the  great  financier's  terrible 
account-book,  from  Mayenne,  set  down  at  the  cool  amount 
of  three  and  a  half  millions,  to  Beauvoir  or  Beauvillars  at 
the  more  modest  price  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
livres.  "  I  should  appal  my  readers,"  said  De  Bethune,  "  if 
I  should  show  to  them  that  this  sum  makes  but  a  very  small 
part  of  the  amounts  demanded  from  the  royal  treasury,  either 
by  Frenchmen  or  by  strangers,  as  pay  and  pension,  and  yet 
the  total  was  thirty- two  millions."6 

And  now  the  most  Catholic  king,  having  brought  himself 
at  last  to  exchange  the  grasp  of  friendship  with  the  great 
ex-heretic,  and  to  recognize  the  Prince  of  Bearne  as  the  legi 
timate  successor  of  St.  Louis,  to  prevent  which  consumma 
tion  he  had  squandered  so  many  thousands  of  lives,  so  many 
millions  of  treasure,  and  brought  ruin  to  so  many  prosperous 
countries,  prepared  himself  for  another  step  which  he  had 
long  hesitated  to  take. 

He  resolved  to  transfer  the  Netherlands  to  his  daughter 
Isabella  and  to  the  Cardinal  Archduke  Albert,  who,  as  the 
king  had  now  decided,  was  to  espouse  the  Infanta. 

The  deed  of  cession  was  signed  at  Madrid  on  the  6th  May, 
1598.     It  was  accompanied  by  a  letter  of  the  same    Q  w&y, 
date  from  the  Prince  Philip,  heir  apparent  to  the     1598- 
crown. 

On  the  30th  May  the  Infanta  executed  a  procuration  by 
which  she  gave  absolute  authority  to  her  future  husband 

«  Sully.     Memoires.  lib.  x.  560. 


502  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

to  rule  over  the  provinces  of  the  Netherlands,  Burgundy, 
and  Charolois,  and  to  receive  the  oaths  of  the  estates  and  of 
public  functionaries.7 

It  was  all  very  systematically  done.  No  transfer  of  real 
estate,  no  donatio  inter  vivos  of  mansions  and  messuages, 
parks  and  farms,  herds  and  flocks,  could  have  been  effected  in 
a  more  business-like  manner  than  the  gift  thus  made  by  the 
most  prudent  king  to  his  beloved  daughter. 

The  quit-claim  of  the  brother  was  perfectly  regular. 

So  also  was  the  power  of  attorney,  by  which  the  Infanta 
authorised  the  middle-aged  ecclesiastic  whom  she  was  about 
to  espouse  to  take  possession  in  her  name  of  the  very  desir 
able  property  which  she  had  thus  acquired. 

It  certainly  never  occurred,  either  to  the  giver  or  the 
receivers,  that  the  few  millions  of  Netherlanders,  male  and 
female,  inhabiting  these  provinces  in  the  North  Sea,  were 
entitled  to  any  voice  or  opinion  as  to  the  transfer  of  them 
selves  and  their  native  land  to  a  young  lady  living  in  a 
remote  country.  For  such  was  the  blasphemous  system  of 
Europe  at  that  day.  Property  had  rights.  Kings,  from  whom 
all  property  emanated,  were  enfeoifed  directly  from  the 
Almighty ;  they  bestowed  certain  privileges  on  their  vassals, 
but  man  had  no  rights  at  all.  He  was  property,  like  the  ox 
or  the  ass,  like  the  glebe  which  he  watered  with  the  sweat  of 
his  brow. 

The  obedient  Netherlands  acquiesced  obediently  in  these 
new  arrangements.  They  wondered  only  that  the  king 
should  be  willing  thus  to  take  from  his  crown  its  choicest 
jewels — for  it  is  often  the  vanity  of  colonies  and  dependencies 
to  consider  themselves  gems. 

diplomatist  and  father  confessor — and 
was  supported  by  much  collateral  evi- 


7  See  all  the  deeds  and  documents 
in  Bor,  IV.  461-466.  Compare  Herrera, 
iii.  766-770. 

Very  elaborate  pro  visions  were  made 
in  regard  to  the  children  and  grand 
children  to  spring  from  this  marriage, 
but  it  was  generally  understood  at  the 
time  that  no  issue  was  to  be  expected. 
The  incapacity  of  the  cardinal  seems 
to  have  been  revealed  by  an  indiscre 
tion  of  the  General  of  Franciscans — 


^>po: 

dence.  Hence  all  these  careful  stipu 
lations  were  a  solemn  jest,  like  much 
of  the  diplomatic  work  of  this  reign. 
See  letter  of  F.  d'Aerssens  to  States- 
General,  27  May,  1599,  in  Lettres  et 
Negotiations  de  Buzanval  et  D'Aers 
sens,  par  G.  G.  Vrede,  Leide,  1846,  p. 
190.  But  compare  Soranzo,  Relazione, 
before  cited,  p.  169, 


1598.  ILLNESS  OF  THE  KING  OF   SPAIN.  503 

The  republican  Netherlander  only  laughed  at  these 
arrangements,  and  treated  the  invitation  to  transfer  them 
selves  to  the  new  sovereigns  of  the  provinces  with  silent 
contempt.8 

The  cardinal-archduke  left  Brussels  in  September,  having 
accomplished   the  work  committed  to  him  by  the    14  sept 
power  of  attorney,  and  having  left  Cardinal  Andrew    1598- 
of   Austria,   bishop    of   Constantia,   son  of   the    Archduke 
Ferdinand,  to  administer  affairs  during  his  absence.      Francis 
de  Mendoza,  Admiral  of  Arragon,  was  entrusted  with  the 
supreme  military  command  for  the  same  interval. 

The  double  marriage  of  the  Infante  of  Spain  with  the 
Archduchess  Margaret  of  Austria,  and  of  the  unfrocked 
Cardinal  Albert  of  Austria  with  the  Infanta  Clara  Eugenia 
Isabella,  was  celebrated  by  proxy,  with  immense  pomp,  at 
Ferrara,  the  pope  himself  officiating  with  the  triple  crown 
upon  his  head.9 

Meantime,  Philip  II.,  who  had  been  of  delicate  consti 
tution  all  his  life,  and  who  had  of  late  years  been  a  con 
firmed  valetudinarian,  had  been  rapidly  failing  ever  since  the 
transfer  of  the  Netherlands  in  May.  Longing  to  be  once 
more  in  his  favourite  retirement  of  the  Escorial,  he  undertook 
the  journey  towards  the  beginning  of  June,  and  was  carried 
thither  from  Madrid  in  a  litter  borne  by  servants,  accom 
plishing  the  journey  of  seven  leagues  in  six  days. 

When  he  reached  the  palace  cloister,  he  was  unable  to 
stand.  The  gout,  his  life-long  companion,  had  of  late  so 
tortured  him  in  the  hands  and  feet  that  the  mere  touch  of  a 
linen  sheet  was  painful  to  him.  By  the  middle  of  July 
a  low  fever  had  attacked  him,  which  rapidly  reduced 
his  strength.  Moreover,  a  new  and  terrible  symptom  of  the 
utter  disintegration  of  his  physical  constitution  had  presented 
itself.  Imposthumes,  from  which  he  had  suffered  on  the 
breast  and  at  the  joints,  had  been  opened  after  the  usual 
ripening  applications,  and  the  result  was  not  the  hoped  relief, 
but  swarms  of  vermin,  innumerable  in  quantities,  and  im- 

«  Bor,  IV.  467.  9  Ibid.  470-472. 


504  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

possible  to  extirpate,  which  were  thus  generated  and  repro 
duced  in  the  monarch's  blood  and  flesh. 

The  details  of  the  fearful  disorder  may  have  attraction  for 
the  pathologist,  but  have  no  especial  interest  for  the  general 
reader.  Let  it  suffice,  that  no  torture  ever  invented  by 
Torquemada  or  Peter  Titelman  to  serve  the  vengeance  of 
Philip  and  his  ancestors  or  the  pope  against  the  heretics 
of  Italy  or  Flanders,  could  exceed  in  acuteness  the  agonies 
which  the  most  Catholic  king  was  now  called  upon  to  endure. 
And  not  one  of  the  long  line  of  martyrs,  who  by  decree 
of  Charles  or  Philip  had  been  strangled,  beheaded,  burned,  or 
buried  alive,  ever  faced  a  death  of  lingering  torments  with 
more  perfect  fortitude,  or  was  sustained  by  more  ecstatic 
visions  of  heavenly  mercy,  than  was  now  the  case  with  the 
great  monarch  of  Spain. 

That  the  grave-worms  should  do  their  office  before  soul 
and  body  were  parted,  was  a  torment  such  as  the  imagination 
of  Dante  might  have  invented  for  the  lowest  depths  of  his 
"Inferno."10 

On  the  22nd  July,  the  king  asked  Dr.  Mercado  if  his 
sickness  was  likely  to  have  a  fatal  termination.  The  physician, 
not  having  the  courage  at  once  to  give  the  only  possible 
reply,  found  means  to  evade  the  question.  On  the  1st  August 
his  Majesty's  confessor,  father  Diego  de  Yepes,  after  consulta 
tion  with  Mercado,  announced  to  Philip  that  the  only  issue 
to  his  malady  was  death.  Already  he  had  been  lying  for  ten 
days  on  his  back,  a  mass  of  sores  and  corruption,  scarcely 
able  to  move,  and  requiring  four  men  to  turn  him  in  his  bed. 

He  expressed  the  greatest  satisfaction  at  the  sincerity 
which  had  now  been  used,  and  in  the  gentlest  and  most  benig 
nant  manner  signified  his  thanks  to  them  for  thus  removing 
all  doubts  from  his  mind,  and  for  giving  him  information 
which  it  was  of  so  much  importance  for  his  eternal  welfare 
to  possess. 

w  A  great  English  poet  has  indeed  expressed  the  horrible  thought : — 
"  It  is  as  if  the  dead  could  feel 
The  icy  worm  about  them  steal." — BYRON. 


1598.  HIS  CONFESSION.  505 

His  first  thought  was  to  request  the  papal  nuncio,  Gaetano, 
to  despatch  a  special  courier  to  Kome  to  request  the  pope's 
benediction.  This  was  done,  and  it  was  destined  that  the 
blessing  of  his  Holiness  should  arrive  in  time. 

He  next  prepared  himself  to  make  a  general  confession, 
which  lasted  three  days,  father  Diego  having  drawn  up  at  his 
request  a  full  and  searching  interrogatory.  The  confession 
may  have  been  made  the  more  simple,  however,  by  the 
statement  which  he  made  to  the  priest,  and  subsequently 
repeated  to  the  Infante  his  son,  that  in  all  his  life  he  had 
never  consciously  done  wrong  to  any  one.  If  he  had  ever 
committed  an  act  of  injustice,  it  was  unwittingly,  or  because 
he  had  been  deceived  in  the  circumstances.  This  internal 
conviction  of  general  righteousness  was  of  great  advantage  to 
him  in  the  midst  of  his  terrible  sufferings,  and  accounted 
in  great  degree  for  the  gentleness,  though tfulness  for  others, 
and  perfect  benignity,  which,  according  to  the  unanimous 
testimony  of  many  witnesses,  characterised  his  conduct  during 
this  whole  sickness. 

After  he  had  completed  his  long  general  confession,  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered  to  him. 
Subsequently,  the  same  rites  were  more  briefly  performed 
every  few  days. 

His  sufferings  were  horrible,  but  no  saint  could  have 
manifested  in  them  more  gentle  resignation  or  angelic 
patience.  He  moralized  on  the  condition  to  which  the 
greatest  princes  might  thus  be  brought  at  last  by  the  hand  of 
God,  and  bade  the  prince  observe  well  his  father's  present 
condition,  in  order  that,  when  he  too  should  be  laid  thus  low, 
he  might  likewise  be  sustained  by  a  conscience  void  of 
offence.  He  constantly  thanked  his  assistants  and  nurses  for 
their  care,  insisted  upon  their  reposing  themselves  after  their 
daily  fatigues,  and  ordered  others  to  relieve  them  in  their 
task. 

He  derived  infinite  consolation  from  the  many  relics  of 
saints,  of  which,  as  has  been  seen,  he  had  made  plentiful 
provision  during  his  long  reign.  Especially  a  bone  of  St» 


506  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXV. 

Alban,  presented  to  him  by  Clement  VIII.,  in  view  of  his 
present  straits,  was  of  great  service.  With  this  relic,  and 
with  the  arm  of  St.  Vincent  of  Ferrara,  and  the  knee-bone 
of  St.  Sebastian,  he  daily  rubbed  his  sores,  keeping  the 
sacred  talismans  ever  in  his  sight  on  the  altar,  which  was  not 
far  from  his  bed.  He  was  much  pleased  when  the  priests  and 
other  bystanders  assured  him  that  the  remains  of  these  holy 
men  would  be  of  special  efficacy  to  him,  because  he  had 
cherished  and  worshipped  them  in  times  when  misbelievers 
and  heretics  had  treated  them  with  disrespect. 

On  a  sideboard  in  his  chamber  a  human  skull  was  placed, 
and  upon  this  skull — in  ghastly  mockery  of  royalty,  in  truth, 
yet  doubtless  in  the  conviction  that  such  an  exhibition 
showed  the  superiority  of  anointed  kings  even  over  death — 
he  ordered  his  servants  to  place  a  golden  crown.11  And  thus, 
during  the  whole  of  his  long  illness,  the  Antic  held  his  state, 
while  the  poor  mortal  representative  of  absolute  power  lay 
living  still,  but  slowly  mouldering  away. 

With  perfect  composure,  and  with  that  minute  attention  to 
details  which  had  characterised  the  king  all  his  lifetime,  and 
was  now  more  evident  than  ever,  he  caused  the  provisions  for 
his  funeral  obsequies  to  be  read  aloud  one  day  by  Juan  Kuys 
de  Velasco,  in  order  that  his  children,  his  ministers,  and  the 
great  officers  of  state  who  were  daily  in  attendance  upon 
him,  might  thoroughly  learn  their  lesson  before  the  time 
came  for  performing  the  ceremony. 

"  Having  governed  my  kingdom  for  forty  years,"  said  he, 
"  I  now  give  it  back,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  my  age, 
to  God  Almighty,  to  whom  it  belongs,  recommending  my 
soul  into  His  blessed  hands,  that  His  Divine  Majesty  may 
do  what  He  pleases  therewith." 

He  then  directed  that  after  his  body  should  have  been 
kept  as  long  as  the  laws  prescribed,  it  should  be  buried 
thus  :  — 

The  officiating  bishop  was  to  head  the  procession,  bearing 
the  crucifix,  and  followed  by  the  clergy. 

11  Bor,  IV.  473. 


1598.  HIS  ARRANGEMENTS   FOR  HIS  FUNERAL.  507 

The  Adelantado  was  to  come  next,  trailing  the  royal 
standard  along  the  ground.  Then  the  Duke  of  Novara  was 
to  appear,  bearing  the  crown  on  an  open  salver,  covered  with 
a  black  cloth,  while  the  Marquis  of  Avillaer  carried  the 
sword  of  state. 

The  coffin  was  to  be  borne  by  eight  principal  grandees, 
clad  in  mourning  habiliments,  and  holding  lighted  torches. 

The  heir  apparent  was  to  follow,  attended  by  Don  Garcia 
de  Loyasa,  who  had  just  been  consecrated,  in  the  place  of 
Cardinal  Albert,  as  Archbishop  of  Toledo. 

The  body  was  to  be  brought  to  the  church,  and  placed  in 
the  stately  tomb  already  prepared  for  its  reception.  "  Mass 
being  performed,"  said  the  king,  "  the  prelate  shall  place  me 
in  the  grave  which  shall  be  my  last  house  until  I  go  to 
my  eternal  dwelling.  Then  the  prince,  third  king  of  my 
name,  shall  go  into  the  cloister  of  St.  Jerome  at  Madrid,  where 
he  shall  keep  nine  days  mourning.  My  daughter,  and  her 
aunt — my  sister,  the  ex-empress — shall  for  the  same  purpose 
go  to  the  convent  of  the  grey  sisters."  12 

The  king  then  charged  his  successor  to  hold  the  Infanta  in 
especial  affection  and  consideration  ;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  she  has 
been  my  mirror,  yea,  the  light  of  my  eyes."  He  also  ordered 
that  the  Marquis  of  Mondejar  be  taken  from  prison  and  set 
free,  on  condition  never  to  show  himself  at  Court.  The  wife 
of  Antonio  Perez  was  also  to  be  released  from  prison,  in  order 
that  she  might  be  immured  in  a  cloister,  her  property  being 
bestowed  upon  her  daughters. 

As  this  unfortunate  lady's  only  crime  consisted  in  her 
husband's  intrigue  with  the  king's  mistress,  Princess  Eboli,  in 
which  she  could  scarcely  be  considered  an  accomplice,  this 
permission  to  exchange  one  form  of  incarceration  for  another 
did  not  seem  an  act  of  very  great  benignity. 

Philip  further  provided  that  thirty  thousand  masses  should 
be  said  for  his  soul,  five  hundred  slaves  liberated  from  the 
galleys,  and  five  hundred  maidens  provided  with  marriage 
portions. 

»  BOP,  IV.  473,  474. 


508  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS          CHAP.  XXXV. 

After  these  elaborate  instructions  had  been  read,  the  king 
ordered  a  certain  casket  to  be  brought  to  him  and  opened  in 
his  presence.  From  this  he  took  forth  a  diamond  of  great 
price  and  gave  it  to  the  Infanta,  saying  that  it  had  belonged 
to  her  mother,  Isabella  of  France.  He  asked  the  prince  if 
he  consented  to  the  gift.  The  prince  answered  in  the 
affirmative. 

He  next  took  from  the  coffer  a  written  document,  which  he 
handed  to  his  son,  saying,  "  Herein  you  will  learn  how  to 
govern  your  kingdoms/' 

Then  he  produced  a  scourge,  which  he  said  was  the 
instrument  with  which  his  father,  the  emperor,  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  chastising  himself  during  his  retreat  at  the 
monastery  of  Juste.  He  told  the  by-standers  to  observe* 
the  imperial  blood  by  which  the  lash  was  still  slightly 
stained. 

As  the  days  wore  on  he  felt  himself  steadily  sinking,  and 
asked  to  receive  extreme  unction.  As  he  had  never  seen 
that  rite  performed  he  chose  to  rehearse  it  beforehand,  and 
told  Buys  Velasco,  who  was  in  constant  attendance  upon  him, 
to  go  for  minute  instructions  on  the  subject  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Toledo.  The  sacrament  having  been  duly  administered, 
the  king  subsequently,  on  the  1st  September,  desired  to 
receive  it  once  more.  The  archbishop,  fearing  that  the  dying 
monarch's  strength  would  be  insufficient  for  the  repetition  of 
the  function,  informed  him  that  the  regulations  of  the  Church 
required  in  such  cases  only  a  compliance  with  certain  trifling 
forms,  as  the  ceremony  had  been  already  once  thoroughly 
carried  out.  But  the  king  expressed  himself  as  quite  deter 
mined  that  the  sacrament  should  be  repeated  in  all  its  parts  ; 
that  he  should  once  more  be  anointed — to  use  the  phrase  of 
brother  Francis  Neyen — with  the  oil  which  holy  athletes 
require  in  their  wrestle  with  death. 

This  was  accordingly  done  in  the  presence  of  his  son  and 
daughter,  and  of  his  chief  secretaries,  Christopher  de  Moura 
and  John  de  Idiaquez,  besides  the  Counts  Chinchon,  Fuen- 
salido,  and  several  other  conspicuous  personages.  He  was 


1598.  HIS  PREPARATION  FOR  DEATH.  509 

especially  desirous  that  his  son  should  be  present,  in  order 
that,  when  he  too  should  come  to  die,  he  might  not  find 
himself,  like  his  father,  in  ignorance  of  the  manner  in  which 
this  last  sacrament  was  to  be  performed. 

When  it  was  finished  he  described  himself  as  infinitely 
consoled,  and  as  having  derived  even  more  happiness  from 
the  rite  than  he  had  dared  to  anticipate. 

Thenceforth  he  protested  that  he  would  talk  no  more  of 
the  world's  affairs.  He  had  finished  with  all  things  below, 
and  for  the  days  or  hours  still  remaining  to  him  he  would 
keej)  his  heart  exclusively  fixed  upon  Heaven.  Day  by  day 
as  he  lay  on  his  couch  of  unutterable  and  almost  unexampled 
misery,  his  confessors  and  others  read  to  him  from  religious 
works,  while  with  perfect  gentleness  he  would  insist  that 
one  reader  should  relieve  another,  that  none  might  be 
fatigued. 

On    the    llth    September    he    dictated    these    words    to 

Christopher    de    Moura,   who    was    to    take    them 

T\-         j     ^r  xt,  -£•  11  Sept. 

to  Diego  de  Yepes,  the  confessor  :  — 

"Father  Confessor,  you  are  in  the  place  of  God,  and  I 
protest  thus  before  His  presence  that  I  will  do  all  that  you 
declare  necessary  for  my  salvation.  Thus  upon  you  will  be 
the  responsibility  for  my  omissions,  because  I  am  ready  to 
do  all." 

Finding  that  the  last  hour  was  approaching,  he  informed 
Don  Fernando  de  Toledo  where  he  could  find  some  candles 
of  our  lady  of  Montserrat,  one  of  which  he  desered  to  keep  in 
his  hand  at  the  supreme  moment.  He  also  directed  Ruys 
de  Velasco  to  take  from  a  special  shrine — which  he  had 
indicated  to  him  six  years  before — a  crucifix  which  the 
emperor  his  father  had  held  upon  his  death-bed.  All  this 
was  accomplished  according  to  his  wish. 

He  had  already  made  arrangements  for  his  funeral  pro 
cession,  and  had  subsequently  provided  all  the  details  of  his 
agony.  It  was  now  necessary  to  give  orders  as  to  the  par 
ticulars  of  his  burial. 

He  knew  that  decomposition  had  made  such  progress  even 


510  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

while  he  was  still  living  as  to  render  embalming  impossible. 
He  accordingly  instructed  Don  Christopher  to  see  his  body 
wrapped  in  a  shroud  just  as  it  lay,  and  to  cause  it  to  be  placed 
in  a  well-soldered  metallic  coffin  already  provided.  The 
coffin  of  state,  in  which  the  leaden  one  was  to  be  enclosed, 
was  then  brought  into  the  chamber  by  his  command,  that  ho 
might  see  if  it  was  entirely  to  his  taste.  Having  examined 
it,  he  ordered  that  it  should  be  lined  with  white  satin  and 
ornamented  with  gold  nails  and  lace-work.  He  also  described 
a  particular  brocade  of  black  and  gold,  to  be  found  in  the 
jewel-room,  which  he  desired  for  the  pall. 

Next  morning  he  complained  to  Don  Christopher  that 
12  Sept.  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  had  not  been 
1598.  administered  to  him  for  several  days.  It  was  urged 
that  his  strength  was  deemed  insufficient,  and  that,  as  he  had 
received  that  rite  already  four  times  during  his  illness,  and 
extreme  unction  twice,  it  was  thought  that  the  additional 
fatigue  might  be  spared  him.  But  as  the  king  insisted,  the 
sacrament  was  once  more  performed  and  prayers  were  read. 
He  said  with  great  fervour  many  times,  "Pater,  non  mea 
voluntas,  sed  tua  fiat."  He  listened,  too,  with  much  devotion 
to  the  Psalm,  "  As  the  hart  panteth  for  the  water-brooks  ;  " 
and  he  spoke  faintly  at  long  intervals  of  the  Magdalen,  of 
the  prodigal  son,  and  of  the  paralytic. 

When  these  devotional  exercises  had  been  concluded,  father 
Diego  expressed  the  hope  to  him  that  he  might  then  pass 
away,  for  it  would  be  a  misfortune  by  temporary  convalescence 
to  fall  from  the  exaltation  of  piety  which  he  had  then  reached. 
The  remark  was  heard  by  Philip  with  an  expression  of  entire 
satisfaction. 

That  day  both  the  Infanta  and  the  prince  came  for  the  last 
time  to  his  bedside  to  receive  his  blessing.  He  tenderly 
expressed  his  regret  to  his  daughter  that  he  had  not  been 
permitted  to  witness  her  marriage,  but  charged  her  never  to 
omit  any  exertion  to  augment  and  sustain  the  holy  Koman 
Catholic  religion  in  the  Netherlands.  It  was  in  the  interest 


1598  LAST  HOURS  OF  PHILIP  II.  511 

of  tliat  holy  Church  alone  that  he  had  endowed  her  with 
those  provinces,  and  he  now  urged  it  upon  her  with  his  dying 
breath  to  impress  upon  her  future  husband  these  his  com 
mands  to  both. 

His  two  children  took  leave  of  him  with  tears  and  sobs. 
As  the  prince  left  the  chamber  he  asked  Don  Christopher 
who  it  was  that  held  the  key  to  the  treasury. 

The  secretary  replied,  "  It  is  I,  Sir."  The  prince  demanded 
that  he  should  give  it  into  his  hands.  But  Don  Christopher 
excused  himself,  saying  that  it  had  been  entrusted  to  him  by 
the  king,  and  that  without  his  consent  he  could  not  part 
with  it.  Then  the  prince  returned  to  the  king's  chamber, 
followed  by  the  secretary,  who  narrated  to  the  dying  monarch 
what  had  taken  place. 

"  You  have  done  wrong,"  said  Philip  ;  whereupon  Don 
Christopher,  bowing  to  the  earth,  presented  the  key  to  the 
prince. 

The  king  then  feebly  begged  those  about  his  bedside  to 
repeat  the  dying  words  of  our  Saviour  on  the  cross,  in  order 
that  he  might  hear  them  and  repeat  them  in  his  heart  as  his 
soul  was  taking  flight. 

His  father's  crucifix  was  placed  in  his  hands,  and  he 
said  distinctly,  "I  die  like  a  good  Catholic,  in  faith  and 
obedience  to  the  holy  Koman  Church."  Soon  after  these  last 
words  had  been  spoken,  a  paroxysm,  followed  by  faintness, 
came  over  him,  and  he  lay  entirely  still. 

They  had  covered  his  face  with  a  cloth,  thinking  that  he 
had  already  expired,  when  he  suddenly  started,  with  great 
energy,  opened  his  eyes,  seized  the  crucifix  again  from  the 
hand  of  Don  Fernando  de  Toledo,  kissed  it,  and  fell  back 
again  into  agony. 

The  archbishop  and  the  other  priests  expressed  the  opinion 
that  he  must  have  had,  not  a  paroxysm,  but  a  celestial  vision, 
for  human  powers  would  not  have  enabled  him  to  arouse 
himself  so  quickly  and  so  vigorously  as  he  had  done  at  that 
crisis. 


512 


THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXV. 


He  did  not  speak  again,  but  lay  unconsciously  dying  for 
some  hours,  and  breathed   his  last  at  five  in  the 
morning  of  Sunday  the  13th  September.13 
His  obsequies  were  celebrated  according  to  the  directions 
which  he  had  so  minutely  given. 


These  volumes  will  have  been  written  in  vain  if  it  be  now 
necessary  to  recal  to  my  readers  the  leading  events  in  the 
history  of  the  man  who  had  thus  left  the  world  where,  almost 
invisible  himself,  he  had  so  long  played  a  leading  part.  It 
may  not  be  entirely  useless,  however,  to  throw  a  parting 
glance  at  a  character  which  it  has  been  one  of  the  main 
objects  of  this  work,  throughout  its  whole  course,  to  pour  tray. 
My  theme  has  been  the  reign  of  Philip  II.  because,  as  the 
less  is  included  in  the  greater,  the  whole  of  that  reign,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  episodes,  is  included  in  the  vast  move 
ment  out  of  which  the  Kepublic  of  the  United  Netherlands 
was  born  and  the  assailed  independence  of  France  and 
England  consolidated.  The  result  of  Philip's  efforts  to 
establish  a  universal  monarchy  was  to  hasten  the  decline 
of  the  empire  which  he  had  inherited,  by  aggravating  the 
evils  which  had  long  made  that  downfall  inevitable. 

It  is  from  no  abstract  hatred  to  monarchy  that  I  have 
dwelt  with  emphasis  upon  the  crimes  of  this  king,  and  upon 
the  vices  of  the  despotic  system,  as  illustrated  during  his  life 
time.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  military,  monarchical  system 
— founded  upon  conquests  achieved  by  barbarians  and  pirates 
of  a  distant  epoch  over  an  effete  civilization  and  over  antique 
institutions  of  intolerable  profligacy — will  soon  come  to  an 
end  in  the  older  world.  And  it  is  the  business  of  Europeans 
so  to  deal  with  the  institutions  of  their  inheritance  or  their 
choice  as  to  ensure  their  steady  melioration  and  to  provide  for 


18  The  last  illness  of  Philip  is  de 
scribed  with  every  minute  detail,  de 
rived  from  narratives  of  eye-witnesses, 
by  Bor,  IV.  472-474  ;  and  by  Herrera, 


iii.  774-778.  Compare  also  the  Rela- 
zione  of  F.  Soranzo  already  cited,  150- 
153. 


REVIEW  OF  PHILIP'S  REIGN.  513 

the  highest  interests  of  the  people.  It  matters  comparatively 
little  by  what  name  a  government  is  called,  so  long  as  the 
intellectual  and  moral  development  of  mankind,  and  the 
maintenance  of  justice  among  individuals,  are  its  leading 
principles.  A  government,  like  an  individual,  may  remain 
far  below  its  ideal ;  but,  without  an  ideal,  governments  and 
individuals  are  alike  contemptible.  It  is  tyranny  only— 
whether  individual  or  popular — that  utters  its  feeble  sneers 
at  the  ideologists,  as  if  mankind  were  brutes  to  whom  in 
stincts  were  all  in  all  and  ideas  nothing.  Where  intellect  and 
justice  are  enslaved  by  that  unholy  trinity — Force,  Dogma, 
and  Ignorance — the  tendency  of  governments,  and  of  those 
subjected  to  them,  must  of  necessity  be  retrograde  and 
downward. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  to  those  who  observe  the  move 
ments  of  mankind  during  the  course  of  the  fourteen  centuries 
since  the  fall  of  the  Koman  Empire — a  mere  fragment  of 
human  history — that  its  progress,  however  concealed  or  im 
peded,  and  whether  for  weal  or  woe,  is  towards  democracy ; 
for  it  is  the  tendency  of  science  to  liberate  and  to  equalize 
the  physical  and  even  the  intellectual  forces  of  humanity. 
A  horse  and  a  suit  of  armour  would  now  hardly  enable  the 
fortunate  possessor  of  such  advantages  to  conquer  a  kingdom, 
nor  can  wealth  and  learning  be  monopolised  in  these  latter 
days  by  a  favoured  few.  Yet  veneration  for  a  crown  and  a 
privileged  church — as  if  without  them  and  without  their 
close  connection  with  each  other  law  and  religion  were 
impossible — makes  hereditary  authority  sacred  to  great  masses 
of  mankind  in  the  old  world.  The  obligation  is  the  more 
stringent,  therefore,  on  men  thus  set  apart  as  it  were  by 
primordial  selection  for  ruling  and  instructing  their  fellow- 
creatures,  to  keep  their  edicts  and  their  practice  in  harmony 
with  divine  justice.  For  these  rules  cannot  be  violated  with 
impunity  during  a  long  succession  of  years,  and  it  is  usually 
left  for  a  comparatively  innocent  generation  to  atone  for  the 
sins  of  their  forefathers.  If  history  does  not  teach  this  it 
teaches  nothing,  and  as  the  rules  of  morality,  whether  for 

VOL.  in. — 2  L 


514  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

individuals  or  for  nations,  are  simple  and  devoid  of  mystery, 
there  is  the  less  excuse  for  governments  which  habitually  and 
cynically  violate  the  eternal  law. 

Among  self-evident  truths  not  one  is  more  indisputable 
than  that  which,  in  the  immortal  words  of  our  Declaration  of 
Independence,  asserts  the  right  of  every  human  being  to  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  ;  but  the  only  happiness 
that  can  be  recognised  by  a  true  statesman  as  the  birthright 
of  mankind  is  that  which  comes  from  intellectual  and  moral 
development,  and  from  the  subjugation  of  the  brutal  instincts. 

A  system  according  to  which  clowns  remain  clowns  through 
all  the  ages,  unless  when  extraordinary  genius  or  fortunate 
accident  enables  an  exceptional  individual  to  overleap  the 
barrier  of  caste,  necessarily  retards  the  result  to  which  the 
philosopher  looks  forward  with  perfect  faith. 

For  us,  whose  business  it  is  to  deal  with,  and,  so  far  as 
human  fallibility  will  permit,  to  improve  our  inevitable  form 
of  government — which  may  degenerate  into  the  most  intoler 
able  of  polities  unless  we  are  ever  mindful  that  it  is  yet  in 
its  rudimental  condition  ;  that,  although  an  immense  step 
has  been  taken  in  the  right  direction  by  the  abolition  of  caste, 
the  divorce  of  Church  and  State,  and  the  limitation  of  intrusion 
by  either  on  the  domain  of  the  individual,  it  is  yet  only  a 
step  from  which,  without  eternal  vigilance,  a  falling  back  is 
very  easy  ;  and  that  here,  more  than  in  other  lands,  ignorance 
of  the  scientific  and  moral  truths  on  which  national  happiness 
and  prosperity  depend,  deserves  bitter  denunciation — for  us 
it  is  wholesome  to  confirm  our  faith  in  democracy,  and  to 
justify  our  hope  that  the  People  will  prove  itself  equal  to  the 
awful  responsibility  of  self-government  by  an  occasional  study 
of  the  miseries  which  the  opposite  system  is  capable  of  pro 
ducing.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  reign  of  the  sovereign 
whose  closing  moments  have  just  been  recorded  is  especially 
worthy  of  a  minute  examination,  and  I  still  invite  a  parting 
glance  at  the  spectacle  thus  presented,  before  the  curtain 
falls. 

The  Spanish  monarchy  in  the  reign  of  Philip  II.  was  not 


VAST  EXTENT   OF  HIS  DOMINIONS.  515 

only  the  most  considerable  empire  then  existing,  but  probably 
the  most  powerful  and  extensive  empire  that  had  ever  been 
known.  Certainly  never  before  had  so  great  an  agglomera 
tion  of  distinct  and  separate  sovereignties  been  the  result  of 
accident.  For  it  was  owing  to  a  series  of  accidents — in  the 
common  acceptation  of  that  term — that  Philip  governed  so 
mighty  a  realm.  According  to  the  principle  that  vast  tracts 
of  the  earth's  surface,  with  the  human  beings  feeding  upon 
them,  were  transferable  in  fee-simple  from  one  man  or 
woman  to  another  by  marriage,  inheritance,  or  gift,  a  hetero 
geneous  collection  of  kingdoms,  principalities,  provinces,  and 
wildernesses  had  been  consolidated,  without  geographical 
continuity,  into  an  artificial  union — the  populations  differing 
from  each  other  as  much  as  human  beings  can  differ,  in 
race,  language,  institutions,  and  historical  traditions,  and 
resembling  each  other  in  little,  save  in  being  the  property 
alike  of  the  same  fortunate  individual. 

Thus  the  dozen  kingdoms  of  Spain,  the  seventeen  pro 
vinces  of  the  Netherlands,  the  kingdoms  of  the  Two  Sicilies, 
the  duchy  of  Milan,  and  certain  fortresses  and  districts  of 
Tuscany,  in  Europe  ;  the  kingdom  of  Barbary,  the  coast  of 
Guinea,  and  an  indefinite  and  unmeasured  expanse  of  other 
territory,  in  Africa  ;  the  controlling  outposts  and  cities  all 
along  the  coast  of  the  two  Indian  peninsulas,  with  as  much  of 
the  country  as  it  seemed  good  to  occupy,  the  straits  and  the 
great  archipelagoes,  so  far  as  they  had  been  visited  by  Euro 
peans,  in  Asia  ;  Peru,  Brazil,  Mexico,  the  Antilles — the 
whole  recently  discovered  fourth  quarter  of  the  world  in 
short,  from  the  "  Land  of  Fire "  in  the  South  to  the  frozen 
regions  of  the  North — as  much  territory  as  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  sea-captains  could  circumnavigate  and  the  pope 
in  the  plentitude  of  his  power  and  his  generosity  could  be- 
stow  on  his  fortunate  son,  in  America  ;  all  this  enormous 
proportion  of  the  habitable  globe  was  the  private  property 
of  Philip,  who  was  the  son  of  Charles,  who  was  the  son  of 
Joanna,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Isabella,  whose  husband 
was  Ferdinand.  By  what  seems  to  us  the  most  whimsical 


516  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

of  political  arrangements,  the  Papuan  islander,  the  Calabrian 
peasant,  the  Amsterdam  merchant,  the  semi-civilized  Aztec, 
the  Moor  of  Barbary,  the  Castilian  grandee,  the  roving 
Camanche,  the  Guinea  negro,  the  Indian  Brahmin,  found 
themselves — could  they  but  have  known  it — fellow-citizens  of 
one  commonwealth.  Statutes  of  family  descent,  aided  by 
fraud,  force,  and  chicane,  had  annexed  the  various  European 
sovereignties  to  the  crown  of  Spain  ;  the  genius  of  a  Genoese 
sailor  had  given  to  it  the  New  World,  and  more  recently  the 
conquest  of  Portugal,  torn  from  hands  not  strong  enough  to 
defend  the  national  independence,  had  vested  in  the  same 
sovereignty  those  Oriental  possessions  which  were  due  to  the 
enterprise  of  Vasco  de  Gama,  his  comrades  and  successors. 
The  voyager,  setting  forth  from  the  straits  of  Gibraltar, 
circumnavigating  the  African  headlands  and  Cape  Comorin, 
and  sailing  through  the  Molucca  channel  and  past  the  isles 
which  bore  the  name  of  Philip  in  the  Eastern  sea,  gave  the 
hand  at  last  to  his  adventurous  comrade,  who,  starting  from 
the  same  point,  and  following  westward  in  the  track  of 
Magellaens  and  under  the  Southern  Cross,  coasted  the  shore 
of  Patagonia,  and  threaded  his  path  through  unmapped 
and  unnumbered  clusters  of  islands  in  the  Western  Pacific  ; 
and  during  this  spanning  of  the  earth's  whole  circumference 
not  an  inch  of  land  or  water  was  traversed  that  was  not  the 
domain  of  Philip. 

For  the  sea,  too,  was  his  as  well  as  the  dry  land. 

From  Borneo  to  California  the  great  ocean  was  but  a 
Spanish  lake,  as  much  the  king's  private  property  as  his 
fish-ponds  at  the  Escorial  with  their  carp  and  perch.  No 
subjects  but  his  dared  to  navigate  those  sacred  waters.  Not 
a  common  highway  of  the  world's  commerce,  but  a  private 
path  for  the  gratification  of  one  human  being's  vanity,  had 
thus  been  laid  out  by  the  bold  navigators  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

It  was  for  the  Dutch  rebels  to  try  conclusions  upon  this 
point,  as  they  had  done  upon  so  many  others,  with  the  master 
of  the  land  and  sea.  The  opening  scenes  therefore  in  the 


GREATNESS  AND  VARIETY  OF  HIS  RESOURCES.        517 

great  career  of  maritime  adventure  and  discovery  by  which 
these  republicans  were  to  make  themselves  famous  will  soon 
engage  the  reader's  attention. 

Thus  the  causes  of  what  is  called  the  greatness  of  Spain 
are  not  far  to  seek.  Spain  was  not  a  nation,  but  a  temporary 
and  factitious  conjunction  of  several  nations,  which  it  was 
impossible  to  fuse  into  a  permanent  whole,  but  over  whose 
united  resources  a  single  monarch  for  a  time  disposed.  And 
the  very  concentration  of  these  vast  and  unlimited  powers, 
fortuitous  as  it  was,  in  this  single  hand,  inspiring  the  indi 
vidual,  not  unnaturally,  with  a  consciousness  of  superhuman 
grandeur,  impelled  him  to  those  frantic  and  puerile  efforts  to 
achieve  the  impossible  which  resulted  in  the  downfall  of 
Spain.  The  man  who  inherited  so  much  material  greatness 
believed  himself  capable  of  destroying  the  invisible  but  omni 
potent  spirit  of  religious  and  political  liberty  in  the  Nether 
lands,  of  trampling  out  the  national  existence  of  France  and 
of  England,  and  of  annexing  those  realms  to  his  empire. 
It  has  been  my  task  to  relate,  with  much  minuteness,  how 
miserably  his  efforts  failed. 

But  his  resources  were  great.  All  Italy  was  in  his  hands, 
with  the  single  exception  of  the  Venetian  republic ;  for  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Florence  and  the  so-called  republic  of  Genoa 
were  little  more  than  his  vassals,  the  pope  was  generally  his 
other  self,  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy  was  his  son-in-law.  Thus 
his  armies,  numbering  usually  a  hundred  thousand  men, 
were  supplied  from  the  best  possible  sources.  The  Italians 
were  esteemed  the  best  soldiers  for  siege,  assault,  light  skir 
mishing.  The  German  heavy  troopers  and  arquebuseers  were 
the  most  effective  for  open  field-work,  and  these  were  to  be 
purchased  at  reasonable  prices  and  to  indefinite  amount  from 
any  of  the  three  or  four  hundred  petty  sovereigns  to  whom 
what  was  called  Germany  belonged.  The  Sicilian  and  Nea 
politan  pikemen,  the  Milanese  light-horse,  belonged  exclusively 
to  Philip,  and  were  used,  year  after  year,  for  more  than  a 
generation  of  mankind,  to  fight  battles  in  which  they  had  no 
more  interest  than  had  their  folio w-subjects  in  the  Moluccas 


518  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

or  in  Mexico,  but  which  constituted  for  them  personally  as 
lucrative  a  trade  on  the  whole  as  was  afforded  them  at  that  day 
by  any  branch  of  industry. 

Silk,  corn,  wine,  and  oil  were  furnished  in  profusion  from 
these  favoured  regions,  not  that  the  inhabitants  might  enjoy 
life,  and,  by  accumulating  wealth,  increase  the  stock  of 
human  comforts  and  contribute  to  intellectual  and  scientific 
advancement,  but  in  order  that  the  proprietor  of  the  soil 
might  feed  those  eternal  armies  ever  swarming  from  the 
south  to  scatter  desolation  over  the  plains  of  France,  Bur 
gundy,  Flanders,  and  Holland,  and  to  make  the  crown  of 
Spain  and  the  office  of  the  Holy  Inquisition  supreme  over 
the  world.  From  Naples  and  Sicily  were  derived  in  great 
plenty  the  best  materials  and  conveniences  for  ship-building 
and  marine  equipment.  The  galleys  and  the  galley-slaves 
furnished  by  these  subject  realms  formed  the  principal  part 
of  the  royal  navy.  From  distant  regions,  a  commerce  which 
in  Philip's  days  had  become  oceanic  supplied  the  crown  with 
as  much  revenue  as  could  be  expected  in  a  period  of  gross 
ignorance  as  to  the  causes  of  the  true  grandeur  and  the 
true  wealth  of  nations.  Especially  from  the  mines  of  Mexico 
came  an  annual  average  of  ten  or  twelve  millions  of  precious 
metals,  of  which  the  king  took  twenty-five  per  cent,  for 
himself. 

It  would  be  difficult  and  almost  superfluous  to  indicate  the 
various  resources  placed  in  the  hands  of  this  one  personage, 
who  thus  controlled  so  large  a  portion  of  the  earth.  All  that 
breathed  or  grew  belonged  to  him,  and  most  steadily  was  the 
stream  of  blood  and  treasure  poured  through  the  sieve  of  his 
perpetual  war.  His  system  was  essentially  a  gigantic  and 
perpetual  levy  of  contributions  in  kind,  and  it  is  only  in  this 
vague  and  unsatisfactory  manner  that  the  revenues  of  his 
empire  can  be  stated.  A  despot  really  keeps  no  accounts, 
nor  need  to  do  so,  for  he  is  responsible  to  no  man  for  the  way 
in  which  he  husbands  or  squanders  his  own.  Moreover,  the 
science  of  statistics  had  not  a  beginning  of  existence  in  those 
days,  and  the  most  common  facts  can  hardly  be  obtained, 


HIS  REVENUE— ITS  ESTIMATED  VALUE.  519 

even  by  approximation.  The  usual  standard  of  value,  the 
commodity  which  we*  call  money — gold  or  silver — is  well 
known  to  be  at  best  a  fallacious  guide  for  estimating  the 
comparative  wealth  of  individuals  or  of  nations  at  widely 
different  epochs.  The  dollar  of  Philip's  day  was  essentially 
the  same  bit  of  silver  that  it  is  in  our  time  in  Spain,  Naples, 
Home,  or  America,  but  even  should  an  elaborate  calculation 
be  made  as  to  the  quantity  of  beef  or  bread  or  broadcloth  to 
be  obtained  for  that  bit  of  silver  in  this  or  that  place  in  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  result,  as  compared  with 
prices  now  prevalent,  would  show  many  remarkable  discre 
pancies.  Thus  a  bushel  of  wheat  at  Antwerp  during  Philip's 
reign  might  cost  a  quarter  of  a  dollar,  in  average  years,  and 
there  have  been  seasons  in  our  own  time  when  two  bushels  of 
wheat  could  have  been  bought  for  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  in 
Illinois.  Yet  if,  notwithstanding  this,  we  should  allow  a 
tenfold  value  in  exchange  to  the  dollar  of  Philip's  day,  we 
should  be  surprised  at  the  meagreness  of  his  revenues,  of 
his  expenditures,  and  of  the  debts  which  at  the  close  of  his 
career  brought  him  to  bankruptcy ;  were  the  sums  estimated 
in  coin. 

Thus  his  income  was  estimated  by  careful  contemporary 
statesmen  at  what  seemed  to  them  the  prodigious  annual 
amount  of  sixteen  millions  of  dollars.  He  carried  on  a  vast 
war  without  interruption  during  the  whole  of  his  forty-three 
years'  reign  against  the  most  wealthy  and  military  nations  of 
Christendom  not  recognising  his  authority,  and  in  so  doing  he 
is  said  to  have  expended  a  sum  total  of  seven  hundred  mil 
lions  of  dollars— a  statement  which  made  men's  hair  stand  on' 
their  heads.  Yet  the  American  republic,  during  its  civil  war 
to  repress  the  insurrection  of  the  slaveholders,  has  spent 
nominally  as  large  a  sum  as  this  every  year  ;  and  the  British 
Empire  in  time  of  profound  peace  spends  half  as  much 
annually.  And  even  if  we  should  allow  sixteen  millions  to 
have  represented  the  value  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  millions 
— a  purely  arbitrary  supposition — as  compared  with  our 
times,  what  are  a  hundred  and  sixty  millions  of  dollars,  01 


520  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

thirty-three  millions  of  pounds  sterling  as  the  whole  net 
revenue  of  the  greatest  empire  that  had  ever  existed  in  the 
world,  when  compared  with  the  accumulated  treasures  over 
which  civilized  and  industrious  countries  can  now  dispose  ? 
Thus  the  power  of  levying  men  and  materials  in  kind  con 
stituted  the  chief  part  of  the  royal  power,  and,  in  truth,  very 
little  revenue  in  money  was  obtained  from  Milan  or  Naples, 
or  from  any  of  the  outlying  European  possessions  of  the 
crown. 

Eight  millions  a  year  were  estimated  as  the  revenue  from 
the  eight  kingdoms  incorporated  under  the  general  name  of 
Castile,  while  not  more  than  six  hundred  thousand  came  from 
the  three  kingdoms  which  constituted  Arragon.14  The  chief 
sources  of  money  receipts  were  a  tax  of  ten  per  cent, 
upon  sales,  paid  by  the  seller,  called  Alcavala,  and  the 
Almoxarifalgo  or  tariff  upon  both  imports  and  exports. 
Besides  these  imposts  he  obtained  about  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars  a  year  by  selling  to  his  subjects  the  privilege 
of  eating  eggs  upon  fast-days,  according  to  the  permission 
granted  him  by  the  pope  in  the  bull  called  the  Cruzada.15 
He  received  another  annual  million  from  the  Sussidio  and 
the  Excusado.  The  firs  t  was  a  permission  originally  given 
by  the  popes  to  levy  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year 
upon  ecclesiastical  property  for  equipment  of  a  hundred  war- 
galleys  against  the  Saracens,  but  which  had  more  recently 
established  itself  as  a  regular  tax  to  pay  for  naval  hostilities 
against  Dutch  and  English  heretics — a  still  more  malignant 
species  of  unbelievers  in  the  orthodox  eyes  of  the  period. 
The  Excusado  was  the  right  accorded  to  the  king  always  to 
select  from  the  Church  possessions  a  single  benefice  and  to 
appropriate  its  fruit — a  levy  commuted  generally  for  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Besides  these  regular 
sources  of  income,  large  but  irregular  amounts  of  money  were 
picked  up  by  his  Majesty  in  small  sums,  through  monks  sent 
about  the  country  simply  as  beggars,  under  no  special  license, 
to  collect  alms  from  rich  and  poor  for  sustaining  the  war 
14  Soranzo.  16  Ibid. 


INDIRECT  SOURCES  OF  INCOME.  521 

against  the  infidels  of  England  and  Holland.  A  certain 
Jesuit,  father  Sicily  by  name,  had  been  industrious  enough 
at  one  period  in  preaching  this  crusade  to  accumulate  more 
than  a  million  and  a  half,  so  that  a  facetious  courtier  advised 
his  sovereign  to  style  himself  thenceforth  king,,  not  of  the 
two,  but  of  the  three  Sicilies,  in  honour  of  the  industrious 
priest. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  at  different  periods  during 
Philip's  reign,  and  especially  towards  its  close,  the  whole  of 
his  regular  revenue  was  pledged  to  pay  the  interest  on  his 
debts,  save  only  the  Sussidio  and  the  Cruzada.  Thus  the 
master  of  the  greatest  empire  of  the  earth  had  at  times  no 
income  at  his  disposal  except  the  alms  he  could  solicit  from 
his  poorest  subjects  to  maintain  his  warfare  against  foreign 
miscreants,  the  levy  on  the  Church  for  war-galleys,  and  the 
proceeds  of  his  permission  to  eat  meat  on  Fridays.16  This 
sounds  like  an  epigram,  but  it  is  a  plain,  incontestable  fact. 

Thus  the  revenues  of  his  foreign  dominions  being  nearly 
consumed  by  their  necessary  expenses,  the  measure  of  his 
positive  wealth  was  to  be  found  in  the  riches  of  Spain.  But 
Spain  at  that  day  was  not  an  opulent  country.  It  was  im 
possible  that  it  should  be  rich,  for  nearly  every  law,  according 
to  which  the  prosperity  of  a  country  becomes  progressive, 
was  habitually  violated.  It  is  difficult  to  state  even  by 
approximation  the  amount  of  its  population,  but  the  kingdoms 
United  under  the  crown  of  Castile  were  estimated  by  con 
temporaries  to  contain  eight  millions,  while  the  kingdom  of 
Portugal,  together  with  those  annexed  to  Arragon  and  the 
other  provinces  of  the  realm,  must  have  numbered  half  as 
many.  Here  was  a  populous  nation  in  a  favoured  land,  but 
the  foundation  of  all  wealth  was  sapped  by  a  perverted 
moral  sentiment. 

Labour  was  esteemed  dishonourable.  The  Spaniard,  from 
highest  to  lowest,  was  proud,  ignorant,  and  lazy.  For  a  people 
endowed  by  nature  with  many  noble  qualities  —  courage, 
temperance,  frugality,  endurance,  quickness  of  perception,  a 

18  Soranzo.     Compare  Ris3  of  Dutch  Republic,  vol.  i.  pt.  ii.  c.  iii 


522  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

high  sense  of  honour,  a  reverence  for  law — the  course  of  the 
national  history  had  proved  as  ingeniously  bad  a  system  of 
general  education  as  could  well  be  invented. 

The  eternal  contests,  century  after  century,  upon  the  soil 
of  Spain  between  the  crescent  and  the  cross,  and  the  remem 
brance  of  the  ancient  days  in  which  Oriental  valour  and 
genius  had  almost  extirpated  Germanic  institutions  and 
Christian  faith  from  the  peninsula,  had  inspired  one  great 
portion  of  the  masses  with  a  hatred,  amounting  almost  to  in 
sanity,  towards  every  form  of  religion  except  the  Church  of 
Home,  towards  every  race  of  mankind  except  the  Goths  and 
Vandals.  Innate  reverence  for  established  authority  had 
expanded  into  an  intensity  of  religious  emotion  and  into  a 
fanaticism  of  loyalty  which  caused  the  anointed  monarch 
leading  true  believers  against  infidels  to  be  accepted  as  a 
god.  The  highest  industrial  and  scientific  civilization  that 
had  been  exhibited  upon  Spanish  territory  was  that  of  Moors 
and  Jews.  When  in  the  course  of  time  those  races  had  been 
subjugated,  massacred,  or  driven  into  exile,  not  only  was 
Spain  deprived  of  its  highest  intellectual  culture  and  its  most 
productive  labour,  but  intelligence,  science,  and  industry  were 
accounted  degrading,  because  the  mark  of  inferior  and  detested 
peoples. 

The  sentiment  of  self-esteem,  always  a  national  charac 
teristic,  assumed  an  almost  ludicrous  shape.  Not  a  ragged 
Biscayan  muleteer,  not  a  swineherd  of  Estremadura,  that  did 
not  imagine  himself  a  nobleman  because  he  was  not  of  African 
descent.  Not  a  half-starved,  ignorant  brigand,  gaining  his 
living  on  the  highways  and  byways  by  pilfering  or  assassina 
tion,  that  did  not  kneel  on  the  church  pavement  and  listen  to 
orisons  in  an  ancient  tongue,  of  which  he  understood  not  a 
syllable,  with  a  sentiment  of  Christian  self-complacency  to 
which  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  might  have  been  a  stranger. 
Especially  those  born  towards  the  northern  frontier,  and 
therefore  farthest  removed  from  Moorish  contamination,  were 
proudest  of  the  purity  of  their  race.  To  be  an  Asturian  or  a 
Gallician,  however  bronzed  by  sun  and  wind,  was  to  be  fur- 


TRAITS  OF  SPANISH  CHARACTER.  523 

nished  with  positive  proof  against  suspicion  of  Moorish  blood  ; 
but  the  sentiment  was  universal  throughout  the  peninsula.17 

It  followed  as  a  matter  of  course  that  labour  of  any  kind 
was  an  impeachment  against  this  gentility  of  descent.  To 
work  was  the  province  of  Moors,  Jews,  and  other  heretics  ;  of 
the  Marani  or  accursed,-  miscreants  and  descendants  of 
miscreants  ;  of  the  Sanbeniti  or  infamous,  wretches  whose 
ancestors  had  been  convicted  by  the  Holy  Inquisition  of 
listening,  however  secretly,  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  ex 
pounded  by  other  lips  than  those  of  Koman  priests.  And 
it  is  a  remarkable  illustration  of  this  degradation  of  labour 
and  of  its  results,  that  in  the  reign  of  Philip  twenty-five 
thousand  individuals  of  these  dishonoured  and  comparatively 
industrious  classes,  then  computed  at  four  millions  in  number 
in  the  Castilian  kingdoms  alone,  had  united  in  a  society  which 
made  a  formal  offer  to  the  king  to  pay  him  two  thousand 
dollars  a  head  if  the  name  and  privileges  of  hidalgo  could  be 
conferred  upon  them.18  Thus  an  inconsiderable  number  of 
this  vilest  and  most  abject  of  the  population — oppressed  by 
taxation  which  was  levied  exclusively  upon  the  low,  and  from 
which  not  only  the  great  nobles  but  mechanics  and  other 
hidalgos  were  exempt — had  been  able  to  earn  and  to  lay  by 
enough  to  offer  the  monarch  fifty  millions  of  dollars  to 
purchase  themselves  out  of  gemi-slavery  into  manhood,  and 


17  La  gente  bassa  e  minuta  fa  numero 
ede  poverissimo  essendo  tutta  priva 
d'industria  e  di  questa  si  serve  quando 
bisogna  per  soldati.  E  poveri  ancora 
nel  loro  grado  chiamar  si  possono  quelli 
che  sono  fra  li  principi  e  gli  artefici 
perche  vogliono  vivere  con  fasto,  sono 
superbi  assai  hanno  poche  entrate  e 
non  le  governano  stimano  vergogna  il 
far  esercizio  che  possa  aver  apparenza 
di  mercanzia  onde  essendo  senza  indus- 
tria  e  senza  roba  e  volendo  spendere 
e  grandeggiare  la  fanno  male  assai 
perche  sdegnano  li  minori  e  dalli  mag- 
giori  non  vogliono  essere  superati  pero 
si  vede  quasi  tutta  la  Spagna  assai 
mendica  e  piena  di  povera  gente  fuori 
che  dove  abita  la  Corte,  le  Metropoli 
dei  regni  dove  si  riducono  le  Signori  e 


si  esercitano  le  arti  ed  in  Siviglia  per 

il  commercio  dell'   Indie Li 

Biscaylini  si  stimano  nobili  d'  inconta- 
minata  discendenza,  sopra  tutti  il  po- 
poli  di  Spagna  perche  essendo  di  sito 
direttamente  opposte  all'  Africa  di 
dove  entrarono  i  Mori  e  lontani  da 
quelle  parti  delle  Spagna  dove  vivono 
li  Marani  che  sono  li  piu  in  Porto, 
gallo  professano  che  non  siano  entrati 
nel  loro  paese  mai  queste  infezioni  e 
ne  vanno  altieri  e  gloriosi  assai.  Li 
regni  di  Granata,  Valenza,  ed  Anda- 
lusia,  all'  incontro  sono  tutti  pieni  di 
Moreschi,  le  altre  parti  della  Spagna 
sono  contaminate  ed  infette  pur  di 
quest!  Moreschi  e  de  Marani  ancora," 
&c.  &c. — Soranzo. 
18  Soranzo, 


524  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXV. 

yet  found  their  offer  rejected  by  an  almost  insolvent  king. 
Nothing  could  exceed  the  idleness  and  the  frivolity  of  the 
upper  classes,  as  depicted  by  contemporary  and  not  un 
friendly  observers.  The  nobles  were  as  idle  and  as  ignorant  as 
their  inferiors.  They  were  not  given  to  tournays  nor  to  the 
delights  of  the  chase  and  table,  but  were  fond  of  brilliant 
festivities,  dancing,  gambling,  masquerading,  love-making, 
and  pompous  exhibitions  of  equipage,  furniture,  and  dress. 
These  diversions — together  with  the  baiting  of  bulls  and  the 
burning  of  Protestants — made  up  their  simple  round  of 
pleasures.  When  they  went  to  the  wars  they  scorned  all 
positions  but  that  of  general,  whether  by  land  or  sea,  and  as 
war  is  a  trade  which  requires  an  apprenticeship,  it  is  un 
necessary  to  observe  that  these  grandees  were  rarely  able 
to  command,  having  never  learned  to  obey.  The  poorer 
Spaniards  were  most  honourably  employed  perhaps — so 
far  as  their  own  mental  development  was  concerned — when 
they  were  sent  with  pike  and  arquebus  to  fight  heretics  in 
France  and  Flanders.  They  became  brave  and  indomitable 
soldiers  when  exported  to  the  seat  of  war,  and  thus  aiforded 
proof— by  strenuously  doing  the  hardest  physical  work  that 
human  beings  can  be  called  upon  to  perform,  campaigning 
year  after  year  amid  the  ineffable  deprivations,  dangers,  and 
sufferings  which  are  the  soldier's  lot — that  it  was  from  no 
want  of  industrv  or  capacity  that  the  lower  masses  of 
Spaniards  in  that  age  were  the  idle,  listless,  dice-playing, 
begging,  filching  vagabonds  into  which  cruel  history  and 
horrible  institutions  had  converted  them  at  home. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  recal  these  well-known  facts  to 
understand  why  one  great  element  of  production — human 
labour — was  but  meagrely  supplied.  It  had  been  the  deli 
berate  policy  of  the  Government  for  ages  to  extirpate  the 
industrious  classes,  and  now  that  a  great  portion  of  Moors 
and  Jews  were  exiles  and  outcasts,  it  was  impossible  to  supply 
their  place  by  native  workmen.  Even  the  mechanics,  who 
condescended  to  work  with  their  hands  in  the  towns,  looked 
down  alike  upon  those  who  toiled  iu  the  field  m&  upon  those 


EFFECTS  OF   NATIONAL  SELF-ESTEEM. 


525 


who  attempted  to  grow  rich  by  traffic.  A  locksmith  or  a 
wheelwright  who  could  prove  four  descents  of  western  blood 
called  himself  a  son  of  somebody — a  hidalgo19 — and  despised 
the  farmer  and  the  merchant.  And  those  very  artisans  were 
careful  not  to  injure  themselves  by  excessive  industry,  although 
not  reluctant  by  exorbitant  prices  to  acquire  in  one  or  two 
days  what  might  seem  a  fair  remuneration  for  a  week,  and  to 
impress  upon  their  customers  that  it  was  rather  by  way  of 
favour  that  they  were  willing  to  serve  them  at  all. 

Labour  being  thus  deficient,  it  is  obvious  that  there  could 
hardly  have  been  a  great  accumulation,  according  to  modern 
ideas,  of  capital.  That  other  chief  element  of  national  wealth, 
which  is  the  result  of  generations  of  labour  and  of  abstinence, 
was  accordingly  not  abundant.  And  even  those  accretions 
of  capital,  which  in  the  course  of  centuries  had  been  inevit 
able,  were  as  clumsily  and  inadequately  diffused  as  the  most 
exquisite  human  perverseness  could  desire.  If  the  object  of 
civil  and  political  institutions  had  been  to  produce  the  greatest 
ill  to  the  greatest  number,  that  object  had  been  as  nearly 
attained  at  last  in  Spain  as  human  imperfection  permits  ;  the 
efforts  of  government  and  of  custom  coming  powerfully  to  the 
aid  of  the  historical  evils  already  indicated. 

It  is  superfluous  to  say  that  the  land  belonged  not  to  those 
who  lived  upon  it — but  subject  to  the  pre-eminent  right 
of  the  crown — to  a  small  selection  of  the  human  species. 
Moderate  holdings,  small  farms,  peasant  proprietorships,  were 
unknown.  Any  kind  of  terrestrial  possession,  in  short,  was 
as  far  beyond  the  reach  of  those  men  who  held  themselves 


19  "  Gli  Idalghi  sono  per  il  piu  gli 
artefici  clie  godono  il  privilegio  di 
questo  titolo,  o  per  grazia  ottenuta  dal 
re  ....  ovvero  per  discendenza  e 
per  natura,  e  quest!  sono  persone  nate 
di  buon  sangue  e  di  padri  benemeriti 
dalla  corona  che  s'  hanno  acquistato 
questo  titolo  con  alcuna  fazione  in 
servizio  del  Re.  Di  questo  nome  d' 
Idalgo  per  natura  non  possono  godare 
se  non  quelli,  che  nascono  per  lo  meno 
in  quattro  gradi  di  padre  e  di  madre 
one  non  sieno  stati  ne  Moreschi  ne 


Marani  a  differenza  delli  Cristiani 
nuovi  che  non  hanno  questo  candor  di 
nascimento  descendendo  da  persone 

infette  da  questa  macchia Gli 

artefici  sono  comodi  e  vivono  tutti 
molto  lautamente  trattano  con  gran 
sprezzatura,  lavorano  poco  e  per  po- 
terlo  fare  si  fanno  pagare  le  fatture 
quello  che  non  si  pud  credere,  volendo, 
con  la  fatica  che  essi  possono  fare  in 
un  giorno  vivere  e  godere  tutta  una 
settimana." — Soranzo. 


1526  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.       CHAP,  xxxv 

so   haughtily   and   esteemed   themselves   so  inordinately,   as 
were  the  mountains  in  the  moon. 

The  great  nobles — and  of  real  grandees  of  Spain  there  were 
but  forty-nine,20  although  the  number  of  titled  families  was 
much  larger — owned  all  the  country,  except  that  vast  portion 
of  it  which  had  reposed  for  ages  in  the  dead-hand  of  the 
Church.  The  law  of  primogeniture,  strictly  enforced,  tended 
with  every  generation  to  narrow  the  basis  of  society.  Nearly 
every  great  estate  was  an  entail,  passing  from  eldest  son  to 
eldest  son,  until  these  were  exhausted,  in  which  case  a 
daughter  transferred  the  family  possessions  to  a  new  house. 
Thus  the  capital  of  the  country — meagre  at  best  in  com 
parison  with  what  it  might  have  been,  had  industry  been 
honoured  instead  of  being  despised,  had  the  most  intelligent 
and  most  diligent  classes  been  cherished  rather  than  hunted 
to  death  or  into  obscure  dens  like  vermin — was  concentrated 
in  very  few  hands.  Not  only  was  the  accumulation  less  than 
it  should  have  been,  but  the  slenderness  of  its  diffusion  had 
nearly  amounted  to  absolute  stagnation.  The  few  possessors 
of  capital  wasted  their  revenues  in  unproductive  consumption. 
The  millions  of  the  needy  never  dreamed  of  the  possibility 
of  deriving  benefit  from  the  capital  of  the  rich,  nor  would 
have  condescended  to  employ  it,  nor  known  how  to  employ 
it,  had  its  use  in  any  form  been  vouchsafed  to  them.  The 
surface  of  Spain,  save  only  around  the  few  royal  residences, 
exhibited  no  splendour  of  architecture,  whether  in  town  or 
country,  no  wonders  of  agricultural  or  horticultural  skill,  no 
monuments  of  engineering  and  constructive  genius  in  roads, 
bridges,  docks,  warehouses,  and  other  ornamental  and  useful 
fabrics,  or  in  any  of  the  thousand  ways  in  which  man  facilitates 
intercourse  among  his  kind  and  subdues  nature  to  his  will.21 

fabbriche,  ne  per  le  terre  ne  per  le  ville, 
non  giardini,  non  vigne,  non  altra  cosa 


20  Soranzo. 

21  "  Le  citta        .    .    .    non  riescono 
ne  per  magnificenza  di  edificii  ne  per 
bellezza  di  strade,  ne  per  grandezza 
di  piazze  ne  per  esquisitezza  di  altri 
ornamenti  molto  conspicui  ne  troppo 


di  delizia  ne  di  magnificenza  fuori 
die  nelle  fabbriche  reali :  non  s'in- 
tendono  di  fortificazioni  e  quelli  che 
non  la  vanno  a  imparare  fuori  di  la 


riguardevoli,"  &c.,  &c "  non  non  intendono  la  disciplina  militare, 

si  ha  in  Spagna  cognizione  d'  archi- 1  percio  non  hanno  nel  paese  ne  inge- 
tettura,  percio  non  si  veggono  belle  i  gneri  no  buoni  capitani.v — Soranzo. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  HIERARCHY.  527 

Yet  it  can  never  be  too  often  repeated  that  it  is  only 
the  Spaniard  of  the  sixteenth  century,  such  as  extraneous 
circumstances  had  made  him,  that  is  here  depicted  ;  that 
he,  even  like  his  posterity  and  his  ancestors,  had  been 
endowed  by  Nature  with  some  of  her  noblest  gifts.  Acute- 
ness  of  intellect,  wealth  of  imagination,  heroic  qualities  of 
heart,  and  hand,  and  brain,  rarely  surpassed  in  any  race,  and 
manifested  on  a  thousand  battle-fields,  and  in  the  triumphs  of 
a  magnificent  and  most  original  literature,  had  not  been  able 
to  save  a  whole  nation  from  the  disasters  and  the  degradation 
which  the  mere  words  Philip  II.  and  the  Holy  Inquisition 
suggest  to  every  educated  mind. 

Nor  is  it  necessary  for  my  purpose  to  measure  exactly  the 
space  which  separated  Spain  from  the  other  leading  monar 
chies  of  the  day.  That  the  standard  of  civilization  was  a 
vastly  higher  one  in  England,  Holland,  or  even  France — torn 
as  they  all  were  with  perpetual  civil  war — no  thinker  will 
probably  deny  ;  but  as  it  is  rather  my  purpose  at  this  moment 
to  exhibit  the  evils  which  may  spring  from  a  perfectly  bad 
monarchical  system,  as  administered  by  a  perfectly  bad  king, 
I  prefer  not  to  wander  at  present  from  the  country  which  was 
ruled  for  almost  half  a  century  by  Philip  II. 

Besides  the  concentration  of  a  great  part  of  the  capital  of 
the  country  in  a  very  small  number  of  titled  families,  still 
another  immense  portion  of  the  national  wealth  belonged,  as 
already  intimated,  to  the  Church. 

There  were  eleven  archbishops,  at  the  head  of  whom  stood 
the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  with  the  enormous  annual  revenue 
of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Next  to  him  came  the 
Archbishop  of  Seville,  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  yearly,  while  the  income  of  the  others  varied  from 
fifty  thousand  to  twenty  thousand  dollars  respectively.22 

There  were  sixty-two  bishops,  with  annual  incomes  ranging 
from  fifty  thousand  to  six  thousand  dollars.  The  churches, 
also,  of  these  various  episcopates  were  as  richly  endowed  as 
the  great  hierarchs  themselves.23  But  without  fatiguing  the 

22  Soranzo.  23  Ibid. 

VOL.  II— 18 


528 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXV 


reader  with  minute  details,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  one- 
third  of  the  whole  annual  income  of  Spain  and  Portugal 
belonged  to  the  ecclesiastical  body.24  In  return  for  this 
enormous  proportion  of  the  earth's  fruits,  thus  placed  by  the 
caprice  of  destiny  at  their  disposal,  these  holy  men  did  very 
/ittle  work  in  the  world.  They  fed  their  flocks  neither 
with  bread  nor  with  spiritual  food.  They  taught  little, 
preached  little,  dispensed  little  in  charity.  Very  few  of 
the  swarming  millions  of  naked  and  hungry  throughout 
the  land  were  clothed  or  nourished  out  of  these  prodigious 
revenues  of  the  Church.  The  constant  and  avowed  care  of 
those  prelates  was  to  increase  their  worldly  possessions,  to 
build  up  the  fortunes  of  their  respective  families,  to  grow 
richer  and  richer  at  the  expense  of  the  people  whom  for 
centuries  they  had  fleeced.  Of  gross  crime,  of  public  osten 
tatious  immorality,  such  as  had  made  the  Koman  priesthood 
of  that  and  preceding  ages  loathsome  in  the  sight  of  man 
and  God,  the  Spanish  Church-dignitaries  were  innocent. 
Avarice,  greediness,  and  laziness  were  their  characteristics. 
It  is  almost  superfluous  to  say  that,  while  the  ecclesiastical 
princes  were  rolling  in  this  almost  fabulous  wealth,  the  sub 
ordinate  clergy,  the  mob  of  working  priests,  were  needy, 
half-starved  mendicants.25 

From  this  rapid  survey  of  the  condition  of  the  peninsula  it 
will  seem  less  surprising  than  it  might  do  at  first  glance  that 
the  revenue  of  the  greatest  monarch  of  the  world  was  rated 


24  Soranzo. 

as  "  ]^on  gj  esercitano  quest!  Prelati 
.per  lo  piii  nelle  opere  pie  come  dovreb- 
bero  non  sono  molto  elemosinarij  e 
non  attendono  a  fare  il  loro  ufficio  pas 
torale  con  quelle  carita  che  sarebbe 
forse  lor  debito,  poco  insegnano  poco 
riprendono  poco  dispensano  e  poco  pas- 
cono  le  loro  pecore  ne  col  pane  ne  colla 
parola  attendono  all'  utilita  propria 
ed  arrichire  loro  stessi  ele  lor  famiglie, 
ed  accumulare  ed  a  far  bene  alle  lor 
case  di  quello  che  loro  avanza  delle 
richezze  del  re,  sebbene  per  dire  il  vero 
nel  resto  sono  per  lo  piu  di  buoni  cos- 
tumi  ne  si  sente  occasione  di  scandalo 


per  la  vita  che  menano  e  contentandosi 
del  solo  gusto  di  arrichire  nel  restante 
vivono  con  termine  di  grand'  esempio  : 
ed  in  somma  in  queste  entrate  ecclesi- 
astiche  che  toccano  al  clero  che  par- 
lero  poi  di  quelle  che  sono  del  re  si 
fa  conto  che  sia  compreso  il  terzo  delle 
entrate  di  quoi  regni,  ma  oltre  li  pre- 
lati  e  li  Beneficieti  delle  lor  chiese  il 
resto  del  clero  e  mendico  e  bisognoso." 
— Soranzo. 

These  are  the  words,  not  of  a  de 
mocrat  or  Protestant,  but  of  a  devoted 
Papist  and  a  most  haughty  aristocrat 
— the  Venetian  ambassador. 


STATE  OF  SPAIN  UNDER  PHILIP'S  RULE.  529 

at  the  small  amount — even  after  due  allowance  for  the  dif 
ference  of  general  values  between  the  sixteenth  and  nineteenth 
centuries — of  sixteen  millions  of  dollars.  The  King  of  Spain 
was  powerful  and  redoubtable  at  home  and  abroad,  because 
accident  had  placed  the  control  of  a  variety  of  separate  realms 
in  his  single  hand.  At  the  same  time  Spain  was  poor  and 
weak,  because  she  had  lived  for  centuries  in  violation  of  the 
principles  on  which  the  wealth  and  strength  of  nations  depend. 
Moreover,  every  one  of  those  subject  and  violently  annexed 
nations  hated  Spain  with  undying  fervour,26  while  an  infernal 
policy — the  leading  characteristics  of  which  were  to  sow  dis 
sensions  among  the  nobles,  to  confiscate  their  property  on  all 
convenient  occasions,  and  to  bestow  it  upon  Spaniards  and 
other  foreigners  ;  to  keep  the  discontented  masses  in  poverty, 
but  to  deprive  them  of  the  power  or  disposition  to  unite  with 
their  superiors  in  rank  in  demonstrations  against  the  crown — 
had  sufficed  to  suppress  any  extensive  revolt  in  the  various 
Italian  states  united  under  Philip's  sceptre.  Still  more  in 
tense  than  the  hatred  of  the  Italians  was  the  animosity  which 
was  glowing  in  every  Portuguese  breast  against  the  Spanish 
sway  ;  while  even  the  Arragonese  were  only  held  in  subjec 
tion  by  terror,  which,  indeed,  in  one  form  or  another,  was  the 
leading  instrument  of  Philip's  government. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  enlarge  upon  the  regulations  of 
Spain's  foreign  commerce ;  for  it  will  be  enough  to  repeat 
the  phrase  that  in  her  eyes  the  great  ocean  from  east  to  west 
was  a  Spanish  lake,  sacred  to  the  ships  of  the  king's  subjects 
alone.  With  such  a  simple  code  of  navigation  coming  in  aid 
of  the  other  causes  which  impoverished  the  land,  it  may  be 
believed  that  the  maritime  traffic  of  the  country  would 
dwindle  into  the  same  exiguous  proportions  which  charac 
terised  her  general  industry. 

Moreover,  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that,  although  the 
various  kingdoms  of  Spain  were  politically  conjoined  by  their 

cliiavelli,  even  before  Philip  was  born, 


96  This  dominion  of  the  barbarians 
stinks  in  every  one's  nostrils :  "  A 
ognunopuzzaquestobarbarodominio," 
was  the  energetic  expression  of  Mac 

VOL  m,— 2  M 


and  certainly  the    tyranny  did    not 


grow  sweeter  during  his  reign 


tyranny 
r  his  reifi 


530  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV. 

personal  union  under  one  despot,  they  were  commercially  dis 
tinct.  A  line  of  custom-houses  separated  each  province  from 
the  rest,  and  made  the  various  inhabitants  of  the  peninsula 
practically  strangers  to  each  other.  Thus  there  was  less 
traffic  between  Castile,  Biscay,  and  Arragon  than  there  was 
between  any  one  of  them  and  remote  foreign  nations.  The 
Biscayans,  for  example,  could  even  import  and  export  com 
modities  to  and  from  remote  countries  by  sea,  free  of  duty, 
while  their  merchandize  to  and  from  Castile  was  crushed  by 
imposts.  As  this  ingenious  perversity  of  positive  arrange 
ments  came  to  increase  the  negative  inconveniences  caused 
by  the  almost  total  absence  of  tolerable  roads,  canals,  bridges, 
and  other  means  of  intercommunication,  it  may  be  imagined 
that  internal  traffic — the  very  life-blood  of  every  prosperous 
nation — was  very  nearly  stagnant  in  Spain.  As  an  inevitable 
result,  the  most  thriving  branch  of  national  industry  was 
that  of  the  professional  smuggler,  who,  in  the  pursuit  of  his 
vocation,  did  his  best  to  aid  Government  in  sapping  the 
wealth  of  the  nation.27 

The  whole  accumulated  capital  of  Spain,  together  with  the 
land — in  the  general  sense  which  includes  not  only  the  soil 
but  the  immovable  property  of  a  country — being  thus  exclu 
sively  owned  by  the  crown,  the  cnurch,  and  a  very  small 
number  of  patrician  families,  while  the  supply  of  labour — 
owing  to  the  special  causes  which  had  converted  the  masses 
of  the  people  into  paupers  ashamed  to  work  but  not  unwilling 
to  beg  or  to  rob — was  incredibly  small,  it  is  obvious  that,  so 
long  as  the  same  causes  continued  in  operation,  the  downfall 
of  the  country  was  a  logical  result  from  which  there  was  no 
escape.  Nothing  but  a  general  revolution  of  mind  and  hand 
against  the  prevalent  system,  nothing  but  some  great 
destructive  but  regenerating  catastrophe,  could  redeem  the 
people. 

And  it  is  the  condition  of  the  people  which  ought  always 
to  be  the  prominent  subject  of  interest  to  those  who  study  the 
records  of  the  Past.  It  is  only  by  such  study  that  we  can 
81  See  Lafuente,  Hist.  Gen.  de  Espafia,  t.  xv  p.  148. 


CONDITION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.  531 

derive  instruction  from  history,  and  enable  ourselves,  however 
dimly  and  feebly,  to  cast  the  horoscope  of  younger  nations. 
Human  history,  so  far  as  it  has  been  written,  is  at  best  a  mere 
fragment  ;  for  the  few  centuries  or  year-thousands  of  which 
there  is  definite  record  are  as  nothing  compared  to  the 
millions  of  unnumbered  years  during  which  man  has  perhaps 
walked  the  earth.  It  may  be  as  practicable  therefore  to 
derive  instruction  from  a  minute  examination  in  detail  of  a 
very  limited  period  of  time  and  space,  and  thus  to  deduce 
general  rules  for  the  infinite  future,  during  which  our  species 
may  be  destined  to  inhabit  this  planet,  as  by  a  more  extensive 
survey,  which  must  however  be  at  best  a  limited  one.  Men 
die,  but  Man  is  immortal,  and  it  would  be  a  sufficiently 
forlorn  prospect  for  humanity  if  we  were  not  able  to  discover 
causes  in  operation  which  would  ultimately  render  the 
system  of  Philip  II.  impossible  in  any  part  of  the  globe. 
Certainly,  were  it  otherwise,  the  study  of  human  history 
would  be  the  most  wearisome  and  unprofitable  of  all  con 
ceivable  occupations.  The  festivities  of  courts,  the  magni 
ficence  of  an  aristocracy,  the  sayings  and  doings  of  monarchs 
and  their  servants,  the  dynastic  wars,  the  solemn  treaties,  the 
Ossa  upon  Pelion  of  diplomatic  and  legislative  rubbish  by 
which,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  a  few  individuals  or  com 
binations  of  individuals  have  been  able  to  obstruct  the  march 
of  humanity,  and  have  essayed  to  suspend  the  operation  of 
elemental  laws — all  this  contains  but  little  solid  food  for 
grown  human  beings.  The  condition  of  the  brave  and  quick 
witted  Spanish  people  in  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century  gives  more  matter  for  reflection  and  possible  in 
struction. 

That  science  is  the  hope  of  the  world,  that  ignorance  is 
the  real  enslaver  of  mankind,  and  therefore  the  natural  ally 
of  every  form  of  despotism,  may  be  assumed  as  an  axiom, 
and  it  was  certainly  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the 
people  upon  which  the  Philippian  policy  was  founded. 

A  vast  mass,  entirely  uneducated,  half  fed,  half  clothed, 
unemployed,  and  reposing  upon  a  still  lower  and  denser 


532 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXV. 


stratum — the  millions  namely  of  the  "  Accursed/'  of  the 
Africans,  and  last  and  vilest  of  all,  the  "  blessed  "  descendants 
of  Spanish  protestants  whom  the  Holy  Office  had  branded 
with  perpetual  infamy23  because  it  had  burned  their  pro 
genitors — this  was  the  People  ;  and  it  was  these  paupers  and 
outcasts,  nearly  the  whole  nation,  that  paid  all  the  imposts 
of  which  the  public  revenue  was  composed.  The  great  nobles, 
priests,  and  even  the  hidalgos,  were  exempt  from  taxation.21 
Need  more  be  said  to  indicate  the  inevitable  ruin  of  botlf 
government  and  people  ? 

And  it  was  over  such  a  people,  and  with  institutions  lik* 
these,  that  Philip  II.  was  permitted  to  rule  during  forty- 
three  years.  His  power  was  absolute.'0  With  this  single 
phrase  one  might  as  well  dismiss  any  attempt  at  speci* 
fication.  He  made  war  or  peace  at  will  with  foreign  nations. 
He  had  power  of  life  and  death  over  all  his  subjects.  He  had 
unlimited  control  of  their  worldly  goods.  As  he  claimed 
supreme  jurisdiction  over  their  religious  opinions  also,  he  was 
master  of  their  minds,  bodies,  and  estates.  As  a  matter  of 
course,  he  nominated  and  removed  at  will  every  executive 
functionary,  every  judge,  every  magistrate,  every  military  or 
civil  officer  ;  and  moreover,  he  not  only  selected,  according  to 
the  license  tacitly  conceded  to  him  by  the  pontiff,  every 
archbishop,  bishop,  and  other  Church  dignitary,  but,  through 
his  great  influence  at  Rome,  he  named  most  of  the  cardinals, 
and  thus  controlled  the  election  of  the  popes.  The  whole 
machinery  of  society,  political,  ecclesiastical,  military,  was  in 
his  single  hand.  There  was  a  show  of  provincial  privilege 
here  and  there  in  different  parts  of  Spain,  but  it  was  but  the 
phantom  of  that  ancient  municipal  liberty  which  it  had  been 
the  especial  care  of  his  father  and  his  great-grandfather  to 


28  «  gegnati  e  notati  di  perpetua  in- 
famia — vivono  quindi  disperati  ed 
arrabbiatissimi."  2>  Soranzo. 

30  "  Ha  assoluto  imperio  sopra  le  vite 
e  facolta  delli  sudditi,  e  libero  padron 
della  pace  e  della  guerra,  ha  plena 
potesta  sopra  le  leggi,  sopra  la  gius- 
ti/ia  e  sopra  le  grazie,  ha  la  nomina- 


zione  di  tutti  i  beneficii  ecclesiastic!, 
delle  tre  ordini  di  cavalleria  .... 
crea  li  President!  li  Vice-re,  li  Luogo- 
tenenti,  Governatori,  Capitani,  i  gene 
ral!  degli  eserciti  e  delle  armate,  e  per 
la  grande  autorita  che  tiene  con  i 
Pontefici  si  pud  dire  che  faccia  ancora 
i  Cardinali." — Soranzo. 


POWER  OF  PHILIP  ABSOLUTE.  533 

destroy.  Most  patiently  did  Philip,  by  his  steady  inactivity, 
bring  about  the  decay  of  the  last  ruins  of  free  institutions  in 
the  peninsula.  The  councils  and  legislative  assemblies  were 
convoked  and  then  wearied  out  in  waiting  for  that  royal 
assent  to  their  propositions  and  transactions,  which  was  de 
ferred  intentionally,  year  after  year,  and  never  given.  Thus 
the  time  of  the  deputies  was  consumed  in  accomplishing 
infinite  nothing,  until  the  moment  arrived  when  the  monarch, 
without  any  violent  stroke  of  state,  could  feel  safe  in  issuing 
decrees  and  pragmatic  edicts ;  thus  reducing  the  ancient 
legislative  and  consultative  bodies  to  nullity,  and  substituting 
the  will  of  an  individual  for  a  constitutional  fabric.31  To 
criticise  the  expenses  of  government  or  to  attempt  inter 
ference  with  the  increase  of  taxation  became  a  sorry  farce. 
The  forms  remained  in  certain  provinces  after  the  life  had 
long  since  fled.  Only  in  Arragon  had  the  ancient  privileges 
seemed  to  defy  the  absolute  authority  of  the  monarch  ;  and  it 
was  reserved  for  Antonio  Perez  to  be  the  cause  of  their  final 
extirpation.  The  grinning  skulls  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  that 
kingdom  and  of  the  boldest  and  noblest  advocates  and  de 
fenders  of  the  national  liberties,  exposed  for  years  in  the 
market-place,  with  the  record  of  their  death-sentence  attached, 
informed  the  Spaniards,  in  language  which  the  most  ignorant 
could  read,  that  the  crime  of  defending  a  remnant  of  human 
freedom  and  constitutional  law  was  sure  to  draw  down  condign 
punishment.32  It  was  the  last  time  in  that  age  that  even  the 
ghost  of  extinct  liberty  was  destined  to  revisit  the  soil  of 
Spain.  It  mattered  not  that  the  immediate  cause  for  pur 
suing  Perez  was  his  successful  amour  with  the  king's  mis 
tress,  nor  that  the  crime  of  which  he  was  formally  accused 
was  the  deadly  offence  of  Calvinism,  rather  than  his  intrigue 


81  Lafuente,  xv.  151. 

34  "  E  Bebbene  questa  loro  preroga- 
tiva  e  queste  lore  licenze  furono  in 
gran  parte  levate  e  per  il  resto  assai 
mortificati  dal  re  passato  troncando 
molte  teste  del  principal!  e  facendole 


li  capi,  piantondo  cittadelle,  introdu- 
cendo  guardie  e  aggrandendo  1'  auto- 
rita  all'  Ufficio  della  Inquisizione  che 
fu  uno  dei  maggiori  morsi  per  doc  >arli 
con  che  si  potesse  frenare  la  loro  fero- 
cia,"  &G.&C. — Soranzo,  Relazione,1597- 


anco  poner  in  publica  mostra  con  le !  1602.      Barozzi  and  Berchet.      Bel* 
iscrizioni  appresso  dei  loro  delitti    a   zioni,  &c.,  Ser.  i.  vol.  i. 
perpetuo  terrore  dei  posteri,  estirpando 


534  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXV 

with  the  Eboli  and  his  assassination  of  Escovedo  ;  for  it  waa 
in  the  natural  and  simple  sequence  of  events  that  the  last 
vestige  of  law  or  freedom  should  be  obliterated  wherever 
Philip  could  vindicate  his  sway.  It  must  be  admitted,  too, 
that  the  king  seized  this  occasion  to  strike  a  decisive  blow 
with  a  promptness  very  different  from  his  usual  artistic 
sluggishness.  Rarely  has  a  more  terrible  epigram  been 
spoken  by  man  than  the  royal  words  which  constituted  the 
whole  trial  and  sentence  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  Arragon, 
for  the  crime  of  defending  the  law  of  his  country  :  "  You  will 
take  John  of  Lanuza,  and  you  will  have  his  head  cut  off." 
This  was  the  end  of  the  magistrate  and  of  the  constitution 
which  he  had  defended.33 

His  power  was  unlimited.  A  man  endowed  with  genius 
and  virtue,  and  possessing  the  advantages  of  a  consummate 
education,  could  have  perhaps  done  little  more  than  attempt 
to  mitigate  the  general  misery,  and  to  remove  some  of  its 
causes.  For  it  is  one  of  the  most  pernicious  dogmas  of  the 
despotic  system,  and  the  one  which  the  candid  student  of 
history  soonest  discovers  to  be  false,  that  the  masses  of  man 
kind  are  to  look  to  any  individual,  however  exalted  by  birth 
or  intellect,  for  their  redemption.  Woe  to  the  world  if  the 
nations  are  never  to  learn  that  their  fate  is  and  ought  to  be 
in  their  own  hands  ;  that  their  institutions,  whether  liberal  or 
despotic,  are  the  result  of  the  national  biography  and  of  the 
national  character,  not  the  work  of  a  few  individuals  whose 
names  have  been  preserved  by  capricious  Accident  as  heroes 
and  legislators.  Yet  there  is  no  doubt  that,  while  compara 
tively  powerless  for  good,  the  individual  despot  is  capable  of 
almost  infinite  mischief.  There  have  been  few  men  known  to 
history  who  have  been  able  to  accomplish  by  their  own  exer 
tions  so  vast  an  amount  of  evil  as  the  king  who  had  just  died. 
If  Philip  possessed  a  single  virtue  it  has  eluded  the  conscien 
tious  research  of  the  writer  of  these  pages.  If  there  are 
vices — as  possibly  there  are — from  which  he  was  exempt,  it  ia 

53  "  Prendere's  a  don  Juan  de  Lanuza  y  hareisle  luego  cortar 
See  Lsvfuente,  xv,  131, 132, 


POWER  OF   PHILIP  ABSOLUTE  AND  UNLIMITED.       535 

because  it  is  not  permitted  to  human  nature  to  attain  per 
fection  even  in   evil.      The   only  plausible   explanation — for 
palliation  there  is  none — of  his  infamous  career  is  that  the 
man  really  believed  himself  not  a  king  but  a  god.     He  was 
placed  so  high  above  his  fellow-creatures  as,  in  good  faith 
perhaps,  to  believe  himself  incapable  of  doing  wrong  ;  so  that, 
whether  indulging  his  passions  or  enforcing  throughout  the 
world  his   religious   and   political  dogmas,  ho  was  ever  con 
scious  of  embodying  divine  inspirations  and  elemental  laws. 
When  providing  for  the  assassination  of  a  monarch,  or  com 
manding  the  massacre  of  a  townful  of  Protestants  ;  when 
trampling  on  every  oath  by  which  a  human  being  can  bind 
himself ;  when  laying  desolate  with  fire  and  sword,  during 
more  than  a  generation,  the  provinces  which  he  had  inherited 
as  his  private  property,  or  in  carefully  maintaining  the  flames 
of  civil  war  in  foreign  kingdoms  which  he  hoped  to  acquire  ; 
while  maintaining  over  all  Christendom  a  gigantic  system  of 
bribery,  corruption,  and  espionage,  keeping  the  noblest  names 
of  England  and  Scotland  on  his  pension-lists  of  traitors,  and 
impoverishing  his  exchequer  with  -the  wages  of  iniquity  paid 
in  France  to  men  of  all  degrees,  from  princes  of  blood  like 
Guise  and  Mayenne  down  to  the  obscurest  of  country  squires, 
he  ever  felt  that  these  base  or  bloody  deeds  were  not  crimes, 
but  the  simple  will  of  the  godhead  of  which  he  was  a  por 
tion.     He  never  doubted  that  the  extraordinary  theological 
system  which  he  spent  his  life   in  enforcing  with  fire  and 
sword  was  right,  for  it  was   a   part  of  himself.     The  Holy 
Inquisition,  thoroughly  established  as  it  was  in  his  ancestral 
Spain,  was  a  portion  of  the  regular  working  machinery  by 
which  his   absolute  kingship  and  his  superhuman  will  ex 
pressed  themselves.      A  tribunal  which  performed  its  func 
tions  with  a   celerity,  certainty,  and  invisibility  resembling 
the  attributes  of  Omnipotence  ;  which,  like  the  pestilence, 
entered  palace  or  hovel  at  will,  and  which  smote  the  wretch 
guilty  or  suspected  of  heresy  with  a  precision  against  which 
no  human  ingenuity  or  sympathy  could  guard — such  an  insti 
tution  could  not  but  be  dear  to  his  heart.     It  was  inevitable 


536 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXV. 


that  the  extension  and  perpetuation  of  what  he  deemed  its 
blessings  throughout  his  dominions  should  be  his  settled  pur 
pose.  Spain  was  governed  by  an  established  terrorism.  It  is 
a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Philip  was  essentially  beloved  in 
his  native  land,  or  that  his  religious  and  political  system  was 
heartily  accepted  because  consonant  to  the  national  cha 
racter.  On  the  contrary,  as  has  been  shown,  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  inhabitants  were  either  secretly  false  to  the 
Catholic  faith,  or  descended  at  least  from  those  who  had 
expiated  their  hostility  to  it  with  their  lives.  But  the  Grand 
Inquisitor  was  almost  as  awful  a  personage  as  the  king  or  the 
pope.  His  familiars  were  in  every  village  and  at  every  fire 
side,  and  from  their  fangs  there  was  no  escape.  Millions  of 
Spaniards  would  have  rebelled  against  the  crown  or  accepted 
the  reformed  religion,  had  they  not  been  perfectly  certain  of 
being  burned  or  hanged  at  the  slightest  movement  in  such  a 
direction.34  The  popular  force  in  the  course  of  the  political 
combinations  of  centuries  seemed  at  last  to  have  been  elimi 
nated.  The  nobles,  exempt  from  taxation,  which  crushed  the 
people  to  the  earth,  were  4ihe  enemies  rather  than  the  chief- 


3/1  "  Perd  cosi  quest!  come  li  Marani 
e  li  Moreschi  tratti  da  quella  dispera- 
zione  che  suole  anco  negli  animi  vili 
ed  abbietti  eccitare  spirit!  di  furore  e 
d'  ardire  sariano  inclinati  ad  ogni  sol- 
levazione  e  ribellione  sempre  che  loro 
se  ne  presentasse  opportuna  occasione : 
ma  tanto  gli  uni  come  gli  altri  conven- 
gono  stare  quieti  per  le  ragione  che  ho 
detto  e  di  piu  perche  avendo  il  re  tutti 
i  grandi  e  tutto  il  clero  ch'  e  podero- 
sissimo  in  tutto  affettodipendente  dalla 
Maesta  Sua  e  col  severissimo  rigore 
della  giustizia  e  dell'  officio  della  In- 
quisizione  che  e  come  diro  a  suo  luogq 
ditremendaautoritain  tutta  la  Spagna, 
lasciando  spuntare  cosa  per  piccola 
che  sia  e  tiene  i  popoli  non  solo  a 
fre'no  ma  in  perpetuo  terrore  privi  di 
poter  per  alcuna  via  macchinare  o  ten- 
tare  novita  di  alcuna  sorte."  .... 
"  Per  non  lasciar  infettar  il  paese 
di  questo  diabolico  morbo  d'eresie,  con 
tutto  che  il  pericolo  sia  stato  sempre  e 
sia  tutta  via  grandissimo  per  la  vicinita 
della  Francia,  per  la  diversita  dei 
popoli  della  Spagna,  perclocche  li  Mo 


reschi  e  li  Marani  abbracciarieno  pron- 
tamente  ogni  occasione  che  lor  si 
presentasse  di  sollevazione,  apririano 
volentieri  1'  adito  e  si  fariano  facil- 
mente  compagni  a  chi  volesse  tentar 
commozione  in  quei  regni  per  qualun- 
que  cagione  si  volesse,  e  quella  della 

religione  sarebbe  la  piu  facile 

La  facilita  che  tengono  li  Spaguaoli 
nel  credere  cio  che  loro  viene  affermato, 
che  nasce  da  ignoranza  aprirebbe  la 
strada  a  chi  volesse  seminarvi  nuove 


opinioni  molto  facile. 


La 


gran  quantita  di  beni  ecclesiastic!,  che 
vi  sono  alletteria  molti  che  avesserb 
pensiero  d'  introdurvi  novita  e  sedi- 
zioni  a  spessassarne  la  Chiesa  per  im- 


padronirsene  . 


in  somma  si  pud 


dire  che  il  rigore  cosi  grande  di  questo 
officio  (Inquisizione)  man  tiene  il  rito 
della  vera  religione  in  Spagna  c]ie 
senzaquesto  si  puo  grandementetemere 
che  per  tanti  Moreschi  e  Marani  che 
sono  sparsi  per  il  paese  si  vedriano 
per  questo  rispetto  di  religione  dei 
movimenti  e  delle  commozioni  in* 
portanti." 


SPANISH  GOVERNMENT  A   TERRORISM. 


537 


tains  and  champions  of  the  lower  classes  in  any  possible 
struggle  with  a  crown  to  which  they  were  united  by  ties  of 
interest  as  well  as  of  affection,  while  the  great  churchmen, 
too,  were  the  immediate  dependants  and  of  course  the  firm 
supporters  of  the  king.  Thus  the  people,  without  natural 
leaders,  without  organisation,  and  themselves  divided  into 
two  mutually  hostile  sections,  were  opposed  by  every  force  in 
the  State.  Crown,  nobility,  and  clergy ;  all  the  wealth  and 
all  that  there  was  of  learning,  were  banded  together  to  sup 
press  the  democratic  principle.35  But  even  this  would  hardly 
have  sufficed  to  extinguish  every  spark  of  liberty,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  potent  machinery  of  the  Inquisition ;  nor  could 
that  perfection  of  terrorism  have  become  an  established  insti 
tution  but  for  the  extraordinary  mixture  of  pride  and  super 
stition  of  which  the  national  character  had  been,  in  the  course 
of  the  national  history,  compounded.  The  Spanish  portion 
of  the  people  hated  the  nobles,  whose  petty  exactions  and 
oppressions  were  always  visible  ;  but  they  had  a  reverential 
fear  of  the  unseen  monarch,  as  the  representative  both  of  the 
great  unsullied  Christian  nation  to  which  the  meanest  indi 
vidual  was  proud  to  belong,  and  of  the  God  of  wrath  who 
had  decreed  the  extermination  of  all  unbelievers.  The 
"accursed"  portion  of  the  people  were  sufficiently  disloyal  at 
heart,  but  were  too  much  crushed  by  oppression  and  con 
tempt  to  imagine  themselves  men.  As  to  the  Netherlander, 
they  did  not  fight  originally  for  independence.  It  was  not 


35  "  Perciocche  de'  principi  non  piu 
temere  che  non  hanno  alcuna  autorita 
con  li  popoli  non  fortezze  per  ritirarsi, 
non  seguito  non  obbedienza  de'  loro 
vassalli,  non  buona  intelligenza  fra 
loro,  non  stimati  dalla  plebe,  odiati 
dai  proprii  sudditi,  che  sono  tiranneg- 
giati  da  loro,  in  mal  concetto  della 
gente  minuta  per  la  durezza  che  usano 
nei  pagamenti,  oltre  che  quest!  fanno 
una  particolar  professione  di  sosten- 
tare  con  la  loro  fedelta  la  grandezza 
della  corona  e  stimano  questa  esser 
propria  e  particolar  gloria  della  na- 
zione  Spagnuola  e  di  loro  medesimi 
eopra  tutti  ;  perciocche  quell'  alte- 


rezza  d'  animo  che  fa  si  che  sdegna- 
rebbero  d'  esser  soggetti  ad  altro  prin- 
cipe  che  al  re  di  Spagna  opera  in  modo 
che  umiliandoli  a  questo,  reputano  che 
sia  lor  grandezza  sostenendo  quella 
corona  viver  soggetti  al  maggior  re 
del  mondo  e  che  altri  che  un  principe 
tale  non  sia  degno  di  dominarli.  Li 
popoli  poi  non  hanno  ne  capi  ne  modo 
di  far  machinazione  non  tengono  &p- 
poggio  di  principi  forestieri  non  vi  e 
persona  che  con  giusta  pretensione 
potesse  eccitar  gli  altri,  no  v'  essendo 
alcuno  di  sangue  regio  che  potesse 
ragionevolmente  pretendere.  "  —  So 
ranzo, 


538  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXV. 

until  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  fighting  that  they  ever 
thought  of  renouncing  their  allegiance  to  Philip.  They 
fought  to  protect  themselves  against  being  taxed  by  the  king 
without  the  consent  of  those  constitutional  assemblies  which 
he  had  sworn  to  maintain,  and  to  save  themselves  and  their 
children  from  being  burned  alive  if  they  dared  to  read  the 
Bible.  Independence  followed  after  nearly  a  half-century 
of  fighting,  but  it  would  never  have  been  obtained,  or  per 
haps  demanded,  had  those  grievances  of  the  people  been 
redressed. 

Of  this  perfect  despotism  Philip  was  thus  the  sole  adminis 
trator.  Certainly  he  looked  upon  his  mission  with  seriousness, 
and  was  industrious  in  performing  his  royal  functions.  But  this 
earnestness  and  seriousness  were,  in  truth,  his  darkest  vices ; 
for  the  most  frivolous  voluptuary  that  ever  wore  a  crown 
would  never  have  compassed  a  thousandth  part  of  the  evil 
which  was  Philip's  life-work.  It  was  because  he  was  a 
believer  in  himself,  and  in  what  he  called  his  religion,  that 
he  was  enabled  to  perpetrate  such  a  long  catalogue  of  crimes. 
When  an  humble  malefactor  is  brought  before  an  ordinary 
court  of  justice,  it  is  not  often,  in  any  age  or  country,  that  he 
escapes  the  pillory  or  the  gallows  because,  from  his  own 
point  of  view,  his  actions,  instead  of  being  criminal,  have 
been  commendable,  and  because  the  multitude  and  continuity 
of  his  offences  prove  him  to  have  been  sincere.  And  because 
anointed  monarchs  are  amenable  to  no  human  tribunal,  save 
to  that  terrible  assize  which  the  People,  bursting  its  chain 
from  time  to  time  in  the  course  of  the  ages,  sets  up  for  the 
trial  of  its  oppressors,  and  which  is  called  Revolution,  it  is 
the  more  important  for  the  great  interests  of  humanity  that 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  History  a  crown  should  be  no 
protection  to  its  wearer.  There  is  no  plea  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  history,  if  history  be  true  to  itself. 

As  for  the  royal  criminal  called  Philip  II.,  his  life  is  his 
arraignment,  and  these  volumes  will  have  been  written  in 
vain  if  a  specification  is  now  required. 

Homicide  such  as  was  hardly  ever  compassed  before  by 


PHILIP  A  MURDERER  AND  EXTORTIONER.  539 

one  human  being  was  committed  by  Philip  when  in  the 
famous  edict  of  1568  he  sentenced  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  the  Netherlands  to  death.  That  the  whole  of  this 
population,  three  millions  or  more,  were  not  positively  de 
stroyed  was  because  no  human  energy  could  suffice  to  execute 
the  diabolical  decree.  But  Alva,  toiling  hard,  accomplished 
much  of  this  murderous  work.  By  the  aid  of  the  "  Council 
of  Blood,"  and  of  the  sheriffs  and  executioners  of  the  Holy 
Inquisition,  he  was  able  sometimes  to  put  eight  hundred 
human  beings  to  death  in  a  single  week  for  the  crimes  of 
Protestantism  or  of  opulence,  and  at  the  end  of  half  a  dozen 
years  he  could  boast  of  having  strangled,  drowned,  burned, 
or  beheaded  somewhat  more  than  eighteen  thousand  of  his 
fellow-creatures.  These  were  some  of  the  non-combatant 
victims  ;  for  of  the  tens  of  thousands  who  perished  during  his 
administration  alone,  in  siege  and  battle,  no  statistical  record 
has  been  preserved. 

In  face  of  such  wholesale  crimes,  of  these  forty  years  of 
bloodshed,  it  is  superfluous  to  refer  to  such  isolated  misdeeds 
as  his  repeated  attempts  to  procure  the  assassination  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  crowned  at  last  by  the  success  of  Balthazar 
Gerard,  nor  to  his  persistent  efforts  to  poison  the  Queen  of 
England  ;  for  the  enunciation  of  all  these  murders  or  at 
tempts  at  murder  would  require  a  repetition  of  the  story 
which  it  has  been  one  of  the  main  purposes  of  these  volumes 
to  recite. 

For  indeed  it  seems  like  mere  railing  to  specify  his  crimes. 
Their  very  magnitude  and  unbroken  continuity,  together  with 
their  impunity,  give  them  almost  the  appearance  of  inevitable 
phenomena.  The  horrible  monotony  of  his  career  stupefies 
the  mind  until  it  is  ready  to  accept  the  principle  of  evil  as 
the  fundamental  law  of  the  world. 

His  robberies,  like  his  murders,  were  colossal.  The  vast 
system  of  confiscation  set  up  in  the  Netherlands  was  suffi 
cient  to  reduce  unnumbered  innocent  families  to  beggary, 
although  powerless  to  break  the  spirit  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  or  to  pay  the  expenses  of  subjugating  a  people.  Not 


540 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXV. 


often  in  the  world's  history  have  so  many  thousand  individuals 
been  plundered  by  a  foreign  tyrant  for  no  crime,  save  that 
they  were  rich  enough  to  be  worth  robbing.  For  it  can  never 
be  too  often  repeated  that  those  confiscations  and  extor 
tions  were  perpetrated  upon  Catholics  as  well  as  Protestants, 
monarchists  as  well  as  rebels ;  the  possession  of  property 
making  proof  of  orthodoxy  or  of  loyalty  well-nigh  impossible. 
Falsehood  was  the  great  basis  of  the  king's  character, 
which  perhaps  derives  its  chief  importance,  as  a  political  and 
psychological  study,  from  this  very  fact.  It  has  been  shown 
throughout  the  whole  course  of  this  history,  by  the  evidence 
of  his  most  secret  correspondence,  that  he  was  false,  most  of 
all,  to  those  to  whom  he  gave  what  he  called  his  heart. 
Granvelle,  Alva,  Don  John,  Alexander  Farnese,  all  those,  in 
shortj  who  were  deepest  in  his  confidence  experienced  in  succes^ 
sion  his  entire  perfidy,  while  each  in  turn  was  sacrificed  to  his 
master's  sleepless  suspicion.  The  pope  himself  was  often  as 
much  the  dupe  of  the  Catholic  monarch's  faithlessness  as  the 
vilest  heretic  had  ever  been.  Could  the  great  schoolmaster 
of  iniquity  for  the  sovereigns  and  politicians  of  the  south 
have  lived  to  witness  the  practice  of  the  monarch  who  had 
most  laid  to  heart  the  precepts  of  the  "  Prince/'  he  would 
have  felt  that  he  had  not  written  in  vain,  and  that  his  great 
paragon  of  successful  falsehood,  Ferdinand  of  Arragon,  had 
been  surpassed  by  the  great  grandson.  For  the  ideal  per 
fection  of  perfidy,  foreshadowed  by  the  philosopher  who  died 
in  the  year  of  Philip's  birth,  was  thoroughly  embodied  at  last 
by  this  potentate.  Certainly  Nicholas  Macchiavelli  could 
have  hoped  for  no  more  docile  pupil.  That  all  men  are  vile, 
that  they  are  liars,  scoundrels,  poltroons,  and  idiots  alike — 
ever  ready  to  deceive  and  yet  easily  to  be  duped,  and  that 
he  only  is  fit  to  be  king  who  excels  his  kind  in  the  arts  of 
deception ; x  by  this  great  maxim  of  the  Florentine,  Philip 


86  "  Perche  degli  uomini  si  puo  dir 
questo  generalmente  che  sieno  ingrati, 
volubili,  simulator!,  fuggitori  de'  peri- 
coli,  cupidi  di  guadagno  :  e  mentre 
iai  lor  bene  sono  tutti  tuoi,  ti  offeris- 


cono  il  sangue,  la  roba,  la  vita,  ed  i 
figli  come  di  sopra  dissi,  quando  il 
bene  e  discosto,  ma  quando  ti  si  ap- 
pressa  si  revoltano,  e  quel  Principe 
che  si  e  tutto  fondato  in  su  le  parole 


PHILIP'S  MACCHIAVELLIANISM. 


541 


was  ever  guided.  And  those  well-known  texts  of  hypocrisy, 
strewn  by  the  same  hand,  had  surely  not  fallen  on  stony 
ground  when  received  into  Philip's  royal  soul. 

"  Often  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  maintain  power,  to  act 
contrary  to  faith,  contrary  to  charity,  contrary  to  humanity, 

contrary  to  religion A  prince  ought  therefore  to 

have  great  care  that  from  his  mouth  nothing  should  ever 
come  that  is  not  filled  with  those  five  qualities,  and  that  to 
see  and  hear  him  he  should  appear  all  piety,  all  faith,  all 
integrity,  all  humanity,  all  religion.  And  nothing  is  more 
necessary  than  to  seem  to  have  this  last-mentioned  quality. 

Every  one  sees  what  you  seem,  few  perceive  what 

you  are." 3: 

Surely  this  hand-book  of  cant  had  been  Philip's  vade 
mecum  through  his  life's  pilgrimage. 

It  is  at  least  a  consolation  to  reflect  that  a  career  controlled 
by  such  principles  came  to  an  ignominious  close.  Had  the 
mental  capacity  of  this  sovereign  been  equal  to  his  criminal 
intent,  even  greater  woe  might  have  befallen  the  world.  But 
his  intellect  was  less  than  mediocre.  His  passion  for  the 
bureau,  his  slavery  to  routine,  his  puerile  ambition  personally 
to  superintend  details  which  could  have  been  a  thousand 
times  better  administered  by  subordinates,  proclaimed  every 
day  the  narrowness  of  his  mind.  His  diligence  in  reading, 
writing,  and  commenting  upon  despatches  may  excite  admira 
tion  only  where  there  has  been  no  opportunity  of  judging  of 
his  labours  by  personal  inspection.  Those  familiar  with  the 
dreary  displays  of  his  penmanship  must  admit  that  such 
work  could  have  been  at  least  as  well  done  by  a  copying 
clerk  of  average  capacity.  His  ministers  were  men  of' 


loro,  trovandosi  nudo  d'  altri  prepara- 
menti  revina."  ....  "  Non  puo  un 
sigiior  prudente  ne  debbe  osservar  la 
fede  quando  tale  osservanzia  gli  torni 
c  jntro  e  che  sono  spente  le  cagioni  che 
la  feciono  promettere. 

"  E  se  gli  uoinini  fussero  tutti  buoni 
questo  precetto  non  saria  buono,  ma 
perche  son  tristi  e  non  Posservereb- 
bouo  a  te,  tii  ancora  non  Thai  de  osser- 


vare  a  loro  .  .  .  Ma  e  necessario 
questa  natura  (di  volpe)  saperla  ben 
colorire  ed  essere  gran  simulatore  e 
dissimulatore,  e  sono  tanto  simplici 
gli  uomini  e  tanto  obbediscono  alle 
necessita  present!,  che  colui  che  in> 
ganna  trovera  sempre  chi  si  lascera 
ingannare." — II  Principe,  cap.  xvii, 
xviii. 
37  II  Principe,  cap.  xviii 


542  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXV. 

respectable  ability,  but  he  imagined  himself,  as  he  advanced 
in  life,  far  superior  to  any  counsellor  that  he  could  possibly 
select,  and  was  accustomed  to  consider  himself  the  first 
statesman  in  the  world. 

His  reign  was  a  thorough  and  disgraceful  failure.  Its 
opening  scene  was  the  treaty  of  Gateau  Cambresis,  by  which 
a  triumph  over  France  had  been  achieved  for  him  by  the 
able  generals  and  statesmen  of  his  father,  so  humiliating  and 
complete  as  to  make  every  French  soldier  or  politician  gnash 
his  teeth.  Its  conclusion  was  the  treaty  of  Vervins  with  the 
same  power,  by  which  the  tables  were  completely  turned,  and 
which  was  as  utterly  disgraceful  to  Spain  as  that  of  Gateau 
Cambresis  had  been  to  France.  He  had  spent  his  life  in 
fighting  with  the  spirit  of  the  age — that  invincible  power  of 
which  he  had  not  the  faintest  conception — while  the  utter 
want  of  adaptation  of  his  means  to  his  ends  often  bordered, 
not  on  the  ludicrous,  but  the  insane. 

He  attempted  to  reduce  the  free  Netherlands  to  slavery 
and  to  papacy.  Before  his  death  they  had  expanded  into  an 
independent  republic,  with  a  policy  founded  upon  religious 
toleration  and  the  rights  of  man.  He  had  endeavoured  all 
his  life  to  exclude  the  Bearnese  from  his  heritage  and  to  place 
himself  or  his  daughter  on  the  vacant  throne  ;  before  his 
death  Henry  IV.  was  the  most  powerful  and  popular  sovereign 
that  had  ever  reigned  in  France.  He  had  sought  to  invade 
and  to  conquer  England,  and  to  dethrone  and  assassinate  its 
queen.  But  the  queen  outwitted,  outgeneralled,  and  out 
lived  him  ;  English  soldiers  and  sailors,  assisted  by  their 
Dutch  comrades  in  arms,  accomplished  on  the  shores  of 
Spain  what  the  Invincible  Armada  had  in  vain  essayed 
against  England  and  Holland ;  while  England,  following 
thenceforth  the  opposite  system  to  that  of  absolutism  and  the 
Inquisition,  became,  after  centuries  of  struggles  towards  the 
right,  the  most  powerful,  prosperous,  and  enlightened  king 
dom  in  the  world. 

His  exchequer,  so  full  when  he  ascended  the  throne  as  to 
excite  the  awe  of  contemporary  financiers,  was  reduced  before 


PHILIP'S  OBJECT  NOT  REALIZED.  543 

his  death  to  a  net  income  of  some  four  millions  of  dollars. 
His  armies,  which  had  been  the  wonder  of  the  age  in  the 
earlier  period  of  his  reign  for  discipline,  courage,  and  every 
quality  on  which  military  efficiency  depends,  were  in  his 
later  years  a  horde  of  starving,  rebellious  brigands,  more 
formidable  to  their  commanders  than  to  the  foe.  Mutiny 
was  the  only  organised  military  institution  that  was  left  in 
his  dominions,  while  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  which  it  was 
the  fell  purpose  of  his  life  from  youth  upwards  to  establish 
over  the  world,  became  a  loathsome  and  impossible  nuisance 
everywhere  but  in  its  natal  soil. 

If  there  be  such  a  thing  as  historical  evidence,  then 
is  Philip  II.  convicted  before  the  tribunal  of  impartial 
posterity  of  every  crime  charged  in  his  indictment.  He 
lived  seventy-one  years  and  three  mDnths,  he  reigned  forty- 
three  years.  He  endured  the  martyrdom  of  his  last  illness 
with  the  heroism  of  a  saint,  and  died  in  the  certainty  of 
immortal  bliss  as  the  reward  of  his  life  of  evil. 


544  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVL 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

Commercial  prospects  of  Holland — Travels  of  John  Huygen  van  Linschoten  — 
Their  effect  on  the  trade  and  prosperity  of  the  Netherlands  —  Progress 
of  nautical  and  geographical  science  —  Maritime  exploration  —  Fantastic 
notions  respecting  the  polar  regions — State  of  nautical  science — First 
arctic  expedition  —  Success  of  the  voyagers  —  Failure  of  the  second  expedi. 
tion  —  Third  attempt  to  discover  the  north-east  passage  —  Discovery  of 
Spitzbergen  —  Scientific  results  of  the  voyage  —  Adventures  in  the  frozen 
regions  —  Death  of  William  Barendz  —  Return  of  the  voyagers  to  Amster 
dam —  Southern  expedition  against  the  Spanish  power  —  Disasters  attend- 
ant  upon  it  —  Extent  of  Dutch  discovery. 

DURING  a  great  portion  of  Philip's  reign  the  Netherlander, 
despite  their  rebellion,  had  been  permitted  to  trade  with 
Spain.  A  spectacle  had  thus  been  presented  of  a  vigorous 
traffic  between  two  mighty  belligerents,  who  derived  from 
their  intercourse  with  each  other  the  means  of  more 
thoroughly  carrying  on  their  mutual  hostilities.  The  war 
fed  their  commerce,  and  commerce  fed  their  war.  The  great 
maritime  discoveries  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  had 
enured  quite  as  much  to  the  benefit  of  the  Flemings  and 
Hollanders  as  to  that  of  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  to 
whom  they  were  originally  due.  Antwerp  and  subsequently 
Amsterdam  had  thriven  on  the  great  revolution  of  the  Indian 
trade  which  Vasco  de  Gama's  voyage  around  the  Cape  had 
effected.  The  nations  of  the  Baltic  and  of  farthest  Ind  now 
exchanged  their  products  on  a  more  extensive  scale  and  with 
a  wider  sweep  across  the  earth  than  when  the  mistress  of  the 
Adriatic  alone  held  the  keys  of  Asiatic  commerce.  The 
haughty  but  intelligent  oligarchy  of  shopkeepers,  which  had 
grown  so  rich  and  attained  so  eminent  a  political  position 
from  its  magnificent  monopoly,  already  saw  the  sources  of  its 
grandeur  drying  up  before  its  eyes,  now  that  the  world's 
trade — for  the  first  time  in  human  history — had  become 
oceanic. 


NETHERLAND  COMMERCE.  545 

In  Holland,  long  since  denuded  of  forests,  were  great 
markets  ol  timber,  whither  shipbuilders  and  architects  came 
from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  gather  the  utensils  for  their 
craft.  There,  too,  where  scarcely  a  pebble  had  been  de 
posited  in  the  course  of  the  geological  transformations  of  our 
planet,  were  great  artificial  quarries  of  granite,  and  marble, 
and  basalt.  Wheat  was  almost  as  rare  a  product  of  the  soil 
as  cinnamon,  yet  the  granaries  of  Christendom,  and  the 
Oriental  magazines  of  spices  and  drugs,  were  found  chiefly  on 
that  barren  spot  of  earth.  There  was  the  great  international 
mart  where  the  Osterling,  the  Turk,  the  Hindoo,  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Mediterranean  traders  stored  their  wares  and  nego 
tiated  their  exchanges  ;  while  the  curious  and  highly-prized 
products  of  Netherland  skill — broadcloths,  tapestries,  brocades, 
laces,  substantial  fustians,  magnificent  damasks,  finest  linens 
— increased  the  mass  of  visible  wealth  piled  mountains  high 
upon  that  extraordinary  soil  which  produced  nothing  and 
teemed  with  everything. 

After  the  incorporation  of  Portugal  with  Spain  however 
many  obstacles  were  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  trade  from  the 
Netherlands  to  Lisbon  and  the  Spanish  ports.  Loud  and 
bitter  were  the  railings  uttered,  as  we  know,  by  the  English 
sovereign  and  her  statesmen  against  the  nefarious  traffic 
which  thq  Dutch  republic  persisted  in  carrying  on  with  the 
common  enemy.  But  it  is  very  certain  that  although  the 
Spanish  armadas  would  have  found  it  comparatively  difficult 
to  equip  themselves  without  the  tar  and  the  timber,  the 
cordage,  the  stores,  and  the  biscuits  furnished  by  the  Hol 
landers,  the  rebellious  commonwealth,  if  excluded  from  the 
world's  commerce,  in  which  it  had  learned  to  play  so  con 
trolling  a  part,  must  have  ceased  to  exist.  For  without 
foreign  navigation  the  independent  republic  was  an  incon 
ceivable  idea.  Not  only  would  it  have  been  incapable  of 
continuing  the  struggle  with  the  greatest  monarch  in  the 
world,  but  it  might  as  well  have  buried  itself  once  and 
for  ever  beneath  the  waves  from  which  it  had  scarcely 
emerged.  Commerce  and  Holland  were  simply  synonymous 

VOL.  in. — 2  N 


546  ME  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.      CHAP,  xxxvi. 

terms.     Its  morsel  of  territory  was  but  the  wharf  to  which  the 
republic  was  occasionally  moored  ;    its   home  was   in  every 
ocean  and  over  all  the  world.      Nowhere    had  there  ever 
existed  before  so  large  a  proportion  of  population  that  was 
essentially    maritime.      They   were  born    sailors — men    and 
women  alike — and  numerous   were    the    children  who   had 
never  set  foot  on  the   shore.     At  the  period  now  treated  of 
the  republic  had  three  times  as  many  ships  and  sailors  as  any 
one  nation  in  the  world.     Compared  with  modern  times,  and 
especially  with  the  gigantic   commercial   strides  of  the   two 
great  Anglo-Saxon  families,  the  statistics  both  of  population 
and  of  maritime  commerce  in  that  famous  and  most  vigorous 
epoch  would  seem  sufficiently  meagre.     Yet  there  is  no  doubt 
that  in  the  relative   estimate  of  forces   then  in  activity  it 
would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  naval  power  of  the  young 
commonwealth.      When     therefore,    towards    the    close    of 
Philip    II. 's    reign,   it  became    necessary  to  renounce    the 
carrying  trade  with  Spain  and  Portugal,  by  which  the  com 
munication  with   India   and  China  was   effected,  or  else  to 
submit  to  the  confiscation  of  Dutch  ships  in  Spanish  ports, 
and  the  confinement  of  Dutch  sailors  in  the  dungeons  of  the 
Inquisition,  a  more   serious   dilemma  was   presented  to  the 
statesmen  of  the  Netherlands  than  they  had  ever  been  called 
upon  to  solve. 

For  the  splendid  fiction  of  the  Spanish  lake  was  still  a 
formidable  fact.  Not  only  were  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards 
almost  the  only  direct  traders  to  the  distant  East,  but  even 
had  no  obstacles  been  interposed  by  Government,  the  exclu 
sive  possession  of  information  as  to  the  course  of  trade,  the 
pre-eminent  practical  knowledge  acquired  by  long  experience 
of  that  dangerous  highway  around  the  world  at  a  time  when 
oceanic  navigation  was  still  in  its  infancy,  would  have  given 
a  monopoly  of  the  traffic  to  the  descendants  of  the  bold 
discoverers  who  first  opened  the  great  path  to  the  world's 
commerce. 

The  Hollanders  as  a  nation  had  never  been  engaged  in  the 
direct  trade  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Fortunately 


TRAVELS   OF  VAN  LINSCHOTEN.  547 

however  at  this  crisis  in  their  commercial  destiny  there  was 
a  single  Hollander  who  had  thoroughly  learned  the  lesson 
which  it  was  so  necessary  that  all  his  countrymen  should  now 
be  taught.  Few  men  of  that  period  deserve  a  more  kindly 
and  more  honourable  remembrance  by  posterity  for  their 
contributions  to  science  and  the  progress  of  civilization  than 
John  Huygen  van  Linschoten,  son  of  a  plain  burgher  of 
West  Friesland.  Having  always  felt  a  strong  impulse  to 
study  foreign  history  and  distant  nations  and  customs,  he 
resolved  at  the  early  age  of  seventeen  "to  absent  himself 
from  his  fatherland,  and  from  the  conversation  of  friends  and 
relatives,"  in  order  to  gratify  this  inclination  for  self-improve 
ment.  Alter  a  residence  of  two  years  in  Lisbon  he  departed 
for  India  in  the  suite  ot  the  Archbishop  of  Goa,  and  remained 
in  the  East  for  nearly  thirteen  years.  Diligently  examining 
all  the  strange  phenomena  which  came  under  his  observation 
and  patiently  recording  the  results  of  his  researches  day  by 
day  and  year  by  year,  he  amassed  a  fund  of  information 
which  he  modestly  intended  for  the  entertainment  of  his 
friends  when  he  should  return  to  his  native  country.  It  was 
his  wish  that  "without  stirring  from  their  firesides  or 
counting-houses"  they  might  participate  with  him  in  the 
gratification  and  instruction  to  be  derived  from  looking  upon 
a  world  then  so  strange,  and  for  Europeans  still  so  new.  He 
described  the  manners  and  customs,  the  laws,  the  religions, 
the  social  and  political  institutions,  of  the  ancient  races  who 
dwelt  in  either  peninsula  of  India.  He  studied  the  natural 
history,  the  botany,  the  geography  of  all  the  regions  which  he 
visited.  Especially  the  products  which  formed  the  material 
of  a  great  traffic  ;  the  system  of  culture,  the  means  of  trans 
portation,  and  the  course  of  commerce,  were  examined  by 
him  with  minuteness,  accuracy,  and  breadth  of  vision.  He 
was  neither  a  trader  nor  a  sailor,  but  a  man  of  letters,  a 
scientific  and  professional  traveller.  But  it  was  obvious  when 
he  returned,  rich  with  the  spoils  of  oriental  study  during 
thirteen  years  of  life,  that  the  results  of  his  researches  were 
worthy  of  a  wider  circulation  than  that  which  he  had  origin- 


548  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXVL 

ally  contemplated.  His  work  was  given  to  the  public  in  the 
year  1596,  and  was  studied  with  avidity  not  only  by  men  of 
science  but  by  merchants  and  seafarers.  He  also  added  to 
the  record  of  his  Indian  experiences  a  practical  manual  for 
navigators.  He  described  the  course  of  the  voyage  from 
Lisbon  to  the  East,  the  currents,  the  trade-winds  and 
monsoons,  the  harbours,  the  islands,  the  shoals,  the  sunken 
rocks  and  dangerous  quicksands,  and  he  accompanied  his 
work  with  various  maps  and  charts,  both  general  and  special, 
of  land  and  water,  rarely  delineated  before  his  day,  as  well 
as  by  various  astronomical  and  mathematical  calculations. 
Already  a  countryman  of  his  own,  Wagenaar  of  Zeeland,  had 
laid  the  mariners  of  the  world  under  special  obligation  by  a 
manual  which  came  into  such  universal  use  that  tor  centuries 
afterwards  the  sailors  of  England  and  of  other  countries 
called  their  indispensable  vade-mecum  a  Wagenaar.  But  in 
that  text-book  but  little  information  was  afforded  to  eastern 
voyagers,  because,  before  the  enterprise  of  Linschoten,  little 
was  known  of  the  Orient  except  to  the  Portuguese  and 
Spaniards,  by  whom  nothing  was  communicated. 

The  work  of  Linschoten  was  a  source  of  wealth,  both  from 
the  scientific  treasures  which  it  diffused  among  an  active  and 
intelligent  people,  and  the  impulse  which  it  gave  to  that 
direct  trade  between  the  Netherlands  and  the  East  which 
had  been  so  long  deferred,  and  which  now  came  to  relieve  the 
commerce  of  the  republic,  and  therefore  the  republic  itself, 
from  the  danger  of  positive  annihilation. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  my  purpose  to  describe  in  detail  the 
series  of  voyages  by  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  which, 
beginning  with  the  adventures  of  the  brothers  Houtmann  at 
this  period,  and  with  the  circumnavigation  of  the  world  by 
Olivier  van  Noord,  made  the  Dutch  for  a  long  time  the 
leading  Christian  nation  in  those  golden  regions,  and  which 
carried  the  United  Netherlands  to  the  highest  point  of  pros 
perity  and  power.  The  Spanish  monopoly  of  the  Indian  and 
the  Pacific  Ocean  was  effectually  disposed  of,  but  the  road 
was  not  a  new  road,  nor  did  any  striking  discoveries  at  this 


DUTCH  EISTERPEISR  549 

Immediate  epoch  illustrate  the  enterprise  of  Holland  in  the 
East*  In  the  age  just  opening  the  homely  names  most 
dear  to  the  young  republic  were  to  be  inscribed  on  capes, 
islands,  and  promontories,  seas,  bays,  and  continents.  There 
was  soon  to  be  a  "  Staten  Island  "  both  in  the  frozen  circles  of 
the  northern  and  of  the  southern  pole,  as  well  as  in  that 
favoured  region  where  now  the  mighty  current  of  a  world 
wide  commerce  flows  through  the  gates  of  that  great  metro 
polis  of  the  western  world,  once  called  New  Amsterdam. 
Those  well-beloved  words,  Orange  and  Nassau,  Maurice  and 
William,  intermingled  with  the  names  of  many  an  ancient 
town  and  village,  or  with  the  simple  patronymics  of  hardy 
navigators  or  honoured  statesmen,  were  to  make  the  verna 
cular  of  the  new  commonwealth  a  familiar  sound  in  the 
remotest  corners  of  the  earth;  while  a  fifth  continent,  dis 
covered  by  the  enterprise  of  Hollanders,  was  soon  to  be  fitly 
baptized  with  the  name  of  the  fatherland.  Posterity  has 
been  neither  just  nor  grateful,  and  those  early  names  which 
Dutch  genius  and  enterprise  wrote  upon  so  many  prominent 
points  of  the  earth's  surface,  then  seen  for  the  first  time  by 
European  eyes,  are  no  longer  known. 

The  impulse  given  to  the  foreign  trade  of  the  Netherlands 
by  the  publication  of  Linschoten's  work  was  destined  to  be  a 
lasting  one.  Meantime  this  most  indefatigable  and  en 
terprising  voyager — one  of  those  men  who  had  done  nothing  in 
his  own  estimation  so  long  as  aught  remained  to  do — was 
deeply  pondering  the  possibility  of  a  shorter  road  to  the 
opulent  kingdoms  of  Cathay  and  of  China  than  the  one 
which  the  genius  of  De  Gama  had  opened  to  his  sovereigns. 
Geography  as  a  science  was  manifesting  the  highest  activity 
at  that  period,  but  was  still  in  a  rudimentary  state.  To  the 
Hollanders  especially  much  of  the  progress  already  made  by 
it  was  owing.  The  maps  of  the  world  by  Mercator  of  Leyden, 
published  on  a  large  scale,  together  with  many  astronomical 
and  geographical  charts,  delineations  of  exploration,  and 
other  scientific  works,  at  the  magnificent  printing  establish 
ment  of  William  Blaeuw,  in  Amsterdam,  the  friend  and  pupil 


550  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVt 

of  Tycho  Brahe,  and  the  first  in  that  line  of  typographers 
who  made  the  name  famous,  constituted  an  epoch  in  cosmo 
graphy.  Another  ardent  student  of  geography  lived  in 
Amsterdam,  Peter  Plancius  by  name,  a  Calvinist  preacher, 
and  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  intolerant  of  his  cloth.  In 
an  age  and  a  country  which  had  not  yet  thoroughly  learned 
the  lesson  taught  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  murders 
committed  by  an  orthodox  church,  he  was  one  of  those  who 
considered  the  substitution  of  a  new  dogma  and  a  new  hier 
archy,  a  new  orthodoxy  and  a  new  church,  in  place  of  the 
old  ones,  a  satisfactory  result  for  fifty  years  of  perpetual 
bloodshed.  Nether  Torquemada  nor  Peter  Titelmann  could 
have  more  thoroughly  abhorred  a  Jew  or  a  Calvinist  than 
Peter  Plancius  detested  a  Lutheran,  or  any  other  of  the 
unclean  tribe  of  remonstrants.  That  the  intolerance  of  himself 
and  his  comrades  was  confined  to  fiery  words,  and  was  not 
manifested  in  the  actual  burning  alive  of  the  heterodox,  was  a 
mark  of  the  advance  made  by  the  mass  of  mankind  in  despite 
of  bigotry.  It  was  at  any  rate  a  solace  to  those  who  believed 
in  human  progress,  even  in  matters  of  conscience,  that  no 
other  ecclesiastical  establishment  was  ever  likely  to  imitate 
the  matchless  machinery  for  the  extermination  of  heretical 
vermin  which  the  Church  of  Eome  had  found  in  the  Spanish 
Inquisition.  The  blasts  of  denunciation  from  the  pulpit  of 
Plancius  have  long  since  mingled  with  empty  air  and  been 
forgotten,  but  his  services  in  the  cause  of  nautical  enterprise 
and  geographical  science,  which  formed,  as  it  were,  a  re 
laxation  to  what  he  deemed  the  more  serious  pursuits  of 
theology,  will  endear  his  name  for  ever  to  the  lovers  of 
civilization. 

Plancius  and  Dr.  Francis  Maalzoon — the  enlightened 
pensionary  of  Enkhuizen — had  studied  long  and  earnestly 
the  history  and  aspects  of  the  oceanic  trade,  which  had  been 
unfolding  itself  then  for  a  whole  century,  but  was  still  com 
paratively  new,  while  Barneveld,  ever  ready  to  assist  in  the 
advancement  of  science,  and  to  foster  that  commerce  which 
was  the  life  of  the  commonwealth,  was  most  favourably 


MARITIME  DISCOVERY.  551 

disposed    towards    projects    of   maritime    exploration.     For 
hitherto,    although   the    Hollanders    had    been  among    the 
hardiest  and  the  foremost  in  the  art  of  navigation,  they  had 
contributed  but  little  to  actual  discovery.     A  Genoese  had  led 
the  way  to  America,  while  one  Portuguese  mariner  had  been 
the  first  to  double  the  southern  cape  of  Africa,  and  another, 
at  the  opposite  side  of  the  world,  had  opened  what  was  then 
supposed  the  only  passage  through  the  vast  continent  which, 
according  to  ideas  then  prevalent,  extended  from  the  Southern 
Pole  to  Greenland,  and  from  Java  to  Patagonia.     But  it  was 
easier  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  Columbus,  Gama,  or  Magellan, 
than   to  strike   out   new  pathways  by  the  aid  of  scientific 
deduction  and   audacious  enterprise.     At  a  not  distant  day 
many  errors,  disseminated  by  the  boldest  of  Portuguese  navi 
gators,  were  to  be  corrected  by  the  splendid  discoveries  of 
sailors  sent  forth  by  the  Dutch  republic,  and  a  rich  harvest 
in  consequence  was  to  be  reaped  both  by  science  and  com 
merce.     It  is  true,  too,   that  the  Nether! anders  claimed   to 
have  led  the  way  to  the  great  voyages  of  Columbus  by  their 
discovery  of  the  Azores.     Joshua  van  den  Berg,  a  merchant 
of  Bruges,  it  was  vigorously  maintained,  had  landed  in  that 
archipelago  in  the  year  1445.     He  had  found  there,  however, 
no  vestiges  of  the  human  race,  save  that  upon  the  principal 
island,  in  the  midst  of  the  solitude,  was  seen — so  ran  the  tale 
— a   colossal  statue  of  a  man  on  horseback,  wrapped  in    a 
cloak,   holding  the  reins   of  his  steed  in  his  left  hand,  and 
solemnly  extending  his  right  arm  to  the  west.     This  gigantic 
and  solitary  apparition  on  a  rock  in  the  ocean  was  supposed 
to  indicate  the  existence  of  a  new  world,  and  the  direction  in 
which  it  was  to  be  sought,  but  it  is  probable  that  the  ship 
wrecked  Fleming  was  quite  innocent  of  any  such  magnificent 
risions.     The   original  designation    of  the   Flemish  Islands, 
derived   from  their  first   colonization  by  Netherlander,  was 
changed  to  Azores   by  Portuguese  mariners,  amazed  at  the 
myriads  of  hawks  which  they  found  there.     But  if  the  Nether- 
landers  had  never  been  able  to  make  higher  claims  as  dis 
coverers  than  the  accidental  and  dubious  lauding  upon  an 


552  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXVL 

unknown  shore  of  a  tempest-tost  mariner,  their  position  in 
the  records  of  geographical  exploration  would  not  be  so 
eminent  as  it  certainly  is. 

Meantime  the    eyes   of   Linschoten,    Plancius,   Maalzoon, 
Barneveld,    and   of   many    other    ardent-  philosophers    and 
patriots,  were  turned  anxiously  towards  the  regions  of  the 
North  Pole.     Two  centuries  later — and   still  more   recently 
in  our  own  day  and  generation — what  heart  has  not  thrilled 
with  sympathy  and  with  pride  at  the  story  of  the  magnificent 
exploits,  the  heroism,  the  contempt  of  danger  and  of  suffer 
ing   which  have   characterized   the    great   navigators   whose 
names   are   so  familiar   to   the  world  ;  especially  the  arctic 
explorers   of  England  and  of  our  own  country  ?     The  true 
chivalry  of  an   advanced  epoch — recognizing   that  there  can 
be  no  sublimer  vocation  for  men  of  action  than  to  extend  the 
boundary  of  human  knowledge  in  the  face  of  perils  and  ob 
stacles   more    formidable   and  more  mysterious    than   those 
encountered  by  the  knights  of  old  in  the  cause  of  the  Lord's 
sepulchre  or  the  holy  grail — they  have  thus  embodied  in  a 
form   which   will    ever   awaken    enthusiasm  in  imaginative 
natures,  the   noble  impulses   of   our  latter  civilization.     To 
win  the  favour  of  that  noblest  of  mistresses,  Science  ;  to  take 
authoritative  possession,  in  her  name,  of  the  whole  domain  of 
humanity  ;  to  open  new  pathways  to  commerce  ;  to  elevate 
and  enlarge  the  human  intellect,  and  to  multiply  indefinitely 
the  sum  of  human  enjoyments  ;  to  bring  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth  into   closer  and  more  friendly  communication,  so 
that,  after  some  yet  unimagined  inventions  and  discoveries, 
and  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  which  in  the  sight  of  the 
Omnipotent  are  but  as  one  day,  the  human  race  may  form 
one  pacific  family,  instead   of  being  broken  up,  as  are  the 
most  enlightened  of  peoples  now,  into  warring  tribes  of  inter 
necine  savages,  prating  of  the  advancement  of  civilization  while 
coveting   each  other's    possessions,   intriguing    against    each 
other's   interests,  and   thoroughly  in    earnest   when   cutting 
each   other's   throats  ;  this  is   truly  to  be  the  pioneers  of  a 
possible  civilization,  compared  to  which  our   present  culture 


FANCIFUL  IDEAS  OF  THE  POLAR  REGIONS.  553 

may  seem  but  a  poor  barbarism.  If  the  triumphs  and  joys 
of  the  battle-field  have  been  esteemed  among  the  noblest 
themes  for  poet,  painter,  or  chronicler,  alike  in  the  mists  of 
antiquity  and  in  the  full  glare  of  later  days,  surely  a  still 
more  encouraging  spectacle  for  those  who  believe  in  the 
world's  progress  is  the  exhibition  of  almost  infinite  valour, 
skill,  and  endurance  in  the  cause  of  science  and  humanity. 

It  was  believed  by  the  Dutch  cosmographers  that  some  ten 
thousand  miles  of  voyaging  might  be  saved,  could  the  passage 
to  what  was  then  called  the  kingdoms  of  Cathay  be  effected 
by  way  of  the  north.  It  must  be  remembered  that  there 
were  no  maps  of  the  unknown  regions  lying  beyond  the 
northern  headlands  of  Sweden.  Delineations  of  continents, 
islands,  straits,  rivers,  and  seas,  over  which  every  modern 
schoolboy  pores,  were  not  attempted  even  by  the  hand  of 
fancy.  It  was  perhaps  easier  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century  than  it  is  now,  to  admit  the  possibility  of  a  practical 
path  to  China  and  India  across  the  pole  ;  for  delusions  as  to 
climate  and  geographical  configuration  then  prevalent  have 
long  since  been  dispelled.  While,  therefore,  at  least  as  much 
heroism  was  required  then  as  now  to  launch  into  those  un 
known  seas,  in  hope  to  solve  the  dread  mystery  of  the  North, 
there  was  even  a  firmer  hope  than  can  ever  be  cherished 
again  of  deriving  an  immediate  and  tangible  benefit  from 
the  enterprise.  Plancius  and  Maalzoon,  the  States-General 
and  Prince  Maurice,  were  convinced  that  the  true  road  to 
Cathay  would  be  found  by  sailing  north-east.  Linschoten, 
the  man  who  knew  India  and  the  beaten  paths  to  India 
better  than  any  other  living  Christian,  was  so  firmly  con 
vinced  of  the  truth  of  this  theory,  that  he  volunteered  to 
take  the  lead  in  the  first  expedition.  Many  were  the  fan 
tastic  dreams  in  which  even  the  wisest  thinkers  of  the  age 
indulged  as  to  the  polar  regions.  Four  straits  or  channels, 
pierced  by  a  magic  hand,  led,  it  was  thought,  from  the  inte 
rior  of  Muscovy  towards  the  arctic  seas.  According  to  some 
speculators,  however,  those  seas  enclosed  a  polar  continent 
where  perpetual  summer  and  unbroken  daylight  reigned,  and 


554  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVt 

whose  inhabitants,  having  obtained  a  high  degree  of  culture, 
lived  in  the  practice  of  every  virtue  and  in  the  enjoyment  of 
every  blessing.  Others  peopled  these  mysterious  regions 
with  horrible  savages,  having  hoofs  of  horses  and  heads  of 
dogs,  and  with  no  clothing  save  their  own  long  ears  coiled 
closely  around  their  limbs  and  bodies  ;  while  it  was  deemed 
almost  certain  that  a  race  of  headless  men,  with  eyes  in  their 
breasts,  were  the  most  enlightened  among  those  distant  tribes. 
Instead  of  constant  sunshine,  it  was  believed  by  such  theorists 
that  the  wretched  inhabitants  of  that  accursed  zone  were  im 
mersed  in  almost  incessant  fogs  or  tempests,  that  the  whole 
population  died  every  winter  and  were  only  recalled  to  tem 
porary  existence  by  the  advent  of  a  tardy  and  evanescent 
spring.  No  doubt  was  felt  that  the  voyager  in  those  latitudes 
would  have  to  encounter  volcanoes  of  fire  and  mountains  of 
ice,  together  with  land  and  sea  monsters  more  ferocious  than 
the  eye  of  man  had  ever  beheld  ;  but  it  was  universally  ad 
mitted  that  an  opening,  either  by  strait  or  sea,  into  the 
desired  Indian  haven  would  reveal  itself  at  last. 

The  instruments  of  navigation  too  were  but  rude  and  de 
fective  compared  to  the  beautiful  machinery  with  which 
modern  art  and  science  now  assist  their  votaries  along  the 
dangerous  path  of  discovery.  The  small  yet  unwieldy,  awk 
ward,  and,  to  the  modern  mind,  most  grotesque  vessels  in 
which  such  audacious  deeds  were  performed  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries  awaken  perpetual  astonishment. 
A  ship  of  a  hundred  tons  burden,  built  up  like  a  tower,  both 
at  stem  and  stern,  and  presenting  in  its  broad  bulbous  prow, 
its  width  of  beam  in  proportion  to  its  length,  its  depression 
amidships,  and  in  other  sins  against  symmetry,  as  much  op 
position  to  progress  over  the  waves  as  could  well  be  imagined, 
was  the  vehicle  in  which  those  indomitable  Dutchmen  cir 
cumnavigated  the  globe  and  confronted  the  arctic  terrors 
of  either  pole.  An  astrolabe — such  as  Martin  Beheim  had 
invented  for  the  Portuguese,  a  clumsy  astronomical  ring  of 
three  feet  in  circumference — was  still  the  chief  machine  used 
for  ascertaining  the  latitude,  and  on  shipboard  a  most  de- 


1594  SCIENCE  OF  NAVIGATION.  555 

fective  one.  There  were  no  logarithms,  no  means  of  determin 
ing  at  sea  the  variations  of  the  magnetic  needle,  no  system  of 
dead  reckoning  by  throwing  the  log  and  chronicling  the 
courses  traversed.  The  firearms  with  which  the  sailors  were 
to  do  battle  with  the  unknown  enemies  that  might  beset 
their  path  were  rude  and  clumsy  to  handle.  The  art  of  com 
pressing  and  condensing  provisions  was  unknown.  They  had 
no  tea  nor  coffee  to  refresh  the  nervous  system  in  its  terrible 
trials  ;  but  there  was  one  deficiency  which  perhaps  supplied 
the  place  of  many  positive  luxuries.  Those  Hollanders  drank 
no  ardent  spirits.  They  had  beer  and  wine  in  reasonable 
quantities,  but  no  mention  is  ever  made  in  the  journals  of 
their  famous  voyages  of  any  more  potent  liquor  ;  and  to  this 
circumstance  doubtless  the  absence  of  mutinous  or  disorderly 
demonstrations,  under  the  most  trying  circumstances,  may  in 
a  great  degree  be  attributed. 

Thus,  these  navigators  were  but  slenderly  provided  with 
the  appliances  with  which  hazardous  voyages  have  been 
smoothed  by  modern  art ;  but  they  had  iron  hearts,  faith  in 
themselves,  in  their  commanders,  in  their  republic,  and  in  the 
Omnipotent ;  perfect  discipline  and  unbroken  cheerfulness 
amid  toil,  suffering,  and  danger.  No  chapter  of  history  utters 
a  more  beautiful  homily  on  devotion  to  duty  as  the  true 
guiding  principle  of  human  conduct  than  the  artless  narra 
tives  which  have  been  preserved  of  many  of  these  maritime 
enterprises.  It  is  for  these  noble  lessons  that  they  deserve  to 
be  kept  in  perpetual  memory. 

And  in  no  individual  of  that  day  were  those  excellent 
qualities  more  thoroughly  embodied  than  in  William  Ba- 
rendz,  pilot  and  burgher  of  Amsterdam.  It  was  partly 
under  his  charge  that  the  first  little  expedition  set  forth 
on  the  5th  of  June,  1594,  towards  those  unknown  arctic 
seas,  which  no  keel  from  Christendom  had  ever  ploughed,  and 
to  those  fabulous  regions  where  the  foot  of  civilized  men  had 
never  trod.  Maalzoon,  Plancius,  and  Balthaser  Moucheron, 
merchant  of  Middelburg,  were  the  chief  directors  of  the  enter 
prise  ;  but  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion  between  them. 


556  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVI. 

The  pensionary  was  firm  in  the  faith  that  the  true  path  to 
China  would  be  found  by  steering  through  the  passage  which 
was  known  to  exist  between  the  land  of  Nova  Zembla  and 
the  northern  coasts  of  Muscovy,  inhabited  by  the  savage 
tribes  called  Samoyedes.  It  was  believed  that,  after  passing 
those  straits,  the  shores  of  the  great  continent  would  be 
found  to  trend  in  a  south-easterly  direction,  and  that  along 
that  coast  it  would  accordingly  be  easy  to  make  the  desired 
voyage  to  the  eastern  ports  of  China.  Plancius,  on  the  con 
trary,  indicated  as  the  most  promising  passage  the  outside 
course,  between  the  northern  coast  of  Nova  Zembla  and  the 
pole.  Three  ships  and  a  fishing  yacht  were  provided  by 
the  cities  of  Enkhuizen,  Amsterdam,  and  by  the  province 
of  Zeeland  respectively.  Linschoten  was  principal  commis 
sioner  on  board  the  Enkhuizen  vessel,  having  with  him  an 
experienced  mariner,  Brandt  Ijsbrantz  by  name,  as  skipper. 
Barendz,  with  the  Amsterdam  ship  and  the  yacht,  soon 
parted  company  with  the  others,  and  steered,  according  to 
the  counsels  of  Plancius  and  his  own  convictions,  for  the  open 
seas  of  the  north.  And  in  that  memorable  summer,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  world's  history,  the  whole  desolate  region  of 
Nova  Zembla  was  visited,  investigated,  and  thoroughly 
mapped  out.  Barendz  sailed  as  far  as  latitude  77°,  and  to 
the  extreme  north-eastern  point  of  the  island.  In  a  tre 
mendous  storm  off  a  cape,  which  he  ironically  christened 
Consolation-hook  (Troost-hoek),  his  ship,  drifting  under  bare 
poles  amid  ice  and  mist  and  tempest,  was  nearly  dashed  to 
pieces  ;  but  he  reached  at  last  the  cluster  of  barren  islets 
beyond  the  utmost  verge  of  Nova  Zembla,  to  which  he 
hastened  to  affix  the  cherished  appellation  of  Orange.  This, 
however,  was  the  limit  of  his  voyage.  His  ship  was  ill-pro 
visioned,  and  the  weather  had  been  severe  beyond  expecta 
tion.  He  turned  back  on  the  1st  of  August,  resolving  to 
repeat  his  experiment  early  in  the  following  year. 

Meantime  Linschoten,  with  the  ships  Swan  and  Mercury, 
had  entered  the  passage  which  they  called  the  Straits  of 
Nassau,  but  which  are  now  known  to  all  the  world  as  the  Wai- 


1594.  THE  FIRST  ARCTIC  EXPEDITION.  557 

gats.  They  were  informed  by  the  Samoyedes  of  the  coast 
that,  after  penetrating  the  narrow  channel,  they  would  find 
themselves  in  a  broad  and  open  sea.  Subsequent  discoveries 
showed  the  correctness  of  the  statement,  but  it  was  not  per 
mitted  to  the  adventurers  on  this  occasion  to  proceed  so  far. 
The  strait  was  already  filled  with  ice-drift,  and  their  vessels 
were  brought  to  a  standstill,  after  about  a  hundred  and 
fifty  English  miles  of  progress  beyond  the  Waigats  ;  for  the 
whole  sea  of  Tartary,  converted  into  a  mass  of  ice-mountains 
and  islands,  and  lashed  into  violent  agitation  by  a  north 
easterly  storm,  seemed  driving  down  upon  the  doomed 
voyagers.  It  was  obvious  that  the  sunny  clime  of  Cathay 
was  not  thus  to  be  reached,  at  least  upon  that  occasion.  With 
difficulty  they  succeeded  in  extricating  themselves  from  the 
dangers  surrounding  them,  and  emerged  at  last  from  the 
Waigats. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  in  latitude  69°  15',  they  met  the 
ship  of  Barendz  and  returned  in  company  to  Holland,  reach 
ing  Amsterdam  on  the  16th  of  September.  Barendz  had 
found  the  seas  and  coasts  visited  by  him  destitute  of  human 
inhabitants,  but  swarming  with  polar  bears,  with  seals,  with  a 
terrible  kind  of  monsters,  then  seen  for  the  first  time,  as  large 
as  oxen,  with  almost  human  faces  and  with  two  long  tusks 
protruding  from  each  grim  and  grotesque  visage.  These 
mighty  beasts,  subsequently  known  as  walrusses  or  sea-horses, 
were  found  sometimes  in  swarms  of  two  hundred  at  a  time, 
basking  in  the  arctic  sun,  and  seemed  equally  at  home  on 
land,  in  the  sea,  and  on  icebergs.  When  aware  of  the  ap 
proach  of  their  human  visitors,  they  would  slide  off  an  ice- 
block  into  the  water,  holding  their  cubs  in  their  arms,  and 
ducking  up  and  down  in  the  sea  as  if  in  sport.  Then  tossing 
the  young  ones  away,  they  would  rush  upon  the  boats  and 
endeavour  to  sink  the  strangers,  whom  they  instinctively  re 
cognised  as  their  natural  enemies.  Many  were  the  severe 
combats  recorded  by  the  diarist  of  that  voyage  of  Barendz 
with  the  walrusses  and  the  bears. 

The  chief  result  of  this  first  expedition  was  the  geogra- 


55S  ME  tftflfED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXVI. 

phical  investigation  made,  and,  with  unquestionable  right, 
these  earliest  arctic  pilgrims  bestowed  the  names  of  their 
choice  upon  the  regions  first  visited  by  themselves.  Accord 
ing  to  the  unfailing  and  universal  impulse  on  such  occasions, 
the  names  dear  to  the  fatherland  were  naturally  selected. 
The  straits  were  called  Nassau,  the  island  at  its  mouth  be 
came  States  or  Staten  Island  ;  the  northern  coasts  of  Tartary 
received  the  familiar  appellations  of  New  Holland,  New 
Friesland,  New  Walcheren  ;  while  the  two  rivers,  beyond 
which  Linschoten  did  not  advance,  were  designated  Swan 
and  Mercury  respectively,  after  his  two  ships.  Barendz,  on 
his  part,  had  duly  baptized  every  creek,  bay,  islet,  and  head 
land  of  Nova  Zembla,  and  assuredly  Christian  mariner  had 
never  taken  the  latitude  of  77°  before.  Yet  the  antiquary, 
who  compares  the  maps  soon  afterwards  published  by  William 
Blaeuw  with  the  charts  now  in  familiar  use,  will  observe  with 
indignation  the  injustice  with  which  the  early  geographical 
records  have  been  defaced,  and  the  names  rightfully  be 
stowed  upon  those  terrible  deserts  by  their  earliest  dis 
coverers  rudely  torn  away.  The  islands  of  Orange  can  still 
be  recognized,  and  this  is  almost  the  only  vestige  left  of 
the  whole  nomenclature.  But  where  are  Cape  Nassau,  Wil 
liam's  Island,  Admiralty  Island,  Cape  Plancius,  Black-hook, 
Cross-hook,  Bear's-hook,  Ice-hook,  Consolation-hook,  Cape 
Desire,  the  Straits  of  Nassau,  Maurice  Island,  Staten  Island, 
Enkhuizen  Island,  and  many  other  similar  appellations  ? 

The  sanguine  Linschoten,  on  his  return,  gave  so  glowing  an 
account  of  the  expedition  that  Prince  Maurice  and  Olden- 
Barneveld,  and  prominent  members  of  the  States-General,  were 
infected  with  his  enthusiasm.  He  considered  the  north-east 
passage  to  China  discovered  and  the  problem  solved.  It 
would  only  be  necessary  to  fit  out  another  expedition  on  a 
larger  scale  the  next  year,  provide  it  with  a  cargo  of  mer 
chandize  suitable  for  the  China  market,  and  initiate  the 
direct  polar-oriental  trade  without  further  delay.  It  seems 
amazing  that  so  incomplete  an  attempt  to  overcome  such 
formidable  obstacles  should  have  been  considered  a  decided 


1595.  PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  SECOND  VOYAGE.  559 

success.  Yet  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  genuineness  of  the 
conviction  by  which  Linschoten  was  actuated.  The  calmer 
Barendz,  and  his  friend  and  comrade  Gerrit  de  Veer,  were 
of  opinion  that  the  philosopher  had  made  "  rather  a  free  re 
presentation"  of  the  enterprise  of  1594  and  of  the  prospects 
for  the  future. 

Nevertheless,  the  general  Government,  acting  on  Lin- 
schoten's  suggestion,  furnished  a  fleet  of  seven  ships :  two 
from  Enkhuizen,  two  from  Zeeland,  two  from  Amsterdam, 
and  a  yacht  which  was  to  be  despatched  homeward  with  the 
news',  so  soon  as  the  expedition  should  have  passed  through 
the  straits  of  Nassau,  forced  its  way  through  the  frozen  gu^f 
of  Tartary,  doubled  Cape  Tabin,  and  turned  southward  on 
its  direct  course  to  China.  The  sublime  credulity  which 
accepted  Linscho ten's  hasty  solution  of  the  polar  enigma  as 
conclusive  was  fairly  matched  by  the  sedateness  with  which 
the  authorities  made  the  preparations  for  the  new  voyage. 
So  deliberately  were  the  broadcloths,  linens,  tapestries,  and 
other  assorted  articles  for  this  first  great  speculation  to 
Cathay,  via  the  North  Pole,  stowed  on  board  the  fleet,  that 
nearly  half  the  summer  had  passed  before  anchor  was  weighed 
in  the  Meuse.  The  pompous  expedition  was  thus  predestined 
to  an  almost  ridiculous  failure.  Yet  it  was  in  the  hands  of  great 
men,  both  on  shore  and  sea.  Maurice,  Barneveld,  and  Maal- 
zoon  had  personally  interested  themselves  in  the  details  of  its 
outfitting,  Linschoten  sailed  as  chief  commissioner,  the  calm 
and  intrepid  Barendz  was  upper  pilot  of  the  whole  fleet,  and 
a  man  who  was  afterwards  destined  to  achieve  an  immortal 
name  in  the  naval  history  of  his  country,  Jacob  Heemskerk, 
was  supercargo  of  the  Amsterdam  ship.  In  obedience  to  the 
plans  of  Linschoten  and  of  Maalzoon,  the  passage  by  way  of 
the  Waigats  was  of  course  attempted.  A  landing  was  effected 
on  the  coast  of  Tartary.  Whatever  geographical  information 
could  be  obtained  from  such  a  source  was  imparted  by  the 
wandering  Samoyedes.  On  the  2nd  of  September  a  party 
went  ashore  on  Staten  Island  and  occupied  themselves  in 
gathering  some  glistening  pebbles  which  the  journalist  of  the 

VOL.  II— 19 


560  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVI. 

expedition  describes  with  much  gravity  as  a  "  kind  of  dia 
monds,  very  plentiful  upon  the  island."  While  two  of  the 
men  were  thus  especially  engaged  in  a  deep  hollow,  one  of 
them  found  himself  suddenly  twitched  from  behind.  "  Whaf 
are  you  pulling  at  me  for,  mate  ?"  he  said  impatiently  to  hia 
comrade  as  he  supposed.  But  his  companion  was  a  large, 
long,  lean  white  bear,  and  in  another  instant  the  head  of 
the  unfortunate  diamond-gatherer  was  off  and  the  bear  was 
sucking  his  blood.  The  other  man  escaped  to  his  friends, 
and  together  a  party  of  twenty  charged  upon  the  beast. 
Another  of  the  combatants  was  killed  and  half  devoured  by 
the  hungry  monster  before  a  fortunate  bullet  struck  him  in 
the  head.  But  even  then  the  bear  maintained  his  grip  upon 
his  two  victims,  and  it  was  not  until  his  brains  were  fairly 
beaten  out  with  the  butt  end  of  a  snaphance  by  the  boldest  of 
the  party  that  they  were  enabled  to  secure  the  bodies  of  their 
comrades  and  give  them  a  hurried  kind  of  Christian  burial. 
They  flayed  the  bear  and  took  away  his  hide  with  them,  and 
this,  together  with  an  ample  supply  of  the  diamonds  of  Staten 
Island,  was  the  only  merchandize  obtained  upon  the  voyage 
for  which  such  magnificent  preparations  had  been  made.  For, 
by  the  middle  of  September,  it  had  become  obviously  hope 
less  to  attempt  the  passage  of  the  frozen  sea  that  season,  and 
the  expedition  returned,  having  accomplished  nothing.  It 
reached  Amsterdam  upon  the  18th  of  November,  1595. 

The  authorities,  intensely  disappointed  at  this  almost 
ridiculous  result,  refused  to  furnish  direct  assistance  to 
any  farther  attempts  at  arctic  explorations.  The  States- 
General  however  offered  a  reward  of  twenty-five  thousand 
florins  to  any  navigators  who  might  succeed  in  discovering  the 
northern  passage,  with  a  proportionate  sum  to  those  whose 
efforts  in  that  direction  might  be  deemed  commendable,  even 
if  not  crowned  with  success. 

Stimulated  by  the  spirit  of  adventure  and  the  love  of 
science  far  more  than  by  the  hope  of  gaining  a  pecuniary 
prize,  the  undaunted  Barendz,  who  was  firm  in  the  faith  that 
a  pathway  existed  by  the  north,  of  Nova  Zembla  and  across 


1596.  VOYAGE  OF  BARENDZ  AND  VAN  DER  RYP.  561 

the  pole  to  farthest  Ind,  determined  to  renew  the  attempt 
the  following  summer.      The   city  of  Amsterdam    accord 
ingly,  early  in  the  year  1596,  fitted  out  two  ships. 
Select  crews  of  entirely  unmarried  men  volunteered 
for  the  enterprise.   John  Cornelisz  van  der  Ryp,  an  experienced 
Bea-captain,  was  placed  in  charge  of  one  of  the  vessels,  Wil 
liam  Barendz  was  upper  pilot  of  the  other,  and  Heemskerk, 
"  the  man  who  ever  steered  his  way  through  ice  or  iron," 1 
was  skipper  and  supercargo. 

The  ships  sailed  from  the  Ylie  on  the  18th  May.  The 
opinions  of  Peter  Plancius  prevailed  in  this  expedition  at 
last ;  the  main  object  of  both  Kyp  and  Barendz  being  to 
avoid  the  fatal,  narrow,  ice-clogged  Waigats.  Although 
identical  in  this  determination,  their  views  as  to  the  confi 
guration  of  the  land  and  sea,  and  as  to  the  proper  course  to 
be  steered,  were  conflicting.  They  however  sailed  in  company 
mainly  in  a  N.E.  by  N.  direction,  although  Barendz  would 
have  steered  much  more  to  the  east. 

On  the  5th  June  the  watch  on  deck  saw,  as  they  supposed, 
immense  flocks  of  white  swans  swimming  towards  the  ships, 
and  covering  the  sea  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  All  hands 
came  up  to  look  at  the  amazing  spectacle,  but  the  more  ex 
perienced  soon  perceived  that  the  myriads  of  swans  were 
simply  infinite  fields  of  ice,  through  which  however  they 
were  able  to  steer  their  course  without  much  impediment, 
getting  into  clear  sea  beyond  about  midnight,  at  which  hour 
the  sun  was  one  degree  above  the  horizon. 

Proceeding  northwards  two  days  more  they  were  again 
surrounded  by  ice,  and,  finding  the  "water  green  as  grass,' 
they  believed  themselves  to  be  near  Greenland."  On  the  9th 
June  they  discovered  an  island  in  latitude,  according  to  their 
observation,  74°  30',  which  seemed  about  five  miles  long.  In 
this  neighbourhood  they  remained  four  days,  having  on  one 
occasion  a  "great  fight  which  lasted  four  glasses"  with  a  polar 
bear,  and  making  a  desperate  attempt  to  capture  him  in 
order  to  bring  him  as  a  show  to  Holland.  The  effort  not 

1  Inscription  on  his  tombstone, 

VOL.  in.— 2  0 


562  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAF    XXXVi 

being  successful,  they  were  obliged  to  take  his  life  to  save 
their  own  ;  but  in  what  manner  they  intended,  had  they 
secured  him  alive,  to  provide  for  such  a  passenger  in  the  long 
voyage  across  the  North  Pole  to  China,  and  thence  back  to 
Amsterdam,  did  not  appear.  The  attempt  illustrated  the 
calmness,  however,  of  those  hardy  navigators.  They  left 
the  island  on  the  13th  June,  having  baptised  it  Bear  Island 
in  memory  of  their  vanquished  foe,  a  name  which  was  subse 
quently  exchanged  for  the  insipid  appellation  of  Cherry 
Island,  in  honour  of  a  comfortable  London  merchant  who 
.  seven  years  afterwards  sent  a  ship  to  those  arctic  regions. 

Six  days  later  they  saw  land  again,  took  the  sun,  and 
21  June,  found  their  latitude  80°  11'.  Certainly  no  men  had 
1596.  ever  been  within  less  than  ten  degrees  of  the  pole 
before.  On  the  longest  day  of  the  year  they  landed  on  this 
newly  discovered  country,  which  they  at  first  fancied  to  be 
a  part  of  Greenland.  They  found  its  surface  covered  with 
eternal  snow,  broken  into  mighty  glaciers,  jagged  with  preci 
pitous  ice-peaks  ;  and  to  this  land  of  almost  perpetual  winter, 
where  the  mercury  freezes  during  ten  months  in  the  year, 
and  where  the  sun  remains  four  months  beneath  the  horizon, 
they  subsequently  gave  the  appropriate  and  vernacular  name 
of  Spitzbergen.  Combats  with  the  sole  denizens  of  these 
hideous  abodes,  the  polar  bears,  on  the  floating  ice,  on  the 
water,  or  on  land,  were  constantly  occurring,  and  were 
the  only  events  to  disturb  the  monotony  of  that  perpetual 
icy  sunshine,  where  no  night  came  to  relieve  the  almost  mad 
dening  glare.  They  rowed  up  a  wide  inlet  on  the  western 
coast,  and  came  upon  great  numbers  of  wild-geese  sitting  on 
their  eggs.  They  proved  to  be  the  same  geese  that  were  in 
the  habit  of  visiting  Holland  in  vast  flocks  every  summer, 
and  it  had  never  before  been  discovered  where  they  laid  and 
hatched  their  eggs.  "  Therefore,"  says  the  diarist  of  the  ex 
pedition,  "  some  voyagers  have  not  scrupled  to  state  that  the 
eggs  grow  on  trees  in  Scotland,  and  that  such  of  the  fruits  of 
those  trees  as  fall  into  the  water  become  goslings,  while  those 
which  drop  on  the  ground  burst  in  pieces  and  come  to  nothing. 


1596.  THE  VOYAGERS  TAKE  DIFFERENT  ROUTES.  563 

We  now  see  that  quite  the  contrary  is  the  case/'  continues 
De  Veer,  with  perfect  seriousness,  "  nor  is  it  to  be  wondered 
at,  for  nobody  has  ever  been  until  now  where  those  birds  lay 
their  eggs.  No  man,  so  far  as  known,  ever  reached  the  lati 
tude  of  eighty  degrees  before.  This  land  was  hitherto  un 
known." 

The  scientific  results  of  this  ever-memorable  voyage  might 
be  deemed  sufficiently  meagre  were  the  fact  that  the  eggs  of 
wild  geese  did  not  grow  on  trees  its  only  recorded  discovery. 
But  the  investigations  made  into  the  dread  mysteries  of  the 
north,  and  the  actual  problems  solved,  were  many,  while 
the  simplicity  of  the  narrator  marks  the  infantine  character 
of  the  epoch  in  regard  to  natural  history.  When  so  illustrious 
a  mind  as  Grotius  was  inclined  to  believe  in  a  race  of  arctic 
men  whose  heads  grew  beneath  their  shoulders,  the  ingenuous 
mariner  of  Amsterdam  may  be  forgiven  for  his  earnestness  in 
combating  the  popular  theory  concerning  goslings. 

On  the  23rd  June  they  went  ashore  again,  and  occupied 
themselves,  as  well  as  the  constant  attacks  of  the  bears  would 
permit,  in  observing  the  variation  of  the  needle,  which  they 
ascertained  to  be  sixteen  degrees.  On  the  same  day,  the  ice 
closing  around  in  almost  infinite  masses,  they  made  haste  to 
extricate  themselves  from  the  land  and  bore  southwards  again, 
making  Bear  Island  once  more  on  the  1st  July.  Here  Corne 
lius  Kyp  parted  company  with  Heemskerk  and  Barendz, 
having  announced  his  intention  to  sail  northward  again  beyond 
latitude  80°  in  search  of  the  coveted  passage.  Barendz,  re 
taining  his  opinion  that  the  true  inlet  to  the  circumpolar  sea, 
if  it  existed,  would  be  found  N.E.  of  Nova  Zembla,  steered  in 
that  direction.  On  the  13th  July  they  found  themselves  by 
observation  in  latitude  73°,  and  considered  themselves  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby's  land.  Four  days 
later  they  were  in  Lomms'  Bay,  a  harbour  of  Nova  Zembla,  so 
called  by  them  from  the  multitude  of  lomms  frequenting  it, 
a  bird  to  which  they  gave  the  whimsical  name  of  arctic  parrots. 
On  the  20th  July  the  ice  obstructed  their  voyage,  covering 
the  sea  in  all  directions  with  floating  mountains  and  valleys, 


564  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVI 

so  that  they  came  to  an  anchor  off  an  islet  where  on  a  former 
voyage  the  Hollanders  had  erected  the  precious  emblem  of 
Christian  faith,  and  baptised  the  dreary  solitude  Cross  Island. 
But  these  pilgrims,  as  they  now  approached  the  spot,  found  no 
worshippers  there,  while,  as  if  in  horrible  mockery  of  their 
piety,  two  enormous  white  bears  had  reared  themselves  in  an 
erect  posture,  in  order  the  better  to  survey  their  visitors, 
directly  at  the  foot  of  the  cross.  The  party  which  had  just 
landed  were  unarmed,  and  were  for  making  off  as  fast  as 
possible  to  their  boats.  But  Skipper  Heemskerk,  feeling  that 
this  would  be  death  to  all  of  them,  said  simply,  "  The  first 
man  that  runs  shall  have  this  boat-hook  of  mine  in  his  hide. 
Let  us  remain  together  and  face  them  off."  It  was  done. 
The  party  moved  slowly  towards  their  boats,  Heemskerk 
bringing  up  the  rear,  and  fairly  staring  the  polar  monsters 
out  of  countenance,  who  remained  grimly  regarding  them, 
and  ramping  about  the  cross. 

The  sailors  got  into  their  boat  with  much  deliberation,  and 
escaped  to  the  ship,  "  glad  enough/'  said  De  Veer,  "  that  they 
were  alive  to  tell  the  story,  and  that  they  had  got  out  of  the 
cat-dance  so  fortunately/' 

Next   day  they  took   the   sun,  and  found   their  latitude 

76°  15'   and  the  variation  of  the  needle  twenty- six 
21  July. 

degrees. 

For  seventeen  days  more  they  were  tossing  about  in  mist 
and  raging  snow-storms,  and  amidst  tremendous  icebergs, 
some  of  them  rising  in  steeples  and  pinnacles  to  a  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea,  some  grounded  and  stationary,  others 
drifting  fearfully  around  in  all  directions,  threatening  to 
crush  them  at  any  moment,  or  to  close  in  about  them  and 
imprison  them  for  ever.  They  made  fast  by  their  bower 
anchor  on  the  evening  of  7th  August  to  a  vast  ice 
berg  which  was  aground,  but  just  as  they  had  eaten 
their  supper  there  was  a  horrible  groaning,  bursting,  and 
shrieking  all  around  them,  an  indefinite  succession  of  awful 
sounds  which  made  their  hair  stand  on  end,  and  then  the 
iceberg  split  beneath  the  water  into  more  than  four  hundred 


1590.  AMONG   THE  ICEBERGS.  565 

pieces  with  a  crash  "  such  as  no  words  could  describe."  They 
escaped  any  serious  damage,  and  made  their  way  to  a  vast 
steepled  and  towered  block  like  a  floating  cathedral,  where 
they  again  came  to  anchor. 

On  the  15th  August  they  reached  the  isles  of  Orange,  on 
the  extreme  north-eastern  verge  of  Nova  Zembla.  Here  a 
party  going  ashore  climbed  to  the  top  of  a  rising  ground,  and 
to  their  infinite  delight  beheld  an  open  sea  entirely  free 
from  ice,  stretching  to  the  S.  E.  and  E.S.E.  as  far  as  eye  could 
reach.  At  last  the  game  was  won,  the  passage  to  Cathay 
was  discovered.  Full  of  joy,  they  pulled  back  in  their  boat  to 
the  ship,  "  not  knowing  how  to  get  there  quick  enough  to  tell 
William  Barendz."  Alas  !  they  were  not  aware  of  the  action 
of  that  mighty  ocean  river,  the  Gulf-stream,  which  was 
sweeping  around  those  regions  with  its  warm  dissolving 
current. 

Three  days  later  they  returned  baffled   in  their  sanguine 
efforts  to  sail  through  the  open  sea.     The  ice  had 
returned  upon  them,  setting  southwardly  in  obedience 
to  the  same  impulse  which  for  a  moment  had  driven  it  away,  and 
they  found  themselves  imprisoned  again  near  the  "  Hook  of 
Desire/' 

On  the  25th  August  they  had  given  up  all  the  high  hopes 
by  which  they  had  been  so  lately  inspired,  and,  as 
the  stream  was  again  driving  the  ice  from  the  land, 
they  trusted  to  sail  southward  and  westward  back  towards 
the  Waigats.  Having  passed  by  Nova  Zembla,  and  found  no 
opening  into  the  seas  beyond,  they  were  disposed  in  the 
rapidly  waning  summer  to  effect  their  retreat  by  the  south 
side  of  the  island,  and  so  through  the  Straits  of  Nassau  home. 
In  vain.  The  catastrophe  was  upon  them.  As  they  struggled 
slowly  past  the  "  Ice-haven,"  the  floating  mountains  and 
glaciers,  impelled  by  the  mighty  current,  once  more  gathered 
around  and  forced  them  back  to  that  horrible  harbour. 
During  the  remaining  days  of  August  the  ship  struggled, 
almost  like  a  living  creature,  with  the  perils  that  beset  her ; 
now  rearing  in  the  air,  her  bows  propped  upon  mighty  blocks, 


566  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXVI. 

till  she  absolutely  sat  erect  upon  her  stern,  now  lying 
prostrate  on  her  side,  and  anon  righting  again  as  the  ice- 
masses  would  for  a  moment  float  away  and  leave  her  breath 
ing  space  and  room  to  move  in.  A  blinding  snow-storm 
was  raging  the  while,  the  ice  was  cracking  and  groaning 
in  all  directions,  and  the  ship  was  shrieking,  so  that  the 
medley  of  awful  sights  and  sounds  was  beyond  the  power  of 
language.  "  'Twas  enough  to  make  the  hair  stand  on  end," 
said  Gerrit  de  Veer,  "  to  witness  the  hideous  spectacle/' 
But  the  agony  was  soon  over.  By  the  1st  September  the 
1  sept.  ship  was  hard  and  fast.  The  ice  was  as  immove- 
1596>  able  as  the  dry  land,  and  she  would  not  move  again 
that  year  even  if  she  ever  floated.  Those  pilgrims  from  the 
little  republic  were  to  spend  the  winter  in  their  arctic  harbour. 
Kesigning  themselves  without  a  murmur  to  their  inevitable 
fate,  they  set  about  their  arrangements  with  perfect  good 
humour  and  discipline.  Most  fortunately  a  great  quantity  of 
drift  wood,  masses  of  timber,  and  great  trees  torn  away  with 
their  roots  from  distant  shores,  lay  strewn  along  the  coast, 
swept  thither  by  the  wandering  currents.  At  once  they 
resolved  to  build  a  house  in  which  they  might  shelter  them 
selves  from  the  wild  beasts,  and  from  their  still  more  cruel 
enemy,  the  cold.  So  thanking  God  for  the  providential  and 
unexpected  supply  of  building  material  and  fuel,  they  lost  no 
time  in  making  sheds,  in  hauling  timber,  and  in  dragging 
supplies  from  the  ship  before  the  dayless  winter  should 
descend  upon  them. 

Six  weeks  of  steady  cheerful  labour  succeeded.  Tremen- 
1  Sept.  to  dous  snow-storms,  accompanied  by  hurricanes  of 
12  Oct.  wind?  often  filled  the  atmosphere  to  suffocation,  so 
that  no  human  being  could  move  a  ship's  length  without 
perishing  ;  while,  did  any  of  their  number  venture  forth,  as 
the  tempest  subsided,  it  was  often  to  find  himself  almost 
in  the  arms  of  a  polar  bear  before  the  dangerous  snow-white 
form  could  be  distinguished  moving  sluggishly  through  the 
white  chaos. 

For  those  hungry  companions  never  left  them  so  long  as 


1596.  LTFE  AT  NOVA  ZEMBLA.  .    557 

the  sun  remained  above  the  horizon,  swarming  like  insects 
and  birds  in  tropical  lands.  When  the  sailors  put  their 
meat-tubs  for  a  moment  out  upon  the  ice  a  bear's  intrusive 
muzzle  would  forthwith  be  inserted  to  inspect  the  contents. 
Maddened  by  hunger,  and  their  keen  scent  excited  by  the 
salted  provisions,  and  by  the  living  flesh  and  blood  of  these 
intruders  upon  their  ancient  solitary  domains,  they  would 
often  attempt  to  effect  their  entrance  into  the  ship. 

On  one  such  occasion,  when  Heemskerk  and  two  companions 
were  the  whole  garrison,  the  rest  being  at  a  distance  sledding 
wood,  the  future  hero  of  Gibraltar  was  near  furnishing  a  meal 
to  his  Nova  Zembla  enemies.  It  was  only  by  tossing  sticks 
and  stones  and  marling-spikes  across  the  ice,  which  the  bears 
would  instantly  turn  and  pursue,  like  dogs  at  play  with  chil 
dren,  that  the  assault  could  be  diverted  until  a  fortunate  shot 
was  made. 

Several  were  thus  killed  in  the  course  of  the  winter,  and 
one  in  particular  was  disembowelled  and  set  frozen  upon 
his  legs  near  their  house,  where  he  remained  month  after 
month  with  a  mass  of  snow  and  ice  accumulated  upon  him, 
until  he  had  grown  into  a  fantastic  and  gigantic  apparition, 
still  wearing  the  semblance  of  their  mortal  foe. 

By  the  beginning  of  October  the  weather  became  so 
intensely  cold  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  work.  The 
carpenter  died  before  the  house  was  half  completed.  To  dig 
a  grave  was  impossible,  but  they  laid  him  in  a  cleft  of  the  ice, 
and  he  was  soon  covered  with  the  snow  Meantime  the 
sixteen  that  were  left  went  on  as  they  best  might  with  their 
task,  and  on  October  2nd  they  had  a  house- raising.  The 
frame-work  was  set  up,  and  in  order  to  comply  with 
the  national  usage  in  such  cases,  they  planted,  instead  of  the 
May-pole  with  its  fluttering  streamers,  a  gigantic  icicle  before 
their  new  residence.  Ten  days  later  they  moved  into  the 

house  and  slept  there  for  the  first  time,  while  a  bear, 

12  Oct 
profiting  by  their  absence,  passed  the  night  in  the 

deserted  ship. 

On  the  4th  November  the  sun  rose  no  more,  but  the  moon 


568  •  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXVt 

at  first  shone  day  and  night,  until  they  were  once  in  great 
perplexity  to  know  whether  it  were  midday  or  midnight.  It 
proved  to  be  exactly  noon.  The  bears  disappeared  with  the 
sun,  but  white  foxes  swarmed  in  their  stead,  and  all  day  and 
night  were  heard  scrambling  over  their  roof.  These  were 
caught  daily  in  traps  and  furnished  them  food,  besides  furs 
for  raiment.  The  cold  became  appalling,  and  they  looked  in 
each  other's  faces  sometimes  in  speechless  amazement.  It  was 
obvious  that  the  extreme  limit  of  human  endurance  had  been 
reached.  Their  clothes  were  frozen  stiff.  Their  shoes  were 
like  iron,  so  that  they  were  obliged  to  array  themselves  from 
head  to  foot  in  the  skins  of  the  wild  foxes.  The  clocks 
stopped.  The  beer  became  sojid.  The  Spanish  wine  froze 
and  had  to  be  melted  in  saucepans.  The  smoke  in  the  house 
blinded  them.  Fire  did  not  warm  them,  and  their  garments 
were  often  in  a  blaze  while  their  bodies  were  half  frozen. 
All  through  the  month  of  December  an  almost  perpetual 
snow-deluge  fell  from  the  clouds.  For  days  together  they 
were  unable  to  emerge,  and  it  was  then  only  by  most  vigorous 
labour  that  they  could  succeed  in  digging  a  passage  out  of 
their  buried  house.  On  the  night  of  the  7th  December 
sudden  death  had  nearly  put  an  end  to  the  sufferings  of  the 
whole  party.  Having  brought  a  quantity  of  seacoal  from 
the  ship,  they  had  made  a  great  fire,  and  after  the  smoke  was 
exhausted,  they  had  stopped  up  the  chimney  and  every 
crevice  of  the  house.  Each  man  then  turned  into  his  bunk 
for  the  night,  "  all  rejoicing  much  in  the  warmth  and  prat 
tling  a  long  time  with  each  other."  At  last  an  unaccustomed 
giddiness  and  faintness  came  over  them,  of  which  they  could 
not  guess  the  cause,  but  fortunately  one  of  the  party  had  the 
instinct,  before  he  lost  consciousness,  to  open  the  chimney, 
while  another  forced  open  the  door  and  fell  in  a  swoon  upon 
the  snow.  Their  dread  enemy  thus  came  to  their  relief,  and 
saved  their  lives. 

As  the  year  drew  to  a  close,  the  frost  and  the  perpetual 
snow-tempest  became,  if  that  were  possible,  still  more  fright 
ful.  Their  Christmas  was  not  a  inerry  one,  and  for  the  first 


1597.        TWELFTH-NIGHT  IN  THE  NORTHERN  REGIONS,        569 

few  days  of  the  new  year,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  move 
from  the  house.  On  the  25th  January,  the  snow-storms 
having  somewhat  abated,  they  once  more  dug  themselves  as 
it  were  out  of  their  living  grave,  and  spent  the  whole  day  in 
hauling  wood  from  the  shore.  As  their  hour-glasses  informed 
them  that  night  was  approaching,  they  bethought  themselves 
that  it  was  Twelfth  Night,  or  Three  Kings'  Eve.  So  they  all 
respectfully  proposed  to  Skipper  Heemskerk,  that,  in  the 
midst  of  their  sorrow  they  might  for  once  have  a  little 
diversion.  A  twelfth-night  feast  was  forthwith  ordained.  A 
scanty  portion  of  the  wine  yet  remaining  to  them  was  pro 
duced.  Two  pounds  weight  of  flour,  which  they  had  brought 
to  make  paste  with  for  cartridges,  was  baked  into  pancakes 
with  a  little  oil,  and  a  single  hard  biscuit  was  served  out  to 
each  man  to  be  sopped  in  his  meagre  allowance  of  wine. 
"  We  were  as  happy/7  said  Gerrit  de  Veer,  with  simple 
pathos,  "as  if  we  were  having  a  splendid  banquet  at  home. 
We  imagined  ourselves  in  the  fatherland  with  all  our  friends, 
so  much  did  we  enjoy  our  repast/' 

That  nothing  might  be  omitted,  lots  were  drawn  for  king, 
and  the  choice  fell  on  the  gunner,  who  was  forthwith  pro 
claimed  monarch  of  Nova  Zembla.  Certainly  no  men  could 
have  exhibited  more  undaunted  cheerfulness  amid  bears  and 
foxes,  icebergs  and  cold — such  as  Christians  had  never  con 
ceived  of  before — than  did  these  early  arctic  pilgrims.  Nor 
did  Barendz  neglect  any  opportunity  of  studying  the  heavens. 
A  meridian  was  drawn  near  the  house,  on  which  the  compass 
was  placed,  and  observations  of  various  stars  were  constantly 
made,  despite  the  cold,  with  extraordinary  minuteness.  The 
latitude,  from  concurrent  measurement  of  the  Giant,  the  Bull, 
Orion,  Aldebaran,  and  other  constellations — in  the  absence 
of  the  sun — was  ascertained  to  be  a  little  above  seventy-six 
degrees,  and  the  variations  of  the  needle  were  accurately 
noted. 

On  the  24th  January  it  was  clear  weather  and  compara 
tively  mild,  so  that  Heemskerk,  with  De  Veer  and  another, 
walked  to  the  strand.  To  their  infinite  delight  and  surprise 


570  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXVI 

they  again  saw  the  disk  of  the  sun  on  the  edge  of  the  horizon, 
and  they  all  hastened  back  with  the  glad  tidings.  But 
Barendz  shook  his  head.  Many  days  must  elapse,  he  said, 
before  the  declination  of  the  sun  should  be  once  more  14°, 
at  which  point  in  the  latitude  of  76°  they  had  lost  sight 
of  the  luminary  on  the  4th  November,  and  at  which  only 
it  could  again  be  visible.  This,  according  to  his  calcula 
tions,  would  be  on  the  10th  February.  Two  days  of  mirky 
and  stormy  atmosphere  succeeded,  and  those  who  had 
wagered  in  support  of  the  opinion  of  Barendz  were  in 
clined  to  triumph  over  those  who  believed  in  the  observa 
tion  of  Heemskerk.  On  the  27th  January  there  was, 
however,  no  mistake.  The  sky  was  bright,  and  the  whole 
disk  of  the  sun  was  most  distinctly  seen  by  all,  although 
none  were  able  to  explain  the  phenomenon,  and  Barendz 
least  of  all.  They  had  kept  accurate  diaries  ever  since 
their  imprisonment,  and  although  the  clocks  sometimes  had 
stopped,  the  hour-glasses  had  regularly  noted  the  lapse  of 
time.  Moreover,  Barendz  knew  from  the  Ephemerides  for 
1589  to  1600,  published  by  Dr.  Joseph  Scala  in  Venice,  a 
copy  of  which  work  he  had  brought  with  him,  that  on  the 
24th  January,  1597,  the  moon  would  be  seen  at  one  o'clock 
A.M.  at  Venice,  in  conjunction  with  Jupiter.  He  accordingly 
took  as  good  an  observation  as  could  be  done  with  the  naked 
eye  and  found  that  conjunction  at  six  o'clock  A.M.  of  the 
same  day,  the  two  bodies  appearing  in  the  same  vertical  line 
in  the  sign  of  Taurus.  The  date  was  thus  satisfactorily 
established,  and  a  calculation  of  the  longitude  of  the  house 
was  deduced  with  an  accuracy  which  in  those  circumstances 
was  certainly  commendable.  .Nevertheless,  as  the  facts  and 
the  theory  of  refraction  were  not  thoroughly  understood,  nor 
Tycho  Brahe's  tables  of  refraction  generally  known,  pilot 
Barendz  could  not  be  expected  to  be  wiser  than  his  gene 
ration. 

The  startling  discovery  that  in  the  latitude  of  76°  the  sun 
re-appeared  on  the  24th  January,  instead  of  the  10th  February, 
was  destined  to  awaken  commotion  throughout  the  whole 


1597.  SOLAR  PHENOMENON.  571 

scientific  world,  and  has  perhaps  hardly  yet  been  completely 
explained. 

But  the  daylight  brought  no  mitigation  of  their  sufferings. 
The  merciless  cold  continued  without  abatement,  and  the 
sun  seemed  to  mock  their  misery.  The  foxes  disappeared, 
and  the  ice-bears  in  their  stead  swarmed  around  the  house, 
and  clambered  at  night  over  the  roof.  Again  they  constantly 
fought  with  them  for  their  lives.  Daily  the  grave  question 
was  renewed  whether  the  men  should  feed  on  the  bears  or 
the  bears  on  the  men.  On  one  occasion  their  dead  enemy 
proved  more  dangerous  to  them  than  in  life,  for  three  of  their 
number,  who  had  fed  on  bear's  liver,  were  nearly  poisoned  to 
death.  Had  they  perished,  none  of  the  whole  party  would 
have  ever  left  Nova  Zembla.  "  It  seemed,"  said  the  diarist, 
"  that  the  beasts  had  smelt  out  that  we  meant  to  go  away, 
and  had  just  begun  to  have  a  taste  for  us." 

And  thus  the  days  wore  on.  The  hour-glass  and  the 
almanac  told  them  that  winter  had  given  place  to  spring,  but 
nature  still  lay  in  cold  obstruction.  One  of  their  number, 
who  had  long  been  ill,  died.  They  hollowed  a  grave  for  him 
in  the  frozen  snow,  performing  a  rude  burial  service,  and 
singing  a  psalm ;  but  the  cold  had  nearly  made  them  all 
corpses  before  the  ceremony  was  done. 

At  last,  on  the  17th  April,  some  of  them  climbing  over  the 
icebergs  to  the  shore  found  much  open  sea.  They  also  saw 
a  small  bird  diving  in  the  water,  and  looked  upon  it  as  a 
halcyon  and  harbinger  of  better  fortunes.  The  open  weather 
continuing,  they  began  to  hanker  for  the  fatherland.  So  they 
brought  the  matter,  "not  mutinously  but  modestly  and  reason 
ably,  before  William  Barendz,  that  he  might  suggest  it  to 
Heemskerk,  for  they  were  all  willing  to  submit  to  his  better 
judgment."  It  was  determined  to  wait  through  the  month  of 
May.  Should  they  then  be  obliged  to  abandon  the  ship  they 
were  to  make  the  voyage  in  the  two  open  boats,  which  had 
been  carefully  stowed  away  beneath  the  snow.  It  was  soon 
obvious  that  the  ship  was  hard  and  fast,  and  that  she  would 
never  float  again,  except  perhaps  as  a  portion  of  the  icebergs 


572  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXVI. 

in  which  she  had  so  long  been  imbedded,  when  they  should 
be  swept  off  from  the  shore. 

As  they  now  set  to  work  repairing  and  making  ready  the 
frail  skiffs  which  were  now  their  only  hope,  and  supplying 
them  with  provisions  and  even  with  merchandize  from  the 
ship,  the  ravages  made  by  the  terrible  winter  upon  the  strength 
of  the  men  became  painfully  apparent.  But  Heemskerk  en 
couraged  them  to  persevere  ;  "  for/7  said  he,  "  if  the  boats  are 
not  got  soon  under  way  we  must  be  content  to  make  our 
graves  here  as  burghers  of  Nova  Zembla." 

On  the  14th  June  they  launched  the  boats,  and  "  trusting 
themselves  to  God,"  embarked  once  more  upon  the  arctic 
sea.  Barendz,  who  was  too  ill  to  walk,  together  with  Claas 
Anderson,  also  sick  unto  death,  were  dragged  to  the  strand 
in  sleds,  and  tenderly  placed  on  board. 

Barendz  had,  however,  despite  his  illness,  drawn  up  a 
triple  record  of  their  voyage  ;  one  copy  being  fastened  to  the 
chimney  of  their  deserted  house,  and  one  being  placed  in  each 
of  the  boats.  Their  voyage  was  full  of  danger  as  they  slowly 
retraced  their  way  along  the  track  by  which  they  reached 
the  memorable  Ice  Haven,  once  more  doubling  the  Cape  of 
Desire  and  heading  for  the  Point  of  Consolation — landmarks 
on  their  desolate  progress,  whose  nomenclature  suggests  the 
immortal  apologue  so  familiar  to  Anglo-Saxon  ears. 

Off  the  Ice-hook,  both  boats  came  alongside  each  other, 
and  Skipper  Heemskerk  called  out  to  William 
Barendz  to  ask  how  it  was  with  him. 

"  All  right,  mate,"  replied  Barendz,  cheerfully  ;  "  I  hope  to 
be  on  my  legs  again  before  we  reach  the  Ward-huis."  Then 
he  begged  De  Veer  to  lift  him  up,  that  he  might  look  upon 
the  Ice-hook  once  more.  The  icebergs  crowded  around 
them,  drifting  this  way  and  that,  impelled  by  mighty  currents 
and  tossing  on  an  agitated  sea.  There  was  "a  hideous 
groaning  and  bursting  and  driving  of  the  ice,  and  it  seemed 
every  moment  as  if  the  boats  were  to  be  dashed  into  a  hun 
dred  pieces."  It  was  plain  that  their  voyage  would  now  be 
finished  for  ever,  were  it  not  possible  for  some  one  of  their 


1597.  DEATH   OF   WILLIAM   BARENDZ.  573 

number  to  get  upon  the  solid  ice  beyond  and  make  fast  a  line. 
"  But  who  is  to  bell  the  cat  ?  "  said  Gerrit  de  Veer,  who  soon, 
however,  volunteered  himself,  being  the  lightest  of  all. 
Leaping  from  one  floating  block  to  another  at  the  imminent 
risk  of  being  swept  off  into  space,  he  at  last  reached  a  sta 
tionary  island,  and  fastened  his  rope.  Thus  they  warped 
themselves  once  more  into  the  open  sea. 

On  the  20th  June  William  Barendz  lay  in  the  boat  study 
ing  carefully  the  charts  which  they  had  made  of  the    30  June, 
land  and  ocean  discovered  in  their  voyage.     Tossing    1597- 
about  in  an  open  skiff  upon  a  polar  sea,  too  weak  to  sit  up 
right,  reduced  by  the  unexampled  sufferings  of  that  horrible 
winter  almost  to  a  shadow,  he  still  preserved  his  cheerful 
ness,  and  maintained   that  he  would  yet,  with  God's  help, 
perform  his  destined  task.     In  his  next  attempt  he  would 
steer  north-east  from  the  North  Cape,  he  said,  and  so  discover 
the  passage. 

While  he  was  "  thus  prattling,"  the  boatswain  of  the  other 
boat  came  on  board,  and  said  that  Claas  Anderson  would 
hold  out  but  little  longer. 

"  Then,"  said  William  Barendz,  "  methinks  I  too  shall  last 
but  a  little  while.  Gerrit,  give  me  to  drink."  When  he  had 
drunk,  he  turned  his  eyes  on  De  Veer  and  suddenly  breathed 
his  last. 

Great  was  the  dismay  of  his  companions,  for  they  had  been 
deceived  by  the  dauntless  energy  of  the  man,  thus  holding 
tenaciously  to  his  great  purpose,  unbaffled  by  danger  and 
disappointment,  even  to  the  last  instant  of  life.  He  was  their 
chief  pilot  and  guide,  "  in  whom  next  to  God  they  trusted." 

And  thus  the  hero,  who  for  vivid  intelligence,  courage,  and 
perseverance  amid  every  obstacle,  is  fit  to  be  classed  among 
the  noblest  of  maritime  adventurers,  had  ended  his  career. 
Nor  was  it  unmeet  that  the  man  who  had  led  those  three 
great  although  unsuccessful  enterprises  towards  the  North 
Pole,  should  be  laid  at  last  to  rest — like  the  soldier  dying  in 
a  lost  battle — upon  the  field  of  his  glorious  labours. 

Nearly  six  weeks  longer  they  struggled  amid  tempestuous 


574  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXVI 

seas.     Hugging  the  shore,  ever  in  danger  of  being  dashed  to 

atoms  by  the  ice,  pursued  by  their  never-failing  enemies  the 

bears,  and  often  sailing  through  enormous  herds  of 

walrusses,  which  at  times  gave  chase  to  the  boats, 

they  at  last  reached  the  Schanshoek  on  the  28th  July. 

Here  they  met  with  some  Russian  fishermen,  who  recog 
nised  Heemskerk  and  De  -Veer,  having  seen  them  on  their 
previous  voyage.  Most  refreshing  it  was  to  see  other  human 
faces  again,  after  thirteen  months'  separation  from  mankind, 
while  the  honest  Muscovites  expressed  compassion  for  the 
forlorn  and  emaciated  condition  of  their  former  acquaintance. 
Furnished  by  them  with  food  and  wine,  the  Hollanders  sailed 
in  company  with  the  Russians  as  far  as  the  Waigats. 

On  the  18th  August  they  made  Candenoes,  at  the  mouth  of 

the  White  Sea,  and  doubling  that  cape  stood  boldly  across 

the  gulf  for  Kildin.     Landing  on  the  coast  they  were  informed 

by  the  Laps  that  there  were  vessels  from  Holland  at  Kola. 

On  the  25th  August  one  of  the  party,  guided  by  a  Lap, 

set  forth  on  foot  for  that  place.     Four  days  later  the 

9^i   A  no* 

guide  was  seen  returning  without  their  comrade  ;  but 
their  natural  suspicion  was  at  once  disarmed  as  the  good- 
humoured  savage  straightway  produced  a  letter  which  he 
handed  to  Heemskerk. 

Breaking  the  seal,  the  skipper  found  that  his  correspondent 
expressed  great  surprise  at  the  arrival  of  the  voyagers,  as  he 
he  had  supposed  them  all  to  be  long  since  dead.  Therefore  he 
was  the  more  delighted  with  their  coming,  and  promised  to  be 
with  them  soon,  bringing  with  him  plenty  of  food  and  drink. 

The  letter  was  signed — 

"  By  me,  JAN  CORNELISZ  RYP." 

The  occurrence  was  certainly  dramatic,  but,  as  one  might 
think,  sufficiently  void  of  mystery.  Yet,  astonishing  to  relate, 
they  all  fell  to  pondering  who  this  John  Ryp  might  be  who 
seemed  so  friendly  and  sympathetic.  It  was  shrewdly  sug 
gested  by  some  that  it  might  perhaps  be  the  sea-captain  who 
had  parted  company  with  them  off  Bear  Island  fourteen 


1597.  RETURN  TO  FATHERLAND.  575 

months  before  in  order  to  sail  north  by  way  of  Spitzbergen. 
As  his  Christian  name  and  surname  were  signed  in  full  to  the 
letter,  the  conception  did  not  seem  entirely  unnatural,  yet  it 
was  rejected  on  the  ground  that  they  had  far  more  reasons 
to  believe  that  he  had  perished  than  he  for  accepting  their 
deaths  as  certain.  One  might  imagine  it  to  have  been  an 
every  day  occurrence  for  Hollanders  to  receive  letters  by  a 
Lapland  penny  postman  in  those  desolate  regions.  At  last 
Heemskerk  bethought  himself  that  among  his  papers  were 
several  letters  from  their  old  comrade,  and,  on  comparison, 
the  handwriting  was  found  the  same  as  that  of  the  epistle 
just  received.  This  deliberate  avoidance  of  any  hasty  jumping 
at  conclusions  certainly  inspires  confidence  in  the  general 
accuracy  of  the  adventurers,  and  we  have  the  better  right  to 
believe  that  on  the  24th  January  the  sun's  disk  was  really 
seen  by  them  in  the  ice  harbour — a  fact  long  disputed  by  the 
learned  world — when  the  careful  weighing  of  evidence  on  the 
less  important  matter  of  Ryp's  letter  is  taken  into  accoun  t. 

Meantime  while  they  were  slowly  admitting  the  identity  of 
their  friend  and  correspondent,  honest  John  Cornelius  Ryp 
himself  arrived — no  fantastic  fly-away  Hollander,  but  in  full 
flesh  and  blood,  laden  with  provisions,  and  greeting  them 
heartily. 

He  had  not  pursued  his  Spitzbergen  researches  of  the  pre 
vious  year,  but  he  was  now  on  a  trading  voyage  in  a  stoui 
vessel,  and  he  conveyed  them  all  by  way  of  the  Ward-huis, 
where  he  took  in  a  cargo,  back  to  the  fatherland. 

They  dropped  anchor  in  the  Meuse  on  the  29th  October, 
and  on  the  1st  November  arrived  at  Amsterdam.  Here, 
attired  in  their  robes  and  caps  of  white  fox-skin  which  they 
had  worn  while  citizens  of  Nova  Zembla,  they  were  straight 
way  brought  before  the  magistrates  to  give  an  account  of 
their  adventures. 

They  had  been  absent  seventeen  months,  they  had  spent  a 
whole  autumn,  winter,  and  spring — nearly  ten  months — under 
the  latitude  of  76°  in  a  frozen  desert,  where  no  human  beings 
had  ever  dwelt  before,  and  they  had  penetrated  beyond  80° 


576  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXVI, 

north — a  farther  stride  towards  the  pole  than  had  ever  been 
hazarded.  They  had  made  accurate  geographical,  astrono 
mical,  and  meteorological  observations  of  the  regions  visited. 
They  had  carefully  measured  latitudes  and  longitudes  and 
noted  the  variations  of  the  magnet.  They  had  thoroughly 
mapped  out,  described,  and  designated  every  cape,  island, 
hook,  and  inlet  of  those  undiscovered  countries,  and  more 
than  all,  they  had  given  a  living  example  of  courage,  en 
durance,  patience  under  hardship,  perfect  discipline,  fidelity 
to  duty,  and  trust  in  God,  sufficient  to  inspire  noble  natures 
with  emulation  so  long  as  history  can  read  moral  lessons  to 
mankind. 

No  farther  attempt  was  made  to  discover  the  north-eastern 
passage.  The  enthusiasm  of  Barendz  had  died  with  him, 
and  it  may  be  said  that  the  stern  negation  by  which  this 
supreme  attempt  to  solve  the  mystery  of  the  pole  was  met 
was  its  best  practical  result.  Certainly  all  visions  of  a  cir- 
cumpolar  sea  blessed  with  a  gentle  atmosphere  and  eternal 
tranquillity,  and  offering  a  smooth  and  easy  passage  for  the 
world's  commerce  between  Europe  and  Asia,  had  been  for 
ever  dispelled. 

The  memorable  enterprise  of  Barendz  and  Heemskerk  has 
been  thought  worthy  of  a  minute  description  because  it  was 
a  voyage  of  discovery,  and  because,  however  barren  of  imme 
diate  practical  results  it  may  seem  to  superficial  eyes,  it 
forms  a  great  landmark  in  the  history  of  human  progress 
and  the  advancement  of  science. 

Contemporaneously  with  these  voyages  towards  the  North 
Pole,  the  enlightened  magistrates  of  the  Netherland  munici 
palities,  aided  by  eminent  private  citizens,  fitted  out  expedi 
tions  in  the  opposite  direction.  It  was  determined  to  mea 
sure  strength  with  the  lord  of  the  land  and  seas,  the  great 
potentate  against  whom  these  republicans  had  been  so  long 
in  rebellion,  in  every  known  region  of  the  globe.  Both  from 
the  newly  discovered  western  world,  and  from  the  ancient 
abodes  of  oriental  civilization,  Spanish  monopoly  had  long 
been  furnishing  the  treasure  to  support  Spanish  tyranny, 


EXPEDITION  TO  THE  SOUTH  POLE.  577 

and  it  was  the  dearest  object  of  Netherland  ambition  to  con 
front  their  enemy  in  both  those  regions,  and  to  clip  both 
those  overshadowing  wings  of  his  commerce  at  once. 

The  intelligence,  enthusiasm,  and  tenacity  in  wrestling 
against  immense  obstacles  manifested  by  the  young  republic 
at  this  great  expanding  era  of  the  world's  history  can  hardly 
be  exaggerated.  It  was  fitting  that  the  little  commonwealth, 
which  was  foremost  among  the  nations  in  its  hatred  of 
tyranny,  its  love  of  maritime  adventure,  and  its  aptitude  for 
foreign  trade,  should  take  the  lead  in  the  great  commercial 
movements  which  characterized  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  and 
the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  centuries. 

While  Barendz  and  Heemskerk  were  attempting  to  force 
the  frozen  gates  which  were  then  supposed  to  guard  the 
northern  highway  of  commerce,  fleets  were  fitting  out  in 
Holland  to  storm  the  Southern  Pole,  or  at  least  to  take 
advantage  of  the  pathways  already  opened  by  the  genius  and 
enterprise  of  the  earlier  navigators  of  the  century.  Lin- 
schoten  had  taught  his  countrymen  the  value  of  the  technical 
details  of  the  Indian  trade  as  then  understood.  The  voyages 
of  the  brothers  Houtmann,  1595-1600,  the  first  Dutch  expe 
ditions  to  reach  the  East  by  doubling  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  were  undertaken  according  to  his  precepts,  and 
directed  by  the  practical  knowledge  obtained  by  the  Hout- 
manns  during  a  residence  in  Portugal,  but  were  not  signalized 
by  important  discoveries.  They  are  chiefly  memorable  as 
having  laid  the  foundation  of  the  vast  trade  out  of  which  the 
republic  was  to  derive  so  much  material  power,  while  at  the 
same  time  they  mark  the  slight  beginnings  of  that  mighty 
monopoly,  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  which  was  to 
teach  such  tremendous  lesions  in  commercial  restriction  to  a 
still  more  colossal  English  corporation,  that  mercantile  tyrant 
only  in  our  own  days  overthrown. 

At  the  same  time  and  at  the  other  side  of  the  world  seven 
ships,  fitted  out  from  Holland  by  private  enterprise,  were 
forcing  their  way  to  the  South  Sea  through  the  terrible 
strait  between  Patagonia  and  Fire  Land,  then  supposed  the 

VOL.  in. — 2  P 


578  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVI. 

only  path  around  the  globe.  For  the  tortuous  mountain 
channel,  filled  with  whirlpools  and  reefs,  and  the  home  of 
perpetual  tempest,  which  had  been  discovered  in  the  early 
part  of  the  century  by  Magellan,  was  deemed  the  sole  opening 
pierced  by  nature  through  the  mighty  southern  circumpolar 
continent.  A  few  years  later  a  daring  Hollander  was  to 
demonstrate  the  futility  of  this  theory,  and  to  give  his  own 
name  to  a  broader  pathway,  while  the  stormy  headland  of 
South  America,  around  which  the  great  current  of  universal 
commerce  was  thenceforth  to  sweep,  was  baptized  by  the 
name  of  the  tranquil  town  in  West  Friesland  where  most  of 
his  ship's  company  were  born. 

Meantime  the  seven  ships  under  command  of  Jacob  Mahu, 
Simon  de  Cordes,  and  Sebald  de  Weerdt,  were  contending 
with  the  dangers  of  the  older  route.  The  expedition  sailed 
from  Holland  in  June,  1598,  but  already  the  custom  was 
forming  itself  of  directing  those  navigators  of  almost  unknown 
seas  by  explicit  instructions  from  those  who  remained  on 
shore,  and  who  had  never  navigated  the  ocean  at  all.  The 
consequence  on  this  occasion  was  that  the  voyagers  towards 
the  Straits  of  Magellan  spent  a  whole  summer  on  the  coast 
of  Africa,  amid  pestiferous  heats  and  distracting  calms,  and 
6  April,  reached  the  straits  only  in  April  of  the  following 
1599.  year.  Admiral  Mahu  and  a  large  proportion  of  the 
crew  had  meantime  perished  of  fevers  contracted  by  following 
the  course  marked  out  for  them  by  their  employers,  and 
thus  diminished  in  numbers,  half-stripped  of  provisions,  and 
enfeebled  by  the  exhausting  atmosphere  of  the  tropics,  the 
survivors  were  ill  prepared  to  confront  the  antarctic  ordeal 
which  they  were  approaching.  Five  months  longer  the  fleet, 
under  command  of  Admiral  de  Cordes,  who  had  succeeded  to 
the  command,  struggled  in  those  straits,  where,  as  if  in  the 
home  of  ^Eolus,  all  the  winds  of  heaven  seemed  holding 
revel ;  but  indifference  to  danger,  discipline,  and  devotion  to 
duty  marked  the  conduct  of  the  adventurers,  even  as  those 
qualities  had  just  been  distinguishing  their  countrymen  at 
the  other  pole.  They  gathered  no  gold,  they  conquered  no 


1599.  THE  ORDER  OF  THE  UNCHAINED  LION.  579 

kingdoms,  they  made  few  discoveries,  they  destroyed  no  fleets, 
yet  they  were  the  first  pioneers  on  a  path  on  which  thereafter 
were  to  be  many  such  achievements  by  the  republic. 

At  least  one  heroic  incident,  which  marked  their  departure 
from  the  straits,  deserves   to  be  held  in   perpetual  remem 
brance.      Admiral   de   Cordes  raised   on   the   shore,   at   the 
western  mouth   of  the   channel,  a  rude   memorial  with  an 
inscription  that  the  Netherlanders  were  the  first  to  effect  this 
dangerous   passage   with   a  fleet   of  heavy  ships.      On  the 
following  day,  in  commemoration  of  the  event,  he  founded  an 
order  of  knighthood.     The  chief  officers  of  the  squadron  were 
the  knights-commanders,  and  the  most  deserving  of  the  crew 
were  the  knights-brethren.     The  members  of  the  fraternity 
made   solemn   oath   to  De  Cordes,  as  general,  and  to  each 
other,  that  "by  no  danger,  no  necessity,  nor  by  the  fear  of 
death,  would   they  ever  be  moved   to   undertake   anything 
prejudicial  to  their  honour,  to  the  welfare  of  the  fatherland, 
or  to   the   success   of   the    enterprise    in   which   they   were 
engaged  ;  pledging  themselves  to  stake  their  lives  in  order, 
consistently  with  honour,  to  inflict  every  possible  damage  on 
the  hereditary  enemy,  and  to  plant  the  banner  of  Holland  in 
all  those  territories  whence  the  King  of  Spain  gathered  the 
treasures  with  which  he  had  carried  on  this  perpetual  war 
against  the  Netherlands." 

Thus  was  instituted  on  the  desolate  shores  of  Fire  Land 
the  order  of  Knights  of  the  Unchained  Lion,  with  such  rude 
solemnities  as  were  possible  in  those  solitudes.  The  harbour 
where  the  fleet  was  anchored  was  called  the  Chevaliers'  Bay, 
but  it  would  be  in  vain  to  look  on  modern  maps  for  that 
heroic  appellation.  Patagonia  and  Tierra  del  Fuego  know 
the  honest  knights  of  the  Unchained  Lion  no  more  ;  yet  to 
an  unsophisticated  mind  no  stately  brotherhood  of  sovereigns 
and  patricians  seems  more  thoroughly  inspired  with  the  spirit 
of  Christian  chivalry  than  were  those  weather-beaten  adven 
turers.  The  reefs  and  whirlwinds  of  unknown  seas,  polar 
cold,  Patagonian  giants,  Spanish  cruisers,  a  thousand  real  or 
fabulous  dangers  environed  them.  Their  provisions  were 


580  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVI. 

already  running  near  exhaustion,  and  they  were  feeding  on 
raw  seal-flesh,  on  snails  and  mussels,  and  on  whatever  the 
barren  rocks  and  niggard  seas  would  supply,  to  save  them 
from  absolutely  perishing,  but  they  held  their  resolve  to 
maintain  their  honour  unsullied,  to  be  true  to  each  other 
and  to  the  republic,  and  to  circumnavigate  the  globe  to  seek 
the  proud  enemy  of  their  fatherland  on  every  sea,  and  to  do 
battle  with  him  in  every  corner  of  the  earth.  The  world 
had  already  seen,  and  was  still  to  see,  how  nobly  Nether- 
landers  could  keep  their  own.  Meantime  disaster  on  disaster 
descended  on  this  unfortunate  expedition.  One  ship  after 
another  melted  away  and  was  seen  no  more.  Of  all  the 
seven,  only  one,  that  of  Sebald  de  Weerdt,  ever  returned  to 
the  shores  of  Holland.  Another  reached  Japan,  and  although 
the  crew  fell  into  hostile  hands,  the  great  trade  with  that 
Oriental  empire  was  begun.  In  a  third  —  the  Blyde  Bood- 
schaft,  or  Good  News  —  Dirk  Gerrits  sailed  nearer  the  South 
Pole  than  man  had  ever  been  before,  and  discovered,  as  he 
believed,  a  portion  of  the  southern  continent,  which  he  called, 
with  reason  good,  Gerrit's  Land.  The  name  in  course  of 
time  faded  from  maps  and  charts,  the  existence  of  the  country 
was  disputed,  until  more  than  two  centuries  later  the  accu 
racy  of  the  Dutch  commander  was  recognised.  The  re-dis 
covered  land  however  no  longer  bears  his  name,  but  has  been 
baptized  South  Shetland. 

Thus  before  the  sixteenth  century  had  closed,  the  navi 
gators  of  Holland  had  reached  almost  the  extreme  verge  of 
human  discovery  at  either  pole.2 

2  The  chief  authorities  consulted  Amsterdam,  1825,  pp.  14-119,  et 
for  the  account  of  these  early  voyages  passim. 

Bennet  en  Van  Wijk,  Verhandeling 
over  de  Nederlandsche  Ontdekkingen, 


are  :  — 


Bor,  III.  b.  xxxi.  pp.  866-873,  and 

IV.  b.  xxxiv.  pp.  337-344.  j  Utrecht,  1827,  passim. 

Begin  ende  Voortgang  van  de  Ve-  i      Van  Kampen's  Gesch.  der  Nied.  I. 
reen.  Nederl.  geoctroyeerde  Oost  Ind.    572,  seqq.     Compare  Gesch.  der  Neder- 
Compagnie    (1646)   1    Deel   (passim)   landers  buiten  Europa,  Harlem,  1831, 
with  the  Original   Diaries  and   His-   by  the  same  author. 
tories,  especially  1-53.  Le  Petit,  La  Grande  Chronique,  ii. 

Grotii   Hist.  lib.  iv.  326,  seqq.  and   651,  seqq.  and  698,  seqq. 

V.  383,  seqq.  Van  Meteren  also  gives  good  sum- 
G.  Moll,  Verhandeling  over  eenige   maries,  especially  in  b,  xxiii. 

Vroegere  Zeetogten  der  Nederlander^.  i 


1598.      MOVEMENTS  otf  THE  ADMIRAL  otf  ARRA<JON.       581 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

Military  Operations  in  the  Netherlands  —  Designs  of  the  Spanish  Commander 
—  Siege  of  Orsoy  —  Advance  upon  Rheinberg  —  Murder  of  the  Count  of 
Broeck  and  his  garrison  —  Capture  of  Rees  and  Emmerich  — Outrages  of  the 
Spanish  soldiers  in  the  peaceful  provinces  —  Inglorious  attempt  to  avenge 
the  hostilities  —  State  of  trade  in  the  Provinces  —  Naval  expedition  under 
Van  der  Does  —  Arrival  of  Albert  and  Isabella  at  Brussels  —  Military  ope 
rations  of  Prince  Maurice  —  Negotiation  between  London  and  Brussels  — 
Henry's  determination  to  enact  the  Council  of  Trent  —  His  projected 
marriage — Queen  Elizabeth  and  Envoy  Caron  —  Peace  proposals  of  Spain 
to  Elizabeth  —  Conferences  at  Gertruydenberg —  Uncertain  state  of  affairs. 

THE  military  operations  in  the  Netherlands  during  the  whole 
year  1598  were  on  a  comparatively  small  scale  and  languidly 
conducted.  The  States  were  exhausted  by  the  demands  made 
upon  the  treasury,  and  baffled  by  the  disingenuous  policy  of 
their  allies.  The  cardinal-archduke,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
occupied  with  the  great  events  of  his  marriage,  of  his  father- 
in-law's  death,  and  of  his  own  succession  in  conjunction  with 
his  wife  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  provinces. 

In  the  autumn,  however,  the  Admiral  of  Arragon,  who,  as 
has  been  stated,  was  chief  military  commander  during  the 
absence  of  Albert,  collected  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand 
foot  and  two  thousand  cavalry,  crossed  the  Meuse  at  Koer- 
mond,  and  made  his  appearance  before  a  small  town  called 
Orsoy,  on  the  Khine.  It  was  his  intention  to  invade  the 
duchies  of  Cleves,  Juliers,  and  Berg,  taking  advantage  of 
the  supposed  madness  of  the  duke,  and  of  the  Spanish  inclina 
tions  of  his  chief  counsellors,  who  constituted  a  kind  of  regency. 
By  obtaining  possession  of  these  important  provinces — wedged 
as  they  were  between  the  territory  of  the  republic,  the 
obedient  Netherlands,  and  Germany — an  excellent  military 
position  would  be  gained  for  making  war  upon  the  rebellious 


582  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXX VII 

districts  from  the  east,  for  crushing  Protestantism  in  the 
duchies,  for  holding  important  passages  of  the  Rhine,  and  for 
circumventing  the  designs  of  the  Protestant  sons-in-law  and 
daughters  of  the  old  Duke  of  Cleves.  Of  course,  it  was  the 
determination  of  Maurice  and  the  States-General  to  frustrate 
these  operations.  German  and  Dutch  Protestantism  gave 
battle  on  this  neutral  ground  to  the  omnipotent  tyranny  of 
the  papacy  and  Spain. 

Unfortunately,  Maurice  had  but  a  very  slender  force  that 
autumn  at  his  command.  Fifteen  hundred  horse  and  six 
thousand  infantry  were  all  his  effective  troops,  and  with  these 
he  took  the  field  to  defend  the  borders  of  the  republic,  and 
to  out-manoeuvre,  so  far  as  it  might  lie  in  his  power,  the 
admiral  with  his  far-reaching  and  entirely  unscrupulous 
designs. 

With  six  thousand  Spanish  veterans,  two  thousand  Italians, 
and  many  Walloon  and  German  regiments  under  Bucquoy, 
Hachincourt,  La  Bourlotte,  Stanley,  and  Frederic  van  den  Berg, 
the  admiral  had  reached  the  frontiers  of  the  mad  duke's  terri 
tory.  Orsoy  was  garrisoned  by  a  small  company  of  "  cocks' 
feathers,"  or  country  squires,  and  their  followers. 

Presenting  himself  in  person  before  the  walls  of  the  town, 
with  a  priest  at  his  right  hand  and  a  hangman  holding  a 
bundle   of  halters   at   the   other,  he   desired  to  be 
informed   whether  the    governor    would    prefer    to 
surrender  or  to  hang  with  his  whole  garrison.     The  cock- 
feathers  surrendered.1 

The  admiral  garrisoned  and  fortified  Orsoy  as  a  basis  and 
advanced  upon  Rheinberg,  first  surprising  the  Count  of  Broeck 
in  his  castle,  who  was  at  once  murdered  in  cold  blood  with 
his  little  garrison. 

He  took  Burik  on  the  llth  October,  Rheinberg  on  the  15th 
of  the  same  month,  and  compounded  with  Wesel  for  a 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  florins.  Leaving  garrisons  in 
these  and  a  few  other  captured  places,  he  crossed  the  Lippe, 
came  to  Borhold,  and  ravaged  the  whole  country  side.  His 
1  Meteren,  399-404. 


1598.  OUTRAGES  OF  THE   SPANISH   SOLDIERS.  $83 

troops  being  clamorous  for  pay  were  only  too  eager  to  levy 
black -mail  on  this  neutral  territory.  The  submission  of  the 
authorities  to  this  treatment  brought  upon  them  a  reproach 
of  violation  of  neutrality  by  the  States-General ;  the  Govern 
ments  of  Munster  and  of  the  duchies  being  informed  that,  if 
they  aided  and  abetted  the  one  belligerent,  they  must  expect 
to  be  treated  as  enemies  by  the  other.2 

The  admiral  took  Kees  on  the  30th  October,  and  Emmerich 
on  the  2nd  November — two  principal  cities  of  Cleves.  On 
the  8th  November  he  crossed  into  the  territory  of  the  re 
public  and  captured  Deutekom,  after  a  very  short  siege. 
Maurice,  by  precaution,  occupied  Sevenaer  in  Cleves.  The 
prince — whose  difficult  task  was  to  follow  up  and  observe  an 
enemy  by  whom  he  was  outnumbered  nearly  four  to  one,  to 
harass  him  by  skirmishes,  to  make  forays  on  his  communica 
tions,  to  seize  important  points  before  he  could  reach  them, 
to  impose  upon  him  by  an  appearance  of  far  greater  force  than 
the  republican  army  could  actually  boast,  to  protect  the  cities  of 
the  frontier  like  Zutphen,  Lochem,  and  Doesburg,  and  to  pre 
vent  him  from  attempting  an  invasion  of  the  United  Provinces 
in  force,  by  crossing  any  of  the  rivers,  either  in  the  autumn 
or  after  the  winter's  ice  had  made  them  passable  for  the  Spanish 
army — succeeded  admirably  in  all  his  strategy.  The  admiral 
never  ventured  to  attack  him,  for  fear  of  risking  a  defeat 
of  his  whole  army  by  an  antagonist  whom  he  ought  to  have 
swallowed  at  a  mouthful,  relinquished  all  designs  upon  the 
republic,  passed  into  Munster,  Cleves,  and  Berg,  and  during 
the  whole  horrible  winter  converted  those  peaceful  provinces 
into  a  hell.  No  outrage  which  even  a  Spanish  army  could 
inflict  was  spared  the  miserable  inhabitants.  Cities  and  vil 
lages  were  sacked  and  burned,  the  whole  country  was  placed 
under  the  law  of  black-mail.  The  places  of  worship,  mainly 
Protestant,  were  all  converted  at  a  blow  of  the  sword  into 
Catholic  churches.  Men  were  hanged,  butchered,  tossed  in 
sport  from  the  tops  of  steeples,  burned,  and  buried  alive. 
Women  of  every  rank  were  subjected  by  thousands  to  outrage 

8  Bor,  IV.  463-496,    Metereu,  399,  404, 


584  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVIL 

too  foul  and  too  cruel  for  any  but  fiends  or  Spanish  soldiers 
to  imagine.3 

Such  was  the  lot  of  thousands  of  innocent  men  and  women 

at  the  hands  of  Philip's  soldiers  in  a  country  at  peace  with 

Philip,  at  the  very  moment  when  that  monarch  was  protesting 

.  with  a  seraphic  smile  on  his  expiring  lips  that  he  had  never 

in  his  whole  life  done  injury  to  a  single  human  being. 

In  vain  did  the  victims  call  aloud  upon  their  sovereign,  the 
Emperor  Rudolph.  The  Spaniards  laughed  the  feeble  imperial 
mandates  to  scorn,  and  spurned  the  word  neutrality.  "  Oh, 
poor  Roman  Empire  !  "  cried  John  Fontanus,  "  how  art  thou 
fallen !  Thy  protector  has  become  thy  despoiler,  and,  although 
thy  members  see  this  and  know  it,  they  sleep  through  it  all. 
One  day  they  may  have  a  terrible  awakening  from  their 

slumbers The  Admiral  of  Arragon  has  entirely 

changed  the  character  of  the  war,  recognizes  no  neutrality, 
saying  that  there  must  be  but  one  God,  one  pope,  and  one 
king,  and  that  they  who  object  to  this  arrangement  must  be 
extirpated  with  fire  and  sword,  let  them  be  where  they 
may."  4 

The  admiral,  at  least,  thoroughly  respected  the  claims  of 
the  dead  Philip  to  universal  monarchy. 

Maurice  gained  as  much  credit  by  the  defensive  strategy 
through  which  he  saved  the  republic  from  the  horrors  thus 
afflicting  its  neighbours,  as  he  had  ever  done  by  his  most 
brilliant  victories.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  enchanted  with  the 
prowess  of  the  prince,  and  with  the  sagacious  administration 
of  those  republican  magistrates  whom  she  never  failed  to 
respect,  even  when  most  inclined  to  quarrel  with  them. 
(<  Never  before  was  it  written  or  heard  of/'  said  the  queen, 
"  that  so  great  an  extent  of  country  could  be  defended  with 
so  few  troops,  that  an  invasion  of  so  superior  a  hostile  force 
could  be  prevented,  especially  as  it  appeared  that  all  the 
streams  and  rivers  were  frozen."  This,  she  added,  was 
owing  to  the  wise  and  far-seeing  counsels  of  the  States- 
General,  and  to  the  faithful  diligence  of  their  military  com* 

8  Bor,  Meteren,  vbi  sup.    4  Groen  v.  Prinsterer,  Archives,  I.  407  (2  Ser.) 


1599.  POLITICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  STATES.  585 

tnander,  who  now,  as  she  declared,  deserved  the  title  of  the 
first  captain  of  all  Christendom.5 

A  period  of  languor  and  exhaustion  succeeded.  The  armies 
of  the  States  had  dwindled  to  an  effective  force  of  scarcely 
four  or  five  thousand  men,  while  the  new  levies  came  in  but 
slowly.  The  taxation,  on  the  other  hand,  was  very  severe. 
The  quotas  for  the  provinces  had  risen  to  the  amount  of  five 
million  eight  hundred  thousand  florins  for  the  year  1599, 
against  an  income  of  four  millions  six  hundred  thousand,  and 
this  deficit  went  on  increasing,  notwithstanding  a  new  tax  of 
one-half  per  cent,  on  the  capital  of  all  estates  above  three 
thousand  florins  in  value,  and  another  of  two  and  a  half  per 
cent,  on  all  sales  of  real  property.6  The  finances  of  the 
obedient  provinces  were  in  a  still  worse  condition,  and  during 
the  absence  of  the  cardinal-archduke  an  almost  universal 
mutiny,  occasioned  by  the  inability  of  the  exchequer  to  pro 
vide  payment  for  the  troops,  established  itself  throughout 
Flanders  and  Brabant.  There  was  much  recrimination  on 
the  subject  of  the  invasion  of  the  Ehenish  duchies,  and  a  war 
of  pamphlets  and  manifestos  between  the  archduke's  Govern 
ment  and  the  States-General  succeeded  to  those  active  military 
operations  by  which  so  much  misery  had  been  inflicted  on 
the  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  that  border  land.  There  was  a 
slight  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Princes  of  Brunswick,  Hesse, 
and  Brandenburg  to  counteract  and  to  punish  the  hostilities 
of  the  Spanish  troops  committed  upon  German  soil.  An  army 
— very  slowly  organized,  against  the  wishes  of  the  emperor, 
the  bishops,  and  the  Catholic  party — took  the  field,  and  made 
a  feeble  demonstration  upon  Kheinberg  and  upon  Kees  entirely 
without  result  and  then  disbanded  itself  ingloriously.7 

Meantime  the  admiral  had  withdrawn  from  German  terri 
tory,  and  was  amusing  himself  with  a  variety  of  blows  aimed 
at  vital  points  of  the  republic.  An  excursion  into  the  Isle 
of  Bommel  was  not  crowned  with  much  success.  The  assault 
on  the  city  was  repulsed.  The  fortress  of  Crevecceur  was, 

5  Caron  to  the  States-General.    Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  199.   6  Wagenaar  ix.  39 
*  Wagenaar,  ix.  39-72.     Bor,  IV.  522,  seqq.,  591,  608.     Meteren,  b.  xxi. 


586  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVII. 

however,  taken,  and  the  fort  of  St.  Andrew  constructed — 
in  spite  of  the  attempts  of  the  States  to  frustrate  the  design — 
at  a  point  commanding  the  course  of  both  the  Waal  and  the 
Meuse.  Having  placed  a  considerable  garrison  in  each  of 
those  strongholds,  the  admiral  discontinued  his  labours  and 
went  into  winter-quarters.8 

The  States-General  for  political  reasons  were  urgent  that 
Prince  Maurice  should  undertake  some  important  enterprise, 
but  the  stadholder,  sustained  by  the  opinion  of  his  cousin 
Lewis  William,  resisted  the  pressure.  The  armies  of  the 
Commonwealth  were  still  too  slender  in  numbers  and  too 
widely  scattered  for  active  service  on  a  large  scale,  and  the 
season  for  active  campaigning  was  wisely  suffered  to  pass 
without  making  any  attempt  of  magnitude  during  the  year. 

The  trade  of  the  provinces,  moreover,  was  very  much  ham 
pered,  and  their  revenues  sadly  diminished  by  the  severe 
prohibitions  which  had  succeeded  to  the  remarkable  indul 
gence  hitherto  accorded  to  foreign  commerce.  Edicts  in  the 
name  of  the  King  of  Spain  and  of  the  Archdukes  Albert  and 
Isabella,  forbidding  all  intercourse  between  the  rebellious  pro 
vinces  and  the  obedient  Netherlands  or  any  of  the  Spanish 
possessions,  were  met  by  countervailing  decrees  of  the  States- 
General.  Free  trade  with  its  enemies  and  with  all  the  world, 
by  means  of  which  the  commonwealth  had  prospered  in  spite 
of  perpetual  war,  was  now  for  a  season  destroyed,  and  the 
immediate  results  were  at  once  visible  in  its  diminished 
resources.  To  employ  a  portion  of  the  maritime  energies  of 
the  Hollanders  and  Zeelanders,  thus  temporarily  deprived  of  a 
sufficient  field,  a  naval  expedition  of  seventy-five  war  vessels 
under  Admiral  van  der  Does  was  fitted  out,  but  met  with 
very  trifling  success.  They  attacked  and  plundered  the 
settlements  and  forts  of  the  Canary  Islands,  inflicted  much 
damage  on  the  inhabitants,  sailed  thence  to  the  Isle  of  St. 
Thomas,  near  the  equator,  where  the  towns  and  villages  were 
sacked  and  burned,  and  where  a  contagious  sickness  broke 
out  in  the  fleet,  sweeping  off  in  a  very  brief  period  a  large 

8  Wagenaar,  Bor,  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


1599.  DISCONTENT  IN  THE  OBEDIENT  PROVINCES.          587 

proportion  of  the  crew.  The  admiral  himself  fell  a  victim  to 
the  disease  and  was  buried  on  the  island.  The  fleet  put 
to  sea  again  under  Admiral  Storm  van  Wena,  but  the  sick 
ness  pursued  the  adventurers  on  their  voyage  towards  Brazil, 
one  thousand  of  them  dying  at  sea  in  fifteen  days.  At 
Brazil  they  accomplished  nothing,  and,  on  their  homeward 
voyage,  not  only  the  new  commander  succumbed  to  the  same 
contagion,  but  the  mortality  continued  to  so  extraordinary  an 
extent  that,  on  the  arrival  of  the  expedition  late  in  the  winter 
in  Holland,  there  were  but  two  captains  left  alive,  and,  in 
many  of  the  vessels,  not  more  than  six  sound  men  to  each.9 
Nothing  could  be  more  wretched  than  this  termination  of  a 
great  and  expensive  voyage,  which  had  occasioned  such  high 
hopes  throughout  the  provinces  ;  nothing  more  dismal  than 
the  political  atmosphere  which  surrounded  the  republic 
during  the  months  which  immediately  ensued.  It  was 
obvious  to  Barneveld  and  the  other  leading  personages,  in 
whose  hands  was  the  administration  of  affairs,  that  a  great 
military  success  was  absolutely  indispensable,  if  the  treacher 
ous  cry  of  peace,  when  peace  was  really  impossible,  should 
not  become  universal  and  fatal. 

Meantime  affairs  were  not  much  more  cheerful  in  the 
obedient  provinces.  Archduke  Albert  arrived  with  his  bride 
in  the  early  days  of  September,  1599,  at  Brussels,  and  was 
received  with  great  pomp  and  enthusiastic  rejoicings.  When 
are  pomp  and  enthusiasm  not  to  be  obtained  by  imperial 
personages,  at  brief  notice  and  in  vast  quantities,  if  managers 
understand  their  business  ?  After  all,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  the  theatrical  display  was  as  splendid  as  that  which 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  Ernestian  era.  Schoolmaster 
Houwaerts  had  surpassed  himself  on  that  occasion,  and  was  no 
longer  capable  of  deifying  the  new  sovereign  as  thoroughly 
as  he  had  deified  his  brother. 

Much  real  discontent  followed  close  upon  the  fictitious 
enthusiasm.  The  obedient  provinces  were  poor  and  forlorn, 

9  Bor,  Meteren,  Wagenaar,  libi  sup.  See  letters  of  Buzanval  in  Vreede, 
passim. 


588  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVII 

and  men  murmured  loudly  at  the  enormous  extravagance  of 
their  new  master's  housekeeping.  There  were  one  hundred 
and  fifty  mules,  and  as  many  horses  in  their  sovereign's 
stables,  while  the  expense  of  feeding  the  cooks,  lackeys, 
pages,  and  fine  gentlemen  who  swelled  the  retinue  of  the 
great  household,  was  estimated,  without  wages  or  salaries,  at 
two  thousand  florins  a  day.10  Albert  had  wished  to  he 
called  a  king,11  but  had  been  unable  to  obtain  the  gratifi 
cation  of  his  wish.  He  had  aspired  to  be  emperor,  and 
he  was  at  least  sufficiently  imperial  in  his  ideas  of  expense.12 
The  murmurers  were  loftily  rebuked  for  their  complaints, 
and  reminded  of  the  duty  of  obedient  provinces  to  contribute 
at  least  as  much  for  the  defence  of  their  masters  as  the 
rebels  did  in  maintenance  of  their  rebellion.  The  provincial 
estates  were  summoned  accordingly  to  pay  roundly  for  the 
expenses  of  the  war  as  well  as  of  the  court,  and  to  enable  the 
new  sovereigns  to  suppress  the  military  mutiny,  which  amid 
the  enthusiasm  greeting  their  arrival  was  the  one  prominent 
and  formidable  fact. 

The  archduke  was  now  thirty-nine  years  of  age,  the 
Infanta  Isabella  six  years  younger.  She  was  esteemed 
majestically  beautiful  by  her  courtiers,  and  Cardinal  Benti- 
voglio,  himself  a  man  of  splendid  intellect,  pronounced  her  a 
woman  of  genius,  who  had  grown  to  be  a  prodigy  of  wisdom, 
under  the  tuition  of  her  father,  the  most  sagacious  statesman 
of  the  age.13  In  attachment  to  the  Roman  faith  and  ritual, 
in  superhuman  loftiness  of  demeanour,  and  in  hatred  of 
heretics,  she  was  at  least  a  worthy  child  of  that  sainted 
sovereign.14  In  a  moral  point  of  view  she  was  his  superior. 
The  archdukes — so  Albert  and  Isabella  were  always  desig 
nated — were  a  singularly  attached  couple,  and  their  house 
hold,  if  extravagant  and  imperial,  was  harmonious.  They 


10  Bor,  IV.  578. 

11  Albert  to  Philip,  20  April,  1598. 
(Arch,   de   Simancas  MS.)      Same  to 
same,  13  July,  1598.     (Ibid.) 

19  Ibid. 

13  Kelazione  delle  prove.  ubbte.  57,  58. 

14  t(  T^i£k      T n  1 o r\ i i TI       *i  tiu's      TTiar\a  -»iiov»    "   i 


wrote  Fontanus,  "weis  nit  dan  von 
hangen,  brennen,  morden  und  wiitten 
zu  sprechen  ;  man  musz  irer  Majestat 
auff  den  knien  sitzen  dienen,  auch  die 
Staten  der  Provincien  welches  ihnen 
gar  ungern  thut." — Groen  v.  Prin- 


Die   Infantin   ausz  Hispanien,"  i  sterer.  Archives,  II.  8  (2  Ser.) 


1600.  RECOVERY  OF  CREVECXEUR  Bt  MAURICE.  589 

loved  each  other — so  it  was  believed — as  sincerely  as  they 
abhorred  heretics  and  rebels,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  they 
had  a  very  warm  affection  for  their  Flemish  subjects.  Every 
characteristic  of  their  court  was  Spanish.  Spanish  costume, 
Spanish  manners,  the  Spanish  tongue,  were  almost  exclu 
sively  predominant,  and  although  the  festivals,  dances, 
banquets,  and  tourneys,  were  all  very  magnificent,  the  pre 
vailing  expression  of  the  Brabantine  capital  resembled  that 
of  a  Spanish  convent,15  so  severely  correct,  so  stately,  and  so 
grim,  was  the  demeanour  of  the  court. 

The  earliest  military  operations  of  the  stadholder  in  the  first 
year  of  the  new  century  were  successful.  Partly  by 
menace,  but  more  effectually  by  judicious  negotiation, 
Maurice  recovered  Crevecceur,  and  obtained  the  surrender  of 
St.  Andrew,  the  fort  which  the  admiral  had  built  the  pre 
ceding  year  in  honour  of  Albert's  uncle.  That  ecclesiastic, 
with  whom  Mendoza  had  wrangled  most  bitterly  during  the 
whole  interval  of  Albert's  absence,  had  already  taken  his 
departure  for  Eome,  where  he  soon  afterwards  died.16  The 
garrisons  of  the  forts,  being  mostly  Walloon  soldiers,  forsook 
the  Spanish  service  for  that  of  the  States,  and  were  banded 
together  in  a  legion  some  twelve  hundred  strong,  which 
became  known  as  the  "  New  Beggars,"  and  were  placed  under 
the  nominal  command  of  Frederick  Henry  of  Nassau, 
youngest  child  of  William  the  Silent.  The  next  military 
event  of  the  year  was  a  mad  combat,  undertaken  by  formal 
cartel,  between  Breaute,  a  young  Norman  noble  in  the  service 
of  the  republic,  and  twenty  comrades,  with  an  equal  number 
of  Flemish  warriors  from  the  obedient  provinces,  under 
Grobbendonck.  About  one  half  of  the  whole  number  were 
killed,  including  the  leaders,  but  the  encounter,  although 
exciting  much  interest  at  the  time,  had  of  course  no  perma 
nent  importance.17 

There  was  much  negotiation,  informal  and  secret,  between 
Brussels  and  London  during  this  and  a  portion  of  the  follow- 

15  Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup.  16  Wagenaar,  ix.  64. 

«  Wagenaar,  ix.  39-72.     Bor,  IV.  522-603.    Meteren,  book  xxi. 


590 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.       CHAP.  XXXVII 


ing  year.  Elizabeth,  naturally  enough,  was  weary  of  the 
war,  but  she  felt,  after  all,  as  did  the  Government  of  France, 
that  a  peace  between  the  United  Netherlands  and  Spain 
would  have  for  its  result  the  restoration  of  the  authority  of 
his  most  Catholic  Majesty  over  all  the  provinces.  The  states 
men  of  France  and  England,  like  most  of  the  politicians  of 
Europe,  had  but  slender  belief  in  the  possibility  of  a  popular 
government,  and  doubted  therefore  the  continued  existence 
of  the  newly-organized  republic.18  Therefore  they  really 
deprecated  the  idea  of  a  peace  which  should  include  the 
States,  notwithstanding  that  from  time  to  time  the  queen  or 
some  of  her  counsellors  had  so  vehemently  reproached  the 
Netherlander  with  their  unwillingness  to  negotiate.  "At 
the  first  recognition  that  these  people  should  make  of  the 
mere  shadow  of  a  prince,"  said  Buzanval,  the  keenly  observing 
and  experienced  French  envoy  at  the  Hague,  "  they  lose  the 
form  they  have.  All  the  blood  of  the  body  would  flow  to  the 
head,  and  the  game  would  be  who  should  best  play  the  valet. 

The  house  of  Nassau  would  lose  its  credit  within 

a  month  in  case  of  peace." 19  As  such  statesmen  could  not 
imagine  a  republic,  they  ever  dreaded  the  restoration  in  the 
United  Provinces  of  the  subverted  authority  of  Spain. 

France  and  England  were  jealous  of  each  other,  and  both 
were  jealous  of  Spain.  Therefore  even  if  the  republican 
element,  the  strength  and  endurance  of  which  was  so  little 
suspected,  had  been  as  trifling  a  factor  in  the  problem  as 
was  supposed,  still  it  would  have  been  difficult  for  any  one 
of  these  powers  to  absorb  the  United  Netherlands.  As  for 


18  "  Da  tutte  queste  ragioni  dunque 
si  puo  giudicare  clie  non  sia  per  con- 
servarsi  nello  stato  presente  questa 
nuova  republica  ma  che  piu  tosto  sia 
per  mancare  in  breve  e  chefinalmente 
sia  per  ridursi  sotto  il  governo  d'un 
solo." — Bentivoglio,  Relazione  delle 
Provincie  Unite,  lib.  iii.  cap.  vii.  p. 
50.  The  continued  existence  of  the 
"  new  republic"  for  two  centuries  after 
these  remarks  were  made  is  an  addi 
tional  proof  of  the  danger  of  prophesy 
ing.  "Ceux  qui  sondent  et  connais- 
sent  a  quoy  ce  mene,"  wrote  Aerssens 


from  Paris,  "  desirent  changement  en 
1'estat  du  gouvernement  populaire  et 
election  d'un  souverain.  Combien  peu 
connaissans  nos  necessite,  nos  des- 
seins,  nos  maux !  En  tel  predicament 
sommes  nous  en  cette  cour."  21  Mars, 
1600.  Lettres,  in  Valck.  (Archives  of 
the  Hague  MS.)  Compare  Instructions 
of  James  I.  to  Spencer  and  Win  wood  ; 
Winwood's  Memorials,  II.  329-335, 
especially  p.  333. 

19  Lettres  et  Negociations  de  Buzan 
val,  par  le  Professeur  Vreede.  Leyde, 
1846,  p.  300. 


1600. 


OF  THE  KING!  OP  PRANCE. 


591 


France,  she  hardly  coveted  their  possession.  "  We  ought 
not  to  flatter  ourselves/'  said  Buzanval,  "  that  these  maritime 
peoples  will  cast  themselves  one  day  into  our  nets,  nor  do  I 
know  that  it  would  be  advisable  to  pull  in  the  net  if  they 
should  throw  themselves  in."  ^ 

Henry  was  full  of  political  schemes  and  dreams  at  this 
moment — as  much  as  his  passion  for  Mademoiselle  d'Entrai- 
gues,  who  had  so  soon  supplanted  the  image  of  the  dead 
Gabrielle  in  his  heart,  would  permit.  He  was  very  well 
disposed  to  obtain  possession  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,21 
whenever  he  should  see  his  way  to  such  an  acquisition,  and 
was  even  indulging  in  visions  of  the  imperial  crown. 

He  was  therefore  already,  and  for  the  time  at  least,  the 
most  intense  of  papists.22  He  was  determined  to  sacrifice  the 
Huguenot  chiefs,  and  introduce  the  Council  of  Trent,  in 
order,  as  he  told  Du  Plessis,  that  all  might  be  Christians.  If 
he  still  retained  any  remembrance  of  the  ancient  friendship 
between  himself  and  the  heretic  republic,  it  was  not  likely 


20  Lettres,  &c.,  ubi  sup. 

21  Nor  would  it  seem  that  the  pro 
ject,   although  much  feared  by  the 
English  queen,   was  at  all  distaste 
ful    to    the    Netherland    statesmen. 
"  M'ayant  souvent  dit  et  redit  Berne- 
feld,"  wrote  Buzanval,  "  que  si  le  roy 
vouloit  repeter  les  droits  qu'il  pre 
tend  sur  les  dites  provinces  que  les 
Etats  des  Provinces  Unies  luy  ayder- 
oient  pour  un  tel  effet  de  toute  leur 
force,  ne  pretendant  iceux  etats  pour 
tout  butin  que  1'assurance  de  cette 
coste  de  mer,  et  certes  si  cela  etoit,  ils 
pourront  donner  sauvement  et  a  leur 
aise  avec  une  bonne  et  etroite  alliance 
qu'ils  esperoient  faire  avec  la  France 
qui  les  maintiendroit  centre  toute  au- 
tre  force  etrangere  de  quelque  coste 
qu'ette  peut  arriver.    M.  le  P.  Mau 
rice  me  parlant  de  Dunkerque  le  jour 
de  son  partement  je  luy  fis  demande 
s'il  la  pourroit  maintenir  apres  1'avoir 
conquise,  il  me  dit  que  malaisement 
sans  y  tenir  toujours  une  armee.     Je 
le  pressay  da  vantage  et  jusques  la  qu'il 
vint  a  me  dire  '  Je  crois  que  les  etats 
feroient  bien  en  un  tel  cas  de  la  mettre 
en  mains  du  roy  ;'  je  lui  dis  que  je 

VOL.  11—20 


ne  pensois  pas  que  nous  voulussions 
rompre  notre  jeusne  pour  si  peu  de 
chose.  Si  faut  il,  dit  il,  ou  que  cette 
ville  nous  mange  ou  que  nous  la  man- 
gions  si  nous  la  tenons  une  fois,"  &c. — 
Buzanval  to  Villeroy,  25  June,  1600. 
(MS.  in  Royal  Library  at  the  Hague.) 

22  "Aussy  sommes  nous  en  temps  icy 
que  les  affaires  se  couvent  et  attendent 
leur  forme  par  le  force.  t  La  desunion 
de  ceux  de  la  religion  est  projettee,  le 
Concile  de  Trente  en  cette  considera 
tion  en  bon  terme  pour  la  verification, 
le  Sr  du  Plessis  sacrifie  au  pape,  les 
Jesuites  sur  le  retour,  Fempire  promis 
au  roy  et  son  mariage  arrete  pour  le 
mois  de  Septembre." — Aerssens  to 
Valck,  19  May,  1600,  MS. 

"Sa  Majeste  ces  jours  passes  dit 
a  bon  escient  a  M.  de  Bouillon  sur  ces 
doleances  pour  TAssemblee  contre  ces 
forcees  conversions  que  comme  royil 
doit  desirer  qu'une  religion  en  son 
royaume  et  a  M.  du  Plessis  alleguant 
les  inconveniens  du  Concile  (de  Trent) 
sy  faut  il  (fit  il)  qu'enfin  nous  soions 
tous  Chretiens." — Aerssens  to  Valck, 
10  April,  1600.  (Hague  Archives 
MS.) 


592  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVII. 

to  exhibit  itself,  notwithstanding  his  promises  and  his  pecu 
niary  liabilities  to  her,  in  anything  more  solid  than  words. 
"  I  repeat  it,"  said  the  Dutch  envoy  at  Paris  ;  "  this  court 
cares  nothing  for  us,  for  all  its  cabals  tend  to  close  unioii 
with  Rome,  whence  we  can  expect  nothing  but  foul  weather. 
The  king  alone  has  any  memory  of  our  past  services."  K  But 
imperturbable  and  self-confident  as  ever,  Henry  troubled 
himself  little  with  fears  in  regard  to  the  papal  supremacy, 
even  when  his  Parliament  professed  great  anxiety  in  regard 
to  the  consequences  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  if  not  under 
him  yet  under  his  successors.  "I  will  so  bridle  the  popes," 
said  he,  cheerfully,  "  that  they  will  never  pass  my  restrictions. 
My  children  will  be  still  more  virtuous  and  valiant  than  I. 
If  I  have  none,  then  the  devil  take  the  hindmost.  Neverthe 
less  I  choose  that  the  council  shall  be  enacted.  I  desire  it 
more  ardently  than  I  pressed  the  edict  for  the  Protestants."  M 
Such  being  the  royal  humour  at  the  moment,  it  may  well  be 
believed  that  Duplessis  Mornay  would  find  but  little  sunshine 
from  on  high  on  the  occasion  of  his  famous  but  forgotten 
conferences  with  Du  Perron,  now  archbishop  of  Evreux, 
before  the  king  and  all  the  court  at  Fontainebleau.  It  was 
natural  enough  that  to  please  the  king  the  king's  old 
Huguenot  friend  should  be  convicted  of  false  citations  from 
the  fathers  ;  but  it  would  seem  strange,  were  the  motives 
unknown,  that  Henry  should  have  been  so  intensely  in 
terested  in  this  most  arid  and  dismal  of  theological  contro 
versies.  Yet  those  who  had  known  and  observed  the 
king  closely  for  thirty  years,  declared  that  he  had  never 
manifested  so  much  passion,  neither  on  the  eve  of  battles  nor 
of  amorous  assignations,  as  he  then  did  for  the  demolition 
of  Duplessis  and  his  deductions.  He  had  promised  the 
Nuncius  that  the  Huguenot  should  be  utterly  confounded, 
and  with  him  the  whole  fraternity,  "  for,"  said  the  king, 
"he  has  wickedly  and  impudently  written  against  the  pope, 
to  whom  I  owe  as  much  as  I  do  to  God."  K 


23  Aerssens  to  Valck,  ubi  sup. 
M  Same    to  same,    6    May,   1600. 
(Hague  Archives  MS.)    "  Sauve  qui 


peut,"  &c. 

25  Same    to    same,    9    May,    1600. 
(Hague  Archives  MS.)    Compare  De 


1600. 


HENRY'S  PROJECTED  MARRIAGE. 


593 


These  were  not  times  in  which  the  Hollanders,  battling  as 
stoutly  against  Spain  and  the  pope  as  they  had  done  during 
the  years  when  the  republic  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
Henry  the  Huguenot,  could  hope  for  aid  and  comfort  from 
their  ancient  ally. 

It  is  very  characteristic  of  that  age  of  dissimulation  and  of 
reckless  political  gambling,  that  at  the  very  moment  when 
Henry's  marriage  with  Marie  de  Medicis  was  already  arranged, 
and  when  that  princess  was  soon  expected  in  Lyons,  a  cabal 
at  the  king's  court  was  busy  with  absurd  projects  to  many 
their  sovereign  to  the  Infanta  of  Spain.  It  is  true  that  the 
Infanta  was  already  the  wife  of  the  cardinal-archduke,  but 
it  was  thought  possible — for  reasons  divulged  through  the 
indiscretions  or  inventions  of  the  father  confessor — to  obtain 
the  pope's  dispensation  on  the  ground  of  the  nullity  of  the 
marriage.26  Thus  there  were  politicians  at  the  French  court 
seriously  occupied  in  an  attempt  to  deprive  the  archduke  of 
his  wife,  of  his  Netherland  provinces,  and  of  the  crown  of  the 
holy  Roman  empire,27  which  he  still  hoped  to  inherit.28  Yet 


Thou  (who  was  one  of  the  Catholic 
umpires  at  the  conference),  t.  xiii. 
pp.  445-449,  L.  123. 

26  Vous  rirez  si  je  vous  dis,"  wrote 
Aerssens,  minister  of  the  Dutch  Re 
public  in  France,  to  Valcke  "  que  le 
secret  en  est  qu'on  pretend  encor  de 
fair  espouser  1'Infante  d'Espagne  au 
roy,  qui  a  cette  occasion  ne^  se  haste 
point  vers  Lyon  et  a  rejette  la  venue 
de  la  Florentine  jusqu'en  Octobre, 
1'obligeant  a  la  compagnie  de  sa  sosur. 
Le  plus  vrai  est  que  le  roy  prend 
ceci  pour  pretext.  Car  il  pense  totale- 
ment  a  Mlle  d'Antraigues  a  laquelle  il 
a  donne  seconde  promesse  en  cas  de 
masle.  Cependant  ou  a  sceu  de  bonne 
part  que  1'Infante  ayant  confere  avec 
sa  dame  d'honneur  s'etait  plaint  de 
I'inhabilite  de  Farchiduc  aux  parties 
fondumentalles  du  manage.  Sur  quoy 
elle  projettait  une  dispense  a  Rome, 
mediation  par  le  roy,  durant  le  sejour 
de  Madame  la  Duchesse  de  Beaufort 
en  ceste  cour,  qui  ne  s'en  est  espargnee 
au  rapport.  Ce  que  j  e  dis  est  vrai  pour 

VOL,  «i,— 2 


la  caballe,  mais  j 'ignore  la  verit£  du 
faict  et  quand  tout  seroit  ainsi  on 
s'aveugle  trop  au  desir  de  croire  que  le 
Roy  d'Espagne  souffrist  ceste  alli 
ance,  &c." — Aerssens  to  Valck,  12 
June,  1600.  (Hague  Archives  MS.) 

27  ^"Le  Comte  de  Manderscheyd  a 
parle  assez  franchement  a  Monsieur  le 
Prince  Maurice,  comme  il  m'a  dit  des 
indispositions  ordinaires  de  la  cervelle 
de  1'Empereur,  du  peu  de  contente- 
ment  que  les  princes  soit  Catholiques 
soit  protestants  commencent  a  avoir  de 
luy  et  du  desirqu'ilsont  de  se  transferor 
1'empire  a  une  autre  maison  que  celle 

deAutriche Cela  nous  doit 

faire  un  peu  lever  les  oreilles  en  nous 
rendant  capable  de  grandes  choses." 
&c. — Buzanval  to  Villeroy,  25  June, 
1600.     (Lettres  de  Buzanval  in  the 
Royal  Library  of  the  Hague  MS.) 

28  "  L'archiduc   ....   qui  touche 
deja  du  doigt  a  1'election  du  Roy  des 
Remains. " — Vreede,  Negotiations  de 
Buzanval,  p.  281. 


594 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.       CHAP.  XXXVIL 


the  ink  was  scarcely  dry  with  which  Henry  had  signed  the 
treaty  of  amity  with  Madrid  and  Brussels. 

The  Queen  of  England,  on  the  other  hand — although  often 
listening  to  secret  agents  from  Brussels  and  Madrid  who 
offered  peace,  and  although  perfectly  aware  that  the  great 
object  of  Spain  in  securing  peace  with  England  was  to  be 
able  to  swoop  down  at  once  upon  the  republic,  thus  deprived 
of  any  allies — w  was  beside  herself  with  rage,  whenever  she 
suspected,  with  or  without  reason,  that  Brussels  or  Madrid 
had  been  sending  peace  emissaries  to  the  republic. 

"  Before  I  could  get  into  the  room,"  said  Caron,  on  one 
such  occasion,  "  she  called  out,  '  Have  you  not  always  told  me 
that  the  States  never  could,  would,  or  should  treat  for  peace 
with  the  enemy  ?  Yet  now  it  is  plain  enough  that  they  have 
proceeded  only  too  far  in  negotiations/  And  she  then  swore  a 
big  oath  that  if  the  States  were  to  deceive  her  she  meant  to 
take  such  vengeance  that  men  should  talk  of  it  for  ever  and 
ever."  It  was  a  long  time  before  the  envoy  could  induce  her 
to  listen  to  a  single  word,  although  the  perfect  sincerity  of  the 
States  in  their  attitude  to  the  queen  and  to  Spain  was  unques 
tionable,30  and  her  ill-humour  on  the  subject  continued  long 
after  it  had  been  demonstrated  how  much  she  had  been 
deceived. 

Yet  it  was  impossible  in  the  nature  of  things  for  the  States 
to  play  her  false,  even  if  no  reliance  were  to  be  placed  on  their 
sagacity  and  their  honour.  Even  the  recent  naval  expedi 
tion  of  the  republic  against  the  distant  possessions  of  Spain — 
which  in  its  result  had  caused  so  much  disappointment  to  the 
States,  and  cost  them  so  many  lives,  including  that  of  the 
noble  admiral  whom  every  sailor  in  the  Netherlands  adored 31 
• — had  been  of  immense  advantage  to  England.  The  queen 


89  "  Cette  paix  T Angleterre  vers 
laquelle  ny  1'Espagne  ny  Bruxelles  ne 
daigneroient  pas  tourner  les  yeux  si  ce 
n'estoit  pour  1'esperance  qu'on  leur 
donne  que  par  cette  ouverture  ils  en- 
treront  dans  ces  Provinces  Unies." 
—  Buzanval  to  Villeroy,  14  Nov. 
Vreede,  Negociations  de  Buzan 


val,  p.  315. 

30  Caron  to  the    States,  25    July, 
1600.     (Archives  of  the  Hague  MS.) 

31  "  Van  der  Does    .    .    .    adore  de 
cette    race  de    matelots   comme    un 
saint." — Negociations    de    Buzanval, 
p.  139. 


1600.  QUEEN  ELIZABETH  AND  ENVOY  CARON.  595 

acknowledged  that  the  Dutch  navy  had  averted  the  storm 
which  threatened  to  descend  upon  her  kingdom  out  of  Spain, 
the  Spanish  ships  destined-  for  the  coast  of  Ireland  having 
been  dispersed  and  drawn  to  the  other  side  of  the  world  by 
these  demonstrations  of  her  ally.  For  this  she  vowed  that 
she  would  be  eternally  grateful,  and  she  said  as  much  in 
"letters  full  of  sugar  and  honey" — according  to  the  French 
envoy — which  she  sent  to  the  States  by  Sir  Francis  Vere.32 
She  protested,  in  short,  that  she  had  been  better  and  more 
promptly  served  in  her  necessities  by  the  Netherlands  than 
by  her  own  subjects.33 

All  this  sugar  and  honey  however  did  not  make  the  mission 
of  Envoy  Edmonds  less  bitter  to  the  States.  They  heard  that 
he  was  going  about  through  half  the  cities  of  the  obedient 
Netherlands  in  a  sort  of  triumphal  procession,  and  it  was  the 
general  opinion  of  the  politicians  and  financiers  of  the  conti 
nent  that  peace  between  Spain  and  England  was  as  good  as 
made.  Naturally  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  exuberant 
expressions  of  gratitude  on  the  part  of  Elizabeth,  the  repub 
lican  Government  were  anxious  to  know  what  all  this  parleying 
meant.  They  could  not  believe  that  people  would  make  a 
raree-show  of  the  English  envoy  except  for  sufficient  reason.34 
Caron  accordingly  presented  himself  before  the  35  Jan. 
queen,  with  respectful  inquiries  on  the  subject.  He  160°- 
found  her  in  appearance  very  angry,  not  with  him,  but  with 
Edmonds,  from  whom  she  had  received  no  advices.  "  I  don't 
know  what  they  are  doing  with  him,"  said  her  Majesty,  "  I 
hear  from  others  that  they  are  ringing  the  church  bells  wher 
ever  he  goes,  and  that  they  have  carried  him  through  a  great 

32  Negotiations   de    Buzanval,  pp. 
331,  332. 


ainsi  a  remectre  leur  premier  dessein 
pour  Tan  prochain.     Sur  quoy  il  fut 


Ibid.  "  Ay  ant  iceulx  navires  commande  au  dit  Adelantado  de  se 
pris  1'isle  de  la  grande  Canarie  avecq  j  transporter  avec  le  plus  forte  de  la 
la  ville  et  chasteaux  d'  Mecq.  La  cour  !  flotte  vers  la  grande  Canarie  comme 
d'Espagne  en  apprint  la  nouvelle  au  j  aussi  sur  la  fin  du  mois  d'Aougst  il  a 
mois  de  Juillet  avecq  advis  que  les  cingle  vers  la  avecq  environ  cinquante 
notres  s'y  fortifioient  la  quelle  fit  j  navires  de  guerre,"  &c. — States-Gene- 
changer  au  conseil  d'Espagne  la  dite  j  ral  to  the  Queen,  17  Oct.  1599.  (Ar- 
resolution  et  trouver  bon  de  conserver  chives  of  the  Hague  MS.) 
le  leur  a  empecher  la  dite  fortification  !  M  Aerssens  to  Valck,  10  April,  1600. 
et  chasser  nos  navires  de  la  mer  et  par  :  (MS.  before  cited.) 


596 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVII. 


many  more  places  than  was  necessary.  I  suppose  that  they 
think  him  a  monster,  and  they  are  carrying  him  about  to 
exhibit  him.  All  this  is  done/'  she  continued,  "  to  throw  dust 
in  the  eyes  of  the  poor  people,  and  to  put  it  into  their  heads 
that  the  Queen  of  England  is  suing  for  peace,  which  is  very 
wide  of  the  mark."35 

She  further  observed  that,  as  the  agents  of  the  Spanish 
Government  had  been  perpetually  sending  to  her,  she  had 
been  inclined  once  for  all  to  learn  what  they  had  to  say. 
Thus  she  should  make  manifest  to  all  the  world  that  she  was 
not  averse  to  a  treaty  such  as  might  prove  a  secure  peace  for 
herself  and  for  Christendom  ;  otherwise  not. 

It  subsequently  appeared  that  what  they  had  to  say  was 
that  if  the  queen  would  give  up  to  the  Spanish  Government 
the  cautionary  towns  which  she  held  as  a  pledge  for  her 
advances  to  the  republic,  forbid  all  traffic  and  intercourse 
between  her  subjects  and  the  Netherlander,  and  thenceforth 
never  allow  an  Englishman  to  serve  in  or  with  the  armies  of 
the  States,  a  peace  might  be  made.36 

Surely  it  needed  no  great  magnanimity  on  the  queen's  part 
to  spurn  such  insulting  proposals,  the  offer  of  which  showed 
her  capable,  in  the  opinion  of  Verreycken,  the  man  who 
made  them,  of  sinking  into  the  very  depths  of  dishonour. 
And  she  did  spurn  them.  Surely,  for  the  ally,  the  protrectress, 
the  grateful  friend  of  the  republic,  to  give  its  chief  seaports 


36  "  Bevondt  wel  dat  sy  toornig  was 
dat  sy  van  hem  niet  verstaen  hadde 
seggende  ick  en  weet  niet  wat  zy  daer 
met  hem  mogen  maken.  Ick  verstae 
door  andere  dat  men  de  clocken  ge- 
luydt  heeft  daer  hy  gepasseert  is  ende 
dat  men  hem  door  meer  plaetsen  ge- 
voert  heeft  dan  daer  hy  passerenmoste. 
Ick  meene  seyde  H.  M.  dat  sy  meenen 
dat  het  een  monster  is  ende  dat  sy 
hem  willen  dragen  te  thoonen,  twelck 
al  gedaenwordt  soo  sy  seyde  omme  het 
arme  Volck  te  verblinden  ende  hen- 
lieden  wys  te  maken  dat  de  Conin- 
ginne  van  Engelhandt  henl.  tot  payse 
dede  versoncken  't  welck  soo  sy  seyde 
verre  van  huyse  was,"  &c. — Caron  to 


States-General,   26   Jan.   1600.      (Ar 
chives  of  the  Hague  MS.) 

36  "  Doch  seyde  alsoo  zy  den  voors. 
Edmonds  gelest  hadde  aldaer  opent- 
lyck  te  vertoonen,  dat  zy  niet  en 
meende  haer  Commissarien  te  senden 
tenwaere  zy  ezpresselyck  resileerden 
van  de  drie  puncten  die  Vereycken 
haer  voorgehouden  hadde.  U.  E, 
staet  endelandenraeckende,te  weeten, 
het  geven  van  de  cautionnaire  steden, 
in  henne  handen,  het  verbieden  van 
de  trafficque  ende  negotiatie  van  haere 
suhjecten  met  die  van  U.  E.  ende  dat 
dezelve  niet  souden  mogen  U.  E.  in 
de  oorlogte  dienen,"  &c. — Caron  to 
States-General,  12  April,  1600.  Ibid. 


1600.  PROPOSALS  OF  SPAIN  TO  ELIZABETH.  597 

to  its  arch-enemy,  to  shut  the  narrow  seas  against  its  ships, 
so  that  they  never  more  could  sail  westward,  and  to  abandon 
its  whole  population  to  their  fate,  would  be  a  deed  of  treachery 
such  as  history,  full  of  human  baseness  as  it  is,  has  rarely 
been  obliged  to  record. 

Before  these  propositions  had  been  made  by  Yerreycken 
Elizabeth  protested  that,  should  he  offer  them,  she  would  send 
him  home  with  such  an  answer  that  people  should  talk  of  it 
for  some  time  to  come.  "  Before  I  consent  to  a  single  one  of 
those  points,"  said  the  queen,  "  I  wish  myself  taken  from  this 
world.  Until  now  I  have  been  a  princess  of  my  word,  who 
would  rather  die  than  so  falsely  deceive  such  good  people  as 
the  States."'7  And  she  made  those  protestations  with  such 
expression  and  attitude  that  the  Dutch  envoy  believed  her 
incapable  at  that  moment  of  dissimulation.38 

Nevertheless  her  indignation  did  not  carry  her  so  far  as  to 
induce  her  to  break  off  the  negotiations.  The  answer  of 
which  mankind  was  to  talk  in  time  to  come  was  simply  that 
she  would  not  send  her  commissioners  to  treat  for  peace 
unless  the  Spanish  Government  should  recede  from  the  threq 
points  thus  offered  by  Yerreycken.39  This  certainly  was  not 
a  very  blasting  reply,  and  the  Spanish  agents  were  so  far 
from  losing  heart  in  consequence  that  the  informal  confer 
ences  continued  for  a  long  time,  much  to  the  discomfort  of 
the  Netherlander. 

For  more  than  an  hour  and  a  half  on  one  occasion  of  an 
uncommonly  hot  afternoon  in  April  did  Noel  de  Caron  argue 
with  her  Majesty  against  these  ill-boding  negotiations,  and 
ever  and  anon,  oppressed  by  the  heat  of  the  weather  and 
the  argument,  did  the  queen  wander  from  one  room  of  the 
palace  to  the  other  in  search  of  cool  air,  still  bidding 
the  envoy  follow  her  footsteps.  "  We  are  travelling  about 
like  pilgrims,"  said  Elizabeth;  "  but  what  is  life  but  a 
pilgrimage  ?  " 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  long  promenade  and  these  moral 

37  Caron  to  the  States,  22  Feb.  1600.     (Archives  of  the  Hague  MS.) 
»  Ibid.  39  Same  to  same,  12  April,  1600.— MS.  before  cited. 


598 


THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVII. 


reflections,  Caron  could  really  not  make  out  at  the  end  of  the 
interview  whether  or  no  she  intended  to  send  her  commis 
sioners.  At  last  he  asked  her  the  question  bluntly. 

"  Hallo  !  Hallo  !"  she  replied.  "  I  have  only  spoken  to  my 
servant  once,  and  I  must  obtain  more  information  and  think 
over  the  matter  before  I  decide.  Be  assured  however  that  I 
shall  always  keep  you  informed  of  the  progress  of  the  nego 
tiations,  and  do  you  inform  the  States  that  they  may  build 
upon  me  as  upon  a  rock."40 

After  the  envoy  had  taken  his  leave,  the  queen  said  to 
him  in  Latin,  "  Modicce  fidei  quare  dubitasti  ?  " 4l  Caron  had 
however  so  nearly  got  out  of  the  door  that  he  did  not  hear 
this  admonition. 

JThis  the  queen  perceived,  and  calling  him  by  name  re 
peated,  "  0  Caron  !  modicce  fidei  quare  dubitasti  ?  "  adding 
the  injunction  that  he  should  remember  this  dictum,  for  he 
well  knew  what  she  meant  by  it.42 

Thus  terminated  the  interview,  while  the  negotiations  with 
Spain,  not  for  lack  of  good- will  on  her  part,  and  despite  the 
positive  assertions  to  the  contrary  of  Buzanval  and  other 
foreign  agents,  were  destined  to  come  to  nothing. 

At  a  little  later  period,  at  the  time  of  certain  informal  and 
secret  conferences  at  Grertruydenberg,  the  queen  threatened 
the  envoy  with  her  severest  displeasure,  should  the  States 
dare  to  treat  with  Spain  without  her  permission.  "  Her 
Majesty  called  out  to  me,"  said  Caron,  "  as  soon  as  I  entered 
the  room,  that  I  had  always  assured  her  that  the  States 
neither  would  nor  could  make  peace  with  the  enemy.  Yet  it 
was  now  looking  very  differently,  she  continued,  swearing 
with  a  mighty  oath  that  if  the  States  should  cheat  her  in  that 
way  she  meant  to  revenge  herself  in  such  a  fashion  that  men 
would  talk  of  it  through  all  eternity.43 


40  Caron  to  States-General,  12  April, 
1600.— MS.  before  cited.  "  Maer  zy 
antwoorde  my  terstondt  hola,  hola, 
ick  en  hebbe  mynen  dienaer  noch  maer 
eens  gesproken  ende  my  daerop  noch 
anders  informeren  ende  beraden,  docli 
zyt  veraefcert  dat  let;  altyts  in  'tnaerder 


progres  sal  doen  verstaen  ende  ver- 
sekert  oock  de  Staten  dat  zy  op  my 
mogen  gronden  als  op  een  roc  dien 
henlieden  nemmer  en  sal  failleren." 

41  Ibid.  42  Ibid. 

43  Caron's  Despatch,  in  Van  Deven- 
tw,  ii.  389, 


1600.  UNCERTAIN  STATE  OF  AFFAIR.  599 

The  French  Government  was  in  a  similar  state  of  alarm  in 
consequence  of  the  Gertruydenberg  conferences.44 

The  envoy  of  the  archdukes,  Marquis  d'Havre,  reported  on 
the  other  hand  that  all  attempts  to  negotiate  had  proved 
fruitless,  that  Olden-Barneveld,  who  spoke  for  all  his  col 
leagues,  was  swollen  with  pride,  and  made  it  but  too  manifest 
that  the  States  had  no  intention  to  submit  to  any  foreign 
jurisdiction,  but  were  resolved  to  maintain  themselves  in 
the  form  of  a  republic.45 

44  Caron's  Despatches,  in  Van  Deventer,  ii.  289.     Aerssens'  Despatch 
^  Ibid.     Havre  to  the  Archduke. 


NOTE.— Page  107.    107, 108  notes.    Page  386,  lines  6,  7. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  officer  mortally  wounded  at  the  taking  of 
Cadiz,  2nd  July,  1596,  bears  in  the  text  (iii.  386)  the  same  name- 
Nicolas  Meetkerke — with  that  of  the  Colonel  killed  at  the  capture 
of  Deventer,  10th  June,  1591  (iii.  107).  Meteren,  B.  xvi  and  xviii, 
fol.  333,  and  388,  389,  and  other  contemporary  authorities,  state  the 
fact  without  comment  on  the  identity  of  name.  It  is  possible,  how 
ever,  that  the  Meetkerke  killed  at  Cadiz  was  one  of  the  remaining 
eons  of  the  President  of  Flanders,  and  that  his  Christian  name  was 
Baldwin  or  Adolph. 


END   OF   VOL.  III. 


HISTORY    OF    THE 
UNITED    NETHERLANDS 

BOOK    IV 


.Maerevelt  piux.it. 


PRINCE  MAURICE  OF  ORANGE-NASSAU. 
"Tandem  fit  surculus  arbor." 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 


Military  events  —  Aggressive  movement  of  the  Netherlander  —  State  of  th* 
Archduke  s  provinces  —  Mutiny  of  the  Spanish  forces  —  Proposed  invasion 
of  Flanders  by  the  States-General  —  Disembarkation  of  the  troops  on  th« 
Spanish  coasts — Capture  of  Oudenburg  and  other  places  —  Surprise  of 
Nieuport  —  Conduct  of  the  Archduke  —  Oudenburg  and  the  other  forts 
re-taken  —  Dilemma  of  the  States'  army  —  Attack  of  the  Archduke  on 
Count  Ernest's  cavalry  —  Panic  and  total  overthrow  of  the  advance-guard 
of  the  States'  army — Battle  of  Nieuport — Details  of  the  action  —  Defeat 
of  the  Spanish  army  —  Results  of  the  whole  expedition. 

THE  effect  produced  in  the  republic  by  the  defensive  and  un 
eventful  campaigning  of  the  year  1599  had  naturally  been 
depressing.  There  was  murmuring  at  the  vast  amount  of 
taxation,  especially  at  the  new  imposition  of  one-half  per 
cent,  upon  all  property,  and  two-and-a-half  per  cent,  on  all 
sales,  which  seemed  to  produce  so  few  results.  The  success 
ful  protection  of  the  Isle  of  Bommel  and  the  judicious  pur 
chase  of  the  two  forts  of  Crevecceur  and  St.  Andrew,  early  in 
the  following  year,  together  with  their  garrisons,  were  not 
military  events  of  the  first  magnitude,  and  were  hardly 
enough  to  efface  the  mortification  felt  at  the  fact  that  the 
enemy  had  been  able  so  lately  to  construct  one  of  those 
strongholds  within  the  territory  of  the  commonwealth. 

It  was  now  secretly  determined  to  attempt  an  aggressive 
movement  on  a  considerable  scale,  and  to  carry  the  war  once 
for  all  into  the  heart  of  the  obedient  provinces.  It  was  from 
Flanders  that  the  Spanish  armies  drew  a  great  portion  of 
their  supplies.  It  was  by  the  forts  erected  on  the  coast  of 

VOL.  iv. — B 


2  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVIIL 

Flanders  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ostend  that  this  important 
possession  of  the  States  was  rendered  nearly  valueless.  It 
was  by  privateers  swarming  from  the  ports  of  Flanders, 
especially  from  Nieuport  and  Dunkirk,  that  the  foreign  trade 
of  the  republic  was  crippled,  and  its  intercommunications  by 
river  and  estuary  rendered  unsafe.  Dunkirk  was  simply  a 
robbers'  cave,  a  station  from  which  an  annual  tax  was  levied 
upon  the  commerce  of  the  Netherlands,  almost  sufficient, 
had  it  been  paid  to  the  national  treasury  instead  of.  to  the 
foreign  freebooters,  to  support  the  expenses  of  a  considerable 
army. 

On  the  other  hand  the  condition  of  the  archdukes  seemed 
deplorable.  Never  had  mutiny  existed  before  in  so  well- 
organised  and  definite  a  form  even  in  the  Spanish  Nether 
lands. 

Besides  those  branches  of  the  "Italian  republic,"  which 
had  been  established  in  the  two  fortresses  of  Crevecoaur  and 
St.  Andrew,  and  which  had  already  sold  themselves  to  the 
States,  other  organisations  quite  as  formidable  existed  in 
various  other  portions  of  the  obedient  provinces.  Especially 
at  Diest  and  Thionville  the  rebellious  Spaniards  and  Italians 
were  numbered  by  thousands,  all  veterans,  well  armed,  forti 
fied  in  strong  cities,  and  supplying  themselves  with  perfect 
regularity  by  contributions  levied  upon  the  peasantry,  obey 
ing  their  Eletto  and  other  officers  with  exemplary  promptness, 
and  paying  no  more  heed  to  the  edicts  or  the  solicitations  of 
the  archduke  than  if  he  had  been  the  Duke  of  Muscovy. 

The  opportunity  seemed  tempting  to  strike  a  great  blow. 
How  could  Albert  and  Isabella,  with  an  empty  exchequer  and 
a  mutinous  army,  hope  either  to  defend  their  soil  from  attack 
or  to  aim  a  counter  blow  at  the  republic,  even  if  the  republic 
for  a  season  should  be  deprived  of  a  portion  of  its  defenders  ? 

The  reasoning  was  plausible,  the  prize  tempting.  The 
States-General,  who  habitually  discountenanced  rashness, 
and  were  wont  to  impose  superfluous  restraints  upon  the 
valiant  but  discreet  Lewis  William,  and  upon  the  deeply 
pondering  but  energetic  Maurice,  were  now  grown  as  ardent 


1600.  PROPOSED  INVASION  OF  FLANDERS.  3 

as  they  had  hitherto  been  hesitating.  In  the  early  days  of 
June  it  was  determined  in  secret  session  to  organize  a  great 
force  in  Holland  and  Zeeland,  and  to  embark  suddenly  for 
Nieuport,  to  carry  that  important  position  by  surprise  or 
assault,  and  from  that  basis  to  redeem  Dunkirk.  The  pos 
session  of  these  two  cities,  besides  that  of  Ostend,  which  had 
always  been  retained  by  the  Republic,  would  ensure  the 
complete  subjugation  of  Flanders.  The  trifling  force  of 
two  thousand  men  under  Eivas — all  that  the  archduke  then 
had  in  that  province — and  the  sconces  and  earthworks 
which  had  been  constructed  around  Ostend  to  impede  the 
movements  and  obstruct  the  supplies  of  the  garrison,  would 
be  utterly  powerless  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  the  plan. 
Flanders  once  subjugated,  it  would  not  be  long  before  the 
Spaniards  were  swept  from  the  obedient  Netherlands  as 
thoroughly  as  they  had  been  from  the  domains  of  the  com 
monwealth,  and  all  the  seventeen  provinces,  trampling  out 
every  vestige  of  a  hated  foreign  tyranny,  would  soon  take  their 
natural  place  as  states  of  a  free,  prosperous,  and  powerful 
union. 

But  Maurice  of  Nassau  did  not  share  the  convictions  of  the 
States-General.  The  unwonted  ardour  of  Barneveld  did  not 
inflame  his  imagination.  He  urged  that  the  enterprise  was 
inexcusably  rash  ;  that  its  execution  would  require  the  whole 
army  of  the  States,  except  the  slender  garrisons  absolutely 
necessary  to  protect  important  places  from  surprise  ;  that 
a  defeat  would  not  be  simply  disaster,  but  annihilation  ; 
that  retreat  without  absolute  triumph  would  be  impossible, 
and  that  amid  such  circumstances  the  archduke,  in  spite  of 
his  poverty  and  the  rebellious  condition  of  his  troops,  would 
doubtless  assemble  a  sufficient  force  to  dispute  with  reasonable 
prospects  of  victory,  this  invasion  of  his  territory. 

Sir  Francis  Vere,  too,  was  most  decidedly  opposed  to  the 
plan.  He  pointed  out  with  great  clearness  its  dangerous  and 
possibly  fatal  character ;  assuring  the  States  that,  within  a 
fortnight  after  the  expedition  had  begun,  the  archduke  would 
follow  upon  their  heels  with  an  army  fully  able  to  cope  with 


4  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVIIL 

the  best  which  they  could  put  into  the  field.  But  besides  this 
experienced  and  able  campaigner,  who  so  thoroughly  shared 
the  opinions  of  Prince  Maurice,  every  military  man  in  the 
provinces  of  any  consideration  was  opposed  to  the  scheme. 
Especially  Lewis  William,  than  whom  no  more  sagacious 
military  critic  or  accomplished  strategist  existed  in  Europe, 
denounced  it  with  energy  and  even  with  indignation.  It  was, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  young  stadholder  of  Friesland,  to  suspend 
the  existence  of  the  whole  commonwealth  upon  a  silken 
thread.  Even  success,  he  prophesied,  would  bring  no  per 
manent  fruits,  while  the  consequences  of  an  overthrow  were 
fearful  to  contemplate.  The  immediate  adherents  and  most 
trusted  counsellors  of  William  Lewis  were  even  more  un 
measured  in  their  denunciations  than  he  was  himself.  "  'Tis 
all  the  work  of  Barneveld  and  the  long-gowns/'  cried  Everard 
van  Reyd.  "  We  are  led  into  a  sack  from  which  there  is  no 
extrication.  We  are  marching  to  the  Caudine  Forks. 

Certainly  it  is  no  small  indication  of  the  vast  influence  and 
the  indomitable  resolution  of  Barneveld  that  he  never  faltered 
in  this  storm  of  indignation.  The  Advocate  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  invade  Flanders  and  to  capture  Nieuport,  and 
the  decree  accordingly  went  forth,  despite  all  opposition. 
The  States-General  were  sovereign,  and  the  Advocate  and 
the  States-General  were  one. 

It  was  also  entirely  characteristic  of  Maurice  that  he  should 
submit  his  judgment  on  this  great  emergency  to  that  of 
Olden-Barneveld.  It  was  difficult  for  him  to  resist  the 
influence"  of  the  great  intellect  to  which  he  had  always 
willingly  deferred  in  affairs  of  state,  and  from  which,  even  in 
military  matters,  it  was  hardly  possible  for  him  to  escape. 
Yet  in  military  matters  Maurice  was  a  consummate  professor, 
and  the  Advocate  in  comparison  but  a  school-boy. 

The  ascendency  of  Barneveld  was  the  less  wholesome, 
therefore,  and  it  might  have  been  better  had  the  stadholder 
manifested  more  resolution.  But  Maurice  had  not  a  resolute 
character.  Thorough  soldier  as  he  was,  he  was  singularly 
vacillating,  at  times  almost  infirm  of  purpose,  but  never  before 


1600. 


MILITARY  PREPARATIONS 


in  his  career  had  this  want  of  decision  manifested  itself  in  so 
striking  a  manner.1 

Accordingly  the  States-General,  or  in  other  words  John  of 
Olden-Barneveld,  proposed  to  invade  Flanders,  and  lay  siege 
to  Nieuport.2  The  States-General  were  sovereign,  and  Maurice 
bowed  to  their  authority.  After  the  matter  had  been  entirely 
decided  upon  the  state-council  was  consulted,  and  the  state- 
council  attempted  no  opposition  to  the  project.  The  prepara 
tions  were  made  with  matchless  energy  and  extraordinary 
secrecy.  Lewis  William,  who  meanwhile  was  to  defend  the 
eastern  frontier  of  the  republic  against  any  possible  attack, 
sent  all  the  troops  that  it  was  possible  to  spare,  but  he  sent 
them  with  a  heavy  heart.  His  forebodings  were  dismal.  It 
seemed  to  him  that  all  was  about  to  be  staked  upon  a  single 
cast  of  the  dice.  Moreover  it  was  painful  to  him  while  the 
terrible  game  was  playing  to  be  merely  a  looker  on  and  a 
prophet  of  evil  from  a  distance,  forbidden  to  contribute  by 
his  personal  skill  and  experience  to  a  fortunate  result. 
Hohenlo  too  was  appointed  to  protect  the  southern  border, 
and  was  excluded  from  all  participation  in  the  great  expe 
dition. 

As  to  the  enemy,  such  rumors  as  might  come  to  them 
from  day  to  day  of  mysterious  military  preparations  on  the 
part  of  the  rebels  only  served  to  excite  suspicion  in  other 
directions.  The  archduke  was  uneasy  in  regard  to  the  Rhine 
and  the  Gueldrian  quarter,  but  never  dreamt  of  a  hostile 
descent  upon  the  Flemish  coast. 


1  "  Un  gleich  wie  seiner  Exc.  man- 
heit  und  gute  ordnung  zu  loben  1st," 
says,  with  some  bitterness,that  devoted 
adherent  of  the  Nassaus,  Van  Reid, 
"so  konnen  sie   nit  allerdings    ent- 
schuldigt  werden  das  sie  sich  lieber 
uf  importunitet  kriegsonerfarner  leiit 
in  solche  extremitet  gestellet  als  mit 
Fabio  dieselbe  Verachten  wollen  und 
das  er  nit  geantwort :  malo  prudens 
hostis  me  metuat   quatn  stulti  cives 
laudent." — Groen  v.  Prinst.,  Archives 
II.  Serie  ii.  15. 

2  "  Le     Prince    Maurice    n'a    pas 
manque  de  remontrer  un  plus  asseure 


chemin  pour  jetter  la  guerre  dans  le 
dit  pays  de  Flandres  et  y  prendre  un 
pied  qui  les  pourroit  conduire  peu  a 
peu  au  but  tant  desire.  Mais  ces  Mes 
sieurs  comme  ennuyez  de  vivre  en 
1'etat  incertain  auquel  ils  se  voyent 
reduits  par  les  apprehensions  et  d'An- 
gleterre  et  de  notre  France  mesme 
ayment  mieux  hazarder  ce  coup'de  de 
cependant  ils  se  voyent  de  belles  forces 
en  main  et  celles  de  leur  ennemi 
affoiblies,"  &c. — Buzanval  to  Villeroy, 
18  June,  1600.  (Royal  Library  of  the 
Hague  MS.) 


6  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVII. 

Meantime,  on  the  19th  June  Maurice  of  Nassau  made  his 
appearance  at  Castle  Rammekens,  not  far  from  Flushing,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Scheld,  to  superintend  the  great  movement. 
So  large  a  fleet  as  was  there  assembled  had  never  before  been 
seen  or  heard  of  in  Christendom.  Of  war-ships,  transports, 
and  flat-bottomed  barges  there  were  at  least  thirteen  hun 
dred.  Many  eye-witnesses,  who  counted  however  with  their 
imaginations,  declared  that  there  were  in  all  at  least  three 
thousand  vessels,  and  the  statement  has  been  reproduced  by- 
grave  and  trustworthy  chroniclers.  As  the  number  of  troops 
to  be  embarked  upon  the  enterprise  certainly  did  not  exceed 
fourteen  thousand,  this  would  have  been  an  allowance  of  one 
vessel  to  every  five  soldiers,  besides  the  army  munitions  and 
provisions — a  hardly  reasonable  arrangement. 

Twelve  thousand  infantry  and  sixteen  hundred  cavalry, 
the  consummate  flower  of  the  States'  army,  all  well-paid, 
well-clad,  well-armed,  well-disciplined  veterans,  had  been 
collected  in  this  place  of  rendezvous  and  were  ready  to 
embark.  It  would  be  unjust  to  compare  the  dimensions 
of  this  force  and  the  preparations  for  ensuring  the  success  of 
the  enterprise  with  the  vast  expeditions  and  gigantic  arma 
ments  of  later  times,  especially  with  the  tremendous  exhibi 
tions  of  military  and  naval  energy  with  which  our  own  civil 
war  has  made  us  familiar.  Maurice  was  an  adept  in  all  that 
science  and  art  had  as  yet  bequeathed  to  humanity  for  the 
purpose  of  human  destruction,  but  the  number  of  his  troops 
was  small  compared  to  the  mighty  hosts  which  the  world 
since  those  days  has  seen  embattled.  War,  as  a  trade,  was 
then  less  easily  learned.  It  was  a  guild  in  which  apprentice 
ship  was  difficult,  and  in  which  enrolment  was  usually  for  life. 
A  little  republic  of  scarce  three  million  souls,  which  could 
keep  always  on  foot  a  regular  well-appointed  army  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  men  and  a  navy  of  one  or  two  hundred  heavily 
armed  cruisers,  was  both  a  marvel  and  a  formidable  element 
in  the  general  polity  of  the  world.  The  lesson  to  be  derived 
both  in  military  and  political  philosophy  from  the  famous 
campaign  of  Nieuport  does  not  depend  for  its  value  on  tbs 


1600.  ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  FLEET  AND  ARMY.  7 

numbers  of  the  ships  or  soldiers  engaged  in  the  undertaking. 
Otherwise,  and  had  it  been  merely  a  military  expedition  like 
a  thousand  others  which  have  been  made  and  forgotten^  it 
would  not  now  deserve  more  than  a  momentary  attention. 
But  the  circumstances  were  such  as  to  make  the  issue  of  the 
impending  battle  one  of  the  most  important  in  human  history. 
It  was  entirely  possible  that  an  overwhelming  defeat  of  the 
republican  forces  on  this  foreign  expedition  would  bring  with 
it  an  absolute  destruction  of  the  republic,  and  place  Spain 
once  more  in  possession  of  the  heretic  "  islands,"  from  which 
basis  she  would  menace  the  very  existence  of  England  more 
seriously  than  she  had  ever  done  before.  Who  could  measure 
the  consequences  to  Christendom  of  such  a  catastrophe  ? 

The  distance  from  the  place  where  the  fleet  and  army  were 
assembled  to  Nieuport — the  objective  point  of  the  enterprise 
— was  but  thirty-five  miles  as  the  crow  flies.  And  the  crow 
can  scarcely  fly  in  a  straighter  line  than  that  described  by 
the  coast  along  which  the  ships  were  to  shape  their  course. 
And  here  it  is  again  impossible  not  to  reflect  upon  the  change 
which  physical  science  has  brought  over  the  conduct  of 
human  affairs.  We  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter  a  most 
important  embassy  sent  forth  from  the  States  for  the  purpose 
of  preventing  the  consummation  of  a  peace  between  their 
ally  and  their  enemy.  Celerity  was-  a  vital  element  in  the 
success  of  such  a  mission  ;  for  the  secret  negotiations  which 
it  was  intended  to  impede  were  supposed  to  be  near  their 
termination.  Yet  months  were  consumed  in  a  journey 
which  in  our  day  would  have  been  accomplished  in 
twenty-four  hours.  And  now  in  this  great  military  ex 
pedition  the  essential  and  immediate  purpose  was  to  sur 
prise  a  small  town  almost  within  sight  from  the  station  at 
which  the  army  was  ready  to  embark.  Such  a  midsummer 
voyage  in  this  epoch  of  steam-tugs  and  transports  would 
require  but  a  few  hours.  Yet  two  days  long  the  fleet  lay  at 
anchor  while  a  gentle  breeze  blew  persistently  from  the 
south-west.  As  there  seemed  but  little  hope  that  the  wind 
would  become  more  favourable,  and  as  the  possibility  of  sur- 


8  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVIIL 

prise  grew  fainter  with  every  day's  delay,  it  was  decided  to 
make  a  landing  upon  the  nearest  point  of  Flemish  coast 
placed  by  circumstances  within  their  reach.  Count  Ernest 
of  Nassau,  -vvith  the  advance-guard,  was  accordingly  des 
patched  on  the  21st  June  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Sas  of 
Ghent,  where  he  seized  a  weakly  guarded  fort,  called  Philip 
pine,  and  made  thorough  preparations  for  the  arrival  of  the 
whole  army.  On  the  following  day  the  rest  of  the 
troops  made  their  appearance,  and  in  the  course  of 
five  hours  were  safely  disembarked. 

The  army,  which  consisted  of  Zeelanders,  Frisians,  Hol 
landers,  Walloons,  Germans,  English,  and  Scotch,  was  divided 
into  three  corps.  The  advance  was  under  the  command  of 
Count  Ernest,  the  battalia  under  that  of  Count  George 
Everard  Solms,  while  the  rear-guard  during  the  march  was 
entrusted  to  that  experienced  soldier  Sir  Francis  Vere. 
Besides  Prince  Maurice,  there  were  three  other  members  of 
the  house  of  Nassau  serving  in  the  expedition — his  half- 
brother  Frederic  Henry,  then  a  lad  of  sixteen,  and  the  two 
brothers  of  the  Frisian  stadholder,  Ernest  and  Lewis  Gunther, 
whom  Lewis  William  had  been  so  faithfully  educating  in  the 
arts  of  peace  and  war  both  by  precept  and  example.  Lewis 
Gunther,  still  a  mere  youth,  but  who  had  been  the  first  to 
scale  the  fort  of  Cadiz,  and  to  plant  on  its  height  the  orange 
banner  of  the  murdered  rebel,  and  whose  gallantry  during 
tho  whole  expedition  had  called  forth  the  special  commen 
dations  of  Queen  Elizabeth — expressed  in  energetic  and 
affectionate  terms  to  his  father — now  commanded  all  the 
cavalry.  Certainly  if  the  doctrine  of  primordial  selection 
could  ever  be  accepted,  among  human  creatures,  the  race  of 
Nassau  at  that  day  might  have  seemed  destined  to  be  chiefs 
of  the  Netherland  soil.  Old  John  of  Nassau,  ardent  and 
energetic  as  ever  in  the  cause  of  the  religious  reformation  of 
Germany  and  the  liberation  of  Holland,  still  watched  from 
his  retirement  the  progress  of  the  momentous  event.  Four 
of  his  brethren,  including  the  great  founder  of  the  republic, 
had  already  laid  down  their  lives  for  the  sacred  cause.  His 


1600.  COMMENCEMENT   OF  THE  MARCH.  9 

son  Philip  had  already  fallen  under  the  banner  in  the  fight 
of  Bislich,  and  three  other  sons  were  serving  the  republic 
day  and  night,  by  sea  and  land,  with  sword,  and  pen,  and 
purse,  energetically,  conscientiously,  and  honourably.  Of 
the  stout  hearts  and  quick  intellects  on  which  the  safety  of  the 
commonwealth  then  depended,  none  was  more  efficient  or  true 
than  the  accomplished  soldier  and  statesman  Lewis  William. 
Thoroughly  disapproving  of  the  present  invasion  of  Flanders, 
he  was  exerting  himself,  now  that  it  had  been  decided  upon 
by  his  sovereigns  the  States-Generals,  with  the  same  loyalty  as 
that  of  Maurice,  to  bring  it  to  a  favourable  issue,  although 
not  personally  engaged  in  the  adventure. 

So  soon  as  the  troops  had  been  landed  the  vessels  were 
sent  off  as  expeditiously  as  possible,  that  none  might  fall  into 
the  enemy's  hands  ;  the  transports  under  a  strong  convoy  of 
war-ships  having  been  directed  to  proceed  as  fast  as  the  wind 
would  permit  in  the  direction  of  Nieuport.  The  march  then 
began.  On  the  23rd  they  advanced  a  league  and  halted  for 
the  night  at  Assenede.  The  next  day  brought  them  three 
leagues  further,  to  a  place  called  Eckerloo.  On  the  25th  they 
marched  to  Male,  a  distance  of  three  leagues  and  a  half, 
passing  close  to  the  walls  of  Bruges,  in  which  they  had  in 
dulged  faint  hopes  of  exciting  an  insurrection,  but  obtained 
nothing  but  a  feeble  cannonade  from  the  fortifications  which 
did  no  damage  except  the  killing  of  one  muleteer.  The  next 
night  was  passed  at  Jabbeke,  four  leagues  from  Male,  and  on 
the  27th,  after  marching  another  league,  they  came  before 
the  fort  of  Oudenburg. 

This  important  post  on  the  road  which  the  army  would 
necessarily  traverse  in  coming  from  the  interior  to  the  coast 
was  easily  captured  and  then  strongly  garrisoned.  Maurice 
with  the  main  army  spent  the  two  following  days  at  the  for 
tress,  completing  his  arrangements.  Solms  was  sent  forward 
to  seize  the  sconces  and  redoubts  of  the  enemy  around  Ostend, 
at  Breedene,  Snaaskerk,  Plassendaal,  and  other  points,  and 
especially  to  occupy  the  important  fort  called  St.  Albert, 
which  was  in  the  downs  at  about  a  league  from  that  city.  All 


10  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

this  work  was  thoroughly  accomplished  ;  little  or  no  resist 
ance  having  been  made  to  the  occupation  of  these  various 
places.  Meantime  the  States-General,  who  at  the  special 
request  of  Maurice  were  to  accompany  the  expedition  in  order 
to  observe  the  progress  of  events  for  which  they  were  entirely 
responsible,  and  to  aid  the  army  when  necessary  by  their 
advice  and  co-operation,  had  assembled  to  the  number  of 
thirteen  in  Ostend.  Solms  having  strengthened  the  garrison 
of  that  place  then  took  up  his  march  along  the  beach  to 
Nieuport.  During  the  progress  of  the  army  through  Holland 
and  Zeeland  towards  its  place  of  embarkation  there  had  been 
nothing  but  dismal  prognostics,  with  expressions  of  mut 
tered  indignation,  wherever  the  soldiers  passed.  It  seemed 
to  the  country  people,  and  to  the  inhabitants  of  every  town 
and  village,  that  their  defenders  were  going  to  certain  de 
struction  ;  that  the  existence  of  the  commonwealth  was 
hanging  by  a  thread  soon  to  be  snapped  asunder.  As  the 
forces  subsequently  marched  from  the  Sas  of  Ghent  towards 
the  Flemish  coast  there  was  no  rising  of  the  people  in  their 
favour,  and  although  Maurice  had  issued  distinct  orders  that 
the  peasantry  were  to  be  dealt  with  gently  and  justly,  yet 
they  found  neither  peasants  nor  villagers  to  deal  with  at  all. 
The  whole  population  on  their  line  of  march  had  betaken 
themselves  to  the  woods,  except  the  village  sexton  of  Jabbeke 
and  his  wife,  who  were  too  old  to  run.  Lurking  in  the 
thickets  and  marshes,  the  peasants  fell  upon  all  stragglers 
from  the  army  and  murdered  them  without  mercy — so  diffi 
cult  is  it  in  times  of  civil  war  to  make  human  brains  pervious 
to  the  light  of  reason.  The  stadholder  and  his  soldiers  came 
to  liberate  their  brethren  of  the  same  race,  and  speaking 
the  same  language,  from  abject  submission  to  a  foreign 
despotism.  The  Flemings  had  but  to  speak  a  word,  to  lift  a 
finger,  and  all  the  Netherlands,  self-governed,  would  coalesce 
into  one  independent  confederation  of  States,  strong  enough 
to  defy  all  the  despots  of  Europe.  Alas  !  the  benighted 
victims  of  superstition  hugged  their  chains,  and  preferred  the 
tyranny  under  which  their  kindred  had  been  tortured,  burned, 


1600.  ARRIVAL  BEFORE  NIEUPORT.  11 

and  buried  alive  for  half-a-century  long,  to  the  possibility  of 
a  single  Calvinistic  conventicle  being  opened  in  any  village  of 
obedient  Flanders.  So  these  excellent  children  of  Philip  and 
the  pope,  whose  language  was  as  unintelligible  to  them  as  it 
was  to  Peruvians  or  Iroquois,  lay  in  wait  for  the  men  who 
spoke  their  own  mother  tongue,  and  whose  veins  were  filled 
with  their  own  blood,  and  murdered  them,  as  a  sacred  act  of 
duty.  Retaliation  followed  as  a  matter  of  course,  so  that  the 
invasion  of  Flanders,  in  this  early  stage  of  its  progress, 
seemed  not  likely  to  call  forth  very  fraternal  feelings  between 
the  two  families  of  Netherlander. 

The  army  was  in  the  main  admirably  well  supplied,  but 
there  was  a  deficiency  of  drink.  The  water  as  they  advanced 
became  brackish  and  intolerably  bad,  and  there  was  great 
difficulty  in  procuring  any  substitute.  At  Male  three  cows 
were  given  for  a  pot  of  beer,  and  more  of  that  refreshment 
might  have  been  sold  at  the  same  price,  had  there  been  any 
sellers. 

On  the  30th  June  Maurice  marched  from  Oudenburg,  in 
tending  to  strike  a  point  called  Niewendam — a  fort  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Nieuport — and  so  to  march  along  the  walls 
of  that  city  and  take  up  his  position  immediately  in  its  front. 
He  found  the  ground,  however,  so  marshy  and  impracticable 
as  he  advanced,  that  he  was  obliged  to  countermarch,  and  to 
spend  that  night  on  the  downs  between  forts  Isabella  and 
St.  Albert. 

On   the    1st   July  he  resumed  his  march,  and  passing  a 
bridge  over  a  small  stream  at  a  place  called  Lenin- 
gen,  laying  down  a  road  as  he  went  with  sods  and 
sand,*  and  throwing  bridges  over  streams   and  swamps,  he 
arrived  in  the  forenoon  before    Nieuport.      The  fleet  had 
reached  the  roadstead  the  same  morning. 

This  was  a  strong,  well-built,  and  well-fortified  little  city, 
situate  half-a-league  from  the  sea  coast  on  low,  plashy  ground. 
At  high  water  it  was  a  seaport,  for  a  stream  or  creek  of  very 
insignificant  dimensions  was  then  sufficiently  filled  by  the 
tide  to  admit  vessels  of  considerable  burthen.  This  haven 


12  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.       CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

was  immediately  taken  possession  of  by  the  stadholder,  and 
two- thirds  of  his  army  were  thrown  across  to  the  western  side 
of  the  water,  the  troops  remaining  on  the  Ostend  side  being 
by  a  change  of  arrangement  now  under  command  of  Count 
Ernest. 

Thus  the  army  which  had  come  to  surprise  Nieuport  had, 
after  accomplishing  a  distance  of  nearly  forty  miles  in 
thirteen  days,  at  last  arrived  before  that  place.  Yet  there 
was  no  more  expeditious  or  energetic  commander  in  Chris 
tendom  than  Maurice,  nor  troops  better  trained  in  marching 
and  fighting  than  his  well-disciplined  army. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  cast  a  glance  towards  the  interior  of 
Flanders,  in  order  to  observe  how  the  archduke  conducted 
himself  in  this  emergency.  So  soon  as  the  news  of  the  land 
ing  of  the  States'  army  at  the  port  of  Ghent  reached  the 
sovereign's  ears,  he  awoke  from  the  delusion  that  danger  was 
impending  on  his  eastern  border,  and  lost  no  time  in  assem 
bling  such  troops  as  could  be  mustered  from  far  and  near 
to  protect  the  western  frontier.  Especially  he  despatched 
messengers  well  charged  with  promises,  to  confer  with  the 
authorities  of  the  "  Italian  Republic "  at  Diest  and  Thion- 
ville.  He  appealed  to  them  in  behalf  of  the  holy  Catholic 
religion,  he  sought  to  arouse  their  loyalty  to  himself  and 
the  Infanta  Isabella — daughter  of  the  great  and  good 
Philip  II.,  once  foremost  of  earthly  potentates,  and  now 
eminent  among  the  saints  of  heaven — by  whose  fiat  he  and 
his  wife  had  now  become  legitimate  sovereigns  of  all  the 
Netherlands.  And  those  mutineers  responded  with  unex 
pected  docility.  Eight  hundred  foot  soldiers  and  six  hundred 
cavalry  men  came  forth  at  the  first  summons,  making  but 
two  conditions  in  addition  to  the  stipulated  payment  when 
payment  should  be  possible — that  they  should  be  commanded 
by  their  own  chosen  officers,  and  that  they  should  be  placed 
in  the  first  rank  in  the  impending  conflict.  The  example 
spread.  Other  detachments  of  mutineers  in  various  strong 
holds,  scenting  the  battle  from  afar,  came  in  with  offers  to 
serve  in  the  campaign  on  similar  terms.  Before  the  last  week 


1600.  HARANGUE  OF   THE  ARCHDUKES.  13 

of  June  the  archduke  had  a  considerable  army  on  foot.  On 
the  29th  of  that  month,  accompanied  by  the  Infanta,  39  j^e, 
he  reviewed  a  force  of  ten  thousand  foot  and  nearly  160°- 
two  thousand  cavalry  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Ghent. 
He  addressed  them  in  a  few  stirring  words,  reminding  them 
of  their  duty  to  the  Church  and  to  himself,  and  assuring 
them — as  commanders  of  every  nation  and  every  age  are 
wont  to  assure  their  troops  at  the  eve  of  every  engagement — 
that  the  cause  in  which  they  were  going  forth  to  battle  was 
the  most  sacred  and  inspiring  for  which  human  creatures 
could  possibly  lay  down  their  lives.  Isabella,  magnificently 
attired,  and  mounted  on  a  white  palfrey,  galloped  along  the 
lines,  and  likewise  made  an  harangue.  She  spoke  to  the 
soldiers  as  "  her  lions,"  promised  them  boundless  rewards  in 
this  world  and  the  next,  as  the  result  of  the  great  victory 
which  they  were  now  about  to  gain  over  the  infidels  ;  while 
as  to  their  wages,  she  vowed  that,  rather  than  they  should 
remain  unpaid,  she  would  sacrifice  all  her  personal  effects, 
even  to  the  plate  from  which  she  ate  her  daily  bread,  and  to 
the  jewels  which  she  wore  in  her  ears. 

Thousands  of  hoarse  voices  greeted  the  eloquence  of  the 
archdukes  with  rude  acclamations,  while  the  discharge  of 
arquebus  and  volleys  of  cannon  testified  to  the  martial 
ardour  with  which  the  troops  were  inspired  ;  none  being  more 
enthusiastic  than  the  late  mutineers.  The  army  marched  at 
once,  under  many  experienced  leaders — Villars,  Zapena,  and 
Avalos  among  the  most  conspicuous.  The  command  of  the 
artillery  was  entrusted  to  Velasco  ;  the  marshal-general  of 
the  camp  was  Frederic  van  den  Berg,  in  place  of  the  super 
annuated  Peter  Ernest  ;  while  the  Admiral  of  Arragon, 
Francisco  de  Mendoza,  "  terror  of  Germany  and  of  Christen 
dom,"  a  little  man  with  flowing  locks,  long  hooked  nose, 
and  a  sinister  glance  from  his  evil  black  eyes,  was  general  of 
the  cavalry.  The  admiral  had  not  displayed  very  extra 
ordinary  genius  in  his  recent  campaigning  in  the  Rhenish 
duchies,  but  his  cruelty  had  certainly  been  conspicuous. 
Not  even  Alva  could  have  accomplished  more  murders  and 


14  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.       CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

other  outrages  in  the  same  space  of  time  than  had  been  per 
petrated  by  the  Spanish  troops  during  the  infamous  winter  of 
1598-9.  The  assassination  of  Count  Broeck  at  his  own  castle 
had  made  more  stir  than  a  thousand  other  homicides  of  name 
less  wretches  at  the  same  period  had  done,  because  the  victim 
had  been  a  man  of  rank  and  large  possessions,  but  it  now 
remained  to  be  seen  whether  Mendoza  was  to  gain  fresh 
laurels  of  any  kind  in  the  battle  which  was  probably  im 
pending. 

On  the  1st  of  July  the  archduke  came  before  Oudenburg. 
Not  a  soul  within  that  fortress  nor  in  Ostend  dreamed  of  an 
enemy  within  twenty  miles  of  them,  nor  had  it  been  supposed 
possible  that  a  Spanish  army  could  take  the  field  for  many 
weeks  to  come.  The  States-General  at  Ostend  were  com 
placently  waiting  for  the  first  bulletin  from  Maurice  announc 
ing  his  capture  of  Meuport  and  his  advance  upon  Dunkirk, 
according  to  the  program  so  succinctly  drawn  up  for  him, 
and  meantime  were  holding  meetings  and  drawing  up  com 
fortable  protocols  with  great  regularity.  Colonel  Piron,  on 
his  part,  who  had  been  left  with  several  companies  of  veterans 
to.  hold  Oudenburg  and  the  other  forts,  and  to  protect  the 
rear  of  the  invading  army,  was  accomplishing  that  object  by 
permitting  a  large  portion  of  his  force  to  be  absent  on 
foraging  parties  and  general  marauding.  When  the  enemy 
came  before  Oudenburg  they  met  with  no  resistance.  The 
fort  was  surrendered  at  once,  and  with  it  fell  the  lesser  sconces 
of  Breedene,  Snaaskerk,  and  Plassendaal — all  but  the  more 
considerable  fort  St.  Albert.  The  archduke,  not  thinking  it 
advisable  to  delay  his  march  by  the  reduction  of  this  position, 
and  having  possession  of  all  the  other  fortifications  around 
Ostend,  determined  to  push  forward  next  morning  at  day 
break.  He  had  granted  favourable  terms  of  surrender  to  the 
various  garrisons,  which,  however,  did  not  prevent  them  from 
being  dearly  every  man  of  them  immediately  butchered  in 
cold  blood. 

Thus  were  these  strong  and  well -manned  redoubts,  by 
which  Prince  Maurice  had  hoped  to  impede  for  many  days  the 


1600.  RECAPTURE   OF  THE    FORTS.  15 

march  of  a  Spanish  army — should  a  Spanish  army  indeed  be 
able  to  take  the  field  at  all — already  swept  off  in  an  hour. 
Great  was  the  dismay  in  Os tend  when  Colonel  Piron  and 
a  few  stragglers  brought  the  heavy  news  of  discomfiture 
and  massacre  to  the  high  and  mighty  States-General  in 
solemn  meeting  assembled. 

Meanwhile,  the  States'  army  before  Nieuport,  not  dreaming 
of  any  pending  interruption  to  their  labours,  proceeded  in 
a  steady  but  leisurely  manner  to  invest  the  city.  Maurice 
occupied  himself  in  tracing  the  lines  of  encampment  and 
entrenchment,  and  ordered  a  permanent  bridge  to  be  begun 
across  the  narrowest  part  of  the  creek,  in  order  that  the  two 
parts  of  his  army  might  not  be  so  dangerously  divided  from 
each  other  as  they  now  were,  at  high  water,  by  the  whole 
breadth  and  .depth  of  the  harbour.  Evening  came  on  before 
much  had  been  accomplished  on  this  first  day  of  the  siege. 
It  was  scarcely  dusk  when  a  messenger,  much  exhausted  and 
terrified,  made  his  appearance  at  Count  Ernest's  tent.  He 
was  a  straggler  who  had  made  his  escape  from  Oudenburg, 
and  he  brought  the  astounding  intelligence  that  the  archduke 
had  already  possession  of  that  position  and  of  all  the  other 
forts.  Ernest  instantly  jumped  into  a  boat  and  had  himself 
rowed,  together  with  the  messenger,  to  the  headquarters  of 
Prince  Maurice  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  The  news  was 
as  unexpected  as  it  was  alarming.  Here  was  the  enemy,  who 
was  supposed  incapable  of  mischief  for  weeks  to  come,  already 
in  the  field,  and  planted  directly  on  their  communications 
with  Ostend.  Ketreat,  if  retreat  were  desired,  was  already 
impossible,  and  as  to  surprising  the  garrison  of  Nieuport  and 
so  obtaining  that  stronghold  as  a  basis  for  further  aggressive 
operations,  it  is  very  certain  that  if  any  man  in  Flanders  was 
more  surprised  than  another  at  that  moment  it  was  Prince 
Maurice  himself.  He  was  too  good  a  soldier  not  to  see  at  a 
glance  that  if  the  news  brought  by  the  straggler  were  true, 
the  whole  expedition  was  already  a  failure,  and  that,  instead 
of  a  short  siege  and  an  easy  victory,  a  great  battle  was  to  be 
fought  upon  the  sands  of  Nieuport,  in  which  defeat  was 


16  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.     CHAP.  XXXVIIL 

destruction  of  the  whole  army  of  the  republic,  and  very 
possibly  of  the  republic  itself. 

The  stadholder  hesitated.  He  was  prone  in  great  emer 
gencies  to  hesitate  at  first,  but  immovable  when  his  resolution 
was  taken.  Vere,  who  was  asleep  in  his  tent,  was  sent  for 
and  consulted.  Most  of  the  generals  were  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  demonstrations  at  Oudenburg,  which  had  been  so 
successful,  were  merely  a  bravado  of  Rivas,  the  commander 
of  the  permanent  troops  in  that  district,  which  were  compara 
tively  insignificant  in  numbers.  Vere  thought  otherwise. 
He  maintained  that  the  archduke  was  already  in  force  within 
a  few  hours7  march  of  them,  as  he  had  always  supposed  would 
be  the  case.  His  opinion  was  not  shared  by  the  rest,  and  he 
went  back  to  his  truckle-bed,  feeling  that  a  brief  repose  was 
necessary  for  the  heavy  work  which  would  soon  be  upon  him. 
At  midnight  the  Englishman  was  again  called  from  his  slum 
bers.  Another  messenger,  sent  directly  from  the  States- 
General  at  Ostend,  had  made  his  way  to  the  stadholder. 
This  time  there  was  no  possibility  of  error,  for  Colonel  Piron 
had  sent  the  accord  with  the  garrison  commanders  of  the 
forts  which  had  been  so  shamefully  violated,  and  which  bore 
the  signature  of  the  archduke. 

It  was  now  perfectly  obvious  that  a  pitched  battle  was  to 
be  fought  before  another  sunset,  and  most  anxious  were  the 
deliberations  in  that  brief  midsummer's  night.  The  dilemma 
was  as  grave  a  one  as  commander-in-chief  had  ever  to  solve 
in  a  few  hours.  A  portentous  change  had  come  over  the 
prospects  of  the  commonwealth  since  the  arrival  of  these 
despatches.  But  a  few  hours  before,  and  never  had  its  destiny 
seemed  so  secure,  its  attitude  more  imposing.  The  little 
republic,  which  Spain  had  been  endeavouring  forty  years  long 
to  subjugate,  had  already  swept  every  Spanish  soldier  out  of 
its  territory,  had  repeatedly  carried  fire  and  sword  into  Spain 
itself,  and  even  into  its  distant  dependencies,  and  at  that 
moment — after  effecting  in  a  masterly  manner  the  landing  of 
a  great  army  in  the  very  face  of  the  man  who  claimed  to  be 
sovereign  of  all  the  Netherlands,  and  after  marching  at  ease 


1600.  DILEMMA   OF    THE    STATES'   ARMY.  17 

through  the  heart  of  his  territory — was  preparing  a  move 
ment,  with  every  prospect  of  success,  which  should  render 
the  hold  of  that  sovereign  on  any  portion  of  Netherland  soil 
as  uncertain  and  shifting  as  the  sands  on  which  the  States 
army  was  now  encamped. 

The  son  of  the  proscribed  and  murdered  rebel  stood  at  the 
head  of  as  powerful  and  well-disciplined  an  army  as  had  ever 
been  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle  on  that  blood-stained  soil. 
The  daughter  of  the  man  who  had  so  long  oppressed  the  pro 
vinces  might  soon  be  a  fugitive  from  the  land  over  which  she 
had  so  recently  been  endowed  with  perpetual  sovereignty. 
And  now  in  an  instant  these  visions  were  fading  like  a 
mirage. 

The  archduke,  whom  poverty  and  mutiny  were  to  render 
powerless  against  invasion,  was  following  close  up  upon  the 
heels  of  the  triumphant  army  of  the  stadholder.  A  decision 
was  immediately  necessary.  The  siege  of  Nieuport  was  over 
before  it  had  begun.  Surprise  had  failed,  assault  for  the 
moment  was  impossible,  the  manner  how  best  to  confront  the 
advancing  foe  the  only  question. 

Vere  advised  that  the  whole  army  should  at  once  be  con 
centrated  and  led  without  delay  against  the  archduke  before 
he  should  make  further  progress.3  The  advice  involved  an 
outrageous  impossibility,  and  it  seems  incredible  that  it  could 
have  been  given  in  good  faith  ;  still  more  amazing  that  its 
rejection  by  Maurice  should  have  been  bitterly  censured. 
Two-thirds  of  the  army  lay  on  the  other  side  of  the  harbour, 
and  it  was  high  water  at  about  three  o'clock.  While  they 
were  deliberating,  the  sea  was  rising,  and,  so  soon  as  daybreak 
should  make  any  evolutions  possible,  they  would  be  utterly 
prohibited  during  several  hours  by  the  inexorable  tide. 
More  time  would  be  consumed  by  the  attempt  to  construct 
temporary  bridges  (for  of  course  little  progress  had  been 
made  in  the  stone  bridge  hardly  begun)  or  to  make  use 
of  boats  than  in  waiting  for  the  falling  of  the  water,  and, 
should  the  enemy  make  his  appearance  while  they  were 

3  See  the  note  on  Sir  Francis  Vere  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 
VOL  IV. — C 


18  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.      CHAP.  XXXVIII 

engaged  in  such  confusing  efforts,  the  army  would  be  hope 
lessly  lost. 

Maurice,  against  the  express  advice  of  Vere,  decided  to 
send  his  cousin  Ernest,  with  the  main  portion  of  the  force 
established  on  the  right  bank  of  the  harbour,  in  search  of  the 
archduke,  for  the  purpose  of  holding  him  in  check  long  enough 
to  enable  the  rest  of  the  army  to  cross  the  water  when  the 
tide  should  serve.  The  enemy,  it  was  now  clear,  would 
advance  by  precisely  the  path  over  which  the  States'  army 
had  marched  that  morning.  Ernest  was  accordingly  instructed 
to  move  with  the  greatest  expedition  in  order  to  seize  the 
bridge  at  Leffingen  before  the  archduke  should  reach  the 
deep,  dangerous,  and  marshy  river,  over  which  it  was  the  sole 
passage  to  the  downs.  Two  thousand  infantry,  being  the 
Scotch  regiment  of  Edmonds  and  the  Zeelanders  of  Van  der 
Noot,  four  squadrons  of  Dutch  cavalry,  and  two  pieces  of 
artillery  composed  the  force  with  which  Ernest  set  forth  at  a 
little  before  dawn  on  his  hazardous  but  heroic  enterprise. 

With  a  handful  of  troops  he  was  to  make  head  against  an 
army,  and  the  youth  accepted  the  task  in  the  cheerful  spirit 
of  self-sacrifice  which  characterized  his  house.  Marching  as 
rapidly  as  the  difficult  ground  would  permit,  he  had  the  dis 
appointment,  on  approaching  the  fatal  point  at  about  eight 
o'clock,  to  see  the  bridge  at  Leffingen  in  the  possession  of  the 
enemy.  Maurice  had  sent  off  a  messenger  early  that  morn 
ing  with  a  letter  marked  post  haste  (cito,  cito)  to  Ostend 
ordering  up  some  four  hundred  cavalry-men  then  stationed 
in  that  city  under  Piron  and  Bruges,  to  move  up  to  the  sup 
port  of  Ernest,  and  to  destroy  the  bridge  and  dams  at 
Leffingen  before  the  enemy  should  arrive.  That  letter, 
which  might  have  been  so  effective,  was  delivered,  as  it 
subsequently  appeared,  exactly  ten  days  after  it  was  written.4 
The  States,  of  their  own  authority,  had  endeavoured  to  send 
out  those  riders  towards  the  scene  of  action,  but  it  was  with 
great  difficulty  that  they  could  be  got  into  the  saddle  at  all, 
and  they  positively  refused  to  go  further  than  St.  Albert  fort. 

4  Du7ck,  ii,  603. 


1600.  CRITICAL  POSITION  OF  COUNT  ERNEST.  19 

What  course  should  he  now  pursue  ?  He  had  been  sent  to 
cut  the  archduke's  road.  He  had  failed.  Had  he  remained 
in  his  original  encampment  his  force  would  have  been 
annihilated  by  the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the  enemy  so 
soon  as  they  reached  the  right  bank  of  Meuport  haven,  while 
Maurice  could  have  only  looked  hopelessly  on  from  the 
opposite  shore.  At  least  nothing  worse  than  absolute  destruc 
tion  could  befal  him  now.  Should  he  accept  a  combat  of  six 
or  eight  to  one  the  struggle  would  be  hopeless,  but  the  longer 
it  was  protracted  the  better  it  would  be  for  his  main  army, 
engaged  at  that  very  moment  as  he  knew  in  crossing  the 
haven  with  the  ebbing  tide.  Should  he  retreat,  it  might  be 
possible  for  him  to  escape  into  Fort  Albert  or  even  Ostend, 
but  to  do  so  would  be  to  purchase  his  own  safety  and  that  of 
his  command  at  the  probable  sacrifice  of  the  chief  army  of  the 
republic.  Ernest  hesitated  but  an  instant.  Coming  within 
carbine-shot  of  the  stream,  where  he  met  his  cavalry  which 
had  been  sent  forward  at  full  speed,  in  the  vain  hope  of 
seizing  or  destroying  the  bridge  before  it  should  be  too  late, 
he  took  up  a  position  behind  a  dyke,  upon  which  he  placed 
his  two  field-pieces,  and  formed  his  troops  in  line  of  battle 
exactly  across  the  enemy's  path.  On  the  right  he  placed 
the  regiment  of  Scots.  On  the  left  was  Van  der  Noot's 
Zeeland  infantry,  garnished  with  four  companies  of  riders 
under  Risoir,  which  stood  near  St.  Mary's  church.  The 
passage  from  the  stream  to  the  downs  was  not  more  than  a 
hundred  yards  wide,  being  skirted  on  both  sides  by  a  swamp. 
Here  Ernest  with  his  two  thousand  men  awaited  the  onset  of 
the  archduke's  army.  He  was  perfectly  aware  that  it  was  a 
mere  question  of  time,  but  he  was  sure  that  his  preparations 
must  interpose  a  delay  to  the  advance  of  the  Spaniards, 
should  his  troops,  as  he  felt  confident,  behave  themselves  as 
they  had  always  done,  and  that  the  delay  would  be  of  in 
estimable  value  to  his  friends  at  the  haven  of  Nieuport. 

The  archduke  paused  ;  for  he,  too,  could  not  be  certain,  on 
observing  the  resolute  front  thus  presented  to  him,  that  he 
was  not  about  to  engage  the  whole  of  the  States'  army.  The 


20  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.      CHAP.  XXXVIIt 

doubt  was  but  of  short  duration,  however,  and  the  onset  was 
made.  Ernest's  artillery  fired  four  volleys  into  the  advancing 
battalions  with  such  effect  as  to  stagger  them  for  a  moment, 
but  they  soon  afterwards  poured  over  the  dyke  in  over 
whelming  numbers,  easily  capturing  the  cannon.  The  attack 
began  upon  Ernest's  left,  and  Risoir's  cavalry,  thinking  that 
they  should  be  cut  oif  from  all  possibility  of  retreat  into  Fort 
St.  Albert,  turned  their  backs  in  the  most  disgraceful  manner, 
without  even  waiting  for  the  assault.  Galloping  around  the 
infantry  on  the  left  they  infected  the  Zeelanders  with  their 
own  cowardice.  Scarcely  a  moment  passed  before  Van  der 
Noot's  whole  regiment  was  running  away  as  fast  as  the 
troopers,  while  the  Scots  on  the  right  hesitated  not  for  an 
instant  to  follow  their  example.  Even  before  the  expected 
battle  had  begun,  one  of  those  hideous  and  unaccountable 
panics  which  sometimes  break  out  like  a  moral  pestilence  to 
destroy  all  the  virtue  of  an  army,  and  to  sweep  away  the  best- 
considered  schemes  of  a  general,  had  spread  through  Ernest's 
entire  force.  So  soon  as  the  demi-cannon  had  discharged 
their  fourth  volley,  Scots,  Zeelanders,  Walloons,  pikemen, 
musketeers,  and  troopers,  possessed  by  the  demon  of  cowardice, 
were  running  like  a  herd  of  swine  to  throw  themselves  into 
the  sea.  Had  they  even  kept  the  line  of  the  downs  in  the 
direction  of  the  fort  many  of  them  might  have  saved  their 
lives,  although  none  could  have  escaped  disgrace.  But 
the  Scots,  in  an  ecstasy  of  fear,  throwing  away  their  arms  as 
they  fled,  ran  through  the  waters  behind  the  dyke,  skimmed 
over  the  sands  at  full  speed,  and  never  paused  till  such  as 
survived  the  sabre  and  musket  of  their  swift  pursuers  had 
literally  drowned  themselves  in  the  ocean.  Almost  every 
man  of  them  was  slain  or  drowned.  All  the  captains — Stuart, 
Barclay,  Murray,  Kilpatrick,  Michael,  Nesbit — with  the  rest 
of  the  company  officers,  doing  their  best  to  rally  the  fugitives, 
were  killed.  The  Zeelanders,  more  cautious  in  the  midst  of 
their  panic,  or  perhaps  knowing  better  the  nature  of  the 
country,  were  more  successful  in  saving  their  necks.  Not 
more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  of  Van  der  Noot's  regi- 


1600.  PANIC  AMONG  ERNEST'S  SOLDIERS.  21 

merit  were  killed,  while  such  of  the  cavalry  of  Bruges  and 
Piron  as  had  come  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Fort  Albert,  not 
caring  to  trust  themselves  to  the  shelter  of  that  redoubt,  now 
fled  as  fast  as  their  horses'  legs  would  carry  them,  and  never 
pulled  bridle  till  they  found  themselves  in  Ostend.  And  so 
beside  themselves  with  panic  were  these  fugitives,  and  so 
virulent  was  the  contagion,  that  it  was  difficult  to  prevent  the 
men  who  had  remained  in  the  fort  from  joining  in  the  flight 
towards  Ostend.  Many  of  them  indeed  threw  themselves 
over  the  walls  and  were  sabred  by  the  enemy  when  they 
might  have  been  safe  within  the  fortifications.  Had  these 
cavalry  companies  of  Bruges  and  Piron  been  even  tolerably 
self-possessed,  had  they  concentrated  themselves  in  the  fort 
instead  of  yielding  to  the  delirium  which  prompted  them  to 
participate  in  their  comrades'  flight,  they  would  have  had 
it  entirely  in  their  power,  by  making  an  attack,  or  even 
the  semblance  of  an  attack,  by  means  of  a  sudden  sally 
from  the  fort,  to  have  saved,  not  the  battle  indeed,  but  a 
large  number  of  lives.  But  the  panic  was  hopeless  and 
universal,  and  countless  fugitives  scrambling  by  the  fort 
were  shot  in  a  leisurely  manner  by  a  comparative  few  of 
the  enemy  as  easily  as  the  rabbits  which  swarmed  in  those 
sands  were  often  knocked  down  in  multitudes  by  half-a- 
dozen  sportsmen. 

And  thus  a  band  of  patriots,  who  were  not  cowards  by 
nature,  and  who  had  often  played  the  part  of  men,  had 
horribly  disgraced  themselves,  and  were  endangering  the 
very  existence  of  their  country,  already  by  mistaken  councils 
brought  within  the  jaws  of  death.  The  glory  of  Thermopylae 
might  have  hung  for  ever  over  that  bridge  of  Leffingen.  Ifc 
was  now  a  pass  of  infamy,  perhaps  of  fatal  disaster.  The 
sands  were  covered  with  weapons — sabre,  pike,  and  arquebus 
— thrown  away  by  almost  every  soldier  as  he  fled  to  save  the 
life  which  after  all  was  sacrificed.  The  artillery,  all 
the  standards  and  colours,  all  the  baggage  and  ammuni 
tion,  every  thing  was  lost.  No  viler  panic,  no  more  complete 
defeat  was  ever  recorded.  Such  at  half-past  eight  in  the 

VOL.  II— i* 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.      CHAP.  XXXVIIL 


morning  was  that  memorable  Sunday  of  the  2nd  July,  1600, 
big  with  the  fate  of  the  Dutch  republic — the  festival  of  the 
Visitation  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  always  thought  of  happy 
augury  for  Spanish  arms. 

Thus  began  the  long  expected  battle  of  Nieuport.  At  least 
a  thousand  of  the  choicest  troops  of  the  stadholder  were 
slain,  while  the  Spanish  had  hardly  lost  a  man.5 

The  archduke  had  annihilated  his  enemy,6  had  taken  his 
artillery  and  thirty  flags.  In  great  exultation  he  despatched 
a  messenger  to  the  Infanta  at  Ghent,  informing  her  that  he 
had  entirely  defeated  the  advance-guard  of  the  States'  army, 
and  that  his  next  bulletin  would  announce  his  complete 
triumph  and  the  utter  overthrow  of  Maurice,  who  had  now  no 
means  of  escape.  He  stated  also  that  he  would  very  soon 
send  the  rebel  stadholder  himself  to  her  as  a  prisoner.  The 
Infanta,  much  pleased  with  the  promise,  observed  to  her 
attendants  that  she  was  curious  to  see  how  Nassau  would 
conduct  himself  when  he  should  be  brought  a  captive  into 
her  presence.  As  to  the  Catholic  troops,  they  were  informed 
by  the  archduke  that  after  the  complete  victory  which  they 


5  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever 
as  to  the  rout  of  Leffingen.  There 
was  no  fight  at  all.  The  journal  of 
Antony  Duyck  and  the  accounts  of 
Meteren,  Bor,  and  other  chroniclers 
entirely  agree  with  the  most  boastful 
narratives  of  the  Spaniards.  Everard 
van  Reyd  to  be  sure  stoutly  maintains 
that  the  troops  of  Ernest  fought  to 
the  uttermost  ("  zum  euszersten  ge- 
fochten"),  and  that  hardly  a  whole 
spear  was  found  in  the  hands  of  any 
of  the  dead  on  the  field.  Nor  a  broken 
one  either,  he  might  have  added.  It 
is  a  pity  that  the  army  had  not  been  as 
stanch  as  the  secretary  and  chronicler. 
But  Reyd  was  not  on  the  field  nor  near 
it,  and  there  is  not  a  word  in  Ernest's 
private  letters  to  conflict  with  the 
minute  and  unvarnished  statements  of 
Duyck.  See  also  the  excellent  note 
of  Captain  Mulder  on  pp.  668,  669, 
part  ii.  of  his  admirable  edition  of 
Duyck's  journal. 

The  confessor  of  the  archduke,  Fray 
Inigo  de  Brizuelas,  was  as  enthusiastic 


on  his  side  as  the  privy  counsellor  of 
Lewis  William.  The  troops  of  the 
archduke,  he  says,  attacked  Ernest 
and  in  one  moment  killed  1800  to 
2000  men  without  losing  a  man  them 
selves — "  Elles  mirent  a  mort  en  un 
moment  1800  a  2000  hommes  s'em- 
parirent  de  deux  pieces  d'artillerie  et 
de  plusieurs  drapeaux  sans  avoir  subi 

aucune  perte On  esperait 

generalement  que  ce  jour  mettrait  fin 
aux  guerres  de  Flandre."  (!  !) 

Substance  d'une  lettre  ecrite  de 
Bruges  le  13  Juillet,  1600,  par  Fray  J. 
de  Brizuelas  a  unseigneur  de  la  cour 
a  Madrid  et  reposant  en  copie  aux  fol. 
45-48  du  vol.  H.  49,  (Varias  Consultas 
en  tiempo  de  los  reyes  Austriacos) 
appartenant  a  la  Bibliotheque  Nat1  a 
Madrid.  MS.  kindly  communicated 
to  me  by  M.  Gachard. 

6  "  Qui  fut  si  vivement  chargee 
qu'elle  y  demeura  toute "  are  the 
words  of  the  archduke  writing  on  the 
4th  July  from  Ghent  to  his  council  of 
state.  (MS.  Archives  of  Belgium.) 


1600.  THE  ARCHDUKE'S  COUNCIL    OP  WAR.  23 

were  that  day  to  achieve,  not  a  man  should  be  left  alive  save 
Maurice  and  his  brother  Frederic  Henry.  These  should  be 
spared  to  grace  the  conqueror's  triumph,  but  all  else  should 
6e  put  to  the  sword.7 

Meantime  artillery  thundered,  bonfires  blazed,  and  bells 
rang  their  merriest  peals  in  Ghent,  Bruges,  and  the  other 
obedient  cities  as  the  news  of  the  great  victory  spread  through 
the  land. 

When  the  fight  was  done  the  archduke  called  a  council  of 
war.  It  was  a  grave  question  whether  the  army  should 
at  once  advance  in  order  to  complete  the  destruction  of  the 
enemy  that  day,  or  pause  for  an  interval  that  the  troops 
fatigued  with  hard  marching  and  with  the  victorious  combat 
in  which  they  just  had  been  engaged,  should  recover  their  full 
strength.  That  the  stadholder  was  completely  in  their 
power  was  certain.  The  road  to  Ostend  was  barred,  and 
Nieuport  would  hold  him  at  bay,  now  that  the  relieving  army 
was  close  upon  his  heels.  All  that  was  necessary  in  order  to 
annihilate  his  whole  force,  was  that  they  should  entrench 
themselves  for  the  night  on  the  road  which  he  must  cross.- 
He  would  then  be  obliged  to  assault  their  works  with  troops 
inferior  in  number  to  theirs  and  fatigued  by  the  march. 
Should  he  remain  where  he  was  he  would  soon  be  starved 
into  submission,  and  would  be  obliged  to  surrender  his  whole 
army.  On  the  other  hand,  by  advancing  now,  in  the  intoler 
able  heat  of  a  July  sun  over  the  burning  and  glaring  sands, 
the  troops  already  wearied  would  arrive  on  the  field  of  battle 
utterly  exhausted,  and  would  be  obliged  to  attack  an  enemy 
freshly  and  cheerfully  awaiting  them  on  ground  of  his  own 
selection. 

Moreover  it  was  absolutely  certain  that  Fort  Albert  would 
not  hold  an  hour  if  resolutely  assaulted  in  the  midst  of  the 
panic  of  Ernest's  defeat,  and,  with  its  capture,  the  annihila- 
lation  of  Maurice  was  certain. 

Meantime  the  three  thousand  men  under  Velasco,  who 
had  been  detached  to  protect  the  rear,  would  arrive  to  rein- 

*  Le  Petit  on  the  authority  of  prisoners.    De  la  Pise. 


24  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.       CHAP.  XXXVIII 

force   the  archduke's  main  army,  should  he  pause  until  the 
next  day. 

These  arguments,  which  had  much  logic  in  them,  were 
strongly  urged  by  Zapena,  a  veteran  marshal  of  the  camp 
who  had  seen  much  service,  and  whose  counsels  were  usually 
received  with  deference.  But  on  this  occasion  commanders  and 
soldiers  were  hot  for  following  up  their  victory.  They  cared 
nothing  for  the  numbers  of  their  enemy,  they  cried,  "  The 
more  infidels  the  greater  glory  in  destroying  them." 8  Delay 
might  after  all  cause  the  loss  of  the  prize,  it  was  eagerly  shouted 
The  archduke  ought  to  pray  that  the  sun  might  stand  still  for 
him  that  morning,  as  for  Joshua  in  the  vale  of  Ajalon.  The 
foe  seeing  himself  entrapped,  with  destruction  awaiting  him, 
was  now  skulking  towards  his  ships,  which  still  offered  him  the 
means  of  escape.  Should  they  give  him  time  he  would  profit 
by  their  negligence,  and  next  morning  when  they  reached 
Nieuport,  the  birds  would  be  flown.  Especially  the  leaders 
of  the  mutineers  of  Diest  and  Thionville  were  hoarse  with 
indignation  at  the  proposed  delay.  They  had  not  left  their 
brethren,  they  shouted,  nor  rallied  to  the  archduke's  banner 
in  order  to  sit  down  and  dig  in  the  sand  like  ploughmen. 
There  was  triumph  for  the  Holy  Church,  there  was  the  utter 
overthrow  of  the  heretic  army,  there  was  rich  booty  to  be 
gathered,  all  these  things  were  within  their  reach  if  they  now 
advanced  and  smote  the  rebels  while,  confused  and  panic- 
stricken,  they  were  endeavouring  to  embark  in  their  ships. 

While  these  vehement  debates  were  at  the  hottest,  sails 
were  descried  in  the  offing  ;  for  the  archduke's  forces  already 
stood  upon  the  edge  of  the  downs.  First  one  ship,  then 
another  and  another,  moved  steadily  along  the  coast,  re 
turning  from  Nieuport  in  the  direction  of  Ostend. 

This  was  more  than  could  be  borne.  It  was  obvious  that 
the  rebels  were  already  making  their  escape,  and  it  was 
urged  upon  the  cardinal  that  probably  Prince  Maurice  and 
the  other  chieftains  were  on  board  one  of  those  very  vessels, 
and  were  giving  him  the  slip.  With  great  expedition  it 

8  "  Quanto  mas  Moros  tanto  mas  ganangias," — Pe 


1600.  ESCAPE  OF  MAURICE'S  ARMY.  25 

would  still  be  possible  to  overtake  them  before  the  main  body 
could  embark,  and  the  attack  might  yet  be  made  at  the 
most  favourable  moment.  Those  white  sails  gleaming  in  the 
distance  were  more  eloquent  than  Zapena  or  any  other  advo-^ 
cate  of  delay,  and  the  order  was  given  to  advance.  And  it 
was  exactly  at  this  period  that  it  still  lay  within  the  power 
of  the  States'  cavalry  at  Ostend  to  partially  redeem  their 
character,  and  to  render  very  effective  service.  Had  four  or 
five  hundred  resolute  troopers  hung  upon  the  rear  of  the 
Spanish  army  now,  as  it  moved  toward  Nieuport,  they  might, 
by  judiciously  skirmishing,  advancing  and  retreating  according 
to  circumstances,  have  caused  much  confusion,  and  certainly 
have  so  harassed  the  archduke  as  to  compel  the  detachment 
of  a  very  considerable  force  of  his  own  cavalry  to  protect 
himself  against  such  assaults.  But  the  terror  was  an  enduring 
one.  Those  horsemen  remained  paralyzed  and  helpless,  and 
it  was  impossible  for  the  States,  with  all  their  commands 
or  entreaties,  to  induce  them  to  mount  and  ride  even  a  half 
mile  beyond  the  city  gates. 

While  these  events  had  been  occurring  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  Ostend,  Maurice  had  not  been  idle  at  Nieuport.  No 
sooner  had  Ernest  been  despatched  on  his  desperate  errand 
than  his  brother  Lewis  Gunther  was  ordered  by  the  stad- 
holder  to  get  on  horseback  and  ride  through  the  quarters 
of  the  army.  On  the  previous  afternoon  there  had  been  so 
little  thought  of  an  enemy  that  large  foraging  parties  had 
gone  out  from  camp  in  all  directions,  and  had  not  returned. 
Lewis  gave  notice  that  a  great  battle  was  to  be  expected  on 
the  morrow,  instead  of  the  tranquil  commencement  of  a 
leisurely  siege,  and  that  therefore  no  soul  was  henceforth  to 
leave  the  camp^  while  a  troop  of  horse  was  despatched  at  the 
first  gleam  of  daylight  to  scour  the  country  in  search  of  all 
the  stragglers.  Maurice  had  no  thought  of  retreating,  and 
his  first  care  was  to  bring  his  army  across  the  haven.  The 
arrangements  were  soon  completed,  but  it  was  necessary  to 
wait  until  nearly  low  water.  Soon  after  eight  o'clock  Count 
Lewis  began  to  cross  with  eight  squadrons  of  cavalry,  and 


26  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.       CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

partly  swimming,  partly  wading,  effected  the  passage  in 
safety.  The  advanced  guard  of  infantry,  under  Sir  Francis 
Vere — consisting  of  two  thousand  six  hundred  Englishmen, 
and  two  thousand  eight  hundred  Frisians,  with  some  com 
panies  of  horse,  followed  by  the  battalia  under  Solms,  and 
the  rearguard  under  Tempel — then  slowly  and  with  difficult^ 
moved  along  the  same  dangerous  path  with  the  water  as 
high  as  their  armpits,  and  often  rising  nearly  over  their 
heads.  Had  the  archduke  not  been  detained  near  the  bridge 
of  Leffingen  by  Ernest's  Scotchmen  and  Zeelanders  during 
three  or  four  precious  hours  that  morning  ;  had  he  arrived, 
as  he  otherwise  might  have  done,  just  as  the  States'  army — 
horse,  foot,  and  artillery — was  floundering  through  that 
treacherous  tide,  it  would  have  fared  ill  for  the  stadholder 
and  the  republic.  But  the  devotion  of  Ernest  had  at  least 
prevented  the  attack  of  the  archduke  until  Maurice  and  his 
men  stood  on  dry  land. 

Dripping  from  head  to  foot,  but  safe  and  sound,  the  army 
had  at  last  reached  the  beach  at  Nieuport.  Vere  had  refused 
his  soldiers  permission  to  denude  themselves  in  crossing  of 
their  shoes  and  lower  garments.  There  was  no  time  for  that, 
he  said,  and  they  would  either  earn  new  clothes  for  them 
selves  that  day,  or  never  need  doublet  and  hose  again  any 
more  in  the  world.  Some  hours  had  elapsed  before  the 
tedious  and  difficult  crossing  of  infantry,  cavalry,  artillery, 
and  munition  trains  had  been  accomplished. 

Lewis  Grunther,  with  eight  squadrons  of  picked  cavalry, 
including  his  own  company,  Maurice's  own,  Frederic  Henry's 
own,  with  Batenburg's  arquebus-men,  and  other  veterans, 
was  first  to  place  himself  in  battle  order  on  the  beach.  His 
squadrons  in  iron  corslet  and  morion,  and  armed  with  lances, 
carbines,  and  sabres,  stretched  across  from  the  water  to  the 
downs.  He  had  not  been  long  stationed  there  when  he 
observed  that  far  away  in  the  direction  of  Os tend  the  beach 
was  growing  black  with  troops.  He  believed  them  at  first  to 
be  his  brother  Ernest  and  his  forces  returning  victorious 
from  their  hazardous  expedition,  but  he  was  soon  undeceived. 


1600.  HEROIC  DECISION  OF  PRINCE  MAURICE.  27 

A  couple  of  troopers  from  Ostend  came  spurring  full  gallop 
along  the  strand;  and  almost  breathless  with  dismay,  announced 
that  it  was  the  whole  army  of  the  archduke  advancing  in  line 
of  battle.  They  were  instantly  sent  to  the  rear,  without 
being  allowed  to  speak  further,  in  order  that  they  might 
deliver  their  message  in  private  to  the  commander-in-chief. 
And  most  terrible  were  the  tidings  to  which  Maurice  now 
listened  in  very  secret  audience.  Ernest  was  utterly  defeated, 
his  command  cut  to  pieces,  the  triumphant  foe  advancing 
rapidly,  and  already  in  full  sight.  The  stadholder  heard  the 
tale  without  flinching,  and  having  quietly  ordered  the  mes 
sengers  upon  their  lives  not  to  open  their  lips  on  the  subject 
to  living  soul,  sent  them  securely  guarded  in  a  boat  on 
board  one  of  the  war-ships  in  the  offing.  With  perfect  cheer 
fulness  he  then  continued  his  preparations,  consulting  with 
Vere,  on  whom  he  mainly  relied  for  the  marshalling  of  the 
army  in  the  coming  conflict.  Undecided  as  he  had  some 
times  shown  himself,  he  was  resolute  now.  He  called  no 
council  of  war,  for  he  knew  not  how  much  might  be  known  or 
suspected  of  the  disaster  already  sustained,  and  he  had  fully 
made  up  his  mind  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued.  He  had 
indeed  taken  a  supreme  resolution.  Entirely  out  of  his  OWE 
breast,  without  advising  with  any  man,  he  calmly  gave 
directions  that  every  war-ship,  transport,  barge,  or  wherry 
should  put  to  sea  at  once.  As  the  tide  had  now  been  long 
on  the  flood,  the  few  vessels  that  had  been  aground  within 
the  harbour  were  got  afloat,  and  the  whole  vast,  almost  innu 
merable  armada,  was  soon  standing  out  to  sea.  No  more 
heroic  decision  was  ever  taken  by  fighting  man. 

Sir  Francis  gave  advice  that  entrenchments  should  be 
thrown  up  on  the  north-east,  and  that  instead  of  advancing 
towards  the  enemy  they  should  await  his  coming,  and  refuse 
the  battle  that  day  if  possible.  The  Englishman,  not  aware 
of  the  catastrophe  at  Leffingen,  which  Maurice  had  locked 
up  in  his  own  breast,  was  now  informed  by  the  stadholder 
that  there  were  to  be  no  entrenchments  that  day  but  those 
of  pike  and  arquebus.  It  was  not  the  fault  of  Maurice  that 


28  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

the  fate  of  the  commonwealth  had  been  suspended  on  a 
silken  thread  that  morning,  but  he  knew  that  but  one  of 
two  issues  was  possible.  They  must  fight  their  way  through 
the  enemy  back  to  Ostend,  or  perish,  every  man  of  them. 
The  possibility  of  surrender  did  not  enter  his  mind,  and  he 
felt  that  it  was  better  to  hasten  the  action  before  the  news  of 
Ernest's  disaster  should  arrive  to  chill  the  ardour  of  the 
troops.9 

Meantime  Lewis  Gunther  and  his  cavalry  had  been  sitting 
motionless  upon  their  horses  on  the  beach.  The  enemy  was 
already  in  full  view,  and  the  young  general,  most  desirous  to 
engage  in  a  preliminary  skirmish,  sent  repeated  messages  to 
the  stadholder  for  permission  to  advance.  Presently  Sir 
Francis  Vere  rode  to  the  front,  to  whom  he  eagerly  urged 
his  request  that  the  infantry  of  the  vanguard  might  be 
brought  up  at  once  to  support  him.10  On  the  contrary  the 
English  general  advised  that  the  cavalry  should  fall  back  to 
the  infantry,  in  order  to  avoid  a  premature  movement.  Lewis 
strongly  objected  to  this  arrangement,  on  the  ground  that 
the  mere  semblance  of  retreat,  thus  upon  the  eve  of  battle, 
would  discourage  all  the  troops.  But  he  was  over-ruled,  for 
Maurice  had  expressly  enjoined  upon  his  cousin  that  morning 
to  defer  in  all  things  to  the  orders  of  Vere.  These  eight 
squadrons  of  horse  accordingly  shifted  their  position,  and 
were  now  placed  close  to  the  edge  of  the  sea,  on  the  left  flank 
of  the  vanguard,  which  Yere  had  drawn  up  across  the  beach 
and  in  the  downs.  On  the  edge  of  the  downs,  on  the  narrow 
slip  of  hard  sand  above  high- water  mark,  and  on  Vere's  right, 
Maurice  had  placed  a  battery  of  six  demi-cannon. 

Behind  the  advance  was  the  battalia,  or  centre,  under 
command  of  that  famous  fighter,  George  Everard  Solms, 
consisting  of  Germans,  Swiss,  French,  and  Walloons.  The 
"  New  Beggars/'  as  the  Walloons  were  called,  who  had  so 
recently  surrendered  the  forts  of  Crevecceur  and  St.  Andrew, 
and  gone  over  from  the  archduke's  service  to  the  army  of 

9  That  Maurice  concealed  from  Vere  the  news  of  the  defeat  at  Leffingen  is 
expressly  stated  by  Antony  Duyck,  J0  See  note  on  Vere, 


1600.  PREPARATION  FOR  THE  ENCOUNTER.  29 

the  States,  were  included  in  this  division,  and  were  as  eager 
to  do  credit  to  their  new  chief  as  were  the  mutineers  in 
the  archduke's  army  to  merit  the  approbation  of  their 
sovereign. 

The  rearguard  under  Tempel  was  made  up,  like  the  other 
divisions,  of  the  blended  nationalities  of  German,  Briton, 
Hollander,  and  Walloon,  and,  like  the  others,  was  garnished 
at  each  flank  with  heavy  cavalry. 

The  Spanish  army,  after  coming  nearly  within  cannon-shot 
of  their  adversary,  paused.  It  was  plain  that  the  States7 
troops  were  not  in  so  great  a  panic  as  the  more  sanguine 
advisers  of  the  archduke  had  hoped.  They  were  not  cowering 
among  the  shipping,  preparing  to  escape.  Still  less  had  any 
portion  of  them  already  effected  their  retreat  in  those 
vessels,  a  few  of  which  had  so  excited  the  enemy's  ardour 
when  they  came  in  sight.  It  was  obvious  that  a  great 
struggle,  in  which  the  forces  were  very  evenly  balanced,  was 
now  to  be  fought  out  upon  those  sands.  It  was  a  splendid 
tournament — a  great  duel  for  life  and  death  between  the 
champions  of  the  Papacy  and  of  Protestantism,  of  the 
Eepublic  and  of  absolutism,  that  was  to  be  fought  out  that 
midsummer's  day.  The  lists  were  closed.  The  trumpet 
signal  for  the  fray  would  soon  be  blown. 

The  archduke,  in  Milanese  armour,  on  a  wonderfully 
beautiful  snow-white  Spanish  stallion,  moved  in  the  centre  of 
his  army.  Jle  wore  no  helmet,  that  his  men  might  the  more 
readily  recognize  him  as  he  rode  gallantly  to  and  fro,  mar 
shalling,  encouraging,  exhorting  the  troops.  Never  before 
had  he  manifested  such  decided  military  talent,  combined 
with  unquestionable  personal  valour,  as  he  had  done  since 
this  campaign  began.  Friend  and  foe  agreed  that  day  that 
Albert  fought  like  a  lion.  He  was  at  first  well  seconded  by 
Mendoza,  who  led  the  van,  and  by  Villars,  La  Bourlotte, 
Avalos,  Zapena,  and  many  other  officers  of  note.  The 
mutinDus  Spanish  and  Italian  cavalry,  combined  with  a  few 
choice  squadrons  of  Walloon  and  German  horse,  were  placed 
in  front  and  on  the  flanks.  They  were  under  the  special 


30  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.       CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

supervision  of  the  admiral,  who  marshalled  their  squadrons 
and  directed  their  charging,  although  mounted  on  a  hackney 
himself,  and  not  intending  to  participate  in  the  action. 
Then  came  the  battalia  and  rear,  crowding  very  closely  upon 
each  other. 

Face  to  face  with  them  stood  the  republican  host,  drawn 
up  in  great  solid  squares  of  infantry,  their  standards  waving 
above  each  closely  planted  clump  of  pikemen,  with  the 
musketeers  fringing  their  skirts,  while  the  iron-clad  pon 
derous  cavalry  of  Count  Lewis  and  Marcellus  Bax,  in  black 
casque  and  corslet,  were  in  front,  restlessly  expecting  the 
signal  for  the  onset.  The  volunteers  of  high  rank  who  were 
then  serving  on  the  staff  of  the  stadholder — the  Duke  of 
Holstein,  the  Prince  of  Anhalt,  two  young  Counts  Solms,  and 
others — had  been  invited  and  even  urged  to  abandon  the  field 
while  there  was  yet  time  for  setting  them  on  board  the  fleet. 
Especially  it  was  thought  desirable  that  young  Frederic 
Henry,  a  mere  boy,  on  whom  the  hopes  of  the  Orange- 
Nassau  house  would  rest  if  Maurice  fell  in  the  conflict, 
should  be  spared  the  fate  which  seemed  hanging  over  the 
commonwealth  and  her  defenders.  But  the  son  of  William 
the  Silent  implored  his  brother  with  clasped  hands  not  to 
send  him  from  his  side  at  that  moment,  so  that  Maurice 
granted  his  prayer,  and  caused  him  to  be  provided  with  a 
complete  suit  of  armour.  Thus  in  company  with  young 
Coligny — a  lad  of  his  own  age,  and  like  himself  ^  a  grandson 
of  the  great  admiral — the  youth  who  was  one  day  to  play  so 
noble  a  part  on  the  stage  of  the  world's  affairs  was  now  to  be 
engaged  in  his  first  great  passage  of  arms.  No  one  left  the 
field  but  Sir  Robert  Sidney,  who  had  come  over  from  Os tend, 
from  irrepressible  curiosity  to  witness  the  arrangements,  but 
who  would  obviously  have  been  guilty  of  unpardonable 
negligence  had  he  been  absent  at  such  a  crisis  from  the 
important  post  of  which  he  was  governor  for  the  queen.11 


11  Duyck,  however,  with  much  in 
justice,  as  it  would  seem,  accuses 
Sidney  (whom  he  calls  "Philip  Sid- 


paid  a  large  sum  to  obtain  a  vessel 
in  which  to  make  his  escape,  and 
that  he  was  obliged  to  hear  many 


ney" !)  of  cowardice  ;  stating  that  he  |  insulting  observations  on  his  flight. 


1600. 


THE  SCENE  OF  ACTION. 


31 


The  arena  of  the.  conflict  seemed  elaborately  prepared  by 
the  hand  of  nature.  The  hard,  level,  sandy  beach,  swept 
clean  and  smooth  by  the  ceaseless  action  of  the  tides, 
stretched  out  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  in  one  long,  bold, 
monotonous  line.  Like  the  whole  coast  of  Flanders  and  of 
Holland,  it  seemed  drawn  by  a  geometrical  rule,  not  a  cape, 
cove,  or  estuary  breaking  the  perfect  straightness  of  the 
design.  On  the  right,  just  beyond  high-water  mark,  the 
downs,  fantastically  heaped  together  like  a  mimic  mountain 
chain,  or  like  tempestuous  ocean- waves  suddenly  changed  to 
sand,  rolled  wild  and  confused,  but  still  in  a  regularly  parallel 
course  with  the  line  of  the  beach.  They  seemed  a  barrier 
thrown  up  to  protect  the  land  from  being  bitten  quite  away 
by  the  ever-restless  and  encroaching  sea.  Beyond  the  downs, 
which  were  seven  hundred  yards  in  width,  extended  a  level 
tract  of  those  green  fertile  meadows,  artificially  drained, 
which  are  so  characteristic  a  feature  of  the  Netherland  land 
scapes,  the  stream  which  ran  from  Ostend  towards  the  town 
of  Nieuport  flowing  sluggishly  through  them.  It  was  a  bright 
warm  midsummer  day.  The  waves  of  the  German  Ocean 
came  lazily  rolling  in  upon  the  crisp  yellow  sand,  the  surf 
breaking  with  its  monotonous  music  at  the  very  feet  of  the 
armies.  A  gentle  south-west  breeze  was  blowing,  just  filling 
the  sails  of  more  than  a  thousand  ships  in  the  offing,  which 
moved  languidly  along  the  sparkling  sea.  It  was  an  atmo 
sphere  better  befitting  a  tranquil  holiday  than  the  scene  of 
carnage  which  seemed  approaching. 

Maurice  of  Nassau,  in  complete  armour,  rapier  in  hand, 
with  the  orange-plumes  waving  from  his  helmet  and  the 
orange-scarf  across  his  breast,  rode  through  the  lines,  briefly 
addressing  his  soldiers  with  martial  energy.  Pointing  to  the 
harbour  of  Nieuport  behind  them,  now  again  impassable  with 
the  flood,  to  the  ocean  on  the  left  where  rode  the  fleet, 


"De  heere  Philps  (sic)  Sidnei  tsij 
uyt  vrese  ofte  anders  ont  vont  hem 
van  daer  ende  geraeckte  met  groote 
moeite  ende  naer  veel  schampere 
woorden  hem  bij  eenigen  gegeven 


t'scheepe  selfs  met  presentatie  van 
geld  ende  voer  doen  wech,  niet  der~ 
vende  in  den  slack  blijven" — Journaal, 
ii.  667, 


32  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

carrying  with  it  all  hope  of  escape  by  sea,  and  to  the  army  of 
the  archduke  in  front,  almost  within  cannon-range,  he  simply 
observed  that  they  had  no  possible  choice  between  victory 
and  death.  They  must  either  utterly  overthrow  the  Spanish 
army,  he  said,  or  drink  all  the  waters  of  the  sea.  Either 
drowning  or  butchery  was  their  doom  if  they  were  conquered, 
for  no  quarter  was  to  be  expected  from  their  unscrupulous 
and  insolent  foe.  He  was  there  to  share  their  fate,  to  conquer 
or  to  perish  with  them,  and  from  their  tried  valour  and  from 
the  God  of  battles  he  hoped  a  more  magnificent  victory  than 
had  ever  before  been  achieved  in  this  almost  perpetual  war 
for  independence.  The  troops,  perfectly  enthusiastic,  re 
plied  with  a  shout  that  they  were  ready  to  live  or  die  with 
their  chieftain,  and  eagerly  demanded  to  be  led  upon  the 
foe.  Whether  from  hope  or  from  desperation  they  were  con 
fident  and  cheerful.  Some  doubt  was  felt  as  to  the  Walloons, 
who  had  so  lately  transferred  themselves  from  the  archduke's 
army,  but  their  commander,  Marquette,  made  them  all  lift 
up  their  hands,  and  swear  solemnly  to  live  or  die  that  day  at 
the  feet  of  Prince  Maurice. 

Two  hours  long  these  two  armies  had  stood  looking  each 
other  in  the  face.  It  was  near  two  o'clock  when  the  arch 
duke  at  last  gave  the  signal  to  advance.  The  tide  was  again 
almost  at  the  full.  Maurice  stood  firm,  awaiting  the  assault ; 
the  enemy  slowly  coming  nearer,  and  the  rising  tide  as 
steadily  lapping  away  all  that  was  left  of  the  hard  beach 
which  fringed  the  rugged  downs.  Count  Lewis  chafed  with 
impatience  as  it  became  each  moment  more  evident  that 
there  would  be  no  beach  left  for  cavalry  fighting,  while  in 
the  downs  the  manoeuvring  of  horse  was  entirely  impossible. 
Meantime,  by  command  of  Vere,  all  those  sandy  hillocks  and 
steeps  had  been  thickly  sown  with  musketeers  and  pikemen. 
Arquebus-men  and  carabineers  were  planted  in  every  hollow, 
while  on  the  highest  and  most  advantageous  elevation  two 
pieces  of  cannon  had  been  placed  by  the  express  direction  of 
Maurice.  It  seemed  obvious  that  the  battle  would,  after  all, 
be  transferred  to  thp  downs,  Not  long  before  the  action 


1600.  CAPTURE  OF  A  PRtSONM.  33 

began,  a  private  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  was  taken,  apparently 
Vvith  his  own  consent,  in  a  very  trifling  preliminary  skirmish. 
He  bragged  loudly  of  the  immense  force  of  the  archduke,  of 
the  great  victory  already  gained  over  Ernest,  with  the  utter 
Annihilation  of  his  forces,  and  of  the  impending  destruction  of 
the  whole  States'  army.  Strange  to  say,  this  was  the  first 
intimation  received  by  Count  Lewis  of  that  grave  disaster,12 
although  it  had  been  for  some  hours  known  to  Maurice.  The 
prisoner  was  at  once  gagged,  that  he  might  spread  his 
disheartening  news  no  further,  but  as  he  persisted  by  signs 
and  gestures  in  attempting  to  convey  the  information  which 
he  had  evidently  been  sent  forward  to  impart,  he  was  shot 
by  command  of  the  stadholder,  and  so  told  no  further 
tales.13 

The  enemy  had  now  come  very  close,  and  it  was  the  desire 
of  Count  Lewis  that  a  couple  of  companies  of  horse,  in 
accordance  with  the  commands  of  Maurice,  should  charge  the 
cavalry  in  front,  and  that  after  a  brief  skirmish  they  should 
retreat  as  if  panic-stricken  behind  the  advance  column,  thus 
decoying  the  Spanish  vanguard  in  hot  pursuit  towards  the 
battery  upon  the  edge  of  the  downs.14  The  cannon  were  then 
suddenly  to  open  upon  them,  and  during  the  confusion  sure 
to  be  created  in  their  ranks,  the  musketeers,  ambushed  among 
the  hollows,  were  to  attack  them  in  flank,  while  the  cavalry 
in  one  mass  should  then  make  a  concentrated  charge  in 
front.  It  seemed  certain  that  the  effect  of  this  movement 
would  be  to  hurl  the  whole  of  the  enemy's  advance,  horse 
and  foot,  back  upon  his  battalia,  and  thus  to  break  up  his 
army  in  irretrievable  rout.  The  plan  was  a  sensible  one, 
but  it  was  not  ingeniously  executed.  Before  the  handful 
of  cavalry  had  time  to  make  the  proposed  feint  the  cannon* 
neers,  being  unduly  excited,  and  by  express  command  of  Sir 
Francis  Vere,  fired  a  volley  into  the  advancing  columns  of 
the  archduke.15  This  precipitated  the  action  ;  almost  in  an 

12  Letters  of  Lewis  Gunther  cited  at  end  of  the  chapter. 

13  H.  Wyts,  in  Bor,  IV.    Byvoeg,  v.    Auth.    Stakken.    Compare  Van  Wyn 
op  Wagenaar,  ix.  37-47.  14  See  note  on  Vere.  «  Ibid. 

VOL.  IV. — D 


34  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

instant  changed  its  whole  character,  and  defeated  the  original 
plan  of  the  republican  leader.  The  enemy's  cavalry  broke 
at  the  first  discharge  from  the  battery,  and  wheeled  in  con 
siderable  disorder,  but  without  panic,  quite  into  and  across 
the  downs.  The  whole  army  of  the  archduke,  which  had 
already  been  veering  in  the  same  direction,  as  it  advanced, 
both  because  the  tide  was  so  steadily  devouring  the  even 
surface  of  the  sands,  and  because  the  position  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  States'  forces  among  the  hillocks  exposed  him 
to  an  attack  in  flank,  was  now  rapidly  transferred  to  the 
downs.  It  was  necessary  for  that  portion  of  Maurice's  army 
which  still  stood  on  what  remained  of  the  beach  to  follow 
this  movement.  A  rapid  change  of  front  was  then  under 
taken,  and — thanks  to  the  careful  system  of  wheeling,  march 
ing,  and  counter-marching  in  which  the  army  had  been 
educated  by  William  Lewis  and  Maurice — was  executed 
with  less  confusion  than  might  have  been  expected. 

But  very  few  companies  of  infantry  now  remained  on  the 
strip  of  beach  still  bare  of  the  waves,  and  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  artillery  planted  high  and  dry  beyond  their 
reach. 

The  scene  was  transformed  as  if  by  magic,  and  the  battle 
was  now  to  be  fought  out  in  those  shifting,  uneven  hills 
and  hollows,  where  every  soldier  stood  mid-leg  deep  in  the 
dry  and  burning  sand.  Fortunately  for  the  States'  army,  the 
wind  was  in  its  back,  blowing  both  sand  and  smoke  into 
the  faces  of  its  antagonists,  while  the  already  westering  sun 
glared  fiercely  in  their  eyes.  Maurice  had  skilfully  made  use 
of  the  great  advantage  which  accident  had  given  him  that 
day,  and  his  very  refusal  to  advance  and  to  bring  on  a  prema 
ture  struggle  thus  stood  him  in  stead  in  a  variety  of  ways 
Lewis  Gunther  was  now  ordered,  with  Marcellus  Bax  and  six 
squadrons  of  horse,  to  take  position  within  the  belt  of  pasture- 
land  on  the  right  of  the  downs.  When  he  arrived  there  the 
van  of  the  archduke's  infantry  had  already  charged  the  States' 
advance  under  Vere,  while  just  behind  and  on  the  side  of  the 
musketeers  and  pikemen  a  large  portion  of  the  enemy's 


1600.  SUCCESSFUL  ATTACK  OF  COUNT  LEWIS.  35 

cavalry  was  standing  stock  still  on  the  green.  Without 
waiting  for  instructions  Lewis  ordered  a  charge.  It  was 
brilliantly  successful.  Unheeding  a  warm  salutation  in  flank 
from  the  musketeers  as  they  rode  by  them,  and  notwith 
standing  that  they  were  obliged  to  take  several  ditches  as 
they  charged,  they  routed  the  enemy's  cavalry  at  the  first 
onset,  and  drove  them  into  panic-stricken  flight.  Some  fled 
for  protection  quite  to  the  rear  of  their  infantry,  others  were 
hotly  pursued  across  the  meadows  till  they  took  refuge  under 
the  walls  of  Nieuport.  The  very  success  of  the  attack  was 
nearly  fatal  however  to  Count  Lewis  ;  for,  unable  to  restrain 
the  ardour  of  his  troopers  in  the  chase,  he  found  himself  cut 
off  from  the  army  with  only  ten  horsemen  to  support  him, 
and  completely  enveloped  by  the  enemy.  Fortunately 
Prince  Maurice  had  foreseen  the  danger,  and  had  ordered  all 
the  cavalry  to  the  meadows  so  soon  as  the  charge  was  made. 
Captain  Kloet,  with  a  fresh  company  of  mounted  carabineers, 
marked  the  little  squad  of  States'  cavalry  careering  about  in 
the  midst  of  the  Catholics,  recognized  their  leader  by  the 
orange-plumes  on  his  casque,  and  dashed  forward  to  the 
rescue.  Lewis  again  found  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
cavalry,  but  was  obliged  to  wait  a  long  time  for  the  return  of 
the  stragglers. 

While  this  brilliant  diversion  had  been  enacting  as  it  were 
on  the  fringe  of  the  battle,  its  real  bustle  and  business  had 
been  going  on  in  the  downs.  Just  as  Lewis  made  his  charge 
in  the  pastures,  the  infantry  of  the  archduke  and  the  advance- 
guard  of  the  republicans  met  in  deadly  shock.  More  than 
an  hour  long  they  contended  with  varying  success.  Mus 
keteers,  pikemen,  arquebusmen,  swordmen,  charged,  sabred,  or 
shot  each  other  from  the  various  hollows  or  heights  of  vantage, 
plunging  knee-deep  in  the  sand,  torn  and  impeded  by  the 
prickly  broom-plant  which  grew  profusely  over  the  whole 
surface,  and  fighting  breast  to  breast  and  hand  to  hand  in 
a  vast  series  of  individual  encounters.  Thrice  were  the 
Spaniards  repulsed  in  what  for  a  moment  seemed  absolute 
rout,  thrice  they  rallied  and  drove  their  assailants  at  push  of 


36  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

pike  far  beyond  their  original  position  ;  and  again  the  con 
quered  republicans  recovered  their  energy  and  smote  their 
adversaries  as  if  the  contest  were  just  begun.  The  tide  of 
battle  ebbed  and  flowed  like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  but  it 
would  be  mere  pedantry  to  affect  any  technical  explanation 
of  its  various  changes.  It  was  a  hot  struggle  of  twenty  thou 
sand  men,  pent  up  in  a  narrow  space,  where  the  very  nature 
of  the  ground  had  made  artistic  evolutions  nearly  imprac 
ticable.16  The  advance,  the  battalia,  even  the  rearguard  on 
both  sides  were  mixed  together  pell-mell,  and  the  downs  were 
soon  covered  at  every  step  with  the  dead  and  dying — Briton, 
Hollander,  Spaniard,  Italian,  Frisian,  Frenchman,  Walloon, 
fighting  and  falling  together,  and  hotly  contesting  every  inch 
of  those  barren  sands. 

It  seemed,  said  one  who  fought  there,  as  if  the  last  day  ot 
the  world  had  come. 

Political  and  religious  hatred,  pride  of  race,  remembrance 
of  a  half-century  of  wrongs,  hope,  fury,  and  despair ;  these 
were  the  real  elements  contending  with  each  other  that  sum 
mer's  day.  It  was  a  mere  trial  of  ferocity  and  endurance,  not 
more  scientific  than  a  fight  between  packs  of  wolves  and 
of  bloodhounds. 

No  doubt  the  brunt  of  the  conflict  fell  upon  Vere,  with 
his  Englishmen  and  Frisians,  for  this  advance-guard  made 
up  nearly  one-half  of  the  States'  army  actually  engaged. 
And  most  nobly,  indefatigably,  did  the  hardy  veteran  dis 
charge  his  duty.  Having  personally  superintended  almost  all 
the  arrangements  in  the  morning,  he  fought  all  day  in  the 
front,  doing  the  work  both  of  a  field-marshal  and  a  corporal 

16  "  Car  a  raison  de  la  situation  du  >  garde  ast  este  aussitost  aux  mains 
pays,  la  science  et  dexterite  en  laquelle  que  1'advant-garde  en  la  bataille." 
nous  presumions  d'exceder  nostre  en-  — Ernest  Casimir  to  William  Lewis, 
nemy  (qui  estoit  la  prompte  et  agile  20  July,  1600.  Groen  v.  Prinsterer, 
motion  de  nos  bataillons)  nous  fust  Archives,  II.  36. 

entierement  rendue  infructueuse." —  |  "  Car  s'estant  les  deux  armees  fort 
Vere,  La  Bataille  de  Nieuport.  !  furieusement  attaquees  il  y  a  este  com 

"  Aussi  est  il  impossible  d'observer  battu  plus  de  deux  heures  main  a 
aucun  ordre,  sinon  par  trouppes,  vu  main  et  pesle-mesle  doubteusement  de 
que  la  bataille  s'est  donnee  aux  la  victoire,"  &c.  &c. — Letter  of  the 
dunes  ou  il  faict  si  inegal  que  States-General  to  Queen  Elizabeth, 
ont  ete  pel  et  mesle,  1'arriere-  3  July,  1600.  (Hague  Archives  MS.) 


16CO.          VALOROUS  CONDUCT  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  VERB.  37 

He  was  twice  wounded,  shot  each  time  through  the  same  leg, 
yet  still  fought  on  as  if  it  were  some  one  else's  blood  and  not 
his  own  that  was  flowing  from  "  those  four  holes  in  his  flesh."  17 
He  complained  that  he  was  not  sufficiently  seconded,  and 
that  the  reserves  were  not  brought  up  rapidly  enough  to  his 
support.  He  was  manifestly  unjust,  for  although  it  could  not 
be  doubted  that  the  English  and  the  Frisians  did  their  best, 
it  was  equally  certain  that  every  part  of  the  army  was  as 
staunch  as  the  vanguard.  It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  it 
would  not  have  benefited  the  cause  of  the  States,  had  every 
man  been  thrown  into  the  fight  at  one  and  the  same  moment. 
During  this  "  bloody  bit,"  as  Vere  called  it,  between  the 
infantry  on  both  sides,  the  little  battery  of  two  field-pieces 
planted  on  the  highest  hillock  of  the  downs  had  been  very 
effective.  Meantime,  while  the  desperate  and  decisive  struggle 
had  been  going  on,  Lewis  Gunther,  in  the  meadow,  had  again 
rallied  all  the  cavalry,  which,  at  the  first  stage  of  the  action, 
had  been  dispersed  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy's  horse.  Gather 
ing  them  together  in  a  mass,  he  besought  Prince  Maurice 
to  order  him  to  charge.  The  stadholder  bade  him  pause 
yet  a  little  longer.  The  aspect  of  the  infantry  fight  was 
not  yet,  in  his  opinion,  sufficiently  favourable.  Again  and 
again  Lewis  sent  fresh  entreaties,  and  at  last  received  the 
desired  permission.  Placing  three  picked  squadrons  in  front, 
the  young  general  made  a  furious  assault  upon  the  Catholic 
cavalry,  which  had  again  rallied  and  was  drawn  up  very  close 
to  the  musketeers.  Fortune  was  not  so  kind  to  him  as  at  the 
earlier  stage  of  the  combat.  The  charge  was  received  with 
dauntless  front  by  the  Spanish  and  Italian  horse,  while  at  the 
same  moment  the  infantry  poured  a  severe  fire  into  their 
assailants.  The  advancing  squadrons  faltered,  wheeled  back 
upon  the  companies  following  them,  and  the  whole  mass 
of  the  republican  cavalry  broke  into  wild  and  disorderly 
retreat.  At  the  same  moment  the  archduke,  observing  his 
advantage,  threw  in  his  last  reserves  of  infantry,  and  again 
there  was  a  desperate  charge  upon  Vere's  wearied  troops,  as 

17  His  own  expression, 


38  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

decisive  as  the  counter  charge  of  Lewis's  cavalry  had  been 
unsuccessful.  The  English  and  Frisians,  sorely  tried  during 
those  hours  of  fighting  with  superior  numbers  in  the  intoler 
able  heat,  broke  at  last  and  turned  their  backs  upon  the  foe. 
Some  of  them  fled  panic-stricken  quite  across  the  downs  and 
threw  themselves  into  the  sea,  but  the  mass  retreated  in  a 
comparatively  orderly  manne**,  being  driven  from  one  down 
to  another,  and  seeking  a  last  refuge  behind  the  battery 
placed  on  the  high-water  lin^  of  the  beach.  In  the  confusion 
and  panic  Sir  Francis  Vere  went  down  at  last.  His  horse, 
killed  by  a  stray  shot  fell  with  and  upon  him,  and  the  heroic 
Englishman  would  then  and  there  have  finished  his  career — 
for  he  would  hardly  have  found  quarter  from  the  Spaniards — 
had  not  Sir  Kobert  Drury,  riding  by  in  the  tumult,  observed 
him  as  he  lay  almost  exhausted  in  the  sand.  By  his  exertion 
and  that  of  his  servant  Higham,  Vere  was  rescued  from  his 
perilous  situation,  placed  on  the  crupper  of  Sir  Robert's 
horse,  and  so  borne  off  the  field. 

The  current  of  the  retreating  and  pursuing  hosts  swept  by 
the  spot  where  Maurice  sat  on  horseback,  watching  and 
directing  the  battle.  His  bravest  and  best  general,  the  veteran 
Yere,  had  fallen  ;  his  cousin  Lewis  was  now  as  utterly  over 
thrown  as  his  brother  Ernest  had  been  but  a  few  hours  before 
at  the  fatal  bridge  of  Leffingen  ;  the  whole  army,  the  only 
army,  of  the  States  was  defeated,  broken,  panic-struck ;  the 
Spanish  shouts  of  victory  rang  on  every  side.  Plainly  the  day 
was  lost,  and  with  it  the  republic.  In  the  blackest  hour  that 
the  Netherland  commonwealth  had  ever  known,  the  fortitude 
of  the  stadholder  did  not  desert  him.  Immoveable  as  a  rock 
in  the  torrent  he  stemmed  the  flight  of  his  troops.  Three 
squadrons  of  reserved  cavalry,  Balen's  own,  Vere's  own,  and 
Cecil's,  were  all  that  was  left  him,  and  at  the  head  of 
these  he  essayed  an  advance.  He  seemed  the  only  man  on 
the  field  not  frightened  ;  and  menacing,  conjuring,  persuading 
the  fugitives  for  the  love  of  fatherland,  of  himself  and  his 
house,  of  their  own  honour,  not  to  disgrace  and  destroy  them 
selves  for  ever  ;  urging  that  all  was  not  yet  lost,  and  beseech- 


1600. 


THE  TURNING-POINT  OF  THE  BATTLE. 


39 


ing  them  at  least  to  take  despair  for  their  master,  and  rather 
to  die  like  men  on  the  field  than  to  drown  like  dogs  in  the 
sea,  he  succeeded  in  rallying  a  portion  of  those  nearest  him.18 
The  enemy  paused  in  their  mad  pursuit,  impressed  even 
more  than  were  the  States'  troops  at  the  dauntless  bearing  of 
the  prince.  It  was  one  of  those  supreme  moments  in  battle 
and  in  history  which  are  sometimes  permitted  to  influence 
the  course  of  events  during  a  long  future.  The  archduke  and 
his  generals  committed  a  grave  error  in  pausing  for  an  instant 
in  their  career.  Very  soon  it  was  too  late  to  repair  the  fault, 
for  the  quick  and  correct  eye  of  the  stadholder  saw  the  point 
to  which  the  whole  battle  was  tending,  and  he  threw  his 
handful  of  reserved  cavalry,  with  such  of  the  fugitives  as  had 
rallied,  straight  towards  the  battery  on  the  beach. 

It  was  arranged  that  Balen  should  charge  on  the  strand, 
Horace  Vere  through  the  upper  downs,  and  Cecil  along  the 
margin  of  the  beach.  Balen  rode  slowly  through  the  heavy 
sand,  keeping  his  horses  well  in  wind,  and  at  the  moment  he 
touched  the  beach,  rushed  with  fury  upon  the  enemy's  foot 
near  the  battery.  The  moment  was  most  opportune,  for  the 
last  shot  had  been  fired  from  the  guns,  and  they  had  just 
been  nearly  abandoned  in  despair.  The  onset  of  Balen  was 
successful  :  the  Spanish  infantry,  thus  suddenly  attached,  were 
broken,  and  many  were  killed  and  taken.  Cecil  and  Vere 
were  equally  fortunate,  so  that  the  retreating  English  and 
Frisians  began  to  hold  firm  again.  It  was  the  very  crisis  of 
the  battle,  which  up  to  that  instant  seemed  wholly  lost  by 
the  republic,  so  universal  was  the  overthrow  and  the  flight. 
Some  hundred  and  fifty  Frisian  pikemen  now  rallied  from 
their  sullen  retreat,  and  drove  the  enemy  off  one  hillock  or 
dune. 

Foiled  in  their  attempt  to  intercept  the  backward  move 
ment  of  the  States'  army  and  to  seize  this  vital  point  and 
the  artillery  with  it,  the  Spaniards  hesitated  and  were  some- 


18  "  Je  vous  asseure  que  la  victoire 
courut  alors  grand  hazard,  car  au 
meme  instant  toute  nostre  infanterie 
se  resteroit  aussi  le  grand  pas  .... 


nostre  cavallerie  fuioit  jusqu'a  son 
Exce  lequel,  estoit  lors  la  seule  occasion 
de la  victoire"  &c. — Letters  of  Lewis 
Gunther. 


40 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.      CHAP.  XXXVIII. 


what  discouraged.  Some  Zeeland  sailors,  who  had  stuck  like 
wax  to  those  demi-cannon  during  the  whole  conflict,  now 
promptly  obeyed  orders  to  open  yet  once  more  upon  the 
victorious  foe.  At  the  first  volley  the  Spaniards  were 
staggered,  and  the  sailors  with  a  lively  shout  of  "  Ian — fall 
on,"  inspired  the  defeated  army  with  a  portion  of  their  own 
cheerfulness.19  Others  vehemently  shouted  victory  without 
any  reason  whatever.  At  that  instant  Maurice  ordered  a  last 
charge  by  those  few  cavalry  squadrons,  while  the  enemy  was 
faltering  under  the  play  of  the  artillery.  It  was  a  forlorn 
hope,  yet  such  was  the  shifting  fortune  of  that  memorable 
day  that  the  charge  decided  the  battle.  The  whole  line  of 
the  enemy  broke,  the  conquered  became  the  victors,  the 
fugitives  quickly  rallying  and  shouting  victory  almost  before 
they  had  turned  their  faces  to  the  foe,  became  in  their  turn 
the  pursuers.20  The  Catholic  army  could  no  longer  be 
brought  to  a  stand,  but  fled  wildly  in  every  direction,  and 
were  shot  and  stabbed  by  the  republicans  as  they  fled.  The 
Admiral  of  Arragon  fell  with  his  hackney  in  this  last  charge. 
Unwounded,  but  struggling  to  extricate  himself  from  his  horse 
that  had  been  killed,  he  was  quickly  surrounded  by  the 
enemy. 

Two  Spaniards,  Mendo  and  Villalobos  by  name,  who  had 
recently  deserted  to  the  States,  came  up  at  the  moment  and 
recognised  the  fallen  admiral.  They  had  reason  to  recognise 
him,  for  both  had  been  in  his  service,  and  one  of  them,  who 
was  once  in  immediate  household  attendance  upon  him,  bore 
the  mark  of  a  wound  which  he  had  received  from  his  insolent 
master.  "  Admiral,  look  at  this,"  cried  Villalobos,  pointing 
to  the  scar  on  his  face.21  The  admiral  looked  and  knew  his 


19  "  Sender  fundament  nochtans." 
— Duyck,  ii.  676. 

50  "  Et  ja  la  victoire  estait  comme 
nostre  et  son  canon  en  nostre  pouvoir 
mais  nostre  cavillerie  estant  chargee 
de  celle  de  dudit  ennemy  se  vint  sauver 
en  notre  arriere-garde,  ce  que  voyant 
je  le  fis  retourner  et  chargerent  1'en- 
nemy  assez  prochement.  De  quoy 
s'apercevant  retourna  pour  la  seconde 


fois  sur  eulx  quy  derechef  se  vindrent 
saulver  en  notre  arriere-garde  et  rom- 
pre  la  plus  grande  partie  d'icelle  qui 
casa  que  1'infanterie  perdit  courage 
de  passer  oultre  et  poursuive  ce  qu'elle 
avait  gagne  avec  tant  d'honneur  et 
lors  commenca  la  retraite,"  &c. — 
MS.  Letter  of  Albert  before  cited. 
21  De  la  Pise.  Meteren. 


1600.  FLIGHT  OF  THE  ARCHDUKE.  41 

old  servants,  and  gave  his  scarf  to  the  one  and  the  hanger  of 
his  sword-belt  to  the  other,  as  tokens  that  he  was  then 
prisoner.  Thus  his  life  was  saved  for  heavy  ransom,  of  which 
those  who  had  actually  captured  him  would  receive  a  very 
trifling  portion.  The  great  prisoner  was  carried  to  the  rear, 
where  he  immediately  asked  for  food  and  drink,  and  fell  to 
with  an  appetite,  while  the  pursuit  and  slaughter  went  on  in 
all  directions.22 

The  archduke,  too,  whose  personal  conduct  throughout  the 
day  was  admirable,  had  been  slightly  wounded  by  a  halberd 
stroke  on  the  ear.  This  was  at  an  earlier  stage  of  the 
action,  and  he  had  subsequently  mounted  another  horse,  ex 
changed  his  splendid  armour  for  a  plain  black  harness,  over 
which  he  wore  a  shabby  scarf.  In  the  confusion  of  the  rout 
he  was  hard  beset.  "  Surrender,  scoundrel  !"  cried  a  Walloon 
pikeman,  seizing  his  horse  by  the  bridle.  But  a  certain 
Flemish  Captain  Kabbeljaw  recognising  his  sovereign  and 
rushing  to  his  rescue,  slew  his  assailant  and  four  others  with  his 
own  hand.23  He  was  at  last  himself  killed,  but  Albert  escaped, 
and,  accompanied  by  the  Duke  of  Aumale,  who  was  also 
slightly  wounded,  by  Colonel  La  Bourlotte,  and  half  a  dozen 
troopers  rode  for  their  life  in  the  direction  of  Bruges.  When 
they  reached  the  fatal  bridge  of  Leffingen,  over  which  the 
archduke  had  marched  so  triumphantly  but  a  few  hours  before 
to  annihilate  Count  Ernest's  division,  he  was  nearly  taken 
prisoner.  A  few  soldiers,  collected  from  the  scattered 
garrisons,  had  occupied  the  position,  but  knowing  nothing  of 
the  result  of  the  action  in  the  downs,  took  to  their  heels  and 
fled  as  the  little  party  of  cavaliers  advanced.  Had  the  com 
mander  at  Ostend  or  the  States-General  promptly  sent  out  a 
ompany  or  two  so  soon  as  the  news  of  the  victory  reached 
them  to  seize  this  vital  point,  the  doom  of  the  archduke 
would  have  been  sealed.  Nothing  then  could  have  saved  him 
from  capture.  Fortunately  escaping  this  danger,  he  now 
pushed  on,  and  never  pulled  bridle  till  he  reached  Bruges. 
Thence  without  pausing  he  was  conveyed  to  Ghent,  where 

22  Metereu,  »3  Ibid. 


42 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.     CHAP.  XXXVIIL 


he  presented  himself  to  the  Infanta.  He  was  not  accom 
panied  by  the  captive  Maurice  of  Nassau,  and  the  curiosity 
of  the  princess  to  know  how  that  warrior  would  demean 
himself  as  a  prisoner  was  not  destined  on  this  occasion  to 
be  gratified. 

Isabella  bore  the  disappointment  and  the  bitter  intelligence 
of  the  defeat  with  a  stoicism  worthy  of  her  departed  father. 
She  had  already  had  intimations  that  the  day  was  going 
against  her  army,  and  had  successively  received  tidings  that 
her  husband  was  killed,  was  dangerously  wounded,  was  a 
prisoner ;  and  she  was  now  almost  relieved  to  receive  him, 
utterly  defeated,  but  still  safe  and  sound. 

Meantime  the  mad  chase  continued  along  the  beach  and 
through  the  downs.  Never  was  a  rout  more  absolute  than 
that  of  Albert's  army.  Never  had  so  brilliant  a  victory  been 
achieved  by  Hollander  or  Spaniard  upon  that  great  battle 
ground  of  Europe — the  Netherlands.24 

Maurice,  to  whom  the  chief  credit  of  the  victory  was  un 
questionably  due,  had  been  firm  and  impassive  during  the 
various  aspects  of  the  battle,  never  losing  his  self-command 
when  affairs  seemed  blackest.  So  soon,  however,  as  the 
triumph,  after  wavering  so  long,  was  decided  in  his  favour — 
the  veteran  legions  of  Spain  and  Italy,  the  picked  troops  of 


24  "Prometo  a  V.  Sa,"  wrote  the 
archduke  to  the  Duke  of  Lorraine, 
"  que  no  creo  me  pudiera  consolar 
jamas  desta  disgracia  interesando 
tanta  el  servico  de  su  Magistad  en 
ella  si  no  me  huviera  costado  sangre 
pero  asi  como  ha  sido  poca  la  derra- 
mara  de  muy  buena  gana  toda  como 
lo  hare  y  la  tengo  ofrecido  al  servicio 
de  su  Magestad  siempre  que  sea 
menester." — Letter  to  Duke  of  Lor 
raine,  Bibl.  Nat.  Madrid,  kindly  com 
municated  to  me  by  Mons.  Gachard. 

"  L'archiduc  a  montre  ce  jour-la  une 
grand  valeur,  c'est  avec  beaucoup  de 
peine  qu'on  1'a  determine  a  se  retirer 
du  champ  de  bataille." — Letter  of 
Fray  Inigo  de  Brizuelas  before  cited. 

"S.  A.  en  personne  combattant 
comme  ung  lion." — Extraits  des 
proces-verbaux  des  Etats-Generaux  de  '• 


1600.     (MS.  Archives  of  Belgium.) 

"  A  quoy  respondant,  le  greffier  de- 
claira  que  les  Estats  estoyent  marriz 
de  ladite  disgrace  mais  tres  contens  et 
joyeux  de  connaitre  la  vaillandise  de 
leur  prince  mesmes  qu'il  n'avoit  es- 
pargne  sa  personne  propre  et  de  mettre 
sa  vie  en  hazard  pour  la  deffence  de 
son  pays  et  peuple,"  &c. — Ibid. 

Ths  defeat  was  mainly  attributed 
in  the  obedient  provinces  to  the  bad 
conduct  of  the  lately  mutinous  cavalry, 
principalement  par  les  che- 


("  Causee 

vaucheurs  amutinez.' 


said 


Nicolas 

Dubois,  deputy  of  Tournay,  to  his  con 
stituents  in  a  letter  from  Brussels  of 
4th  July.  MS.  Archives  of  Belgium.) 
Consolation  was  also  sought  in  the 
ridiculous  assumption  that  the  loss  of 
the  States'  army  was  greater  than  that 
of  the  archduke's  forces. 


1600.  VICTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDER^.  43 

Christendom,  all  flying  at  last  before  his  troops — the  stad- 
holder  was  fairly  melted.  Dismounting  from  his  horse,  he 
threw  himself  on  his  knees  in  the  sand,  and  with  streaming 
eyes  and  uplifted  hands  exclaimed,  "  0  God,  what  are  we 
human  creatures  to  whom  Thou  hast  brought  such  honour, 
and  to  whom  Thou  hast  vouchsafed  such  a  victory  !  "  a 

The  slaughter  went  on  until  nightfall,  but  the  wearied 
conquerors  were  then  obliged  to  desist  from  the  pursuit. 
Three  thousand  Spaniards  were  slain  and  about  six  hundred 
prisoners  were  taken.23  The  loss  of  the  States'  army,  includ 
ing  the  affair  in  the  morning  at  Leffingen,  was  about  two 
thousand  killed.  Maurice  was  censured  for  not  following  up 
his  victory  more  closely,  but  the  criticism  seems  unjust.  The 
night  which  followed  the  warm  summer's  day  was  singularly 
black  and  cloudy,  the  army  was  exhausted,  the  distance  for 
the  enemy  to  traverse  before  they  found  themselves  safe 
within  their  own  territory  was  not  great.  In  such  circum 
stances  the  stadholder  might  well  deem  himself  sufficiently 
triumphant  to  have  plucked  a  splendid  victory  out  of  the 
very  jaws  of  death.  All  the  artillery  of  the  archduke — seven 
pieces  besides  the  two  captured  from  Ernest  in  the  morning 
— one  hundred  and  twenty  standards,  and  a  long  list  of 
distinguished  prisoners,  including  the  Admiral  Zapena  and 
many  other  officers  of  note,  were  the  trophies  of  the  con 
queror.  Maurice  passed  the  night  on  the  battle-field ;  the 
admiral  supping  with  him  in  his  tent.  Next  morning  he 
went  to  Ostend,  where  a  great  thanksgiving  was  held,  Uyten- 
bogart  preaching  an  eloquent  sermon  on  the  116th  Psalm. 
Afterwards  there  was  a  dinner  at  the  house  of  the  States- 
General,  in  honour  of  the  stadholder,  to  which  the  Admiral 
of  Arragon  was  likewise  bidden.  That  arrogant  but  discom- 

25  "  0  Godt,  wie  zijn  wy  menschen  estimates  his  enemy's  loss  at  more 
dien  ghy  sulcken  eere  ghedaen  ende  than  5000.  Groen  v.  Prinsterer,  Ar- 
Over-winninghe  ghegheven  hebt." —  |  chives  II.  s.  ii.  15,  18,  19.  Duyck 
Letter  of  Uytenbogaert,  in  P.  Fleming,  |  says  3000  were  killed  on  the  field— 
Belegeringe  van  Oostende.  S'  Graven-  as  ascertained  by  counting  —  besides 
hage,  1621.  I  those  who  were  drowned  and  slain  in 

36  Count  Ernest  puts  the  loss  of  the  '  the  retreat.  The  archduke's  confes- 
archduke  at  4000  killed  on  the  battle- ;  sor  says  that  1000  Spaniards  were 
field  and  1000  on  the  retreat.  Maurice  !  killed.  (MS.  letter  before  cited.) 


44 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVIII. 


fited  personage  was  obliged  to  listen  to  many  a  rough  martial 
joke  at  his  disaster  as  they  sat  at  table,  but  he  bore  the 
brunt  of  the  encounter  with  much  fortitude. 

"  Monsieur  the  Admiral  of  Arragon,"  said  the  stadholder 
in  French,  "  is  more  fortunate  than  many  of  his  army.  He 
has  been  desiring  these  four  years  to  see  Holland.  Now  he 
will  make  his  entrance  there  without  striking  a  blow."27  The 
gibe  was  perhaps  deficient  in  delicacy  towards  a  fallen  foe, 
but  a  man  who  had  passed  a  whole  winter  in  murdering  his 
prisoners  in  cold  blood  might  be  satisfied  if  he  were  stung 
only  by  a  sharp  sarcasm  or  two,  when  he  had  himself  become 
a  captive. 

Others  asked  him  demurely  what  he  thought  of  these 
awkward  apprentices  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  who  were  good 
enough  at  fighting  behind  dykes  and  ramparts  of  cities,  but 
who  never  ventured  to  face  a  Spanish  army  in  the  open  field. 
Mendoza  sustained  himself  with  equanimity  however,  and 
found  plenty  of  answers.  He  discussed  the  battle  with  cool 
ness,  blamed  the  archduke  for  throwing  the  whole  of  his  force 
prematurely  into  the  contest,  and  applauded  the  prudence  of 
Maurice  in  keeping  his  reserves  in  hand.  He  ascribed  a 
great  share  of  the  result  to  the  States'  artillery,  which  had 
been  well  placed  upon  wooden  platforms  and  well  served, 
while  the  archduke's  cannon,  sinking  in  the  sands,  had  been 
of  comparatively  little  use.  Especially  he  expressed  a  warm 
admiration  for  the  heroism  of  Maurice  in  sending  away  his 
ships,  and  in  thus  leaving  himself  and  his  soldiers  no  alterna 
tive  but  death  or  triumph. 

While  they  still  sat  at  table  many  of  the  standards  taken 
from  the  enemy  were  brought  in  and  exhibited  ;  the  stad 
holder  and  others  amusing  themselves  with  reading  the  in 
scriptions  and  devices  emblazoned  upon  them. 

And*  thus  on  the  2nd  July,  1600,  the  army  of  the  States- 
General,  led  by  Maurice  of  Nassau,  had  utterly  defeated 


27  "Monsieur  1'Admirante  d'Arra- 
gon  a  este  plus  heureux  que  pas  un 
de  son  arraee,  car  il  a  fort  desire  plus 
dequatre  annees  continuellement  de 


voir  la  Hollande,  maintenant  il  y  en- 
trera  sans  coup  ferir." — Letter  of  Uy- 
tenbogart,  who  sat  at  the  table  and 
heard  Maurice  make  the  remark. 


1600. 


REJOICINGS-  AT  OSTEND. 


45 


Albert  of  Austria.28  Strange  to  say— on  another  2nd  July, 
three  centuries  and  two  years  before,  a  former  Albert  of 
Austria  had  overthrown  the  emperor  Adolphus  of  Nassau, 
who  had  then  lost  both  erown  and  life  in  the  memorable 
battle  of  Worms.  The  imperial  shade  of  Maurice's  ancestor 
had  been  signally  appeased. 

In  Os tend,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  ineffable  joy  had 
succeeded  to  the  horrible  gloom  in  which  the  day  had  been 
passed,  ever  since  the  tidings  had  been  received  of  Ernest's 
overthrow. 

Those  very  cavalry  men,  who  had  remained  all  day  cower 
ing  behind  the  walls  of  the  city,  seeing  by  the  clouds  of  dust 
which  marked  the  track  of  the  fugitives  that  the  battle  had 
been  won  by  the  comrades  whom  they  had  so  basely  deserted 
in  the  morning,  had  been  eager  enough  to  join  in  the  pursuit. 
It  was  with  difficulty  that  the  States,  who  had  been  unable 
to  drive  them  out  of  the  town  while  the  fight  was  impending 
or  going  on,  could  keep  enough  of  them  within  the  walls  to 
guard  the  city  against  possible  accident,  now  that  the  work 
was  done.  Even  had  they  taken  the  field  a  few  hours  earlier, 
without  participating  in  the  action,  or  risking  their  own  lives, 
they  might  have  secured  the  pass  of  Leffingen,  and  made  the 
capture  of  the  archduke  or  his  destruction  inevitable. 

The  city,  which  had  seemed  deserted,  swarmed  with  the 
garrison  and  with  the  lately  trembling  burghers,  for  it  seemed 
to  all  as  if  they  had  been  born  again.  Even  the  soldiers  on 
the  battle-field  had  embraced  each  other  like  comrades  who 
had  met  in  another  world.  "  Blessed  be  His  holy  name," 
said  the  stadholder's  chaplain,  "  for  His  right  hand  has  led 
us  into  hell  and  brought  us  forth  again.  I  know  not,"  he 
continued,  "  if  I  am  awake  or  if  I  dream,  when  I  think  how 
God  has  in  one  moment  raised  us  from  the  dead."  >2a 


98  "  Enfin  1'affaire  vint  aulx  mains 
et  fut  combattu  bien  furieusement  de 
deux  costes  1'espace  de  deux  heures 
Enfin  Dieu  par  sa  grace  voulut  que  la 
victoire  demeura  de  mon  coste."  Such 
were  the  simple  words  in  which 
Maurice  announced  to  his  cousin 


Lewis  William  his  victory  in  the  most 
important  battle  that  had  been  fought 
for  half  a  century.  Not  even  General 
Ulysses  Grant  could  be  more  modest 
in  the  hour  of  immense  triumph. 
29  Letter  of  Uyteubogart 


46  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.     CHAP.  XXXVIII. 

Lewis  Gunther,  whose  services  had  been  so  conspicuous, 
was  well  rewarded.  "  I  hope/'  said  that  general,  writing  to 
his  brother  Lewis  William,  "that  this  day's  work  will  not 
have  been  useless  to  me,  both  for  what  I  have  learned  in  it 
and  for  another  thing.  His  Excellency  has  done  me  the 
honour  to  give  me  the  admiral  for  my  prisoner."30  And 
equally  characteristic  was  the  reply  of  the  religious  and 
thrifty  stadholder  of  Friesland. 

"  I  thank  God,"  he  said,  "  for  His  singular  grace  in  thai 
He  has  been  pleased  to  make  use  of  your  person  as  the 
instrument  of  so  renowned  and  signal  a  victory,  for  which, 
as  you  have  derived  therefrom  not  mediocre  praise,  and 
acquired  a  great  reputation,  it  should  be  now  your  duty  to 
humble  yourself  before  God,  and  to  acknowledge  that  it  is 
He  alone  who  has  thus  honoured  you  ....  You  should 
reverence  Him  the  more,  that  while  others  are  admonished 
of  their  duty  by  misfortunes  and  miseries,  the  good  God 

invites  you  to  His  love  by  benefits  and  honours 

I  am  very  glad,  too,  that  his  Excellency  has  given  you  the 
admiral  for  your  prisoner,  both  because  of  the  benefit  to  you, 
and  because  -it  is  a  mark  of  your  merit  on  that  day.  Knowing 
the  state  of  our  affairs,  you  will  now  be  able  to  free  your 
patrimony  from  encumbrances,  when  otherwise  you  would 
have  been  in  danger  of  remaining  embarrassed  and  in  the 
power  of  others.  It  will  therefore  be  a  perpetual  honour 
to  you  that  you,  the  youngest  of  us  all,  have  been  able 
by  your  merits  to  do  more  to  raise  up  our  house  out  of 
its  difficulties  than  your  predecessors  or  myself  have  been 
able  to  do."  a 

The  beautiful  white  horse  which  the  archduke  had  ridden 
during  the  battle  fell  into  the  hands  of  Lewis  Gunther,  and 
was  presented  by  him  to  Prince  Maurice,  who  had  expressed 
great  admiration  of  the  charger.  It  was  a  Spanish  horse,  for 
which  the  archduke  had  lately  paid  eleven  hundred  crowns.32 

30  Lewis  G  anther  to  Lewis  William,  20  July,  1600.    (Groen  v.  Prinsterer 
Archives,  II.  23.) 

31  Lewis  William  to  Lewis  Gunther,  July  1600.     Ibid.  42,  43. 
M  Letters  last  cited. 


2600.  RAPID  SPEED  OF  THE  TIDINGS.  47 

A  white  hackney  of  the  Infanta  had  also  been  taken,  and 
became  the  property  of  Count  Ernest.33 

The  news  of  the  great  battle  spread  with  unexampled 
rapidity,  not  only  through  the  Netherlands  but  to  neighbour 
ing  countries.  On  the  night  of  the  7th  July  (N.S.)  five 
days  after  the  event,  Envoy  Caron,  in  England,  received 
intimations  of  the  favourable  news  from  the  French  am 
bassador,  who  had  received  a  letter  from  the  Governor  of 
Calais.  Next  morning,  very  early,  he  waited  on  Sir  Kobert 
Cecil  at  Greenwich,  and  was  admitted  to  his  chamber, 
although  the  secretary  was  not  yet  out  of  bed.  He,  too,  had 
heard  of  the  battle,  but  Richardot  had  informed  the  English 
ambassador  in  Paris  that  the  victory  had  been  gained,  not  by 
the  stadholder,  but  by  the  archduke.  While  they  were 
talking,  a  despatch-bearer  arrived  with  letters  from  Vere  to 
Cecil,  and  from  the  States-General  to  Caron,  dated  on  the 
3rd  July.  There  could  no  longer  be  any  doubt  on  the  sub 
ject,  and  the  envoy  of  the  republic  had  now  full  details  of  the 
glorious  triumph  which  the  Spanish  agent  in  Paris  had 
endeavoured  for  a  time  to  distort  into  a  defeat. 

While  the  two  were  conversing,  the  queen,  who  had  heard 
of  Caron' s  presence  in  the  palace,  sent  down  for  the  latest 
intelligence.  Cecil  made  notes  of  the  most  important  points 
in  the  despatches  to  be  forthwith  conveyed  to  her  Majesty. 
The  queen,  not  satisfied  however,  sent  for  Caron  himself. 
That  diplomatist,  who  had  just  ridden  down  from  London  in 
foul  weather,  was  accordingly  obliged  to  present  himself — 
booted  and  spurred  and  splashed  with  mud  from  head  to  foot 
— before  her  Majesty.34  Elizabeth  received  him  with  such 
extraordinary  manifestations  of  delight  at  the  tidings  that  he 
was  absolutely  amazed,  and  she  insisted  upon  his  reading  the 
whole  of  the  letter  just  received  from  Olden-Barneveld,  her 
Majesty  listening  very  patiently  as  he  translated  it  out  of 
Dutch  into  French.  She  then  expressed  unbounded  admira- 


33  Letters  last  cited. 

34  "  Hoewel  ick  daertoe  niet  gereet 
was,   want  ick    daer  te  peerde  was 
gekomen    gants    vuil     en     beslyckt  | 


door  't  quade  weder,"  &c.  &c. — Carcn 
to  the  States-General,  in  Deventer,  ii, 
290-293. 


48  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXVI11 

tion  of  the  States-General  and  of  Prince  Maurice.  "  The 
sagacious  administration  of  the  States'  government  is  so 
full  of  good  order  and  policy/7  she  said,  "  as  to  far  surpass  in 
its  wisdom  the  intelligence  of  all  kings  and  potentates." 
"  We  kings/'  she  said,  "  understand  nothing  of  such  affairs 
in  comparison,  hut  require,  all  of  us,  to  go  to  school  to  the 
States-General."  She  continued  to  speak  in  terms  of  warm 
approbation  of  the  secrecy  and  discretion  with  which  the 
invasion  of  Flanders  had  been  conducted,  and  protested  that 
she  thanked  God  on  both  knees  for  vouchsafing  such  a 
splendid  victory  to  the  United  Provinces.35 

Yet  after  all,  her  Majesty,  as  mankind  in  general,  both  wise 
and  simple,  are  apt  to  do,  had  judged  only  according  to  the 
result,  and  the  immediate  result.  No  doubt  John  of  Barne- 
veld  was  second  to  no  living  statesman  in  breadth  of  view 
and  adroitness  of  handling,  yet  the  invasion  of  Flanders, 
which  was  purely  his  work,  was  unquestionably  a  grave  mis 
take,  and  might  easily  have  proved  a  fatal  one.  That  the 
deadly  peril  was  escaped  was  due,  not  to  his  prudence,  but  to 
the  heroism  of  Maurice,  the  gallantry  of  Vere,  Count  Lewis 
Gunther,  and  the  forces  under  them,  and  the  noble  self- 
devotion  of  Ernest.  And  even,  despite  the  exertions  of 
these  brave  men,  it  seems  certain  that  victory  would  have 
been  impossible  had  the  archduke  possessed  that  true  appre 
ciation  of  a  situation  which  marks  the  consummate  general. 


35  Caron  to  States-General,  in  De- 
venter,  ii.  290-293. 

The  French  king,  too,  was  much 
pleased  with  the  result  of  the  battle. 
So  soon  as  he  received  the  news  he 
sent  for  the  States'  envoy,  and  amused 
himself  by  reading  him  only  the  earlier 
despatches,  which  related  the  success 
of  the  archduke  at  the  forts  and  at 
Leffingen.  Having  sufficiently  teased 
him,  he  then  showed  him  the  whole 
account.  The  satisfaction  manifested 
by  Henry  naturally  much  scandalized 
the  high  Catholic  party,  with  whom 
the  king  was  most  desirous  of  being 
on  good  terms. — Aerssens  to  States- 
General,  13  July,  1600.  (Archives  of 
the  Hague  MS.) 

And  iu  his  confidential  letters  to 


Valck  the  envoy  expressed  himself  in 
similar  terms,  saying  that  his  own 
despatches  having  accidentally  been 
delayed,  the  king  almost  gave  him  a 
fever  by  concealing  the  good  news, 
and  telling  him  of  the  reverses  sus 
tained  by  the  States'  troops  at  the 
beginning  of  the  day,  and  adding  that 
his  Majesty,  although  making  a  great 
effort,  had  found  it  very  difficult  to 
dissemble  his  delight,  "  car  tous  ne 
prennent  cette  victoire  de  meme  biais, 
aucuns  1'estimant  prejudiciable,  en 
tant  qu'elle  peut  ayder  a  fonder  solide- 
ment  la  religion,  les  autres  s'en  re- 
jouyssent  comme  d'un  eschecq  et 
affoiblissement  a  1'Espagne,"  &c. — 
MS.  before  cited,  20  July,  1600. 


1600.         ABANDONMENT  OF  THE  SIEGE  OF  NIEUPORT.  49 

Surely  the  Lord  seemed  to  have  delivered  the  enemy  into 
his  hands  that  morning.  Maurice  was  shut  in  between  Nieu- 
port  on  one  side  and  the  archduke's  army  on  the  other, 
planted  as  it  was  on  the  only  road  of  retreat.  Had  Albert 
entrenched  himself,  Maurice  must  either  have  attacked  at 
great  disadvantage  or  attempted  embarkation  in  the  face  of 
his  enemy.  To  stay  indefinitely  where  he  was  would  have 
proved  an  impossibility,  and  amid  the  confusion  necessary  to 
the  shipping  of  his  army,  how  could  he  have  protected  him 
self  by  six  demi -cannon  placed  on  the  sea-beach  ? 

That  Maurice  was  able  to  extricate  himself  from  the 
horrible  dilemma  in  which  he  had  been  placed,  through  no 
fault  of  his  own,  and  to  convert  imminent  disaster  into  magni 
ficent  victory,  will  always  redound  to  his  reputation  as  a  great 
military  chief.  And  this  was  all  the  fruit  of  the  expedition, 
planned,  as  Elizabeth  thought,  with  so  much  secrecy  and 
discretion.  Three  days  after  the  battle  the  stadholder  came 
again  before  Nieuport,  only  to  find  the  garrison  strengthened 
meantime  by  La  Bourlotte  to  three  thousand  men.  A  rainy 
week  succeeded,  and  Maurice  then  announced  to  the  States- 
General  the  necessity  of  abandoning  an  enterprise,  a  successful 
issue  to  which  was  in  his  opinion  impossible.  The  States- 
General,  grown  more  modest  in  military  matters,  testified 
their  willingness  to  be  governed  by  his  better  judgment,  and 
left  Ostend  for  the  Hague  on  the  18th  July.  Maurice,  after 
a  little  skirmishing  with  some  of  the  forts  around  that  city, 
in  one  of  which  the  archduke's  general  La  Bourlotte  was 
killed,  decided  to  close  the  campaign,  and  he  returned  with 
his  whole  army  on  the  last  day  of  July  into  Holland.36 

36  The  chief  authorities  used  by  me  251-286  ;  Philippe  Fleming  ;  Bele 
for  the  campaign  of  Nieuport  are  the  geringe  van  Oostende  ('s  Gravenhage, 
following:— Bentivoglio,  P.  III.  lib.  vi.  j  1621),  pp.  27-52;  Henry  Haestens, 
pp.  496-504  ;  Carnero,  lib.  xiv.  cap.  vii.  La  Nouvelle  Troie,  ou  Memorable 
472^81 ;  Meteren,  437-442  ;  Reyd,  B.  Histoire  du  Siege  d'Ostende.  Leyden, 
xvii.  427-433 ;  Bor,  IV.  603-700  ;  De  ,  Elzevir,  1615,  pp.  1-69  ;  Groen  v. 
la  Pise,  681-687  ;  Sir  Francis  Vere,  j  Prinsterer,  Archives,  &c.  II.  14-43 
La  Bataille  de  Nieupoort  apud  Bor,  (2nd  series) ;  MS.  Letters  of  States- 
Byvoegsels  van  Authent.  Stukken,  iv. ;  General,  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  of 
Wagenaar  ix.  76-88  ;  Van  Wyn  op  Envoy  Noel  de  Caron,  in  the  Royal 
Wagen,  ix  37-47 ;  Grotius,  Histor.  ix.  Archives  of  the  Hague  ;  De  Tliou, 
552-573  ;  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  62-83  aud  t.  xiii.  lib,  124,  pp.  467-481 ;  Le  Petit, 
VOL,  IV,— E 


50 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.      CHAP.  XXXVIII. 


The  expedition  was  an  absolute  failure,  but  the  stadholder 
had  gained  a  great  victory.  The  effect  produced  at  home 
and  abroad  by  this  triumphant  measuring  of  the  republican 
forces,  horse,  foot,  and  artillery,  in  a  pitched  battle  and  on  so 
conspicuous  an  arena,  with  the  picked  veterans  of  Spain  and 
Italy,  was  perhaps  worth  the  cost,  but  no  other  benefit 
was  derived  from  the  invasion  of  Flanders. 

The  most  healthy  moral  to  be  drawn  from  this  brief  but 
memorable  campaign  is  that  the  wisest  statesmen  are  prone 
to  blunder  in  affairs  of  war,  success  in  which  seems  to  require 
a  special  education  and  a  distinct  genius.  Alternation 
between  hope  and  despair,  between  culpable  audacity  and 
exaggerated  prudence,  are  but  too  apt  to  mark  the  warlike 
counsels  of  politicians  who  have  not  been  bred  soldiers.  This, 
at  least,  had  been  eminently  the  case  with  Barneveld  and  his 
colleagues  of  the  States- General. 


'  Grande  Chronique,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  762- 
766;  Camden's  'Elizabeth,'  590-593; 
MS.  Letters  of  Buzanval  to  Villeroy 
in  the  Royal  Library  of  the  Hague, 
especially  4  July,  20  July,  5  August, 
17  August,  1600  ;  Antony  Duyck, 
Journaal,  ii.  661-681. 

No  one  censured  more  sharply  the 
policy  of  the  expedition,  nor  reduced 
its  results  more  pitilessly,  than  did  the 
French  envoy  :  "  Croyez  que  ces 
Messrs.,"  said  he,  "  avoient  bien  joue 
leur  etat  a  un  coup  de  de  et  que  le 
P.  Maurice  avoit  fait  paroistre  sa 
prudence  avant  de  partir  de  ce  lieu  en 
remonstrant  aux  Etats  les  accidents 
de  cette  entreprise  et  sa  suite  infailli- 
ble  et  forcee  d'une  bataille.  II  a  bien 
montre  sa  resolution  quand  il  a  fallu 
boire  la  lie  de  ces  indigestes  conseils." 
And  again :  —  "La  suite  de  cette 
bataille  a  ete  plus  desavantageuse  aux 
victorieux  qu'aux  vaincus  qui  se  sont 
relevez  avec  plus  de  vigueur  que  les 
autres  n'ont  poursuivi  leur  pointe." 
And  once  more : — "  C'est  un  eclair  qui 
a  passe  qui  a  plus  donne  de  lustre  aux 


vainqueurs  que  fait  du  mal  aux  vain 
cus.  On  diroit  qu'elle  auroit  tout 
epuise  la  vertu  et  vigueur  de  1'un  et 
fait  surgir  la  force  de  1'autre.  Mais  a 
la  verite  les  fondemens  de  cette  entre 
prise  de  Flandres  etoient  si  mal  jettes 
comme  vous  avez  peu  voir  par  celles 
que  je  vous  ai  escrits  lorsqu'elle  fait 
resolue  qu'il  se  faut  peu  estonner  si 
ils  ont  eu  si  peu  d'issue  et  de  suite. 
....  car  on  fait  ici  beaucoup  plus 
de  plaintes  du  peu  de  suite  de  cette 
victoire  qu'il  ne  m'en  escrit  de  Brux- 
elles,"  &c.  &c.  As  to  the  numbers 
engaged  in  the  battle,  Duyck  puts  the 
archduke's  force  at  10,000  foot  and 
1600  horse,  including  the  detachment 
of  2000  or  3000  under  Velasco,  which 
was  not  in  the  action.  More  than  a 
third  of  those  engaged  were  killed. 
Maurice  had  at  first  198  companies 
of  foot  and  25  companies  of  horse,  but, 
with  deduction  of  the  detachments  to 
strengthen  the  forts,  his  force  was  not 
more  than  10,000  foot  and  1200 
horse  (including  the  troops  of  Ernest 
destroyed  before  nine  o'clock). 


NOTE  ON  VEEE. 


I  HAVE  endeavoured  in  the  account  of  this  campaign  to  reconcile 
discrepancies  where  it  was  possible  to  reconcile  them.  I  have  studied 
carefully  the  narratives  given  by  the  most  prominent  actors  in  the 
battle ;  but,  in  regard  to  Sir  Francis  Vere,  I  am  bound  to  say  that; 
after  much  consideration,  I  have  rejected  his  statements  wherever  they 
conflict  with  those  of  Maurice,  Lewis  Gunther,  and  Ernest  of  Nassau. 

The  mutual  contradictions  are  often  so  direct  as  to  make  it  impos 
sible  for  both  parties  to  be  partly  right  and  partly  incorrect,  and,  as  all 
were  prominently  engaged  in  the  transactions,  and  all  men  of  courage  and 
distinction,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  at  times  to  decide  between  them. 

The  narrative  of  Vere  was  a  publication  ;  a  party  pamphlet  in  an  age 
of  pamphleteering.  It  is  marked  throughout  by  spleen,  inordinate  per 
sonal  and  national  self-esteem,  undisguised  hostility  to  the  Nassaus  and 
the  Hollanders,  and  wounded  pride  of  opinion.  It  shows  occasional 
looseness  or  recklessness  of  assertion  which  would  have  been  almost  im 
possible,  had  Maurice  or  his  cousins  been  likely  to  engage  in  a  contro 
versy  concerning  the  Meuport  expedition. 

It  is  not  agreeable  to  come  to  this  conclusion  in  regard  to  a  man  of 
unquestionable  talent,  high  character,  and  experience,  who  fought  on 
that  memorable  day  with  splendid  valour.  I  shall  therefore  give  a  few 
extracts  from  his  narrative,  and  place  them  here  and  there  in  juxtaposi 
tion  with  passages  from  the  correspondence  of  the  Nassaus,  in  order  to 
justify  my  opinion. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  latter  documents  have  remained 
in  the  family  archives  of  Orange-Nassau  for  two  centuries  and  a  half, 
never  having  seen  the  light  till  they  were  edited  by  the  learned  and 
accomplished  Groen  van  Prinsterer.  The  controversy  with  Vere  is 
therefore  an  all  unconscious  one  on  the  part  of  those  buried  warriors, 
but  the  examination  of  such  samples  of  conflicting  testimony  may  give 
the  general  reader  a  conception  of  the  difficulty  besetting  the  path  of 
modem  historians  wishing  to  be  conscientious  and  disinterested. 

Sir  Francis  says,  without  giving  any  dates,  that  the  army  reached  and 
crossed  the  haven  of  Nieuport  on  a  certain  morning,  that  they  en 
camped  and  occupied  two  or  three  days  in  arranging  their  quarters,  and 
in  entrenching  themselves  in  the  most  advantageous  places  for  their 
own  safety,  and  for  the  siege  of  the  city ;  making  a  ~bridge  of  stone  at 
the  narrowest  part  of  the  harbour,  to  enable  their  troops  and  trains  to 
cross  and  recross  whenever  necessary.  { 

Now  if  there  be  two  dates  perfectly  established  in  history  by  the  con-; 
current  testimony  of  despatches,  resolutions  of  Assembly,  contemporary 
chronicles, — Dutch,  Spanish,  Italian,  or  French, — and  private  letters  of 
the  chief  personages  engaged  in  the  transactions,  it  is  that  Maurice's 
army  came  before  Nieuport  on  the  morning  of  the  1st  July,  crossing 
the  harbour  in  the  course  of  the  same  day,  and  that  the  battle  was 
fought  on  the  2nd  July.1 


1  "  Je  partoy  droit  devers  Nieuport 
et  m'y  campoys  le  premier  de  ce  mois 
dejuillet  et  devant  bien  estre  encores 
campe  je  fus  adverti  la  meme  nuit  que 
rennemi  s'estoit  anproche  d'Ostende," 


&c.&c.,  say s  Maurice  of  Nassau.  Letter 
to  Count  Lewis  William,  written  2nd 
July,  evening  after  the  hattle.  Groen 
van  Prinsterer.  Archives,  II.  16,  17. 
Compare  Bor,  Meteren,  Fleming; 


52  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS 

What  could  Vere  mean  then  "by  talking  of  two  or  three  days  in  the 
'  trenches  and  of  a  stone  bridge?  Yet  these  are  his  words: — "  Le  matin 
de  bonne  heure  nous  marchames  vers  Meuport  et  a  la  basse  maree 
traversames  la  riviere  du  coste  ou  elle  faist  le  Havre  de  la  ville,  et 
ainsy  nous  campasmes  mettans  deux  ou  trois  jours  a  faire  les  quartiers, 
eta  nous  retrancher  es  lieux  les  plus  advantageux  pour  notre  seurete, 
et  le  siege  de  ville,  faisans  un  pont  de  pierre  au  plus  estroict  du  Havre 
pour  y  faire  passer  et  repasser  en  tout  temps  nostre  chariage  et  nos 
troupes,  quand  besoin  en  seroit." 

On  the  intelligence  received  in  the  night  of  the  arrival  of  the  enemy 
at  Oudenburg,  Vere  advised  instantly  crossing  the  harbour  and  march- 
iiig  against  him  with  the  whole  army.  Maurice  decided,  however,  to  send 
the  detachment  under  Ernest,  to  the  great  dissatisfaction  of  Sir  Francis. 

Yere  then  states  that  the  army  was  ordered  to  cross  the  haven  at  dawn 
of  day,  at  the  first  low  tide. 

"  Le  reste  de  1'armee  fut  commande  de  marcher  vers  la  riviere  aim  de 
la  passer  a  1'aube  du  jour  a  la  premiere  basse  maree." 

Now  it  is  certain  that  on  the  2nd  of  July  it  was  exactly  high  tide  at 
3  A.M.,  or  about  dawn  of  day. 

Count  Lewis  Gunther  states  expressly  in  his  letter,  often  cited,  that 
he  was  first  to  cross  with  the  cavalry,  when  the  tide  was  out,  at  about 
8  A.M.  It  is  also  manifest  by  every  account  given  of  the  battle,  that  it 
was  high  tide  again  at  or  after  3  P.M.,  which  compelled  the  transferring 
of  the  fight  from  the  submerged  beach  to  the  downs  and  to  the  pastures 
beyond. 

In  these  statements  Yere  is  so  manifestly  contradicted,  not  only  by 
the  accounts  given  by  all  contemporaries  and  eye-witnesses,  but  by 
other  passages  in  his  own  narrative,  that  one  has  in  general  a  right  to 
prefer  the  assertions  of  other  actors  in  the  battle  to  his,  if  there  is  no 
other  way  of  arriving  at  a  clear  understanding  of  the  affair. 

Thus  he  says  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  action  he  wished  the 
advanced  cavalry  under  Lewis  Gunther  to  approach  the  enemy,  and 
that  "the  young  lord"  refused.  The  account  of  the  young  lord  is 
the  exact  reverse  of  these  assertions.  I  shall  here  give  in  juxtaposition 
the  text  of  Yere  and  of  the  private  letter  of  Lewis,  observing  that  this 
letter — not  written  for  publication,  and  never  published,  so  far  as  I 
know,  till  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  it  was  written  for  the 
private  info  rmation  of  the  writer's  brother — gives  by  far  the  most  intel 
ligible  and  succinct  account  of  the  battle  to  be  met  with  anywhere. 

LEWIS  GUNTHER.  YERE. 

"  J'en  avoy  envoie  advertir  son  Exce  "  Le  ennemy  approchant  de  plus  en 

que  je  m'estoy  mis  la  en  ordre  et  que  plus,  et  la  cavaillerie  sortant  a  la  teste 

je  n'en  bouger  oy  sans  son  expres  com-  de  leurs  troupes  en  une  distance  com- 

mandement,   le  supliant  de  haster  le  petente  pour  pouvoir  estre  attiree  au 

passage  de  Tinfanterie    ....    Mon-  combat,  j 'avoy  grand  en  vie  de  voir  la 

sieur  Veer  vint  aussitot  metrouveret  cavaillerie  de  1'avantguarde  approcher 

jugeoit  que  je  m'estois  trop  avance,  d'elle  et  avec  quelques  gens  d'eslite  et 

trouvant  necessaire  qu'on  se  resteroit  bien  montes  battre  leurs  carbins  et 


Haestens,  De  Thou,  Bentivoglio,  ori 
ginal  documentsinVanderKemp,vol. 
Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange- 


tems  ne  voulant  permettre  que  le  pont 
qui  estoit  commence  a  faire  outre  le 
lit  havre  s'ascheva,"  &c.  Letter  of 


Nassau,  passim,  et  mult.  al.      "  Et  le  |  Lewis  Gunther  to  Lewis  William. 


NOTE  ON  VERB. 


VERB, 

escarmoucheurs  jusques  a  dessus  leur 
gros,en  intention  ques'ilseussenteste 
recharges  de  retirer  en  haste  avec  la 
dite  avantguarde  de  chevaulx  entre 
la  mer  et  1'avantgarde  d'infanterie,  et 
apres  les  avoir  tirez  arriere  de  leur 
infanterie  soubs  la  mercy  de  nostre 
canon,  avoir  engage  le  reste  de  nos 
chevaux  a  charger  et  suivre  resolu- 
ment.  Mais  lejeusne  seigneur  ne  pent 
trouver  Ion  cest  advis  n'ayant  pas  eu 
agredble  le  pouvoir  que  le  comte  Mau 
rice  m'avoit  donnepar  dessus  sa  charge 
et  partant  ne  I'executa  pas  choississant 
plustot  comme  Vennemy  advancoit  tout 
bellement  reculer  de  mesme  vers  I' in 
fanterie.  Ce  mien  conseil  neparvenant 
a  autre  meilleur  effect  et  desja  la 
cavaillerie  est ant  venue  soubs  laportee 
de  nostre  canon,  je  proposal  qu'il  le 
falloit  descharger,  qui  fut  trouve  bon 
et  si  bien  effectue  qu'il  faisoit  escarter 
leurs  troupes  et  fuir  en  desordre  pour 
se  sauver  dedans  les  dunes,  chose  qui 
sans  doute,  nous  eust  donne  la  victoire 
si  notre  cavaillerie  eust  ete  preste  et 
volontaire  a  se  prevaloir  de  1'occasion 
offerte." 


LEWIS  GUTTTHER. 

plus  pres  de  1'infanterie  dont  1'avant 
garde  estoit  presques  passee.  Je  craig- 
nois  fort  que  ceste  retraicte  ne  nous 
eust  cause  de  confusion,  1'ennemy  nous 
estant  si  proche,  et  qu'elle  eut  refroidi 
le  courage  de  nos  soldats.  Ce  que  me 
fit  le  prier  qu'il  avancjast  plustot  1'in- 
fanterie  jusques  derriere  ma  troupe : 
ce  que  pourroit  apporter  de  confort 
aux  nostres  et  de  1'etonnement  a  1'en 
nemy  duquel  1'infanterie  n'estoit 
encor  arrive  ny  mise  en  ordre.  Je 
demeuray  encor  a  la  mesme  place  une 
heure,  y  aiant  este  desja  bien  davan- 
tage  jusques  a  ce  que  son  Exce.  y  vint 
en  personne.  II  fut  conclu  que  je  me 
retirerois  et  me  planterois  a  1'aisle 
gauche  des  Anglois  ....  II  fust  re- 
solu  alors  que  j'envoieroy  deux  com 
panies  seulement  bien  pres  d'eux  pour 
leur  faire  prendre  1'envie  de  se  resou- 
dre  a  les  venir  charger  et  que  les 
notres  s'enfuians  derriere  ma  troupe 
donnassent  occasion  aux  ennemis  de 
les  poursuivre  la  furie  desquels  nostre 
cannon  appaisant  un  peu  et  nos  mus- 
quetiers  qui  estoient  bien  avances  dans 
les  dunes,  a  demy  en  embuscade,  les 
frottant  de  coste,  et  apres  nostre  caval- 
lerie  les  chargeant  en  face,  indubitable- 
ment  nous  eut  des  alors  este  ouvert  le 
chemin  de  la  victoire,  car  on  les  eut 
facilement  ren verse/  dans  leur  infan 
terie,  la  confusion  de  laquelle  n'eut 
SQCU  estre  que  bien  grande  :  mais  la 
haste  de  nos  canoniers  nous  fit  perdre 
les  effects  de  cette  belle  resolution,  a 
cause  que  la  voiant  si  belle  donnerent 
feu  devant  qu'on  y  eut  envoie  ces 
compagnise  et  avec  la  premiere  volee 
les  mit-on  en  desordre  qu'ls  quittarent 
le  strang  et  se  cacharent  aux  dunes 
pour  n'estre  offensez  du  canon." 

Thus  Lewis  says  most  distinctly 
that  he  approved  of  the  "  beautiful 
resolution "  as  he  calls  it,  which  he 
rejected,  according  to  Vere,  from  jea 
lousy,  and  that  the  cause  why  it  was 
not  carried  out  was  the  premature 
cannonade,  which  Vere  says  that  ha 
himself  ordered ! 


These  extracts  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the  impossibility  of  making 
both  accounts  agree  in  regard  to  many  momentous  points. 

When  did  two  accounts  of  the  same  battle  ever  resemble  each  other  ? 
It  must  be  confessed  that  modesty  was  not  a  leading  characteristic  of 
Sir  Francis  Vere.  According  to  the  whole  tenor  of  his  narrative  he  was 

VOL.  II— ** 


54  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 

himself  not  only  a  great  part,  but  the  whole  of  the  events  he  describes ; 
the  victory  of  Meuport  was  entirely  due  to  his  arrangements,  and  to 
the  personal  valour  of  himself  and  of  the  1600  English  soldiers  ;  Prince 
Maurice  filling  hardly  a  subordinate  part  in  superintendence  of  the 
battle,  Count  Lewis  Gunther  being  dismissed  with  a  single  sneer,  and 
no  other  name  but  Vere's  own  and  that  of  his  brother  Horace  beino- 
even  mentioned.  He  admits  that  he  did  not  participate  in  the  final 
and  conclusive  charge,  being  then  disabled,  but  observes  that  having 
satisfied  himself  that  his  directions  would  be  carried  out,  and  that 
nothing  else  was  left  but  to  pursue  the  enemy,  he  thought  it  time  to 
have  his  wounds  dressed. 

"  There  was  no  loss  worth  speaking  of,"  he  says,  "  except  that  of  the 
English,  600  of  whom  were  killed.  I  should  not  venture  to  attribute," 
he  observes,  "  the  whole  honour  of  the  victory  to  the  poor  English 
troop  of  1600  men,  but  I  leave  the  judgment  thereof  to  those  who  can 
decide  with  less  suspicion  of  partiality.  I  will  merely  affirm  that  the 
English  left  nothing  to  do  for  the  rest  of  the  army  but  to  follow  the 
chase,  and  that  one  has  never  before  heard  that  with  so  small  a  number 
in  an  indifferent  position,  where  the  only  advantage  was  the  choice 
and  the  good  use  which  could  be  made  of  it,  without  the  use  of  spade 
or  other  instrument  of  fortification,  an  army  so  large  and  so  victorious 
as  that  of  the  archduke  could  have  been  resisted  in  such  a  continued 
struggle  and  so  thoroughly  defeated." 

Certainly  the  defeat  of  an  army  of  10,000  veterans  in  the  open  field 
by  1600  men  is  a  phenomenon  rarely  witnessed,  and  one  must  be 
forgiven  for  not  accepting  as  gospel  truth  the  account  of  the  leader  of 
the  1600,  when  it  is  directly  contradicted  by  every  other  statement  on 
record. 

In  Vere's  advanced  guard — nearly  half  the  whole  army — there  were 
2600  Englishmen  and  2800  Frisians,  besides  several  squadrons  of 
cavalry,  according  to  his  own  statement  in  another  part  of  his 
narrative. 

How,  therefore,  the  whole  battle  should  have  been  fought  by  a  mere 
portion  of  the  English  contingent  it  is  difficult  to  comprehend. 

Vere  makes  no  allusion  to  the  combat  of  Leffmgen,  which  was  an 
essential  part  of  the  battle  ;  to  the  heroic  self-sacrifice  of  Ernest  and  his 
division,  by  which  alone  the  rest  of  the  army  were  enabled  to  gain  the 
victory  ;  nor  has  he  a  word  for  the  repeated  charges  of  cavalry  by  which 
the  infantry  fight  was  protected. 

Lewis  Gunther  on  the  contrary,  whose  account  is  as  modest  as  it  is 
clear,  gives  full  credit  to  the  splendid  achievements  of  the  infantry 
under  Vere,  but  in  describing  the  cavalry  combats,  he  mentions  the 
loss  in  the  six  cavalry  companies  under  his  immediate  command  as 
171  killed  and  wounded,  while  Ernest's  loss  has  never  been  placed  at 
less  than  1000. 


1600.  EFFECTS  OF  THE  WAR   IN  FLANDERS.  55 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

Effects  of  the  Nieuport  campaign  —  The  general  and  the  statesman  —  The 
Roman  empire  and  the  Turk  —  Disgraceful  proceedings  of  the  mutinous 
soldiers  in  Hungary  —  The  Dunkirk  pirates  —  Siege  of  Ostend  by  the  Arch 
duke  —  Attack  on  Rheinberg  by  Prince  Maurice  —  Siege  and  capitulation 
of  Meurs  —  Attempt  on  Bois-le-Duc  —  Concentration  of  the  war  at  Ostend 
—  Account  of  the  belligerents  —  Details  of  the  siege  —  Feigned  offer  of  Sir 
Francis  Vere  to  capitulate  —  Arrival  of  reinforcements  from  the  States  — 
Attack  and  overthrow  of  the  besiegers. 

THE  Nieuport  campaign  had  exhausted  for  the  time  both 
belligerents.  The  victor  had  saved  the  republic  from  im 
pending  annihilation,  but  was  incapable  of  further  efforts 
during  the  summer.  The  conquered  cardinal-archduke,  re 
maining  essentially  in  the  same  position  as  before,  consoled 
himself  with  the  agreeable  fiction  that  the  States,  notwith 
standing  their  triumph,  had  in  reality  suffered  the  most  in  the 
great  battle.  Meantime  both  parties  did  their  best  to  repair 
damages  and  to  recruit  their  armies. 

The  States — or  in  other  words  Barneveld,  who  was  the 
States — had  learned  a  lesson.  Time  was  to  show  whether  it 
would  be  a  profitable  one,  or  whether  Maurice,  who  was  the 
preceptor  of  Europe  in  the  art  of  war,  would  continue  to  be 
a  docile  pupil  of  the  great  Advocate  even  in  military  affairs. 
It  is  probable  that  the  alienation  between  the  statesman 
and  the  general,  which  was  to  widen  as  time  advanced,  may 
be  dated  from  the  day  of  Nieuport. 

Fables  have  even  been  told  which  indicated  the  popular 
belief  in  an  intensity  of  resentment  on  the  part  of  the  prince, 
which  certainly  did  not  exist  till  long  afterwards. 

"Ah,  scoundrel  !"  the  stadholder  was  said  to  have  ex 
claimed,  giving  the  Advocate  a  box  on  the  ear  as  he  came  to 


56  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIX. 

wish  him  joy  of  his  great  victory,  "  you  sold  us,  but  God 
prevented  your  making  the  transfer." l 

History  would  disdain  even  an  allusion  to  such  figments — 
quite  as  disgraceful,  certainly  to  Maurice  as  to  Barneveld — 
did  they  not  point  the  moral  and  foreshadow  some  of  the  vast 
but  distant  results  of  events  which  had  already  taken  place, 
and  had  they  not  been  so  generally  repeated  that  it  is  a  duty 
for  the  lover  of  truth  to  put  his  foot  upon  the  calumny,  even 
at  the  risk  for  a  passing  moment  of  reviving  it. 

The  condition  of  the  war  in  Flanders  had  established  a 
temporary  equilibrium  among  the  western  powers — France 
and  England  discussing,  intriguing,  and  combining  in  secret 
with  each  other,  against  each  other,  and  in  spite  of  each 
other,  in  regard  to  the  great  conflict — while  Spain  and  the 
cardinal-archduke  on  the  one  side,  and  the  republic  on 
the  other,  prepared  themselves  for  another  encounter  in 
the  blood-stained  arena. 

Meantime,  on  the  opposite  verge  of  what  was  called 
European  civilization,  the  perpetual  war  between  the  Roman 
Empire  and  the  Grand  Turk  had  for  the  moment  been 
brought  into  a  nearly  similar  equation.  Notwithstanding 
the  vast  amount  of  gunpowder  exploded  during  so  many 
wearisome  years,  the  problem  of  the  Crescent  and  the  Cross 
was  not  much  nearer  a  solution  in  the  East  than  was  that  of 
mass  and  conventicle  in  the  West.  War  was  the  normal  and 
natural  condition  of  mankind.  This  fact,  at  least,  seemed  to 
have  been  acquired  and  added  to  the  mass  of  human  know 
ledge. 

From  the  prolific  womb  of  Germany  came  forth,  to  swell 
impartially  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  hosts,  vast  swarms  of 
human  creatures.  Sold  by  their  masters  at  as  high  prices 
as  could  be  agreed  upon  beforehand,  and  receiving  for  them 
selves  five  stivers  a  day,  irregularly  paid,  until  the  carrion- 
crow  rendered  them  the  last  service,  they  found  at  times 
more  demand  for  their  labor  in  the  great  European  market 

1  See  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  88  and  298,  299.  The  learned  historian  of  course 
denounces  the  tale  as  a  falsehood. 


1600.  THE  EMPEROR  AND  THE  TURK.  57 

than  they  could  fully  supply.  There  were  not  Germans 
enough  every  year  for  the  consumption  of  the  Turk,  and  the 
pope,  and  the  emperor,  and  the  republic,  and  the  Catholic 
king,  and  the  Christian  king,  with  both  ends  of  Europe  ablaze 
at  once.  So  it  happened  that  the  Duke  of  Mercceur  and 
other  heroes  of  the  League,  having  effected  their  reconcilia 
tion  with  the  Bearnese,  and  for  a  handsome  price  paid  down 
on  the  nail  having  acknowledged  him  to  be  their  legitimate 
and  Catholic  sovereign,  now  turned  their  temporary  attention 
to  the  Turk.  The  sweepings  of  the  League — Frenchmen, 
Walloons,  Germans,  Italians,  Spaniards — were  tossed  into 
Hungary,  because  for  a  season  the  war  had  become  languid  in 
Flanders.  And  the  warriors  grown  grey  in  the  religious  wars 
of  France  astonished  the  pagans  on  the  Danube  by  a  variety 
of  crimes  and  cruelties  such  as  Christians  only  could  imagine. 
Thus,  while  the  forces  of  the  Sultan  were  besieging  Buda,  a 
detachment  of  these  ancient  Leaguers  lay  in  Pappa,  a  fortified 
town  not  far  from  Raab,  which  Archduke  Maximilian  had 
taken  by  storm  two  years  before.  Finding  their  existence 
monotonous  and  payments  unpunctual,  they  rose  upon  the 
governor,  Michael  Maroti,  and  then  entered  into  a  treaty 
with  the  Turkish  commander  outside  the  walls.  Bringing 
all  the  principal  citizens  of  the  town,  their  wives  and  children, 
and  all  their  moveable  property  into  the  market-place,  they 
offered  to  sell  the  lot,  including  the  governor,  for  a  hundred 
thousand  rix  dollars.  The  bargain  was  struck,  and  the  Turk, 
paying  him  all  his  cash  on  hand  and  giving  hostages  for  the 
remainder,  carried  off  six  hundred  of  the  men  and  women, 
promising  soon  to  return  and  complete  the  transaction.2 
Meantime  the  imperial  general,  Schwartzenberg,  came  before 
the  place,  urging  the  mutineers  with  promises  of  speedy  pay 
ment,  and  with  appeals  to  their  sense  of  shame,  to  abstain 
from  the  disgraceful  work.  He  might  as  well  have  preached 
to  the  wild  swine  swarming  in  the  adjacent  forests.  Siege 
thereupon  was  laid  to  the  place.  In  a  sortie  the  brave 
Schwartzenberg  was  killed,  but  Colonitz  coming  up  In  force 

2  Meteren,  fol.  447. 


58  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIX. 

the  mutineers  were  locked  up  in  the  town  which  they  had 
seized,  and  the  Turk  never  came  to  their  relief.  Famine 
drove  them  at  last  to  choose  between  surrender  and  a 
desperate  attempt  to  cut  their  way  out.  They  took  the 
holder  course,  and  were  all  either  killed  or  captured.  And 
now — the  mutineers  having  given  the  Turk  this  lesson  in 
Christian  honour  towards  captives — their  comrades  and  the 
rest  of  the  imperial  forces  showed  them  the  latest  and  most 
approved  Christian  method  of  treating  mutineers.  Several 
hundred  of  the  prisoners  were  distributed  among  the  different 
nationalities  composing  the  army  to  be  dealt  xyith  at  pleasure^ 
The  honest  Germans  were  the  most  straightforward  of  all 
towards  their  portion  of  the  prisoners,  for  they  shot  them 
down  at  once,  without  an  instant's  hesitation.  But  the  Lor- 
rainers,  the  remainder  of  the  French  troops,  the  Walloons, 
and  especially  the  Hungarians — whose  countrymen  and 
women  had  been  sold  into  captivity — all  vied  with  each 
other  in  the  invention  of  cruelties  at  which  the  soul  sickens, 
and  which  the  pen  almost  refuses  to  depict.2 

These  operations  and  diversions  had  no  sensible  effect  upon 
the  progress  of  the  war,  which  crept  on  with  the  same 
monotonous  and  sluggish  cruelty  as  ever ;  but  the  incidents 
narrated  paint  the  course  of  civilization  more  vividly  than  the 
detailed  accounts  of  siege  and  battle,  mining  and  counter 
mining,  assaults  and  ambuscades  can  do,  of  which  the  history 
books  are  full.  The  leaguers  of  Buda  and  of  other  cities  and 
fortresses  in  Hungary  went  their  course,  and  it  was  destined 
to  remain  for  a  still  longer  season  doubtful  whether  Cross  or 
Crescent  should  ultimately  wave  over  the  whole  territory  of 
Eastern  Europe,  and  whether  the  vigorous  Moslem,  believing 
in  himself,  his  mission,  his  discipline,  and  his  resources, 
should  ultimately  absorb  what  was  left  of  the  ancient  Koman 
Empire. 

Meantime,  such  of  the  Walloons,  Lorrainers,  Germans, 
and  Frenchmen  as  had  grown  wearied  of  the  fighting  on  the 
Danube  and  the  Theiss  might  have  recourse  for  variety  to 

3  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 


1600.  PIRACY  OF  VAN   DER  WAECKEN.  59 

the  perpetual  carnage  on  the  Meuse,  the  Khine,  and  the 
Scheld.  If  there  was  not  bloodshed  enough  for  all,  it  was 
surely  not  the  fault  of  Mahomet,  nor  Clement,  nor  Philip. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  year  not  much  was  done  in 
the  field  by  the  forces   of  the   stadholder  or  the   cardinal, 
but  there  was  immense  damage  done  to  the  Dutch  shipping 
by  the  famous   privateersman,  Van  der  Waecken,  with  his 
squadron  of  twelve  or  fourteen  armed  cruisers.     In  vain  had 
the  States  exerted  themselves  to  destroy  that  robber's  cave, 
Dunkirk.     Shiploads  of  granite  had  been  brought  from  Nor 
way,  and  stone  fleets  had  been  sunk  in  the  channel,  but  the 
insatiable  quicksands  had   swallowed   them  as  fast  as  they 
could   be  deposited,  the  tide  rolled  as  freely  as  before,  and 
the  bold  pirates  sailed  forth  as  gaily  as  ever  to  prey  upon 
the   defenceless  trading   vessels   and  herring-smacks    of  the 
States.     For  it  was  only  upon  non-combatants  that  Admiral 
Van  der  Waecken  made  war,  and  the  fishermen  especially, 
who   mainly  belonged  to   the   Memnonite  religion,  with  its 
doctrines  of  non-resistance4 — not  a  very  comfortable  practice 
in  that  sanguinary  age — were  his  constant  victims.     And  his 
cruelties    might    have    almost    served  as   a  model   to    the 
Christian  warriors  on  the  Turkish  frontier.     After  each  vessel 
had   been  rifled   of    everything   worth   possessing,  and  then 
scuttled,   the   admiral  would    order  the  crews  to  be  thrown 
overboard  at  once,  or,  if  he  chanced  to  be  in  a  merry  mood, 
would  cause  them  to  be  fastened  to  the  cabin  floor,  or  nailed 
crosswise  to  the  deck,  and  would  then  sail  away,  leaving  ship 
and  sailors  to  sink  at  leisure.5     The  States  gave  chase  as  well 
as  they  could  to  the  miscreant — a  Dutchman  born,  and  with 
a  crew  mainly  composed  of  renegade  Netherlander  and  other 
outcasts,  preying  for  base  lucre  on  their  defenceless  country 
men — and  their  cruisers  were  occasionally  fortunate  enough 
to   capture  and  bring  in  one  of  the  pirate  ships.     In  such 
cases,  short  shrift  was    granted,   and  the  buccaneers  were 


4  "  Ergo  imbelle  hominum  genus  et 
est  plerisque  piscatorum  ea  religio 
quae  nefas  ducit  vim  armis  propellere," 


&c.  &c .— Grotii  Hist.  ix.  575.     Com 
pare  Meteren,  fol.  445. 

5  Meteren,  Grotius,  itM  wv. 


60  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIX. 

hanged  without  mercy,  thirty-eight  having  been  executed 
in  one  morning  at  Rotterdam.  The  admiral  with  most  of  his 
vessels  escaped,  however,  to  the  coast  of  Spain,  where  his  crews 
during  the  autumn  mainly  contrived  to  desert,  and  where  he 
himself  died  in  the  winter,  whether  from  malady,  remorse,  or 
disappointment  at  not  being  rewarded  by  a  high  position  in 
the  Spanish  navy,  has  not  been  satisfactorily  decided.6 

The  war  was  in  its  old  age.  The  leaf  of  a  new  century  had 
been  turned,  and  men  in  middle  life  had  never  known  what 
the  word  Peace  meant.  Perhaps  they  could  hardly  imagine 
such  a  condition.  This  is  easily  said,  but  it  is  difficult  really 
to  picture  to  ourselves  the  moral  constitution  of  a  race  of 
mankind  which  had  been  born  and  had  grown  up,  marrying 
and  giving  in  marriage,  dying  and  burying  their  dead,  and  so 
passing  on  from  the  cradle  towards  the  grave,  accepting  the 
eternal  clang  of  arms,  and  the  constant  participation  by  them 
selves  and  those  nearest  to  them  in  the  dangers,  privations, 
and  horrors  of  siege  and  battle-field  as  the  commonplaces  of 
life.  At  least,  those  Netherlanders  knew  what  fighting  for 
independence  of  a  foreign  tyrant  meant.  They  must  have 
hated  Spain  very  thoroughly,  and  believed  in  the  right  of 
man  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  con 
science,  and  to  govern  himself  upon  his  own  soil,  however 
meagre,  very  earnestly,  or  they  would  hardly  have  spent  their 
blood  and  treasure,  year  after  year,  with  such  mercantile 
regularity  when  it  was  always  in  their  power  to  make  peace 
by  giving  up  the  object  for  which  they  had  been  fighting. 

Yet  the  war,  although  in  its  old  age,  was  not  fallen  into 
decrepitude.  The  most  considerable  and  most  sanguinary 
pitched  battle  of  what  then  were  modern  times  had  just  been 
fought,  and  the  combatants  were  preparing  themselves  for  a 
fresh  wrestle,  as  if  the  conflict  had  only  begun.  And  now — 
although  the  great  leaguers  of  Harlem,  Leyden,  and  Antwerp, 
as  well  as  the  more  recent  masterpieces  of  Prince  Maurice  in 
Gelderland  and  Friesland  were  still  fresh  in  men's  memory — 
there  was  to  be  a  siege,  which  for  endurance,  pertinacity, 

*  "  I»teriit  morbo  an  quia  Hispanis  fastiditus,"  says  Qrotius,  vki  awp. 


1601.  OSTEND.  61 

valour,  and  bloodshed  on  both  sides,  had  not  yet  been  fore 
shadowed,  far  less  equalled,  upon  the  fatal  Netherland  soil. 

That  place  of  fashionable  resort,  where  the  fine  folk  of 
Europe  now  bathe,  and  flirt,  and  prattle  politics  or  scandal  so 
cheerfully  during  the  summer  solstice — cool  and  comfortable 
Ostend — was  throughout  the  sixteenth  century  as  obscure  a 
fishing  village  as  could  be  found  in  Christendom.  Nothing 
had  ever  happened  there,  nobody  had  ever  lived  there,  and 
it  was  not  until  a  much  later  period  that  the  famous  oyster, 
now  identified  with  its  name,  had  been  brought  to  its  bay  to 
be  educated.  It  was  known  for  nothing  except  for  claiming 
to  have  invented  the  pickling  of  herrings,  which  was  not  at  all 
the  fact.7  Towards  the  latter  part  of  the  century,  however, 
the  poor  little  open  village  had  been  fortified  to  such  purpose 
as  to  enable  it  to  beat  off  the  great  Alexander  Farnese,  when 
he  had  made  an  impromptu  effort  to  seize  it  in  the  year 
1583,  after  his  successful  enterprise  against  Dunkirk  and 
Nieuport,  and  subsequent  preparation  had  fortunately  been 
made  against  any  further  attempt.  For  in  the  opening  period 
of  the  new  century  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  were 
to  come  to  those  yellow  sands,  not  for  a  midsummer  holiday  ? 
but  to  join  hands  in  one  of  the  most  enduring  struggles  that 
history  had  yet  recorded,  and  on  which  the  attention  of 
Europe  was  for  a  long  time  to  be  steadily  fixed. 

Ostend — East-end — was  the  only  possession  of  the  republic 
in  Flanders.  Having  been  at  last  thoroughly  fortified  ac 
cording  to  the  principles  of  the  age,  it  was  a  place  whence 
much  damage  was  inflicted  upon  the  enemy,  and  whence 
forays  upon  the  obedient  Flemings  could  very  successfully  be 
conducted.  Being  in  the  hands  of  so  enterprising  a  naval 
power,  it  controlled  the  coast,  while  the  cardinal-archduke  on 
the  other  side  fondly  hoped  that  its  possession  would  give 
him  supremacy  on  the  sea.  The  States  of  Flanders  declared 
it  to  be  a  thorn  in  the  Belgic  lion's  foot,  and  called  urgently 
upon  their  soveregn  to  remove  the  annoyance. 

"•  La  Nouvelle  Troie,  ou  Memorable  Histoire  du  Siege  d'Ostende,  par  Henry 
Haestens.  Leyde,  1615,  pp.  79,  80. 


62  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIX, 

They  offered  Albert  300,000  florins  a  month  so  long  as  the 
siege  should  last,  besides  an  extraordinary  sum  of  300,000,  of 
which  one  third  was  to  be  paid  when  the  place  should  be  in 
vested,  one- third  when  the  breach  had  been  made,  and  one- third 
after  the  town  had  been  taken.8  It  was  obvious  that,  although 
they  thought  the  extraction  of  the  thorn  might  prove  trouble 
some,  the  process  would  be  accomplished  within  a  reasonable 
time.  The  cardinal-archduke,  on  his  part,  was  as  anxious  as 
the  "  members  "  of  Flanders.  Asking  how  long  the  Duke  of 
Parma  had  been  in  taking  Antwerp,  and  being  told  "  eighteen 
months,"  he  replied  that,  if  necessary,  he  was  willing  to 
employ  eighteen  years  in  reducing  Ostend.9 

The  town  thus  about  to  assume  so  much  importance  in  the 
world's  eye  had  about  three  thousand  inhabitants  within  its 
lowly,  thatch-roofed  houses.  It  fronted  directly  upon  the  sea- 
coast  and  stretched  backward  in  a  southerly  direction,  having 
the  sandy  downs  on  the  right  and  left,  and  a  swampy,  spongy 
soil  on  the  inner  verge,  where  it  communicated  with  the  land. 
Its  northern  part,  small  and  scarcely  inhabited,  was  lashed 
by  the  ocean,  and  exposed  to  perpetual  danger  from  its  storms 
and  flood-tides,  but  was  partially  protected  from  these  en 
croachments  by  a  dyke  stretching  along  the  coast  on  the  west. 
Here  had  hitherto  been  the  harbour  formed  by  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Iperleda  as  it  mingled  with  the  sea,  but  this  entrance 
had  become  so  choked  with  sand  as  to  be  almost  useless  at 
low  water.  This  circumstance  would  have  rendered  the 
labours  of  the  archduke  comparatively  easy,  and  much  dis 
couraged  the  States,  had  there  not  fortunately  been  a  new 
harbour  which  had  formed  itself  on  the  eastern  side  exactly 
at  the  period  of  threatened  danger.  The  dwarf  mountain 
range  of  dunes  which  encircled  the  town  on  the  eastern  side 
had  been  purposely  levelled,  lest  the  higher  summits  should 
offer  positions  of  vantage  to  a  besieging  foe.  In  consequence 
of  this  operation,  the  sea  had  burst  over  the  land  and  swept 


8  Haestens,  99.  Philip  Fleming. 
Oostende.  Vermaerde  gheweldige, 
lanckduyrighe  ende  Bloedighe  Bele- 


lippe  Fleming,     's  Gravenhage,  1621, 
p.  62. 
9  Angeli  Galluccii  de  Bello  Belgico, 


geringhe,  etc.  beschreven  door  Phi- 1  Romae,  1671.     Pars  Altera.  p.  184. 


1601.  FORTIFICATIONS  OF  OSTEND.  63 

completely  around  the  place,  almost  converting  it  into  an 
island,  while  at  high  water  there  opened  a  wide  and  profound 
gulf  which  with  the  ebb  left  an  excellent  channel  quite  deep 
enough  for  even  the  ships  of  war  of  those  days.  The  next 
care  of  the  States  authorities  was  to  pierce  their  fortifications 
on  this  side  at  a  convenient  point,  thus  creating  a  safe  and 
snug  haven  within  the  walls  for  the  fleets  of  transports  which 
were  soon  to  arrive  by  open  sea,  laden  with  soldiers  and 
munitions. 

The  whole  place  was  about  half  an  hour's  walk  in  circum 
ference.  It  was  surrounded  with  a  regular  counterscarp, 
bastions,  and  casemates,  while  the  proximity  of  the  ocean 
and  the  humid  nature  of  the  soil  ensured  it  a  network  of 
foss  and  canal  on  every  side.  On  the  left  or  western  side, 
where  the  old  harbour  had  once  been,  and  which  was  the  most 
vulnerable  by  nature,  was  a  series  of  strong  ravelins,  the  most 
conspicuous  of  which  were  called  the  Sand  Hill,  the  Porcu 
pine,  and  Hell's  Mouth.  Beyond  these,  towards  the  south 
west,  were  some  detached  fortifications,  resting  for  support, 
however,  upon  the  place  itself,  called  the  Polder,  the  Square, 
and  the  South  Square.  On  the  east  side,  which  was  almost 
inaccessible,  as  it  would  seem,  by  such  siege  machinery  as 
then  existed,  was  a  work  called  the  Spanish  half-moon, 
situate  on  the  new  harbour  called  the  Guele  or  Gullet. 

Towards  the  west  and  southwest,  externally,  upon  the 
territory  of  Flanders — not  an  inch  of  which  belonged  to  the 
republic,  save  the  sea-beaten  corner  in  which  nestled  the 
little  town  —  eighteen  fortresses  had  been  constructed  by 
the  archduke  as  a  protection  against  hostile .  incursions  from 
the  place.  Of  these,  the  most  considerable  were  St.  Albert, 
often  mentioned  during  the  Nieuport  campaign,  St.  Isabella- 
St.  Clara,  and  Great-Thirst.10 

On  the  5th  July,  1601,  the  archduke  came  before  the  town, 
and  formally  began  the  siege.     He  established  his   5  juiy> 
headquarters  in  the  fort  which  bore  the  name  of     160t 

10  Fleming,  Haestens,  Guicciardini  in  wee.  Bentivoglio,  P.  III.  lib.  vi.  505- 
506.  Meteren,454,455, 


64  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIX. 

his  patron  saint.  Frederic  van  den  Berg  meanwhile  occupied 
fort  Bredene  on  the  eastern  side,  with  the  intention,  if  possible, 
of  getting  possession  of  the  Gullet,  or  at  least  of  rendering 
the  entrance  to  that  harbour  impossible  by  means  of  his 
hostile  demonstrations.  Under  Van  den  Berg  was  Count 
Bucquoy-Longueval,  a  Walloon  officer  of  much  energy  and 
experience,  now  general-in-chief  of  artillery  in  the  archduke's 
army. 

The  numbers  with  which  Albert  took  the  field  at  first  have 
not  been  accurately  stated,  but  it  is  probable  that  his  object 
was  to  keep  as  many  as  twenty  thousand  constantly  engaged 
in  the  siege,  and  that  in  this  regard  he  was  generally  suc 
cessful. 

Within  the  town  were  fifty-nine  companies  of  infantry,  to 
which  were  soon  added  twenty-three  more  under  command 
of  young  Chatillon,  grandson  of  the  great  Coligny.  It  was 
"  an  olla  podrida  of  nationalities,"  according  to  the  diarist  of 
the  siege.  English,  Scotch,  Dutch,  Flemings,  Frenchmen, 
Germans,  mixed  in  about  equal  proportions.11  .  Commander-in- 
chief  at  the  outset  was  Sir  Francis  Vere,  who  established 
himself  by  the  middle  of  July  in  the  place,  sent  thither  by 
order  of  the  States-General.  It  had  been  the  desire  of  that 
assembly  that  the  stadholder  should  make  another  foray  in 
Flanders  for  the  purpose  of  driving  off  the  archduke  before 
he  should  have  time  to  complete  his  preliminary  opera 
tions.  But  for  that  year  at  least  Maurice  was  resolved  not 
to  renounce  his  own  schemes  in  deference  to  those  so  much 
more  ignorant  than  himself  of  the  art  of  war,  even  if  Barne- 
veld  and  his  subordinates  on  their  part  had  not  learned  a 
requisite  lesson  of  modesty. 

So  the  prince,  instead  of  risking  another  Nieuport  campaign, 

took  the  field  with  a  small  but  well-appointed  force,  about 

ten  thousand  men  in  all,  marched  to  the  Rhine,  and  early  in 

10  June,   June,  laid  siege  to  Bheinberg.12    It  was  his  purpose 

1601.      to  ieave  the  archduke  for  the  time  to  break  his 

11  Meteren,  Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup.    Fleming,  74,  seqq. 

»»  Meteren,  454.    Grotius,  x,  580-582,    Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  94,  95,  and  notes. 


1601.  SURRENDER  OF  RHEINBERGK  65 

teeth  against  the  walls  of  Ostend,  while  he  would  himself  pro 
tect  the  eastern  frontier,  over  which  came  regular  reinforce 
ments  and  supplies  for  the  Catholic  armies.  His  works  were 
laid  out  with  his  customary  precision  and  neatness.  But, 
standing  as  usual,  like  a  professor  at  his  blackboard,  demon 
strating  his  proposition  to  the  town,  he  was  disturbed  in  his 
calculations  by  the  abstraction  from  his  little  army  of  two 
thousand  English  troops  ordered  by  the  States-General  to 
march  to  the  defence  of  Ostend.  The  most  mathematical 
but  most  obedient  of  princes,  annoyed  but  not  disconcerted, 
sent  off  the  troops  but  continued  his  demonstration. 

"  By  this  specimen,"  cried  the  French  envoy,  with  enthu 
siasm,  "judge  of  the  energy  of  this  little  commonwealth. 
They  are  besieging  Berg  with  an  army  of  twelve  thousand 
men,  a  place  beyond  the  frontier,  and  five  days'  march  from 
the  Hague.  They  are  defending  another  important  place, 
besieged  by  the  principal  forces  of  the  archdukes,  and  there 
is  good  chance  of  success  at  both  points.  They  are  doing  all 
this  too  with  such  a  train  of  equipages  of  artillery,  of  muni 
tions,  of  barks,  of  ships  of  war,  that  I  hardly  know  of  a 
monarch  in  the  world  who  would  not  be  troubled  to  furnish 
such  a  force  of  warlike  machinery."  13 

By  the  middle  of  July  he  sprang  a  mine  under  the  fortifi 
cations,  doing  much  damage  and  sending  into  the  air 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  garrison.     Two  of  the 
soldiers   were  blown  into  his  own  camp,   and  one  of  them, 
strangely  enough,  was  but  slightly  injured.     Comkig  as  he  did 
through  the  air  at  cannon-ball  speed,  he  was  of  course  able  to 
bring  the  freshest  intelligence  from  the  interior  of  the  town 
His  news  as  to  the  condition  of  the  siege  confirmed  the  theory 
of  the  stadholder.     He   persisted  in  his  operations 
for  three  weeks  longer,  and  the  place  was  then  sur-    1601- 
rendered.14     The    same    terms — moderate    and  honourable — 
were  given  to  the  garrison  and  the  burghers  as  in  all  Maurice's 

victories.     Those  who  liked  to  stay  were  at  liberty  to  do  so, 

« 

18  Buzanval  to  Villeroy,  24  July,  1601,  cited  by  Van  Deventer,  ii.  294. 

14  Meteren,  Grotius,  Van  der  Kemp,  iM  sup. 

VOL.  IV. — F 


66  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIX. 

accepting  the  prohibition  of  public  worship  according  to  the 
Roman  ritual,  but  guaranteed  against  inquisition  into  house 
hold  or  conscience.     The  garrison  went  out  with  the  honours 
of  war,  and  thus  the  place,  whose  military  value  caused  it  to 
change  hands  almost  as  frequently  as  a  counter  in  a  game? 
was  once  more  in  possession  of  the  republic.     In  the  course 
6  August,     of tne  following  week  Maurice  laid  siege  to  the  city 
1601.  of  Meurs,  a  little  farther  up  the  Khine,  which  imme 

diately  capitulated.15  Thus  the  keys  to  the  debatable  land 
of  Cleves  and  Juliers,  the  scene  of  the  Admiral  of  Arragon's 
recent  barbarities,  were  now  held  by  the  stadholder. 

These  achievements  were  followed  by  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  upon  Bois-le-Duc  in  the  course  of  November.  The 
place  would  have  fallen  notwithstanding  the  slenderness  of 
the  besieging  army  had  not  a  sudden  and  severe  frost  caused 
the  prudent  prince  to  raise  the  siege.  Feeling  that  his  cousin 
Frederic  van  den  Berg,  who  had  been  despatched  from  before 
Ostend  to  command  the  relieving  force  near  Bois-le-Duc,  might 
take  advantage  of  the  prematurely  frozen  canals  and  rivers 
to  make  an  incursion  into  Holland,  he  left  his  city  just  as  his 
November,  works  had  been  sufficiently  advanced  to  ensure 
1601.  possession  of  the  prize,  and  hastened  to  protect  the 
heart  of  the  republic  from  possible  danger.16 

Nothing  further  was  accomplished  by  Maurice  that  year, 
but  meantime  something  had  been  doing  within  and  around 
Ostend. 

For  now  the  siege  of  Ostend  became  the  war,  and  was 
likely  to  continue  to  be  the  war  for  a  long  time  to  come  ;  all 
other  military  operations  being  to  a  certain  degree  suspended, 
as  if  by  general  consent  of  both  belligcrants,  or  rendered 
'subsidiary  to  the  main  design.  So  long  as  this  little  place 
should  be  beleaguered  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  States,  and 
of  Maurice,  acting  in  harmony  with  those  authorities,  to  con 
centrate  their  resources  so  as  to  strengthen  the  grip  with 
which  the  only  scrap  of  Flanders  was  held  by  the  republic. 

13  Meteren,  Grotius,  Van  der  Kemp,  ubi  sup. 

lt  Meteren,  457  ;  Van  der  Kemp,  96,  97,  and  notes. 


1601.  CONCENTRATION  OF  THE  WAR  AT  OSTEND.  67 

And  as  time  wore  on,  the  supposed  necessities  of  the  wealthy 
province,  which,  in  political  importance,  made  up  a  full 
half  of  the  archduke's  dominions,  together  with  self-esteem 
and  an  exaggerated  idea  of  military  honour,  made  that  prelate 
more  and  more  determined  to  effect  his  purpose. 

So  upon  those  barren  sands  was  opened  a  great  academy  in 
which  the  science  and  the  art  of  war  were  to  he  taught  by 
the  most  skilful  practitioners  to  all  Europe  ;  for  no  general, 
corporal,  artillerist,  barber-surgeon,  or  engineer,  would  be 
deemed  to  know  his  trade  if  he  had  not  fought  at  Ostend  ; 
and  thither  resorted  month  after  month  warriors  of  every 
rank,  from  men  of  royal  or  of  noblest  blood  to  adventurers  of 
lowlier  degree,  whose  only  fortune  was  buckled  at  their  sides. 
From  every  land,  of  every  religion,  of  every  race,  they  poured 
into  the  town  or  into  the  besiegers7  trenches.  Habsburg  and 
Holstein ;  Northumberland,  Vere,  and  Westmoreland ;  Fairfax 
and  Stuart ;  Bourbon,  Chatillon,  and  Lorraine  ,  Bentivoglio, 
Farnese,  Spinola,  Grimaldi,  Arragon,  Toledo,  Avila,  Berlay- 
mont,  Bucquoy,  Nassau,  Orange,  Solms  —  such  were  the 
historic  names  of  a  few  only  of  the  pupils  or  professors  in  that 
sanguinary  high  school,  mingled  with  the  plainer  but  well- 
known  patronymics  of  the  Baxes,  Meetkerkes,  Van  Loons, 
Marquettes,  Van  der  Meers,  and  Barendrechts,  whose  bearers 
were  fighting,  as  they  long  had  fought,  for  all  that  men  most 
dearly  prize  on  earth,  and  not  to  win  honour  or  to  take  doctors7 
degrees  in  blood.  Papist,  Calvinist,  Lutheran,  Turk,  Jew  and 
Moor,  European,  Asiatic,  African,  all  came  to  dance  in  that 
long  carnival  of  death  ;  and  every  incident,  every  detail 
throughout  the  weary  siege  could  if  necessary  be  reproduced ; 
for  so  profound  and  general  was  the  attention  excited 
throughout  Christendom  by  these  extensive  operations,  and 
so  new  and  astonishing  were  many  of  the  inventions  and  ma 
chines  employed — most  of  them  now  as  familiar  as  gunpowder 
or  as  antiquated  as  a  catapult — that  contemporaries  have  been 
most  bountiful  in  their  records  for  the  benefit  of  posterity, 
feeling  sure  of  a  gratitude  which  perhaps  has  not  been 
rendered  to  their  shades. 


68  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIX. 

Especially  the  indefatigable  Philip  Fleming — auditor  and 
secretary  of  Ostend  before  and  during  the  siege,  bravest, 
most  conscientious,  and  most  ingenious  of  clerks  —  has 
chronicled  faithfully  in  his  diary  almost  every  cannon-shot 
that  was  fired,  house  that  was  set  on  fire,  officer  that  was 
killed,  and  has  pourtrayed  each  new  machine  that  was 
invented  or  imagined  by  native  or  foreign  genius.  For  the 
adepts  or  pretenders  who  swarmed  to  town  or  camp  from 
every  corner  of  the  earth,  bringing  in  their  hands  or  brains 
to  be  disposed  of  by  either  belligerents  infallible  recipes  for 
terminating  the  siege  at  a  single  blow,  if  only  their  theories 
could  be  understood  and  their  pockets  be  filled,  were  as 
prolific  and  as  sanguine  as  in  every  age.17  But  it  would  be 
as  wearisome,  and  in  regard  to  the  history  of  human  culture 
as  superfluous,  to  dilate  upon  the  technics  of  Targone  and 
Giustianini,  and  the  other  engineers,  Italian  and  Flemish, 
who  amazed  mankind  at  this  period  by  their  successes,  still 
more  by  their  failures,  or  to  describe  every  assault,  sortie,  and 
repulse,  every  excavation,  explosion,  and  cannonade,  as  to 
disinter  the  details  of  the  siege  of  Nineveh  or  of  Troy.  But 
there  is  one  kind  of  enginry  which  never  loses  its  value 
or  its  interest,  and  which  remains  the  same  in  every  age — the 
machinery  by  which  stout  hearts  act  directly  upon  willing 
hands — and  vast  were  the  results  now  depending  on  its  em 
ployment  around  Ostend. 

On  the  outside  and  at  a  distance  the  war  was  superintended 
of  course  by  the  stadholder  and  commander-in-chief,  while 
his  cousin  William  Lewis,  certainly  inferior  to  no  living  man 
in  the  science  of  war,  and  whose  studies  in  military  literature, 
both  ancient  and  modern,  during  the  brief  intervals  of  his 
active  campaigning,  were  probably  more  profound  than 
those  of  any  contemporary,  was  always  alert  and  anxious  to 
assist  with  his  counsels  or  to  mount  and  ride  to  the  fray. 

In  the  town  Sir  Francis  Vere  commanded.  Few  shapes 
are  more  familiar  to  the  student  of  those  times  than  this 

11  Bentivoglio,  Meteren,  Fleming,  Haestens,  Qallucci,  Grotius,  loc.  cit.  et 
passim,  et  mult.  al. 


1601. 


SIR   FRANCIS   VERB. 


69 


veteran  campaigner,  the  offshoot  of  a  time-honoured  race.  A 
man  of  handsome,  weather-beaten,  battle-bronzed  visage,  with 
massive  forehead,  broad  intelligent  eyes,  a  high  straight  nose, 
close-clipped  hair,  and  a  great  brown  beard  like  a  spade  ; 
captious,  irascible,  but  most  resolute,  he  seemed,  in  his  gold 
inlaid  Milan  corslet  and  ruff  of  point-lace,  the  very  image  of 
a  partizan  chieftain ;  one  of  the  noblest  relics  of  a  race 
of  fighters  slowly  passing  off  the  world's  stage. 

An  efficient  colonel,  he  was  not  a  general  to  be  relied 
upon  in  great  affairs  either  in  council  or  the  field.  He 
hated  the  Nassaus,  and  the  Nassaus  certainly  did  not  admire 
him,  while  his  inordinate  self-esteem,  both  personal  and 
national,  and  his  want  of  true  sympathy  for  the  cause  in 
which,  he  fought,  were  the  frequent  source  of  trouble  and 
danger  to  the  republic. 

Of  the  seven  or  eight  thousand  soldiers  in  the  town  when 
the  siege  began,  at  least  two  thousand  were  English.  The 
queen,  too  intelligent,  despite  her  shrewishness  to  the  States, 
not  to  be  faithful  to  the  cause  in  which  her  own  interests 
were  quite  as  much  involved  as  theirs,  had  promised  Envoy 
Caron  that  although  she  was  obliged  to  maintain  twenty 
thousand  men  in  Ireland  to  keep  down  the  rebels,  directly 
leagued  as  they  were  with  Spain  and  the  archdukes,  the 
republic  might  depend  upon  five  thousand  soldiers  from 
England.18  Detachment  after  detachment,  the  soldiers  came 
as  fast  as  the  London  prisons  could  be  swept  and  the 
queen's  press-gang  perform  its  office.  It  may  be  imagined 
that  the  native  land  of  those  warriors  was  not  inconsider 
ably  benefited  by  the  grant  to  the  republic  of  the  right  to 
make  and  pay  for  these  levies.  But  they  had  all  red  uniforms, 
and  were  as  fit  as  other  men  to  dig  trenches,  to  defend  them, 
and  to  fill  them  afterwards,  and  none  could  fight  more  man 
fully  or  plunder  friend  and  foe  with  greater  cheerfulness  or 
impartiality  than  did  those  islanders.19 


18  Wagenaar,  ix.  111. 

19  Fleming,   passim,  especially  53, 
58,  101.      E.  g.   "  Arriveerden   dien 


dach  duysent  niewe  Engelsche  solda- 
ten  die  in  Engellandt  gheprest  waren 
ende  uyt  alle  de  ghevanghenisse  ghe- 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXIX. 


The  problem  which  the  archduke  had  set  himself  to  solve 
was  not  an  easy  one.  He  was  to  reduce  a  town,  which  he 
could  invest  and  had  already  succeeded  very  thoroughly  in 
investing  on  the  land  side,  but  which  was  open  to  the  whole 
world  by  sea  ;  while  the  .besieged  on  their  part  could  not  onlj 
rely  upon  their  own  Government  and  people,  who  were  more 
at  home  on  the  ocean  than  was  any  nation  in  the  world,  but 
upon  their  alliance  with  England,  a  State  hardly  inferior  in 
maritime  resources  to  the  republic  itself. 

On  the  western  side,  which  was  the  weakest,  his  progress 
was  from  the  beginning  the  more  encouraging,  and  his 
batteries  were  soon  able  to  make  some  impression  upon 
the  outer  works,  and  even  to  do  considerable  damage  to  the 
interior  of  the  town.  In  the  course  of  a  few  months  he 
had  fifty  siege-guns  in  position,  and  had  constructed  a 
practicable  road  all  around  the  place,  connecting  his  own 
fortifications  on  the  west  and  south  with  those  of  Bucquoy 
on  the  east.20 

Albert's  leading  thought  however  was  to  cut  off  the  supplies. 
The  freaks  of  nature,  as  already  observed,  combined  with 
his  own  exertions,  had  effectually  disposed  of  the  western 
harbour  as  a  means  of  ingress.  The  tide  ebbed  and  flowed 
through  the  narrow  channel,  but  it  was  clogged  with  sand  and 
nearly  dry  at  low  water.  Moreover,  by  an  invention  then 
considered  very  remarkable,  a  foundation  was  laid  for  the 
besiegers'  forts  and  batteries  by  sinking  large  and  deep 
baskets  of  wicker-work,  twenty  feet  in  length,  and  filled  with 
bricks  and  sand,  within  this  abandoned  harbour.  These 
clumsy  machines  were  called  sausages,21  and  were  the  delight 
of  the  camp  and  of  all  Europe.  The  works  thus  established 
on  the  dry  side  crept  slowly  on  towards  the  walls,  and  some 
demi-cannon  were  soon  placed  upon  them,  but  the  besieged, 
not  liking  these  encroachments,  took  the  resolution  to  cut  the 
sea-dyke  along  the  coast  which  had  originally  protected 


licht,  ghecleet  met  roode  casacken," 
&c  &c.  p.  58. 
20  Bentivoglio.     P.     III.     505^509. 


Meteren,  455,  460.     Grotii  Hist,  lib, 
x.     Fleming,  passim,  for  year  1601. 
21  Ibid. 


1601.  ERECTION  OF  SIEGE-WORKS.  71 

the  old  harbour.  Thus  the  sea,  when  the  tides  were  high  and 
winds  boisterous,  was  free  to  break  in  upon  the  archduke's 
works,  and  would  often  swallow  sausages,  men,  and  cannon 
far  more  rapidly  than  it  was  possible  to  place  them  there. 
Yet  still  those  human  ants  toiled  on,  patiently  restoring  what 
the  elements  so  easily  destroyed  ;  and  still,  despite  the  sea, 
the  cannonade,  and  the  occasional  sorties  of  the  garrison,  the 
danger  came  nearer  and  nearer.  Bucquoy  on  the  other  side 
was  pursuing  the  same  system,  but  his  task  was  immeasur 
ably  more  difficult.  The  Gullet,  or  new  eastern  entrance, 
was  a  whirlpool  at  high  tide,  deep,  broad,  and  swift  as  a  mill- 
race.  Yet  along  its  outer  verge  he  too  laid  his  sausages,  pro 
tecting  his  men  at  their  work  as  well  as  he  could  with 
gabions,  and  essayed  to  build  a  dyke  of  wicker-work  upon 
which  he  might  place  a  platform  for  artillery  to  prevent  the 
ingress  of  the  republican  ships. 

And  his  soldiers  were  kept  steadily  at  work,  exposed  all 
the  time  to  the  guns  of  the  Spanish  half-moon  from  which 
the  besieged  never  ceased  to  cannonade  those  industrious 
pioneers.  It  was  a  bloody  business.  Night  and  day  the  men 
were  knee-deep  in  the  trenches  delving  in  mud  and  sand, 
falling  every  instant  into  the  graves  which  they  were  thus 
digging  for  themselves,  while  ever  and  anon  the  sea  would 
rise  in  its  wrath  and  sweep  them  with  their  works  away. 
Yet  the  victims  were  soon  replaced  by  others,  for  had  not  the 
cardinal-archduke  sworn  to  extract  the  thorn  from  the  Belgic 
lion's  paw  even  if  he  should  be  eighteen  years  about  it,  and 
would  military  honour  permit  him  to  break  his  vow  ?  It  was 
a  piteous  sight,  even  for  the  besieged,  to  see  human  life  so 
profusely  squandered.  It  is  a  terrible  reflection,  too,  that 
those  Spaniards,  Walloons,  Italians,  confronted  death  so 
eagerly,  not  from  motives  of  honour,  religion,  discipline,  not 
inspired  by  any  kind  of  faith  or  fanaticism,  but  because  the 
men  who  were  employed  in  this  horrible  sausage-making  and 
dyke-building  were  promised  five  stivers  a  day  instead  of 
two.22 

*2  Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup. 


72  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XXXIX 

And  there  was  always  an  ample  supply  of  volunteers  for 
the  service  so  long  as  the  five  stivers  were  paid.  I 

But  despite  all  Bucquoy's  exertions  the  east  harbour 
remained  as  free  as  ever.  The  cool,  wary  Dutch  skippers 
brought  in  their  cargoes  as  regularly  as  if  there  had  been  no 
siege  at  all.  Ostend  was  rapidly  acquiring  greater  commercial 
importance,  and  was  more  full  of  bustle  and  business  than 
had  ever  been  dreamed  of  in  that  quiet  nook  since  the  days 
of  Eobert  the  Frisian,  who  had  built  the  old  church  of  Ostend, 
as  one  of  the  thirty  which  he  erected  in  honour  of  St.  Peter, 
five  hundred  years  before.23 

For  the  States  did  not  neglect  their  favourite  little  city. 
Fleets  of  transports  arrived  day  after  day,  week  after  week, 
laden  with  every  necessary  and  even  luxury  for  the  use  of 
the  garrison.  It  was  perhaps  the  cheapest  place  in  all  the 
Netherlands,  so  great  was  the  abundance.  Capons,  hares, 
partridges,  and  butcher's  meat  were  plentiful  as  blackberries, 
and  good  French  claret  was  but  two  stivers  the  quart.24 
Certainly  the  prospect  was  not  promising  of  starving  the 
town  into  a  surrender. 

But  besides  all  this  digging  and  draining  there  was  an 
almost  daily  cannonade.  Her  Koyal  Higness  the  Infanta  was 
perpetually  in  camp  by  the  side  of  her  well-beloved  Albert, 
making  her  appearance  there  in  great  state,  with  eighteen 
coaches  full  of  ladies  of  honour,  and  always  manifesting  much 
impatience  if  she  did  not  hear  the  guns.25 

She  would  frequently  touch  off  a  forty-pounder  with  her 
own  serene  fingers  in  order  to  encourage  the  artillerymen, 
and  great  was  the  enthusiasm  which  such  condescension 
excited.26 

Assaults,  sorties,  repulses,  ambuscades  were  also  of  daily 
occurrence,  and  often  with  very  sanguinary  results ;  but  it 
would  be  almost  as  idle  now  to  give  the  details  of  every 
encounter  that  occurred,  as  to  describe  the  besieging  of  a 
snow-fort  by  schoolboys. 

53  Haestens,  81.  M  Fleming. 

w  Meteren,  496.  *6  Ibid.  455™,  460 


1601. 


MAGNITUDE  OF  THE  SIEGE. 


73 


It  is  impossible  not  to  reflect  that  a  couple  of  Parrots 
and  a  Monitor  or  two  would  have  terminated  the  siege  in 
half  an  hour  in  favor  of  either  party,  and  levelled  the  town 
or  the  besiegers'  works  as  if  they  had  been  of  pasteboard. 

Bucquoy's  dyke  was  within  a  thousand  yards  of  the 
harbour's  entrance,  yet  the  guns  on  his  platform  never  sank 
a  ship  nor  killed  a  man  on  board,27  while  the  archduke's 
batteries  were  even  nearer  their  mark.  Yet  it  was  the  most 
prodigious  siege  of  modern  days.  Fifty  great  guns  were  in 
position  around  the  place,  and  their  balls  weighed  from  ten  to 
forty  pounds  apiece.  It  was  generally  agreed  that  no  such 
artillery  practice  had  ever  occurred  before  in  the  world.28 

For  the  first  six  months,  and  generally  throughout  the 
siege,  there  was  fired  on  an  average  a  thousand  of  such 
shots  a  day™  In  the  sieges  of  the  American  civil  war  there 
were  sometimes  three  thousand  shots  an  hour,  and  from  guns 
compared  to  which  in  calibre  and  power  those  cannon  and 
demi-cannon  were  but  children's  toys.30 

Certainly  the  human  arm  was  of  the  same  length  then  as 
now,  a  pike-thrust  was  as  effective  as  the  stab  of  the  most 
improved  bayonet,  and  when  it  came,  as  it  was  always  the 
purpose  to  do,  to  the  close  embrace  of  foemen,  the  work  was 
done  as  thoroughly  as  it  could  be  in  this  second  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Nevertheless  it  is  impossible  not  to  hope 
that  such  progress  in  science  must  at  last  render  long  wars 
impossible.  The  Dutch  war  of  independence  had  already 
lasted  nearly  forty  years.  Had  the  civil  war  in  America 
upon  the  territory  of  half  a  continent  been  waged  with  the 
Ostend  machinery  it  might  have  lasted  two  centuries.  Some 
thing  then  may  have  been  gained  for  humanity  by  giving  war 
such  preter-human  attributes  as  to  make  its  demands  of  geld 
and  blood  too  exhaustive  to  become  chronic. 

Yet  the  loss  of  human  life  during  that  summer  and  winter 


17  Fleming. 

58  Meteren,  455™. 

59  Ibid. 

30  I  have  been  informed  that  at  the 
siege  of  Fort  Fisher  two  hundred  and 


forty  shots  were  counted  in  three  con* 
secutive  minutes — at  the  rate  therefore 
of  forty-eight  hundred  shots  an  hour 
— while  at  Ostend  there  was  an  aver 
age  of  eight  shots  per  hour. 


74  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIX. 

was  sufficiently  wholesale  as  compared  with  the  meagre 
results.  Blood  flowed  in  torrents,  for  no  man  could  be  more 
free  of  his  soldiers'  lives  than  was  the  cardinal-archduke, 
hurling  them  as  he  did  on  the  enemy's  works  before  the 
pretence  of  a  practical  breach  had  been  effected,  and  before  a 
reasonable  chance  existed  of  purchasing  an  advantage  at  such 
a  price.  Five  hundred  were  killed  outright  in  half-an-hour's 
assault  on  an  impregnable  position  one  autumn  evening,  and 
lay  piled  in  heaps  beneath  the  Sand  Hill  fort — many  youthful 
gallants  from  Spain  and  Italy  among  them,  noble  volunteers 
August,  recognised  by  their  perfumed  gloves  and  golden 

1601.  chains,  and  whose  pockets  were  worth  rifling.31  The 
Dutch  surgeons,  too,  sallied  forth  in  strength  after  such  an 
encounter,  and  brought  in  great  bags  filled  with  human  fat,32 
esteemed  the  sovereignst  remedy  in  the  world  for  wounds 
and  disease. 

Leaders  were  killed-  on  both  sides.  Catrici,  chief  of  the 
Italian  artillery,  and  Braccamonte,  commander  of  a  famous 
Sicilian  legion,  with  many  less-known  captains,  lost  their 
lives  before  the  town.  The  noble  young  Chatillon,  grandson 
of  Coligny,  who  had  distinguished  himself  at  Nieuport,  fell  in 
the  Porcupine  fort,  his  head  carried  off  by  a  cannon-ball, 
which  destroyed  another  officer  at  his  side,  and  just  grazed 
the  ear  of  the  distinguished  Colonel  Uchtenbroek.  .Sir 
Francis  Yere,  too,  was  wounded  in  the  head  by  a  fragment  of 
iron,  and  was  obliged  to  leave  the  town  for  six  weeks  till  his 
wound  should  heal. 

The  unfortunate  inhabitants — men,  women,  and  children — 
were  of  course  exposed  to  perpetual  danger,  and  very  many 
were  killed.  Their  houses  were  often  burned  to  the  ground, 
in  which  cases  the  English  auxiliaries  were  indefatigable, 
not  in  rendering  assistance,  but  in  taking  possession  of  such 
household  goods  as  the  flames  had  spared.  Nor  did  they 
always  wait  for  such  opportunities,  but  were  apt,  at  the 
death  of  an  eminent  burgher,  to  constitute  themselves  at 
once  universal  legatees.  Thus,  while  honest  Bartholomew 

91  Haestens,  147  »  Ibid. 


1601.  MORTALITY  IN  THE  TOWN.  75 

Tysen,  a  worthy  citizen  grocer,  was  standing  one  autumn 
morning  at  his  own  door,  a  stray  cannon-ball  took  off  his 
head,  and  scarcely  had  .he  been  put  in  a  coffin  before  his 
house  was  sacked  from  garret  to  cellar  and  all  the  costly 
spices,  drugs,  and  other  valuable  merchandize  of  his  ware 
house — the  chief  magazine  in  the  town — together  with  all 
his  household  furniture,  appropriated  by  those  London  war 
riors.  Bartholomew's  friends  and  relatives  appealed  to  Sir 
Francis  Vere  for  justice,  but  were  calmly  informed  by  that 
general  that  Ostend  was  like  a  stranded  ship,  on  its  beam- 
ends  on  a  beach,  and  that  it  was  impossible  not  to  consider  it 
at  the  mercy  of  the  wreckers.33  So  witn  this  highly  figurative 
view  of  the  situation  from  the  lips  of  the  governor  of  the 
place  and  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  English  as  well  as 
the  Dutch  garrison,  they  were  fain  to  go  home  and  bury 
their  dead,  finding  when  they  returned  that  another  cannon- 
ball  had  carried  away  poor  Bartholomew's  coffin-lid.34  Thus 
was  never  non-combatant  and  grocer,  alive  or  dead,  more  out 
of  suits  with  fortune  than  this  citizen  of  Ostend ;  and  such 
were  the  laws  of  war,  as  understood  by  one  of  the  most  emi 
nent  of  English  practitioners  in  the  beginning  of  the  seven 
teenth  century.  It  is  true,  however,  that  Vere  subsequently 
hanged  a  soldier  for  stealing  fifty  pounds  of  powder  and 
another  for  uttering  counterfeit  money,  but  robberies  upon 
the  citizens  were  unavenged. 

Nor  did  the  deaths  by  shot  or  sword-stroke  make  up  the 
chief  sum  of  mortality.  As  usual,  the  murrain-like  pesti 
lence,  which  swept  off  its  daily  victims  both  within  and 
without  the  town,  was  more  effective  than  any  direct  agency 
of  man.  By  the  month  of  December  the  number  of  the  gar 
rison  had  been  reduced  to  less  than  three  thousand,  while  it 
is  probable  that  the  archduke  had  not  eight  thousand  effective 
men  left  in  his  whole  army. 

It  was  a  black  and  desolate  scene.  The  wild  waves  of  the 
German  ocean,  lashed  by  the  wintry  gales,  would  often  sweep 
over  the  painfully  constructed  works  of  besieger  and  besieged 

83  Fleming,  53.  M  Ibid. 


76  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIX. 

and  destroy  in  an  hour  the  labour  of  many  weeks.  The  Por 
cupine — a  small  but  vitally-important  ravelin  lying  out  in 
the  counterscarp  between  the  old  town  and  the  new,  guard 
ing  the  sluices  by  which  the  water  for  the  town  moats  and 
canals  was  controlled,  and  preventing  the  pioneers  of  the 
enemy  from  undermining  the  western  wall — was  so  damaged 
by  the  sea  as  to  be  growing  almost  untenable.  Indefatigably 
had  the  besieged  attempted  with  wicker-work  and  timber  and 
palisades  to  strengthen  this  precious  little  fort,  but  they  had 
found,  even  as  Bucquoy  and  the  archduke,  on  their  part 
had  learned,  that  the  North  Sea  in  winter  was  not  to  be 
dammed  by  bulrushes.  Moreover,  in  a  bold  and  successful 
assault  the  besiegers  had  succeeded  in  setting  fire  to  the 
inflammable  materials  heaped  about  the  ravelin  to  such 
effect  that  the  fire  burned  for  days,  notwithstanding  the 
flooding  of  the  works  at  each  high  tide.35  The  men,  working 
day  and  night,  scorching  in  the  flames,  yet  freezing  knee- 
deep  in  the  icy  slush  of  the  trenches  and  perpetually  under 
fire  of  the  hostile  batteries,  became  daily  more  and  more 
exhausted,  notwithstanding  their  determination  to  hold  the 
place.  Christmas  drew  nigh,  and  a  most  gloomy  festival  it 
was  like  to  be  ;  for  it  seemed  as  if  the  beleaguered  garrison 
had  been  forgotten  by  the  States.  Weeks  had  passed  away 
without  a  single  company  being  sent  to  repair  the  hideous 
gaps  made  daily  in  the  ranks  of  those  defenders  of  a  forlorn 
hope.  It  was  no  longer  possible  to  hold  the  external  works  ; 
the  Square,  the  Polder,  and  the  other  forts  on  the  south-west 
which  Yere  had  constructed  with  so  much  care  and  where  he 
23  Dec.  na(l  thus  far  kept  his  headquarters.  On  Sunday 
1601.  morning,  23rd  December,  he  reluctantly  gave 
orders  that  they  should  be  abandoned  on  the  following 
day  and  the  whole  garrison  concentrated  within  the  town.36 
The  clouds  were  gathering  darkly  over  the  head  of  the 
gallant  Yere  ;  for  no  sooner  had  he  arrived  at  this  determi 
nation  than  he  learned  from  a  deserter  that  the  archduke 

35  Meteren  Bentivoglio,  Grotius,  ubi  sup.     Fleming,  172 
31  Fleming,  171-188.     Meteren,  460. 


1601.  STRATAGEM  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  VERB.  77 

had  fixed  upon  that  very  Sunday  evening  for  a  general 
assault  upon  the  place.  It  was  hopeless  for  the  garrison  to 
attempt  to  hold  these  outer  forts,  for  they  required  a  far 
larger  number  of  soldiers  than  could  be  spared  from  the 
attenuated  little  army.  Yet  with  those  forts  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy  there  would  be  nothing  left  but  to  make  the  best 
and  speediest  terms  that  might  be  obtained.  The  situation 
was  desperate.  Sir  Francis  called  his  principal  officers  to 
gether,  announced  his  resolve  not  to  submit  to  the  humilia 
tion  of  a  surrender  after  all  their  efforts,  if  there  was  a  pos 
sibility  of  escape  from  their  dilemma,  reminded  them  that 
reinforcements  might  be  expected  to  arrive  at  any  moment, 
and  that  with  even  a  few  hundred  additional  soldiers  the 
outer  works  might  still  be  manned  and  the  city  saved.  The 
officers  English,  Dutch,  and  French,  listened  respectfully 
to  his  remarks,  but,  without  any  suggestions  on  their  own 
part,  called  on  him  as  their  Alexander  to  untie  the  Gor- 
dian  knot:7  Alexander  solved  it,  not  with  the  sword,  but 
with  a  trick  which  he  hoped  might  prove  sharper  than  a 
sword.  He  announced  his  intention  of  proposing  at  once  to 
treat,  and  to  protract  the  negotiations  as  long  as  possible, 
until  the  wished-for  sails  should  be  discerned  in  the  offing, 
when  he  would  at  once  break  faith  with  them,  resume  hosti 
lities,  and  so  make  fools  of  the  besiegers. 

This  was  a  device  worthy  of  a  modern  Alexander  whose 
surname  was  Farnese.  Even  in  that  loose  age  such  cynical 
trifling  with  the  sacredness  of  trumpets  of  truce  and  offers  of 
capitulation  were  deemed  far  from  creditable  among  soldiers 
and  statesmen,  yet  the  council  of  war  highly  applauded38  the 
scheme,  and  importuned  the  general  to  carry  it  at  once  into 
effect. 


*'  Fleming,  uU  sup.    It  is  expressly  |  a  trick.   See  Meteren,  455-460.   Benti- 
stated  by  Fleming  that  there  was  a  I  voglio,   P.  III.  505-509.     Grot.  Hist. 


regular  council  of  war  on  this  subject, 
so  that   Meteren,  Grotius,  and,  after 


lib.  x. 


Fleming,  178.     "  Die  van  de  ver- 


them,  Wagenaar  and  others,  are  mis- 1  gaderinge    sijne     intentie    ghehoort 


taken  in  saying  that  Vere  was  alone 


responsible  for  the  stratagem.     Benti-  lich  ghelaudeert,"  &c. 
yoglio  does  not  seem  aware  that  it  was  j 


hebbende  wert  by  haer  lieder  hoocli- 


78  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIX. 

When  it  came,  however,  to  selecting  the  hostages  neces 
sary  for  the  proposed  negotiations,  they  became  less  ardent 
and  were  all  disposed  to  recede.  At  last,  after  much 
discussion,  the  matter  was  settled,  and  before  nightfall  a 
drummer  was  set  upon  the  external  parapet  of  the  Porcu 
pine,  who  forthwith  began  to  beat  vigorously  for  a  parley. 
The  rattle  was  a  welcome  sound  in  the  ears  of  the  weary 
besiegers,  just  drawn  up  in  column  for  a  desperate  assault, 
and  the  tidings  were  at  once  communicated  to  the  archduke 
in  Fort  St.  Albert.  The  prince  manifested  at  first  some  un 
willingness  to  forego  the  glory  of  the  attack,  from  which  he 
confidently  expected  a  crowning  victory,  but  yielding  to  the 
representations  of  his  chief  generals  that  it  was  better  to 
have  his  town  without  further  bloodshed,  he  consented  to 
treat.  Hostages  were  expeditiously  appointed  on 
23  Dec.'  both  sides,  and  Captains  Ogle  and  Fairfax  were 
01 '  sent  that  same  evening  to  the  headquarters  of  the 
besieging  army.  It  was  at  once  agreed  as  a  preliminary  that 
the  empty  outer  works  of  the  place  should  remain  unmo 
lested.  The  English  officers  were  received  with  much 
courtesy.  The  archduke  lifted  his  hat  as  they  were  pre 
sented,  asked  them  of  what  nation  they  were,  and  then  in 
quired  whether  they  were  authorized  to  agree  upon  terms  of 
capitulation.  They  answered  in  the  negative  ;  adding,  that 
the  whole  business  would  be  in  the  hands  of  commissioners 
to  be  immediately  sent  by  his  Highness,  as  it  was  supposed, 
into  the  town.  Albert  then  expressed  the  hope  that  there 
was  no  fraudulent  intention  in  the  proposition  just  made  to 
negotiate.  The  officers  professed  themselves  entirely  igno 
rant  of  any  contemplated  deception  ;  although  Captain  Ogle 
had  been  one  of  the  council,  had  heard  every  syllable  of 
Vere's  stratagem,  and  had  heartily  approved  of  the  whole 
plot.  The  Englishmen  were  then  committed  to  the  care  of 
a  Spanish  nobleman  of  the  duke's  staff,  and  were  treated 
with  perfect  politeness  and  hospitality.39 

39  Meteren,  Bentivoglio,  Grotius,  uU  sup;  but  Fleming,  170-188,  is  by  far 
the  best  authority,  his  diary  recording  every  minute  incident. 


1601.  PROPOSAL  FOR  NEGOTIATION.  79 

Meantime  no  time  was  lost  in  despatching  hostages,  who 
should  be  at  the  same  time  commissioners,  to  Ostend.  The 
quartermaster-general  of  the  army,  Don  Matteo  Antonio,  and 
Matteo  Serrano,  governor  of  Sluys,  but  serving  among  the 
besiegers,  were  selected  for  this*  important  business  as  per« 
sonages  of  ability,  discretion,  and  distinction.40 

They  reached  the  town,  coming  in  of  course  from  the 
western  side,  as  expeditiously  as  possible,  but  after  night 
fall.  Before  they  arrived  at  headquarters  there  suddenly 
arose,  from  some  unknown  cause,  a  great  alarm  and  beating 
to  arms  on  the  opposite  or  eastern  side  of  the  city.  They 
were  entirely  innocent  of  any  participation  in  this  uproar 
and  ignorant  of  its  cause,  but  when  they  reached  the  pre 
sence  of  Sir  Francis  Vere  they  found  that  warrior  in  a  tower 
ing  passion.  There  was  cheating  going  on,  he  exclaimed. 
The  Spaniards,  he  cried,  were  taking  advantage,  by  dis 
honourable  stratagem,  of  these  negotiations,  and  were  about 
to  assault  the  town. 

Astounded,  indignant,  but  utterly  embarrassed,  the  grave 
Spaniards  knew  not  how  to  reply.  They  were  still  more 
amazed  when  the  general,  rising  to  a  still  higher  degree  of 
exasperation,  absolutely  declined  to  exchange  another  word 
with  them,  but  ordered  Captains  Carpentier  and  St.  Hilaire, 
by  whom  they  had  been  escorted  to  his  quarters,  to  conduct 
them  out  of  the  town  again  by  the  same  road  which  had 
brought  them  there.  There  was  nothing  for  it -but  to  comply, 
and  to  smother  their  resentment  at  such  extraordinary  treat 
ment  as  best  they  could.41  When  they  got  to  the  old  harbour 
on  the  western  side  the  tide  had  risen  so  high  that  it  was  im 
possible  to  cross.  Nobody  knew  better  than  Vere,  when  he 
gave  the  order,  that  this  would  be  the  case  ;  so  that  when 
the  escorting  officers  returned  to  state  the  fact,  he  simply 
ordered  them  to  take  the  Spaniards  back  by  the  Gullet  or 
eastern  side.  The  strangers  were  not  very  young  men,  and 
being  much  fatigued  with  wandering  to  and  fro  in  the  dark 
ness  over  the  muddy  roads,  they  begged  permission  to  remain 
40  Fleming.  «  Ibid. 


80 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.    XXXIX. 


all  night  in  Ostend,  if  it  were  only  in  a  guardhouse.  But 
Vere  was  inexorable,  after  the  duplicity  which  he  affected  to 
have  discovered  on  the  part  of  the  enemy.  So  the  quarter 
master-general  and  the  governor  of  Sluys,  much  to  the  detri 
ment  of  their  dignity,  were  forced  once  more  to  tramp  through 
the  muddy  streets.  And  obeying  their  secret  instructions, 
the  escort  led  them  round  and  round  through  the  most  miry 
and  forlorn  parts  of  the  town,  so  that,  sinking  knee- deep  at 
every  step  into  sloughs  and  quicksands,  and  plunging  about 
through  the  mist  and  sleet  of  a  dreary  December's  night, 
they  at  last  reached  the  precincts  of  the  Spanish  half-moon 
on  the  Gullet,  be-draggled  from  head  to  foot  and  in  a  most 
dismal  and  exhausted  condition. 

"  Ah,  the  villainous  town  of  Ostend  !"  exclaimed  Serrano,4 
ruefully  contemplating  his  muddy  boots  and  imploring  at 
least  a  pipe  of  tobacco.  He  was  informed,  however,  that  no 
such  medical  drugs  were  kept  in  the  fort,13  but  that  a  draught 
of  good  English  ale  was  much  at  their  service.44  The  beer  was 
brought  in  four  foaming  flagons,  and,  a  little  refreshed  by 
this  hospitality,  the  Spaniards  were  put  in  a  boat  and  rowed 
under  the  guns  of  the  fort  across  the  Gullet  and  delivered  to 
their  own  sentries  on  the  outposts  of  Bucquoy's  entrench 
ments.  By  this  time  it  was  midnight,  so  that  it  was  necessary 
for  them  to  remain  for  the  night  in  the  eastern  encampment 
before  reporting  themselves  at  Fort  St.  Albert. 

Thus  far  Vere's  comedy  had  been  eminently  successful, 
and  by  taking  advantage  of  the  accidental  alarm  and  so 
adroitly  lashing  himself  into  a  fictitious  frenzy,  the  general 
had  gained  nearly  twenty-four  additional  hours  of  precious 
time  on  which  he  had  not  reckoned. 

Next  morning,  after  Serrano  and  Antonio  had  reported  to 
the  archduke,  it  was  decided,  notwithstanding  the  very  inhos 
pitable  treatment  which  they  had  received,  that  those  com- 


48  Fleming,  181.  "  Ah  la  mechante 
ville  d'Oostende,"  &c. 

43  Ibid,  Gelijck  t'selfe  quartier  beter 
met  bier  dan  met  medicinale  droo- 
ghen."  It  is  interesting  to  know  that 


two  centuries  and  a  half  ago  a  pipe  of 
tobacco  was  considered  as  medicine 
by  Dutchmen. 
44  Ibid. 


1601  RETURN  OF  THE  COMMISSIONERS.  81 

missioners  should  return  to  their  labours.  Ogle  and  Fairfax 
still  remained  as  hostages  in  camp,  and  of  course  professed 
entire  ignorance  of  these  extraordinary  proceedings,  attribut 
ing  them  to  some  inexplicable  misunderstanding. 
So  on  Monday,  24th  December,  the  quartermaster  24  Dec.' 
and  the  governor  again  repaired  to  Ostend  with 
orders  to  bring  about  the  capitulation  of  the  place  as  soon 
as  possible.  The  same  sergeant-major  was  again  appointed 
by  Vere  to  escort  the  strangers,  and  on  asking  by  what 
way  he  should  bring  them  in,  was  informed  by  Sir  Francis 
that  it  would  never  do  to  allow  those  gentlemen,  whose  feet 
were  accustomed  to  the  soft  sand  of  the  sea-beach  and 
downs,  to  bruise  themselves  upon  the  hard  paving-stones  of 
Ostend,  but  that  the  softest  and  muddiest  road  must  be  care 
fully  selected  for  them.45  These  reasons  accordingly  were 
stated  with  perfect  gravity  to  the  two  Spaniards,  who,  in 
spite  of  their  solemn  remonstrances,  were  made  to  repeat  a 
portion  of  their  experiences  and  to  accept  it  as  an  act  of 
special  courtesy  from  the  English  general.46  Thus  so  much 
time  had  been  spent  in  preliminaries  and  so  much  more 
upon  the  road  that  the  short  winter's  day  was  drawing  to  a 
close  before  they  were  again  introduced  to  the  presence  of 
Vere. 

They  found  that  fiery  personage  on  this  occasion  all  smiles 
and  blandishments.  The  Spaniards  were  received  with  most 
dignified  courtesy,  to  which  they  gravely  responded  ;  and  the 
general  then  proceeded  to  make  excuses  for  the  misunder 
standing  of  the  preceding  day  with  its  uncomfortable  conse 
quences.  Thereupon  arose  much  animated  discussion  as  to 
the  causes  and  the  nature  of  the  alarm  on  the  east  side 
which  had  created  such  excitement.  Much  time  was  ingeni 
ously  consumed  in  this  utterly  superfluous  discussion  ;  but  at 
last  the  commissioners  of  the  archduke  insisted  on  making 
allusion  to  the  business  which  had  brought  them  to  the  town. 
"  What  terms  of  negotiation  do  you  propose  ?  "  they  asked  Sir 

«  Fleming,  182.  «•  Ibid. 

VOL,  IV,— Gr 


82  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIX. 

Francis.  "His  Highness  has  only  to  withdraw  from  before 
Ostend,"  coolly  replied  the  general,  "and  leave  us,  his  poor 
neighbours,  in  peace  and  quietness.  This  would  be  the 
most  satisfactory  negotiation  possible  and  the  one  most  easily 
made." 

Serrano  and  Antonio  found  it  difficult  to  see  the  matter  in 
that  cheerful  light,  and  assured  Sir  Francis  that  they  had 
not  been  commissioned  by  the  archduke  to  treat  for  his  own 
withdrawal  but  for  the  surrender  of  the  town.  Hereupon 
high  words  and  fierce  discussion  very  naturally  arose,  and  at 
last,  when  a  good  deal  of  time  had  been  spent  in  the  sharp 
encounter  of  wits,  Vere  proposed  an  adjournment  of  the  dis 
cussion  until  after  supper  ;  politely  expressing  the  hope  that 
the  Spanish  gentlemen  would  be  his  guests. 

The  conversation  had  been  from  the  beginning  in  French, 
as  Vere,  although  a  master  of  the  Spanish  language,  was 
desirous  that  the  rest  of  the  company  present  should  under 
stand  everything  said  at  the  interview.47 

The  invitation  to  table  was  graciously  accepted,  and  the 
Christmas  eve  passed  off  more  merrily  than  the  preceding 
night  had  done,  so  far  as  Vere's  two  guests  were  concerned. 
Several  distinguished  officers  were  present  at  the  festive 
board  :  Captain  Montesquieu  de  Boquette,  Sir  Horace  Vere, 
Captains  St.  Hilaire,  Meetkerke,  De  Ryck,  and  others 
among  them.48  As  it  was  strict  fast  for  the  Catholics  that 
evening — while  on  the  other  hand  the  English,  still  reckon 
ing  according  to  the  old  style,  would  not  keep  Christmas 
until  ten  days  later — the  banquet  consisted  mainly  of  eggs 
and  fish,  and  the  like  meagre  articles,  in  compliment  to  the 
guests.  It  was,  however,  as  well  furnished  as  could  be  ex 
pected  in  a  beleaguered  town,  out  of  whose  harbour  a  winter 
gale  had  been  for  many  weeks  blowing  and  preventing  all 
ingress.  There  was  at  least  no  lack  of  excellent  Bordeaux 
wine,  while  the  servants  waiting  upon  the  table  did  not  fail 
to  observe  that  Governor  Serrano  was  not  in  all  respects  a 

«  Fleming,  170-188.  «  Ibid. 


1601.          THEIR  ENTERTAINMENT  BY  THE  GOVERNOR.  83 

model  of  the  temperance  usually  characteristic  of  his  race. 
They  carefully  counted  and  afterwards  related  with  admira 
tion,  not  unmingled  with  horror,  that  the  veteran  Spaniard 
drank  fifty-two  goblets  of  claret,  and  was  emptying  his  glass 
as  fast  as  filled,  although  by  no  means  neglecting  the  beer, 
the  quality  of  which  he  had  tested  the  night  before  at  the 
Half-moon.49  Yet  there  seemed  to  be  no  perceptible  effect 
produced  upon  him,  save  perhaps  that  he  grew  a  shade  more 
grave  and  dignified  with  each  succeeding  daught.50  For 
while  the  banquet  proceeded  in  this  very  genial  manner 
business  was  by  no  means  neglected  ;  the  negotiations  for  the 
surrender  of  the  city51  being  conducted  on  both  sides  with  a 
fuddled  solemnity  very  edifying  for  the  attendants  to  con 
template. 

Vere  complained  that  the  archduke  was  unreasonable,  for 
he  claimed  nothing  less  from  his  antagonists  than  their  all. 
The  commissioners  replied  that  all  was  no  more  than  his  own 
property.  It  certainly  could  not  be  thought  unjust  of  him 
to  demand  his  own,  and  all  Flanders  was  his  by  legal  dona 
tion  from  his  Majesty  of  Spain.  Vere  replied  that  he  had 
never  studied  jurisprudence,  and  was  not  versed  at  all  in  that 
science,  but  he  had  always  heard  in  England  that  possession 
was  nine  points  of  the  law.  Now  it  so  happened  that  they, 
and  not  his  Highness,  were  in  possession  of  Ostend,  and  it 
would  be  unreasonable  to  expect  them  to  make  a  present  of 
it  to  any  one.  The  besiegers,  he  urged,  had  gained  much 
honour  by  their  steady  persistence  amid  so  many  dangers, 
difficulties,  and  losses  ;  but  winter  had  come,  the  weather  was 
very  bad,  not  a  step  of  progress  had  been  made,  and  hp 
was  bold  enough  to  express  his  opinion  that  it  would  be  far 
more  sensible  on  the  part  of  his  Highness,  after  such  deeds 
of  valour,  to  withdraw  his  diminished  forces  out  of  the  freez 
ing  and  pestilential  swamps  before  Ostend  and  go  into  com 
fortable  winter-quarters  at  Ghent  or  Bruges.  Enough  had 
been  done  for  glory,  and  it  must  certainly  now  be  manifest 
that  he  had  no  chance  of  taking  the  city. 

«  Fleming,  183.  5ft  Ibid.  «  Ibid. 


84  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XXXIX. 

Serrano  retorted  that  it  was  no  secret  to  the  besiegers  that 
the  garrison  had  dwindled  to  a  handful  ;  that  it  was  quite 
impossible  for  them  to  defend  their  outer  works  any  longer  ; 
that  with  the  loss  of  the  external  boulevard  the  defence  of 
the  place  would  be  impossible,  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  it 
was  for  the  republicans  to  resign  themselves  to  their  fate. 
They,  too,  had  done  enough  for  glory,  and  had  nothing  for  it 
but  to  retire  into  the  centre  of  their  ruined  little  nest,  where 
they  must  burrow  until  the  enemy  should  have  leisure  to 
entirely  unearth  them,  which  would  be  a  piece  of  work  very 
easily  and  rapidly  accomplished.52 

This  was  called  negotiation  ;  and  thus  the  winter's  evening 
wore  away,  until  the  Spaniards,  heavy  with  fatigue  and  wine, 
were  without  much  difficulty  persuaded  to  seek  the  couches 
prepared  for  them.53 

Next  day  the  concourse  of  people  around  the  city  was 
Christmas,  wonderful  to  behold.  The  rumour  had  spread 

1601.  through  the  provinces,  and  was  on  the  wing  to 
all  foreign  countries,  that  Ostend  had  capitulated,  and  that 
the  commissioners  were  at  that  moment  arranging  the  de 
tails.  The  cardinal-archduke,  in  complete  Milanese  armour, 
with  a  splendid  feather-bush  waving  from  his  casque  and  sur 
rounded  by  his  brilliant  body-guard,  galloped  to  and  fro 
outside  the  entrenchments,  expecting  every  moment  a  depu 
tation  to  come  forth,  bearing  the  keys  of  the  town.  The 
Infanta  too,  magnificent  in  ruff  and  farthingale  and  brocaded 
petticoat,  and  attended  by  a  cavalcade  of  ladies  of  honour  in 
gorgeous  attire,  pranced  impatiently  about,  awaiting  the 
dramatic  termination  of  a  leaguer  which  was  becoming 
wearisome  to  besieger  and  besieged.54  Not  even  on  the 
famous  second  of  July  of  the  previous  year,  when  that 
princess  was  pleasing  herself  with  imaginations  as  to  the 
deportment  of  Maurice  of  Nassau  as  a  captive,  had  her 
soul  been  so  full  of  anticipated  triumph  as  on  this  Christmas 
morning. 


52  Fleming,  181,  seqq.  6S  Ibid. 

64  Ibid,  ubi  sup.    Com 


. 
pare  Bentivoglio,  Meteren,  Grotius,  vbi  sup. 


1601.  ARRIVAL  OF  REINFORCEMENTS.  85 

Such  a  festive  scene  as  was  now  presented  in  the  neigh 
bourhood  of  Os tend  had  not  been  exhibited  for  many  a  long 
year  in  Flanders.  From  the  whole  country  side  came  the 
peasants  and  burghers;  men,  women,  and  children,  in  holiday 
attire.  It  was  like  a  kermiss  or  provincial  fair.55  Three 
thousand  people  at  least  were  roaming  about  in  all  directions, 
gaping  with  wonder  at  the  fortifications  of  the  besieging 
army,  so  soon  to  be  superfluous,  sliding,  skating,  waltzing  on 
the  ice,  admiring  jugglers,  dancing  bears,  puppet  shows 
and  merry-go-rounds,  singing,  and  carousing  upon  herrings, 
sausages,  waffles,  with  mighty  draughts  of  Flemish  ale,  mani 
festing  their  exuberant  joy  that  the  thorn  was  nearly  ex 
tracted  from  the  lion's  paw,  and  awaiting  with  delight  a 
blessed  relief  from  that  operation.56  Never  was  a  merrier 
Christmas  morning  in  Flanders.  There  should  be  an  end 
now  to  the  forays  through  the  country  of  those  red-coated 
English  pikemen,  those  hard-riding,  hard-drinking  troopers 
of  Germany  and  Holland,  with  the,  French  and  Scotch 
arquebus  men,  and  terrible  Zeeland  sailors  who  had  for 
years  swept  out  of  Ostend,  at  any  convenient  opportunity, 
to  harry  the  whole  province.  And  great  was  the  joy  in 
Flanders. 

Meantime  within  the  city  a  different  scene  was  enacting. 
Those  dignified  Spaniards — governor  Serrano  and  Don  Matteo 
Antonio — having  slept  off  their  carouse,  were  prepared  after 
breakfast  next  morning  to  resume  the  interrupted  negotia 
tions.  But  affairs  were  now  to  take  an  unexpected  turn.  In 
the  night  the  wind  had  changed,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
forenoon  three  Dutch  vessels  of  war  were  descried  in  the 
offing,  and  soon  calmly  sailed  into  the  mouth  of  the  Gullet. 
The  news  was  at  once  brought  to  Vere's  headquarters.  That 
general's  plans  had  been  crowned  with  success  even  sooner 
than  he  expected.  There  was  no  further  object  in  continuing 
the  comedy  of  negotiation,  for  the  ships  now  arriving  seemed 
crowded  with  troops.  Sir  Francis  accordingly  threw  off  the 
mask,  and  assuring  his  guests  with  extreme  politeness  that  it 
65  Fleming.  6I  Ibid. 

VOL.  II— 3* 


86  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIX 

had  given  him  great  pleasure  to  make  the  acquaintance  of 
such  distinguished  personages,  he  thanked  them  cordially  for 
their  visit,  but  regretted  that  it  would  be  no  longer  in  his 
power  to  entertain  any  propositions  of  a  pacific  nature.  The 
necessary  reinforcements,  which  he  had  been  so  long  ex 
pecting,  had  at  last  reached  him,  and  it  would  not  yet  be 
necessary  for  him  to  retire  into  his  ruined  nest.  Military 
honour  therefore  would  not  allow  him  to  detain  them  any 
longer.  Should  he  ever  be  so  hard  pressed  again  he  felt  sure 
that  so  magnanimous  a  prince  as  his  Highness  would  extend 
to  him  all  due  clemency  and  consideration.57 

The  Spaniards,  digesting  as  they  best  could  the  sauce  of 
contumely  with  which  the  gross  treachery  of  the  transaction 
was  now  seasoned,  solemnly  withdrew,  disdaining  to  express 
their  spleen  in  words  of  idle  menace. 

They  were  escorted  back  through  the  lines,  and  at  once 
made  their  report  at  headquarters.  The  festival  had  been 
dismally  interrupted  before  it  was  well  begun.  The  vessels 
were  soon  observed  by  friend  and  foe  making  their  way 
triumphantly  up  to  the  town  where  they,  soon  dropped 
anchor  at  the  wharf  of  the  inner  Gullet,  having  only  a  couple 
of  sailors  wounded,  despite  all  the  furious  discharges  of 
Bucquoy's  batteries.  The  holiday  makers  dispersed,  much 
discomfited,  the  English  hostages  returned  to  the  town,  and 
the  archduke  shut  himself  up,  growling  and  furious.  His 
generals  and  counsellors,  who  had  recommended  the  abandon 
ment  of  his  carefully  prepared  assault,  and  acceptance  of  the 
perfidious  propositions  to  negotiate,  by  which  so  much  golden 
time  had  been  squandered,  were  for  several  days  excluded 
from  his  presence.58 

Meantime  the  army,  disappointed,  discontented,  half- 
starved,  unpaid,  passed  their  days  and  nights  as  before,  in 
the  sloppy  trenches,  while  deep  and  earnest  were  the  com 
plaints  and  the  curses  which  succeeded  to  the  momentary 
exultation  of  Christmas  eve.  The  soldiers  were  more  than  ever 

67  Fleming. 

58  Ibid.    Compare  Bentivoglio,  Meteren,  Grotius,  uli  sup.,  et  mutt.  al. 


1602.  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  ASSAULT.  87 

embittered 'against  their  august  commander-in-chief,  for  they 
had  just  enjoyed  a  signal  opportunity  of  comparing  the 
luxury  and  comfortable  magnificence  of  his  Highness  and  the 
Infanta,  and  of  contrasting  it  with  their  own  misery.  More 
over,  it  had  long  been  exciting  much  indignation  in  the 
ranks  that  veteran  generals  and  colonels,  in  whom  all  men 
had  confidence,  had  been  in  great  numbers  superseded  in 
order  to  make  place  for  court  favourites,  utterly  without 
experience  or  talent."  Thus  the  veterans ;  murmuring  in 
the  wet  trenches.  The  archduke  meanwhile,  in  his  sullen 
retirement,  brooded  over  a  tragedy  to  follow  the  very  suc 
cessful  comedy  of  his  antagonist. 

It  was  not  long  delayed.  The  assault  which  had  been 
postponed  in  the  latter  days  of  December  was  to  be  renewed 
before  the  end  of  the  first  week  of  the  new  year.  Vere, 
through  scouts  and  deserters,  was  aware  of  the  impending 
storm,  and  had  made  his  arrangements  in  accordance  with 
the  very  minute  information  which  he  had  thus  received. 
The  reinforcements,  so  opportunely  sent  by  the  States,  were 
not  numerous — only  six  hundred  in  all — but  they  were  an 
earnest  of  fresh  comrades  to  follow.  Meantime  they  sufficed 
to  fill  the  gaps  in  the  ranks,  and  to  enable  Vere  to  keep 
possession  of  the  external  line  of  fortifications,  including  the 
all-important  Porcupine.  Moreover,  during  the  fictitious 
negotiations,  while  the  general  had  thus  been  holding — as  he 
expressed  it — the  wolf  by  both  ears,  the  labor  of  repairing 
damages  in  dyke,  moat,  and  wall  had  not  been  for  an  instant 
neglected. 

The  morning  of  the  7th  January,  1602,   opened   with  a 
vigorous  cannonade  from  all  the  archduke's  bat-   7  January, 
teries,  east,  west,  and  south.     Auditor  Fleming,       1603> 
counsellor  and  secretary  of  the  city,  aide-de-camp  and  righ  t 
hand  of  the  commander-in-chief,  a  grim,  grizzled,  leathern- 
faced  man  of  fifty,  steady  under  fire  as  a  veteran  arquebuseer, 

59  Fleming  gives  more  than  one  I  very  opprobrious  epithets  are  applied 
scurrilous  letter  found  in  the  pockets  to  the  sovereign  of  the  obedient  Neth- 
of  dead  Spanish  soldiers,  in  which  I  erjands.  See  in  particular  p.  164 


88 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XXXIX. 


ready  with  his  pen  as  a  counting-house  clerk,  and  as  fertile 
in  resource  as  the  most  experienced  campaigner,  was  ever  at 
the  general's  side.  At  his  suggestion  several  houses  had 
been  demolished,  to  furnish  materials  in  wood  and  iron  to 
stop  the  gaps  as  soon  as  made.  Especially  about  the  Sand 
Hill  fort  and  the  Porcupine  a  plentiful  supply  was  collected, 
no  time  having  been  lost  in  throwing  up  stockades,  palisades, 
and  every  other  possible  obstruction  to  the  expected  assail 
ants.  Knowing  perfectly  well  where  the  brunt  of  the  battle 
was  to  be,  Vere  had  placed  his  brother  Sir  Horace  at  the 
head  of  twelve  picked  companies  of  diverse  nations  in  the 
Sand  Hill.  Four  of  the  very  best  companies  of  the  garrison 
were  stationed  in  the  Porcupine,  and  ten  more  of  the  choicest 
in  Fort  Hell's  Mouth,  under  Colonel  Meetkerke.  It  must  be 
recollected  tha,t  the  first  of  these  three  works  was  the  key  to 
the  fortifications  of  the  old  or  outer  town.  The  other  two 
were  very  near  it,  and  were  the  principal  redoubts  which 
defended  the  most  exposed  and  vulnerable  portion  of  the 
new  town  on  the  western  side.  The  Sand  Hill,  as  its  name 
imported,  was  the  only  existing  relic  within  the  city's  verge 
of  the  chain  of  downs  once  encircling  the  whole  place.  It 
had  however  been  cannonaded  so  steadily  during  the  six 
months'  siege  as  to  have  become  almost  ironclad — a  mass  ot 
metal  gradually  accumulating  from  the  enemy's  guns.  With 
the  curtain  extending  from  it  towards  east  and  west  it  pro 
tected  the  old  town  quite  up  to  the  little  ancient  brick 
church,  one  of  the  only  two  in  Ostend.60 

All  day  long  the  cannon  thundered — a  bombardment 
such  as  had  never  before  been  dreamed  of  in  those  days,  two 
thousand  shots  having  been  distinctly  counted  by  the 
burghers.  There  was  but  languid  response  from  the  be 
sieged,  who  were  reserving  their  strength.  At  last,  to  the 
brief  winter's  day  succeeded  a  pitch-dark  evening.  It  was 
dead  low  tide  at  seven.  At  that  hour  the  drums  suddenly 


60  Fleming's  Diary,  pp.  187-199,  is 
by  far  the  best  authority  for  this  as 
sault.  He  gives  many  plans,  diagrams, 
and  pictures.  compare  Grot.  Hist. 


lib.  xi.  595-597.  Meteren,  460™ 
Bentivoglio,  510.  Wagenaar,  ix.  114, 
115. 


1602.  ATTACK   ON  THE  SAND-HILL  FORT.  89 

beat  alarm  along  the  whole  line  of  fortifications  from  the 
Gullet  on  the  east  to  the  old  harbour  on  the  west,  while 
through  the  mirky  atmosphere  sounded  the  trumpets  of  the 
assault,  the  shouts  of  the  Spanish  and  Italian  commanders, 
and  the  fierce  responsive  yells  of  their  troops.  Sir  Francis, 
having  visited  every  portion  of  the  works,  and  satisfied 
himself  that  every  man  in  the  garrison  was  under  arms,  and 
that  all  his  arrangements  had  been  fulfilled,  now  sat  on 
horseback,  motionless  as  a  statue,  within  the  Sand  Hill. 
Among  the  many  serious  and  fictitious  attacks  now  making 
he  waited  calmly  for  the  one  great  assault,  even  allowing 
some  of  the  enemy  to  scale  the  distant  counterscarp  of  the 
external  works  towards  the  south,  which  he  had  by  design 
left  insufficiently  guarded.  It  was  but  a  brief  suspense,  for 
in  a  few  moments  two  thousand  men  had  rushed  through  the 
bed  of  the  old  harbour,  out  of  which  the  tide  had  ebbed,  and 
were  vigorously  assailing  the  Sand  Hill  and  the  whole  length 
of  its  curtain.  The  impenetrable  darkness  made  it  impossible 
to  count,  but  the  noise  and  the  surging  fury  of  the  advance 
rendered  it  obvious  that  the  critical  moment  had  arrived. 
Suddenly  a  vivid  illumination  burst  forth.  Great  pine 
torches,  piles  of  tar-barrels,  and  heaps  of  other  inflammable 
material,  which  had  been  carefully  arranged  in  Fort  Porcu 
pine,  were  now  all  at  once  lighted  by  Vere's  command.61  As 
the  lurid  blaze  flashed  far  arid  wide  there  started  out  of  the 
gloom  not  only  the  long  lines  of  yellow-jerkined  pikemen 
and  arquebuseers,  with  their  storm-hoods  and  scaling  ladders, 
rushing  swiftly  towards  the  forts,  but  beyond  the  broken  sea- 
dyke  the  reserved  masses  supporting  the  attack,  drawn  up  in 
solid  clumps  of  spears,  with  their  gay  standards  waving  above 
them,  and  with  a  strong  force  of  cavalry  in  iron  corslet  and 
morion  stationed  in  the  rear  to  urge  on  the  infantry  and 
prevent  their  faltering  in  the  night's  work,  became  visible — 
phantom-like  but  perfectly  distinct. 

At  least  four  thousand  men  were   engaged  in  this  chief 
attack,  and  the  light  now  permitted  the  besieged  to  direct 

61  Fleming,  ubi  sup. 


90  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XXXIX 

their  fire  from  cannon,  demi-cannon,  culverin,  and  snaphance, 
with  fatal  effect.     The  assailants,   thinned,    straggling,   but 
undismayed,  closed  up  their  ranks,  and  still  came  fiercely  on. 
Never    had    Spaniards,   Walloons,   or    Italian s,    manifested 
greater  contempt  of  death  than  on  this  occasion.     They  knew 
that  the  archduke  and  the  infanta  were  waiting  breathlessly 
in  Fort  St.  Albert  for  the  news  of  that  victory  of  which  the 
feigned  negotiations  had  defrauded  them  at  Christmas,  and 
they  felt  perfectly  confident  of  ending  both  the  siege  and  the 
forty  years'  war  this  January  night.     But  they  had  reckoned 
without  their  wily  English  host.     As  they  came  nearer — van, 
and  at  last  reserve — they  dropped  in  great  heaps  under  the 
steady  fire  of  the  musketry — as  Philip  Fleming,  looking  on, 
exclaimed — like  apples  when  the  autumn  wind  blows  through 
the   orchard.     And   as  the   foremost  still  pressed  nearer  and 
nearer,  striving  to  clamber  up  the  shattered  counterscarp  and 
through  every  practicable  breach,  the    English,    Hollanders, 
and  Zeelanders,  met  them  in  the  gap,  not  only  at  push  of 
pike,  but  with  their  long  daggers  and  with  flaming  pitch- 
hoops,  and  hurled  them  down  to  instant  death. 

And  thus  around  the  Sand  Hill,  the  Porcupine,  and  Hell's 
Mouth,  the  battle  raged  nearly  two  hours  long,  without  an 
inch  of  ground  being  gained  by  the  assailants.  The  dead  and 
dying  were  piled  beneath  the  walls,  while  still  the  reserves, 
goaded  up  to  the  mark  by  the  cavalry,  mounted  upon  the 
bodies  of  their  fallen  comrades  and  strove  to  plant  their 
ladders.62  But  now  the  tide  was  on  the  flood,  the  harbour  was 
filling,  and  cool  Auditor  Fleming,  whom  nothing  escaped 
quietly  asked  the  general's  permission  to  open  the  western 
sluice.  It  was  obvious,  he  observed,  that  the  fury  of  the 
attack  was  over,  and  that  the  enemy  would  soon  be  effecting 
a  retreat  before  the  water  should  have  risen  too  high, 
He  even  pointed  out  many  stragglers  attempting  to  escape 
through  the  already  deepening  shallows.  Vere's  consent  was 
at  once  given,  the  flood-gate  was  opened,  and  the  assailants 
•—such  as  still  survived — panic-struck  in  a  moment,  rushed 

•2  Fleming,  ubi  sup. 


1602.  THE  ASSAILANTS  REPULSED.  9] 

wildly  back  through  the  old  harbour  towards  their  camp.  It 
was  too  late.  The  waters  were  out,  and  the  contending 
currents  whirled  the  fugitives  up  and  down  through  the 
submerged  land,  and  beyond  the  broken  dyke,  until  great 
numbers  of  them  were  miserably  drowned  in  the  haven, 
while  others  were  washed  out  to  sea.  Horses  and  riders  were 
borne  off  towards  the  Zeeland  coast,  and  several  of  their 
corpses  were  picked  up  days  afterwards  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Flushing.63 

Meantime  those  who  had  effected  a  lodgment  in  the 
Polder,  the  Square,  and  the  other  southern  forts,  found,  after 
the  chief  assault  had  failed,  that  they  had  gained  nothing  by 
their  temporary  triumph  but  the  certainty  of  being  butchered. 
Ke treat  was  impossible,  and  no  quarter  was  given.  Count 
Imbec,  a  noble  of  great  wealth,  offered  his  weight  in  gold  for 
his  ransom,64  but  was  killed  by  a  private  soldier,  who  preferred 
his  blood,  or  doubted  his  solvency.  Durango,  marshal  of  the 
camp,  Don  Alvarez  de  Suarez,  and  Don  Matteo  Antonio,  ser 
geant-major  and  quarter-master-general,  whose  adventures  as 
a  hostage  within  the  town  on  Christmas  eve  have  so  recently 
been  related,  were  also  slain. 

On  the  eastern  side  Bucquoy's  attack  was  an  entire  failure. 
His  arrangements  were  too  slowly  made,  and  before 
he  could  bring  his  men  to  the  assault  the  water  was 
so  high  in  the  Gullet  that  they  refused  to  lay  their  pontoons 
and  march   to  certain  death.     Only  at  lowest  ebb,  and  with 
most  exquisite  skill  in  fording,  would  it  have  been  possible  to 
effect  anything  like  an  earnest  demonstration  or  a  surprise. 
Moreover  some   of  the  garrison,   giving  themselves    out   as 


63  The  historians  Bentivoglio,  Gr<> 
tius,  and  many  others  give  Vere,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  the  credit  of  this  feat. 
But  these  are  the  words  of  Auditor 
Fleming  himself,  a  man  whom  I  should 
judge  incapable  of  falsehood : — "Hebbe 
my  vervordert  den  Generael  te  bidden 
dat  hymy  gheliefde  te  autoriseren  ende 
West  Sluyse  te  doen  openen  hem 
remonstrerende  gelijck  den  Vyand 
sijn  voornemen  tot  ghenen  goeden 


effecte  conde  gebrenghen  als  oock 
dat  sijn  volck  van  den  furieusen  aenval 
begosten  den  raoet  te  verliesen,  haer 
lieder  retraicte  wederom  door  die  onde 
West  haven  soude  moeten  nemen  ende 
dat  alsdan  die  spoelinghe  vaut  water 
haer  lieder  inde  Zee  soude  drijven 
waer  over  den  voornoemden  Generael 
my  gheauthoriseert  heeft  die  sluysen 
tedoen  openen/' — pp.  195,  196 
M  Haestens,  199. 


92  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XXXIX, 

deserters,  stole  out  of  the  Spanish  Half-moon,  which  had 
been  purposely  almost  denuded  of  its  defenders,  towards  the 
enemy's  entrenchments,  and  offered  to  lead  a  body  of 
Spaniards  into  that  ravelin.  Bucquoy  fell  into  the  trap,  so 
that  the  detachment,  after  a  victory  as  easily  effected  as  that 
in  the  southern  forts,  found  themselves  when  the  fight  was  over 
not  the  captors  but  the  caught.  A  few  attempted  to  escape 
and  were  driven  into  the  sea  ;  the  rest  were  massacred. 

Fifteen  hundred  of  the  enemy's  dead  were  counted  and 
registered  by  Auditor  Fleming.65  The  whole  number  of  the 
slain  and  drowned  was  reckoned  as  high  as  two  thousand, 
which  was  at  least  a  quarter  of  the  whole  besieging  army. 
And  so  ended  this  winter  night's  assault,  by  which  the 
archduke  had  fondly  hoped  to  avenge  himself  for  Vere's 
perfidy,  and  to  terminate  the  war  at  a  blow.  Only  sixty 
of  the  garrison  were  killed,  and  Sir  Horace  Vere  was 
wounded.66 

The  winter  now  set  in  with  severe  sleet,  and  snow,  and 
rain,  and  furious  tempests  lashing  the  sea  over  the  works  of 
besieger  and  besieged,  and  for  weeks  together  paralyzing  all 
efforts  of  either  army.  Eight  weary  months  the  siege  had 
lasted ;  the  men  in  town  and  hostile  camp,  exposed  to  the 
inclemency  of  the  wintry  trenches,  sinking  faster  before  the 
pestilence  which  now  swept  impartially  through  all  ranks 
than  the  soldiers  of  the  archduke  had  fallen  at  Nieuport,  or 
in  the  recent  assault  on  the  Sand  Hill.  Of  seven  thousand 
hardly  three  thousand  now  remained  in  the  garrison.67 

Yet  still  the  weary  sausage  making  and  wooden  castle 
building  went  on  along  the  Gullet  and  around  the  old  town. 
The  Breden6  dyke  crept  on  inch  by  inch,,  but  the  steady 
ships  of  the  republic  came  and  went  unharmed  by  the 
batteries  with  which  Bucquoy  hoped  to  shut  up  the  New 
Harbour.  The  archduke's  works  were  pushed  up  nearer  on 
the  west,  but,  as  yet,  not  one  practical  advantage  had  been 
gained,  and  the  siege  had  scarcely  advanced  a  hair's  breadth 

66  Fleming,  197.  I  voglio,  Grotius,  Meteren,  Wagenaar, 

w  Ibid.   187-199.    Compare  Benti-  |  ubi  sup.  «7  Grotius,  xi.  590. 


1602.  SLOW  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE.  93 

since  the  5th  of  July  of  the  preceding  year,  when  the  armies 
had  first  sat  down  before  the  place. 

The  stormy  month  of  March  had  come,  and  Vere,  being 
called  to  service  in  the  field  for  the  coming  season,  trans 
ferred  the  command  at  Ostend  to  Frederic  van  Dorp,  a 
rugged,  hard-headed,  ill-favoured,  stout-hearted  Zeeland 
colonel,  with  the  face  of  a  bull-dog,  and  with  the  tenacious 
grip  of  one.68 

«  Kerning,  212, 215. 


94  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL 


CHAPTER    XL. 

Protraction  of  the  siege  of  Ostend  —  Spanish  invasion  of  Ireland  —  Prince 
Maurice  again  on  the  march  —  Siege  of  Grave  —  State  of  the  archduke's 
army  —  Formidable  mutiny  —  State  of  Europe — Portuguese  expedition 
to  Java  —  Foundation  there  of  the  first  Batavian  trading  settlement  — 
Exploits  of  Jacob  Heemskerk  —  Capture  of  a  Lisbon  carrack  —  Progress  of 
Dutch  commerce— Oriental  and  Germanic  republics — Commercial  embassy 
from  the  King  of  Atsgen  in  Sumatra  to  the  Netherlands  —  Surrender  of 
Grave — Privateer  work  of  Frederic  Spinola. —  Destruction  of  Spinola's 
fleet  by  English  and  Dutch  cruisers  —  Continuation  of  the  siege  of  Ostend 
—  Fearful  hurricane  and  its  effects  —  The  attack  —  Capture  of  external 
forts  —  Encounter  between  Spinola  and  a  Dutch  squadron  —  Execution  of 
prisoners  by  the  archduke  —  Philip  Fleming  and  his  diary  —  Continuation 
of  operations  before  Ostend  —  Spanish  veterans  still  mutinous  —  Their 
capital  besieged  by  Van  den  Berg  —  Maurice  marches  to  their  relief  —  Con 
vention  between  the  prince  and  the  mutineers  —  Great  commercial  pro 
gress  of  the  Dutch  —  Opposition  to  international  commerce  — Organiza 
tion  of  the  Universal  East  India  Company. 

IT  would  be  desirable  to  concentrate  the  chief  events  of  the 
siege  of  Ostend  so  that  they  might  be  presented  to  the 
reader's  view  in  a  single  mass.  But  this  is  impossible.  The 
siege  was  essentially  the  war — as  already  observed — and  it 
was  bidding  fair  to  protract  itself  to  such  an  extent  that  a 
respect  for  chronology  requires  the  attention  to  be  directed 
for  a  moment  to  other  topics. 

The  invasion  of  Ireland  under  Aquila,  so  pompously 
heralded  as  almost  to  suggest  another  grand  armada,  had 
sailed  in  the  beginning  of  the  winter,  and  an  army  of  six 
thousand  men  had  been  landed  at  Kinsale.  Barely  had 
there  been  a  better  opportunity  for  the  Celt  to  strike  for  his 
independence.  Shane  Mac  Neil  had  an  army  on  foot  with 
which  he  felt  confident  of  exterminating  the  Saxon  oppressor, 
even  without  the  assistance  of  his  peninsular  allies,  while  the 
queen's  army,  severely  drawn  upon  as  it  had  been  for  the 
exigencies  of  Vere  and  the  States,  might  be  supposed  unable 


1602.  INVASION  OF  IRELAND.  95 

to  cope  with  so  formidable  a  combination.  Yet  Montjoy 
made  short  work  of  Aquila  and  Tyrone.  The  invaders,  shut 
up  in  their  meagre  conquest,  became  the  besieged  instead  of 
the  assailants.  Tyrone  made  a  feeble  attempt  to  relieve  his 
Spanish  allies,  but  was  soon  driven  into  his  swamps,  the 
peasants  would  not  rise,  in  spite  of  proclamations  and  golden 
mountains  of  promise,  and  Aquila  was  soon  glad  enough  to 
sign  a  capitulation  by  which  he  saved  a  portion  of  his  army. 
He  then  returned,  in  transports  provided  by  the  January, 
English  general,  a  much  discomfited  man,  to  Spain,  1602- 
instead  of  converting  Ireland  into  a  province  of  the  universal 
empire.1  He  had  not  rescued  Hibernia,  as  he  stoutly  pro 
claimed  at  the  outset  his  intention  of  doing,  from  the  jaws  of 
the  evil  demon.2 

The  States,  not  much  wiser  after  the  experience  of  Nieuport, 
were  again  desirous  that  Maurice  should  march  into  Flanders, 
relieve  Ostend,  and  sweep  the  archduke  into  the  sea.  As  for 
Vere,  he  proposed  that  a  great  army  of  cavalry  and  infantry 
should  be  sent  into  Ostend,  while  another  force  equally  power 
ful  should  take  the  field  as  soon  as  the  season  permitted. 
Where  the  men  were  to  be  levied,  and  whence  the  funds  for 
putting  such  formidable  hosts  in  motion  were  to  be  derived,  it 
was  not  easy  to  say.  "  'Tis  astonishing/'  said  Lewis  William, 
"  that  the  evils  already  suffered  cannot  open  his  eyes  ;  but 
after  all,  'tis  no  marvel.  An  old  and  good  colonel,  as  I  hold 
him  to  be,  must  go  to  school  before  he  can  become  a  general, 
and  we  must  beware  of  committing  any  second  folly,  govern 
ourselves  according  to  our  means  and  the  art  of  war,  and 
leave  the  rest  to  God."3 

Prince  Maurice,  however,  yielding  as  usual  to  the  persua 
sions  or  importunities  of  those  less  sagacious  than  himself, 
and  being  also  much  influenced  by  the  advice  of  the  English 
queen  and  the  French  king,  after  reviewing  the  most  splendid 
army  that  even  he  had  ever  euqipped  and  set  in 
the  field,  crossed  the  Waal  at  Nymegen,  and  the 

>  Meteren,  458,  seqq.    Grot.  x.  593.  2  Grotius,  ubi  wp, 

*  (Jroen  v.  Prinsterer,    Archives,  2ncl  Series,  ji,  III 


96  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

Meuse  at  Mook,  and  then  moving  leisurely  along  Meuse-side 
by  way  of  Sambeck,  Blitterswyck,  and  Maasyk,  came  past  St. 
Truyden  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Thienen,  in  Brabant.4  Here 
he  stood,  in  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country,  and  within  a 
day's  march  of  Brussels.  The  sanguine  portion  of  his  coun 
trymen  and  the  more  easily  alarmed  of  the  enemy  already 
thought  it  would  be  an  easy  military  promenade  for  the  stad- 
holder  to  march  through  Brabant  and  Flanders  to  the  coast, 
defeat  the  Catholic  forces  before  Ostend,  raise  the  weary  siege 
of  that  place,  dictate  peace  to  the  archduke,  and  return  in 
triumph  to  the  Hague,  before  the  end  of  the  summer. 

But  the  experienced  Maurice  too  well  knew  the  emptiness 
of  such  dreams.  He  had  a  splendid  army — eighteen  thousand 
foot  and  five  thousand  horse — of  which  Lewis  William  com 
manded  the  battalia,  Vere  the  right,  and  Count  Ernest  the 
left,  with  a  train  of  two  thousand  baggage  wagons,  and  a  con 
siderable  force  of  sutlers  and  camp-followers.  He  moved  so 
deliberately,  and  with  such  excellent  discipline,  that  his  two 
wings  could  with  ease  be  expanded  for  black-mail  or  forage 
over  a  considerable  extent  of  country,  and  again  folded  toge 
ther  in  case  of  sudden  military  necessity.  But  he  had  no 
intention  of  marching  through  Brussels,  Ghent,  and  Bruges, 
to  the  Flemish  coast.  His  old  antagonist,  the  Admiral  of 
Arragon,  lay  near  Thienen  in  an  entrenched  camp,  with  a 
force  of  at  least  fifteen  thousand  men,  while  the  archduke, 
leaving  Kivas  in  command  before  Ostend,  hovered  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Brussels,  with  as  many  troops  as  could  be 
spared  from  the  various  Flemish  garrisons,  ready  to  support 
the  admiral.5 

But  Maurice  tempted  the  admiral  in  vain  with  the  chances 
of  a  general  action.  That  warrior,  remembering  perhaps  too 
distinctly  his  disasters  at  Nieuport,  or  feeling  conscious  that 
his  military  genius  was  more  fitly  displayed  in  burning 
towns  and  villages  in  neutral  territory,  robbing  the  pea 
santry,  plundering  gentlemen's  castles  and  murdering  the 

4  Meteren,  469,  seqg.  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  98,  99,  and  notes.  Bentivoglio,  P. 
111,517,  Wagenaar,ix.  H9,seqq.  6  Same  authorities. 


1603.  SIEGE  OF  GRAVE.  97 

proprietors,  than  it  was  like  to  be  in  a  pitched  battle  with 
the  first  general  of  the  age,  remained  sullenly  within  his 
entrenchments.  His  position  was  too  strong  and  his  force 
far  too  numerous  to  warrant  an  attack  by  the  stadholder 
upon  his  works.  After  satisfying  himself,  therefore,  that 
there  was  no  chance  of  an  encounter  in  Brabant  except  at 
immense  disadvantage,  Maurice  rapidly  counter-  is  July, 
marched  towards  the  lower  Meuse,  and  on  the  18th  1602> 
July  laid  siege  to  Grave.  The  position  and  importance  of 
this  city  have  been  thoroughly  set  before  the  reader  in  a 
former  volume.6  It  is  only  necessary,  therefore,  to  recal  the 
fact  that,  besides  being  a  vital  possession  for  the  republic, 
the  place  was  in  law  the  private  property  of  the  Orange 
family,  having  been  a  portion  of  the  estate  of  Count  de 
Buren,  afterwards  redeemed  on  payment  of  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  by  his  son-in-law,  William  the  Silent,  con 
firmed  to  him  at  the  pacification  of  Ghent,  and  only  lost  to 
his  children  by  the  disgraceful  conduct  of  Captain  Hamart, 
which  had  cost  that  officer  his  head.  Maurice  was  deter 
mined  at  least  that  the  place  should  not  now  slip  through 
his  fingers,  and  that  the  present  siege  should  be  a  master 
piece.  His  forts,  of  which  he  had  nearly  fifty,  were  each 
regularly  furnished  with  moat,  drawbridge,  and  bulwark. 
His  counterscarp  and  parapet,  his  galleries,  covered  ways 
and  mines,  were  as  elaborate,  massive,  and  artistically 
finished  as  if  he  were  building  a  city  instead  of  besieging 
one.  Buzanval,  the  French  envoy,  amazed  at  the  spectacle, 
protested  that  his  works  "  were  rather  worthy  of  the  grand 
Emperor  of  the  Turks  than  of  a  little  commonwealth,  which 
only  existed  through  the  disorder  of  its  enemies  and  the  assist 
ance  of  its  friends  ;"  but  he  admitted  the  utility  of  the 
stadholder's  proceedings  to  be  very  obvious.7 

While  the  prince  calmly  sat  before  Grave,  awaiting  the 
inexorable  hour  for  burghers  and  garrison  to  surrender, 
the  great  Francis  Mendoza,  Admiral  of  Arragon,  had  been 
completing  the  arrangements  for  his  exchange.  A  prisoner 

6  See  vol.  II.  of  this  work,  chap.  ix.     7  Groen  v.  Prinsterer.  Archives,  ii.  153. 
VOL.  IV. — H 


98  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

after  the  Nieuport  battle,  he  had  been  assigned  by  Maurice,  as 
will  be  recollected,  to  his  cousin,  young  Lewis  Gunther,  whose 
brilliant  services  as  commander  of  the  cavalry  had  so  much 
contributed  to  the  victory.  The  amount  of  ransom  for  so 
eminent  a  captive  could  not  fail  to  be  large,  and  accordingly 
the  thrifty  Lewis  William  had  congratulated  his  brother  on 
being  able,'  although  so  young,  thus  to  repair  the  fortunes  of 
the  family  by  his  military  industry  to  a  greater  extent  than 
had  yet  been  accomplished  by  any  of  the  race.  Subsequently, 
the  admiral  had  been  released  on  parole,  the  sum  of  his 
ransom  having  been  fixed  at  nearly  one  hundred  thousand 
Flemish  crowns.  By  an  agreement  now  made  by  the  States, 
with  consent  of  the  Nassau  family,  the  prisoner  was  definitely 
released,  on  condition  of  effecting  the  exchange  of  all  prisoners 
of  the  republic,  now  held  in  durance  by  Spain  in  any  part  of 
the  world.8  This  was  in  lieu  of  the  hundred  thousand  crowns 
which  were  to  be  put  into  the  impoverished  coffers  of  Lewis 
Grunther.  It  may  be  imagined,  as  the  hapless  prisoners  after 
wards  poured  in — not  only  from  the  peninsula,  but  from 
more  distant  regions,  whither  they  had  been  sent  by  their 
cruel  taskmasters,  some  to  relate  their  sufferings  in  the  hor 
rible  dungeons  of  Spain,  where  they  had  long  been  expiating 
the  crime  of  defending  their  fatherland,  others  to  relate  their 
experiences  as  chained  galley-slaves  in  the  naval  service  of 
their  bitterest  enemies,  many  with  shorn  heads  and  long 
beards  like  Turks,  many  with  crippled  limbs,  worn  out  with 
chains  and  blows,  and  the  squalor  of  disease  and  filth9 — that 
the  hatred  for  Spain  and  Kome  did  not  glow  any  less  fiercely 
within  the  republic,  nor  the  hereditary  love  for  the  Nassaus, 
to  whose  generosity  these  poor  victims  were  indebted  for 
their  deliverance,  become  fainter,  in  consequence  of  these 
revelations.  It  was  at  first  vehemently  disputed  by  many 
that  the  admiral  could  be  exchanged  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  in 
respect  to  the  manifold  murders  and  other  crimes  which 
would  seem  to  authorize  his  trial  and  chastisement  by  the 
tribunals  of  the  republic.  But  it  was  decided  by  the  States 
«  Meteren,  449™,  470.  Grotius,  xi.  528,  599.  *  Grotius,  ubi  sup, 


1602.  MUTINY  IN   THE  ARCHDUKE'S  ARMY.  99 

that  the  sacred  segis  of  military  law  must  be  held  to  protect 
even  so  bloodstained  a  criminal  as  he,  and  his  release  was 
accordingly  effected.10  Not  long  afterwards  he  took  his 
departure  for  Spain,  where  his  reception  was  not  enthusiastic. 

From  this  epoch  is  to  be  dated  a  considerable  reform  in 
the  laws  regulating  the  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war.11 

While  Maurice  was  occupied  with  the  siege  of  Grave,  and 
thus  not  only  menacing  an  important  position,  but  spreading 
danger  and  dismay  over  all  Brabant  and  Flanders,  it  was 
necessary  for  the  archduke  to  detach  so  large  a  portion  of  his 
armies  to  observe  his  indefatigable  and  scientific  enemy,  as  to 
much  weaken  the  vigour  of  the  operations  before  Ostend. 
Moreover,  the  execrable  administration  of  his  finances,  and 
the  dismal  delays  and  sufferings  of  that  siege,  had  brought 
about  another  mutiny — on  the  whole,  the  most  extensive, 
formidable,  and  methodical  of  all  that  had  hitherto  occurred 
in  the  Spanish  armies. 2 

By  midsummer,  at  least  three  thousand  five  hundred 
veterans,  including  a  thousand  of  excellent  cavalry,  the  very 
best  soldiers  in  the  service,  had  seized  the  city  of  Hoog- 
straaten.  Here  they  established  themselves  securely,  and 
strengthened  the  fortifications ;  levying  contributions  in 
corn,  cattle,  and  every  other  necessary,  besides  wine,  beer, 
and  pocket-money,  from  the  whole  country  round  with  exem 
plary  regularity.  As  usual,  disorder  assumed  the  forms  of 
absolute  order.  Anarchy  became  the  best  organized  of  go 
vernments,  and  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  find  in  the 
world — outside  the  Dutch  commonwealth — a  single  commu 
nity  where  justice  appeared  to  be  so  promptly  administered  as 
in  this  temporary  republic,  founded  upon  rebellion  and  theft. 

For,  although  a  brotherhood  of  thieves,  it  rigorously 
punished  such  of  its  citizens  as  robbed  for  their  own,  not  for 
the  public  good.  The  immense  booty  swept  daily  from  the 
granges,  castles,  and  villages  of  Flanders  was  divided  with 

10  "  ^on  visum  Ordinibus  in  captivum  belli  jure  munitum  judicia  exercere." 
— Grotius,  ubi  sup.  n  Ibid. 

12  Bentivoglio,  iii.  517.     Meteren,  470-472.    Grotius,  xi.  604-606. 


100  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

the  simplicity  of  early  Christians,  while  the  success  and 
steadiness  of  the  operations  paralyzed  their  sovereign,  and 
was  of  considerable  advantage  to  the  States. 

Albert  endeavoured  in  vain  to  negotiate  with  the  rebels. 
Nuncius  Frangipani  went  to  them  in  person,  but  was  received 
with  calm  derision.  Pious  exhortations  might  turn  the  keys 
of  Paradise,  but  gold  alone,  he  was  informed,  would  unlock 
the  gates  of  Hoogstraaten.  In  an  evil  hour  the  cardinal- 
archduke  was  tempted  to  try  the  effect  of  sacerdotal  thunder. 
The  ex-archbishop  of  Toledo  could  not  doubt  that  the  terrors 
of  the  Church  would  make  those  brown  veterans  tremble  who 
could  confront  so  tranquilly  the  spring-tides  of  the  North 
Sea,  and  the  batteries  of  Vere  and  Nassau.  So  he  launched 
a  manifesto,  as  highly  spiced  as  a  pamphlet  of  Marnix,  and 
as  severe  as  a  sentence  of  Torquemada.  Entirely  against  the 
advice  of  the  States-General  of  the  obedient  provinces,  he  de 
nounced  the  mutineers  as  outlaws  and  accursed.  He  called 
on  persons  of  every  degree  to  kill  any  of  them  in  any  way, 
at  any  time,  or  in  any  place,  promising  that  the  slayer  of  a 
private  soldier  should  receive  a  reward  of  ten  crowns  for  each 
head  brought  in,  while  for  a  subaltern  officer's  head  one  hun 
dred  crowns  were  offered,  for  that  of  a  superior  officer  two 
hundred,  and  for  that  of  the  Eletto  or  chief  magistrate,  five 
hundred  crowns.  Should  the  slayer  be  himself  a  member  of 
the  mutiny,  his  crime  of  rebellion  was  to  be  forgiven,  and 
the  price  of  murder  duly  paid.  All  judges,  magistrates, 
and  provost-marshals  were  ordered  to  make  inventories  of 
the  goods,  moveable  and  immoveable,  of  the  mutineers,  and 
of  the  clothing  and  other  articles  belonging  to  their  wives 
and  children,  all  which  property  was  to  be  brought  in  and 
deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  proper  functionaries  of  the 
archduke's  camp,  in  order  that  it  might  be  duly  incorporated 
into  the  domains  of  his  Highness.13 

The  mutineers  were  not  frightened.  The  ban  was  an  ana 
chronism.  If  those  Spaniards  and  Italians  had  learned 
nothing  by  their  much  campaigning  in  the  land  of  Cal- 

18  "  Om  alle  de  selve  te  doen  incorporeren  aen  onse  Domeynen." — Met.  471. 


1601.  MANIFESTO  OF  THE  MUTINEERS.  101 

vinism,  they  had  at  least  unlearned  their  faith  in  bell,  book, 
and  candle.  It  happened,  too,  that  among  their  numbers 
were  to  be  found  pamphleteers  as  ready  and  as  unscrupulous 
as  the  scribes  of  the  archduke. 

So  there  soon  came  forth  and  was  published  to  the  world, 
in  the  name  of  the  Eletto  and  council  of  Hoogstraaten,  a 
formal  answer  to  the  ban.14 

"  If  scolding  and  cursing  be  payment,"  said  the  magistrates  of 
the  mutiny,  "then  we  might  give  a  receipt  in  full  for  our  wages. 
The  ban  is  sufficient  in  this  respect ;  but  as  these  curses  give 
no  food  for  our  bellies  nor  clothes  for  our  backs,  not  prevent 
ing  us,  therefore,  who  have  been  fighting  so  long  for  the 
honour  and  welfare  of  the  archdukes  from  starving  with  cold 
and  hunger,  we  think  a  reply  necessary  in  order  to  make 
manifest  how  much  reason  these  archdukes  have  for  thunder 
ing  forth  all  this  choler  and  fury,  by  which  women  and 
children  may  be  frightened,  but  at  which  no  soldier  will  feel 
alarm. 

"When  it  is  stated/'  continued  the  mutineers,  "that  we  have 
deserted  our  banners  just  as  an  attempt  was  making  by  the 
archduke  to  relieve  Grave,  we  can  only  reply  that  the  asser 
tion  proves  how  impossible  it  is  to  practise  arithmetic  with 
disturbed  brains.  Passion  is  a  bad  schoolmistress  for  the 
memory,  but,  as  good  friends,  we  will  recal  to  the  recollection 
of  your  Highness  that  it  was  not  your  Highness,  but  the 
Admiral  of  Arragon,  that  commanded  the  relieving  force  before 
that  city. 

"  "Pis  very  true  that  we  summon  your  Highnesses,  and  levy 
upon  your  provinces,  in  order  to  obtain  means  of  living  ;  for  in 
what  other  quarter  should  we  make  application.  Your  High 
nesses  give  us  nothing  except  promises  ;  but  soldiers  are  not 
chameleons,  to  live  on  such  air.  According  to  every  principle 
of  law,  creditors  have  a  lien  on  the  property  of  their  debtors. 

"  As  to  condemning  to  death  as  traitors  and  scoundrels  those 
who  don't  desire  to  be  killed,  and  who  have  the  means  of 
killing  such  as  attempt  to  execute  the  sentence,  this  is  hardly 

14  Meteren  (470-472)  gives  the  text. 


102  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

in  accordance  with  the  extraordinary  wisdom  which  has 
always  characterized  your  Highnesses. 

"  As  to  the  confiscation  of  our  goods,  both  moveahle  and 
immoveable,  we  would  simply  make  this  observation  : — 

"  Our  moveable  goods  are  our  swords  alone,  and  they  can 
only  be  moved  by  ourselves.  They  are  our  immoveable 
goods  as  well ;  for  should  any  one  but  ourselves  undertake 
to  move  them,  we  assure  your  Highnesses  that  they  will  prove 
too  heavy  to  be  handled. 

"As  to  the  official  register  and  deposit  ordained  of  the 
money,  clothing,  and  other  property  belonging  to  ourselves, 
our  wives  and  children,  the  work  may  be  done  without  clerks 
of  inventory.  Certainly,  if  the  domains  of  your  Highnesses 
have  no  other  sources  of  revenue  than  the  proceeds  of  this 
confiscation,  wherewith  to  feed  the  ostrich-like  digestions  of 
those  about  you,  'tis  to  be  feared  that  ere  long  they  will  be  in 
the  same  condition  as  were  ours,  when  we  were  obliged  to 
come  together  in  Hoogstraaten  to  devise  means  to  keep  our 
selves,  our  wives,  and  children  alive.  And  at  that  time  we 
were  an  unbreeched  people,  like  the  Indians — saving  your 
Highnesses'  reverence — and  the  climate  here  is  too  cold  for 
such  costume.  Your  Highnesses,  and  your  relatives  the 
Emperor  and  King  of  Spain,  will  hardly  make  your  royal 
heads  greasy  with  the  fat  of  such  property  as  we  possess. 
'Twill  also  be  a  remarkable  spectacle  after  you  have 
stripped  our  wives  and  children  stark  naked  for  the  benefit 
of  your  treasury,  to  see  them  sent  in  that  condition, 
within  three  days  afterwards,  out  of  the  country,  as  the 
ban  ordains. 

"  You  order  the  ban  to  be  executed  against  our  children  and 
our  children's  children,  but  your  Highness  never  learned 
this  in  the  Bible,  when  you  were  an  archbishop,  and  when 
you  expounded,  or  ought  to  have  expounded,  the  Holy  Scrip 
tures  to  your  flock.  What  theology  teaches  your  Highness 
to  vent  your  wrath  upon  the  innocent  ? 

"  Whenever  the  cause  of  discontent  is  taken  away,  the 
soldiers  will  become  obedient  and  cheerful.  All  kings  and 


1603.          THEIR  NEGOTIATION  WITH  PRINCE  MAURICE.          103 

princes  may  mirror  themselves  in  the  bad  government  of  your 
Highness,  and  may  see  how  they  fare  who  try  to  carry  on  a 
war,  while  with  their  own  hands  they  cut  the  sinews  of  war. 
The  great  leaders  of  old — Cyrus,  Alexander,  Scipio,  Caesar- 
were  accustomed,  not  to  starve,  but  to  enrich  their  soldiers. 
What  did  Alexander,  when  in  an  arid  desert  they  brought 
him  a  helmet  full  of  water?  He  threw  it  on  the  sand,  saying 
that  there  was  only  enough  for  him,  but  not  enough  for  his 
army, 

"  Your  Highnesses  have  set  ten  crowns,  and  one  hundred, 
and  five  hundred  crowns  upon  our  heads,  but  never  could  find 
five  hundred  mites  nor  ten  mites  to  keep  our  souls  and  bodies 
together. 

"  Yet  you  have  found  means  to  live  yourselves  with  pomp 
and  luxury,  far  exceeding  that  of  the  great  Emperor  Charles, 
and  much  surpassing  the  magnificence  of  your  Highnesses' 
brothers,  the  emperor  and  the  king."  15 

Thus,  and  much  more,  the  magistrates  of  the  "Italian 
republic" — answering  their  master's  denunciations  of  ven 
geance,  both  in  this  world  and  the  next,  with  a  humorous 
scorn  very  refreshing  in  that  age  of  the  world  to  contem 
plate.  The  expanding  influence  of  the  Dutch  commonwealth 
was  already  making  itself  felt  even  in  the  ranks  of  its  most 
determined  foes. 

The  mutineers  had  also  made  an  agreement  with  the 
States-General,  by  which  they  had  secured  permission,  in  case 
of  need,  to  retire  within  the  territory  of  the  republic, 
Maurice  had  written  to  them  from  his  camp  before  Grave, 
and  at  first  they  were  disposed  to  treat  him  with  as  little 
courtesy  as  they  had  shown  the  Nuncius;  for  they  put  the 
prince's  letter  on  a  staff,  and  fired  at  it  as  a  mark,  assuring 
the  trumpeter  who  brought  it  that  they  would  serve  him  in 
the  same  manner  should  he  venture  thither  again.16  Very 
soon  afterwards,  however,  the  Eletto  and  council,  reproving  the 
folly  of  their  subordinates,  opened  negotiations  with  the  stad- 
holder,  who,  with  the  consent  of  the  States,  gave  them  preli- 
16  Meteren,  uU  sup.  18  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  386. 


104 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XL. 


minary  permission  to  take  refuge  under  the  guns  of  Bergen- 
op-Zoom,  should  they  by  chance  be  hard  pressed.17 

Thus  throughout  Europe  a  singular  equilibrium  of  con 
tending  forces  seemed  established.  Before  Ostend,  where  the 
chief  struggle  between  imperialism  and  republicanism  had 
been  proceeding  for  more  than  a  year  with  equal  vigour, 
there  seemed  no  possibility  of  a  result.  The  sands  drank  up 
the  blood  of  the  combatants  on  both  sides,  month  after  month, 
in  summer;  the  pestilence  in  town  and  camp  mowed  down 
Catholic  and  Protestant  with  perfect  impartiality  during  the 
winter,  while  the  remorseless  ocean  swept  over  all  in  its 
wrath,  obliterating  in  an  hour  the  patient  toil  of  months. 

In  Spain,  in  England,  and  Ireland;  in  Hungary,  Germany, 
Sweden,  and  Poland,  men  wrought  industriously  day  by  day 
and  year  by  year,  to  destroy  each  other,  and  to  efface  the 
products  of  human  industry,  and  yet  no  progress  could  fairly 
be  registered.  The  Turk  was  in  Buda,  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Danube,  and  the  Christian  in  Pest,  on  the  left,  while  the 
crescent,  but  lately  supplanted  by  the  cross,  again  waved  in 
triumph  over  Stuhlweissenberg,  capital  city  of  the  Magyars. 
The  great  Marshal  Biron,  foiled  in  his  stupendous  treachery,18 

17  Meteren,     Grotius,    Bentivoglio, 
iM  sup.  Van  der  Kemp.  Wagenaar,  ix. 
120-122. 

18  Henry  knew  quite  as  well  as  did 
the  most  Catholic  king  the  share  of 
Spain  in  this  vile  intrigue.     Villeroy 
avowed  to  the  States'  envoy  that  the 
king  would  be  quite  justified  in  re 
sorting  to  arms  to  punish  the  treason 
of  the  Spanish  governor,  who  having 
employed  such  a  servant  as  Biron  to 
cut  his  master's  throat,  and  stir  up  his 
subjects  to  mutiny,  had  more  grie 
vously  violated  the  peace  than  if  he 
had  simply  seized  the  best  province  of 
his  kingdom.    Nevertheless,  Aerssens 
felt  sure,  even  as  he  had  done  the  year 
before,  that  the  king's  rage  against 
Spain  and  his  caresses  of  the  republic 
were  mere  grimace.  Henry  was  always 
horribly  anxious  lest  the  States  should 
stop  fighting,  and,  at  this  moment  of 
emotion  in  France,  he  was  especially 
suspicious  of  any  appearance  of  treat 
ing  between  the  archduke  and  the 


republic. 

It  was  to  be  seen,  at  a  little  later 
period, how  great  or  how  trifling  would 
be  the  indignation  of  the  British  king 
at  a  wholesale  attempt  at  murder  de 
vised,  as  it  was  suspected,  in  Spain.  It 
may  at  least  be  counted  among  the 
signs  of  human  progress  that  assassi 
nation  is  no  longer  one  of  the  com 
monplace  means  employed  by  anoint 
ed  sovereigns  against  each  other,  and 
against  individuals  obnoxious  to  royal 
displeasure. 

Certainly  it  may  be  doubted  wheth 
er  the  practice,if  now  attempted, would 
be  looked  upon  with  such  lenity  by  the 
!  civilized  world  as  in  the  reigns  of  the 
|  Philips,  Elizabeth,  James,  and  Henry. 
Meantime  the  shallow  artifices  by 
which  it  was  attempted  at  the  French 
court  to  veil  the  share  of  Spain  in 
Biron's  plot  were  pitiable.  Excuses 
for  Spain  were  made  by  the  French 
Government  in  order  to  conceal  its  own 
shame.  "  They  don't  consider,"  said 


1602. 


STATE  OF  EUROPE 


105 


had  laid  down  his  head  upon  the  block;  the  catastrophe  fol 
lowing  hard  upon  the  madcap  riot  of  Lord  Essex  in  the 
Strand  and  his  tragic  end.  The  troublesome  and  restless 
favourites  of  Henry  and  of  Elizabeth  had  closed  their  stormy 
career,  but  the  designs  of  the  great  king  and  the  great  queen 
were  growing  wider  and  wilder,  more  false  and  more  fantastic 
than  ever,  as  the  evening  shadows  of  both  were  lengthening. 

But  it  was  not  in  Europe  nor  in  Christendom  alone 
during  that  twilight  epoch  of  declining  absolutism,  regal  and 
sacerdotal,  and  the  coming  glimmer  of  freedom,  religious  and 
commercial,  that  the  contrast  between  the  old  and  new  civili 
zations  was  exhibiting  itself. 

The  same  fishermen  and  fighting  men,  whom  we  have  but 
lately  seen  sailing  forth  from  Zeeland  and  Friesland  to  con 
front  the  dangers  of  either  pole,  were  now  contending  in  the 
Indian  seas  with  the  Portuguese  monopolists  of  the  tropics. 

A  century  long,  the  generosity  of  the  Koman  pontiff  in 
bestowing  upon  others  what  was  not  his  property  had  guaran 
teed  to  the  nation  of  Vasco  de  Grama  one  half  at  least  of  the 
valuable  possessions  which  maritime  genius,  unflinching  valour, 
and  boundless  cruelty  had  won  and  kept.19  But  the  spirit  of 
change  was  abroad  in  the  world.  Potentates  and  merchants 


Aerssens,   "  that    the    Spaniard  will 
never  change  his  designs,  but  will  be 
ever  seeking  new  opportunities.     The 
sole  result  of  the  discovery  of  this  con-  j 
spiracy  is  that  the  king  loses  a  good 
servant,  and  is  obliged  to  show  too 
clearly  that  he  fears  war,  and  therefore 
is  seeking  for  peace.     The  pope  pleads  j 
innocence,  the  king  believes  him,  and 
Villeroy  holds  fast  to  his  old  maxim  [ 
that  the  French  crown  can  only  pros 
per  by  keeping  well  with  the  pope. 

"  What  fruit  then  shall  we  gather 
from  the  evil  of  this  plot  or  the  good 
of  its  discovery.  The  king  says  that 
the  King  of  Spain  is  too  good  a  brother, 
too  devout,  too  inexperienced  to  hatch 
this  perfidy.  'Tis  all  Fuentes  and 
other  ministers  in  combination  with 
the  Duke  of  Savoy.  I  have  always 
observed  that  princes  never  avow  mis 
haps,  but  are  very  forward  about  suc- 
'— Van  Deventer,  ii.  294,  295, 


324,  325. 

19  Borgia,  Pope  of  Rome,  had  con 
scientiously  divided  something  that 
was  supposed  to  be  a  new  world  into 
two  halves,  for  his  two  best  children, 
the  monarchs  of  Spain  and  Portugal  ; 
Catholic  majesty  to  take  that  portion 
lying  west  of  a  line  drawn  from  north 
to  south  pole  about  1000  miles  beyond 
the  Cape  Verde  Islands ;  Faithful  ma 
jesty  the  other  slice.  Subsequently, 
when  Catholic  majesty,  towards  the 
end  of  the  16th  century,  swallowed 
Faithful  majesty,  with  all  his  king 
doms,  he  legally  absorbed  the  East 
Indian  possessions,  and  became  pro 
prietor  of  the  whole  new  world,  under 
the  Borgian  grant. 

This  was  public  law,  religion,  high 
politics,  and  common  sense  in  those 
days,  but  the  unsophisticated  Hollan 
ders  could  not  be  made  to  understand 
the  theory. 


106  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

under  the  equator  had  been  sedulously  taught  that  there  were 
no  other  white  men  on  the  planet  but  the  Portuguese  and  their 
conquerors  the  Spaniards,  and  that  the  Dutch — of  whom  they 
had  recently  heard,  and  the  portrait  of  whose  great  military 
chieftain  they  had  seen  after  the  news  of  the  Nieuport  battle 
had  made  the  circuit  of  the  earth — were  a  mere  mob  of  pirates 
and  savages  inhabiting  the  obscurest  of  dens.  They  were 
soon,  however,  to  be  enabled  to  judge  for  themselves  as  to  the 
power  and  the  merits  of  the  various  competitors  for  their  trade. 

Early  in  this  year  Andreas  Hurtado  de  Mendoza  with  a 
stately  fleet  of  galleons  and  smaller  vessels,  more  than  five- 
and-twenty  in  all,  was  on  his  way  towards  the  island  of  Java 
to-  inflict  summary  vengeance  upon  those  oriental  rulers  who 
had  dared  to  trade  with  men  forbidden  by  his  Catholic 
Majesty  and  the  Pope. 

The  city  of  Bantam  was  the  first  spot  marked  out  for  de 
struction,  and  it  so  happened  that  a  Dutch  skipper,  Wolfert 
Hermann  by  name,  commanding  five  trading  vessels,  in 
which  were  three  hundred  men,  had  just  arrived  in  those  seas 
to  continue  the  illicit  commerce  which  had  aroused  the  ire  of 
the  Portuguese.20  His  whole  force  both  of  men  and  of  guns 
was  far  inferior  to  that  of  the  flag-ship  alone  of  Mendoza. 
But  he  resolved  to  make  manifest  to  the  Indians  that  the 
Batavians  were  not  disposed  to  relinquish  their  promising 
commercial  relations  with  them,  nor  to  turn  their  backs  upon 
their  newly  found  friends  in  the  hour  of  danger.  To  the 
profound  astonishment  of  the  Portuguese  admiral  the  Dutch 
man  with  his  five  little  trading  ships  made  an  attack  on  the 
pompous  armada,  intending  to  avert  chastisement  from  the 
king  of  Bantam.  It  was  not  possible  for  Wolfert  to  cope  at 
close  quarters  with  his  immensely  superior  adversary,  but  his 
skill  and  nautical  experience  enabled  him  to  play  at  what 
was  then  considered  long  bowls  with  extraordinary  effect. 
The  greater  lightness  and  mobility  of  his  vessels  made  them 
more  than  a  match,  in  this  kind  of  encounter,  for  the  clumsy, 
top-heavy,  an<}  sluggish  marine  castles  in  which  Spain  and 
*°  Qrotius,  ix.  688,  seqq. 


1602.  ATTACK  ON  THE  PORTUGUESE  ELEET.  1Q7 

Portugal  then  went  forth  to  battle  on  the  ocean.  It  seems 
almost  like  the  irony  of  history,  and  yet  it  is  the  literal  fact, 
that  the  Duch  galleot  of  that  day — hardly  changed  in  two 
and  a  half  centuries  since — "  the  bull-browed  galleot  butting 
through  the  stream/'21 — was  then  the  model  clipper,  conspi 
cuous  among  all  ships  for  its  rapid  sailing  qualities  and 
ease  of  handling.  So  much  has  the  world  moved,  on  sea  and 
shore,  since  those  simple  but  heroic  days.  And  thus  Wolfert's 
swift-going  galleots  circled  round  and  round  the  awkward, 
ponderous,  and  much-puzzled  Portuguese  fleet,  until  by  well- 
directed  shots  and  skilful  manoauvring  they  had  sunk  several 
ships,  taken  two,  run  others  into  the  shallows,  and,  at  last, 
put  the  whole  to  confusion.  After  several  days  of  such 
fighting,  Admiral  Mendoza  fairly  turned  his  back  upon  his 
insignificant  opponent,  and  abandoned  his  projects  upon  Java.22 
Bearing  away  for  the  Island  of  Amboyna  with  the  remainder 
of  his  fleet,  he  laid  waste  several  of  its  villages  and  odoriferous 
spice-fields,  while  Wolfert  and  his  companions  entered  Bantam 
in  triumph,  and  were  hailed  as  deliverers.23  And  thus  on 
the  extreme  western  verge  of  this  magnificent  island  was 
founded  the  first  trading  settlement  of  the  Batavian  republic 
in  the  archipelago  of  the  equator — the  foundation-stone  of  a 
great  commercial  empire  which  was  to  encircle  the  earth. 
Not  many  years  later,  at  the  distance  of  a  dozen  leagues  from 
Bantam,  a  congenial  swamp  was  fortunately  discovered  in  a 
land  whose  volcanic  peaks  rose  two  miles  into  the  air,  and 
here  a  town  duly  laid  out  with  canals  and  bridges,  and  trim 
gardens  and  stagnant  pools,  was  baptized  by  the  ancient  and 
well-beloved  name  of  Good-Meadow  or  Batavia,  which  it  bears 
to  this  day. 

Meantime  Wolfert  Hermann  was  not  the  only  Hollander 
cruising  in  those  seas  able  to  convince  the  Oriental  mind  that 
all  Europeans  save  the  Portuguese  were  not  pirates  and 
savages,  and  that  friendly  intercourse  with  other  foreigners 
might  be  as  profitable  as  slavery  to  the  Spanish  crown. 

51  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

91  Grotius.  xi.  608,  609.    Meteren,  463-465.    Wagenaar,  ubi  sup.        *3  Ibid, 


|08  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS  CHAP.  XL. 

Captain  Nek  made  treaties  of  amity  and  commerce  with 
the  potentates  of  Ternate,  Tydor,  and  other  Molucca  islands. 
The  King  of  Candy  on  the  Island  of  Ceylon,  lord  of  the  odori 
ferous  fields  of  cassia  which  perfume  those  tropical  seas,  was 
glad  to  learn  how  to  exchange  the  spices  of  the  equator  for 
the  thousand  fabrics  and  products  of  western  civilization 
which  found  their  great  emporium  in  Holland.24  Jacob 
Heemskerk,  too,  who  had  so  lately  astonished  the  world  by 
his  exploits  and  discoveries  during  his  famous  winter  in  Nova 
Zembla,  was  now  seeking  adventures  and  carrying  the  flag 
and  fan  e  of  the  republic  along  the  Indian  and  Chinese  coasts. 
The  King  of  Johor  on  the  Malayan  peninsula  entered  into 
friendly  relations  with  him,  being  well  pleased,  like  so  many 
of  those  petty  rulers,  to  obtain  protection  against  the  Portu 
guese  whom  he  had  so  long  hated  and  feared.  He  informed 
Heemskerk  of  the  arrival  in  the  straits  of  Malacca  of 
an  immense  Lisbon  carrack,  laden  with  pearls  and  spices, 
brocades  and  precious  stones,  on  its  way  to  Europe,  and 
suggested  an  attack.  It  is  true  that  the  roving  Hollander 
merely  commanded  a  couple  of  the  smallest  galleots  with 
about  a  hundred  and  thirty  men  in  the  two.  But  when  was 
Jacob  Heemskerk  ever  known  to  shrink  from  an  encounter — 
whether  from  single-handed  combat  with  a  polar  bear,  or 
from  leading  a  forlorn  hope  against  a  Spanish  fort,  or  from 
assailing  a  Portuguese  armada.  The  carrack,  more  than 
one  thousand  tons  burthen,  carried  seventeen  guns,  and  at 
least  eight  times  as  many  men  as  he  commanded.25  Never 
theless,  after  a  combat  of  but  brief  duration  Heemskerk  was 
master  of  the  carrack.  He  spared  the  lives  of  his  seven 
hundred  prisoners,  and  set  them  on  shore  before  they  should 
have  time  to  discover  to  what  a  handful  of  Dutchmen  they 
had  surrendered.  Then  dividing  about  a  million  florins'  worth 
of  booty  among  his  men,  who  dioubtless  found  such  cruising 
among  the  spice-islands  more  attractive  than  wintering  at  the 
North  Pole,  he  sailed  in  the  carrack  for  Macao,  where  he 
found  no  difficulty  in  convincing  the  authorities  of  the  celes- 
84  Grotius,  xi.  608—613.  26  Ibid. 


1602.  PROGRESS  OF    DUTCH  COMMERCE. 

tial  empire  that  the  friendship  of  the  Dutch  republic  was 
worth  cultivating.26  There  was  soon  to  be  work  in  other 
regions  for  the  hardy  Hollander — such  as  was  to  make  the 
name  of  Heemskerk  a  word  to  conjure  with  down  to  the 
latest  posterity.  Meantime  he  returned  to  his  own  country 
to  take  part  in  the  great  industrial  movements  which  were 
to  make  this  year  an  epoch  in  commercial  history. 

The  conquerors  of  Mendoza  and  deliverers  of  Bantam  had 
however  not  paused  in  their  work.  From  Java  they  sailed 
to  Banda,  and  on  those  volcanic  islands  of  nutmegs  and  cloves 
made,  in  the  name  of  their  commonwealth,  a  treaty  with  its 
republican  antipodes.  For  there  was  no  king  to  be  found  in 
that  particular  archipelago,  and  the  two  republics,  the  Oriental 
and  the  Germanic,  dealt  with  each  other  with  direct  and 
becoming  simplicity.27  Their  convention  was  in  accordance 
with  the  commercial  ideas  of  the  day,  which  assumed  mono 
poly  as  the  true  basis  of  national  prosperity.  It  was  agreed 
that  none  but  Dutchmen  should  ever  purchase  the  nutmegs 
of  Banda,  and  that  neither  nation  should  harbour  refugees 
from  the  other.  Other  articles,  however,  showed  how  much 
farther  the  practice  of  political  and  religious  liberty  had 
advanced  than  had  any  theory  of  commercial  freedom.  It 
was  settled  that  each  nation  should  judge  its  own  citizens 
according  to  its  own  laws,  that  neither  should  interfere  by 
force  with  the  other  in  regard  to  religious  matters,  but  that 
God  should  be  judge  over  them  all.28  Here  at  least  was 
progress  beyond  the  system  according  to  which  the  Holy 
Inquisition  furnished  the  only  enginry  of  civilization.  The 
guardianship  assumed  by  Holland  over  these  children  of  the 
isun  was  at  least  an  improvement  on  the  tyranny  which 
roasted  them  alive  if  they  rejected  religious  dogmas  which 
they  could  not  comprehend,  and  which  proclaimed  with  fire, 
sword,  and  gibbet  that  the  Omnipotent  especially  forbade  the 
nutmeg  trade  to  all  but  the  subjects  of  the  most  Catholic 
king. 

n  Grotius,  Meteren,  libi  sup.  21  Grotius,  xi.  609. 

28  Ibid.     "  Religionis  ob  causam  molesti  alii  alUs  ne  essent  getf  Peo 
rem  perraitterent," 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

In  Atsgen  or  Achim,  chief  city  of  Sumatra,  a  treaty  was 
likewise  made  with  the  government  of  the  place,  and  it  was 
arranged  that  the  king  of  Atsgen  should  send  over  an  embassy 
to  the  distant  but  friendly  republic.  Thus  he  might  judge 
whether  the  Hollanders  were  enemies  of  all  the  world,  as  had 
been  represented  to  him,  or  only  of  Spain ;  whether  their 
knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  their  position  among 
the  western  nations  entitled  them  to  respect,  and  made  their 
friendship  desirable  ;  or  whether  they  were  only  worthy  of 
the  contempt  which  their  royal  and  aristocratic  enemies 
delighted  to  heap  upon  their  heads.29  The  envoys  sailed 
from  Sumatra  on  board  the  same  little  fleet  which,  under  the 
command  of  Wolfert  Hermann,  had  already  done  such  signal 
service,  and  on  their  way  to  Europe  they  had  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  how  these  republican  sailors  could  deal  with  their 
enemies  on  the  ocean. 

Off  St.  Helena  an  immense  Portuguese  carrack  richly  laden 
and  powerfully  armed,  was  met,  attacked,  and  overpowered 
by  the  little  merchantmen  with  their  usual  audacity  and  skill. 
A  magnificent  booty  was  equitably  divided  among  the  captors, 
the  vanquished  crew  were  set  safely  on  shore,  and  the  Hol 
landers  then  pursued  their  home  voyage  without  further 
adventures.30 

The  ambassadors,  with  an  Arab  interpreter,  were  duly  pre 
sented  to  Prince  Maurice  in  the  lines  before  the  city  of 
Grave.31  Certainly  no  more  favourable  opportunity  could 
have  been  offered  them  for  contrasting  the  reality  of  military 
power,  science,  national  vigour,  and  wealth,  which  made  the 
republic  eminent  among  the  nations,  with  the  fiction  of  a 
horde  of  insignificant  and  bloodthirsty  savages  which  her 
enemies  had  made  so  familiar  at  the  antipodes.  Not  only 
were  the  intrenchments,  bastions,  galleries,  batteries,  the 
discipline  and  equipment  of  the  troops,  a  miracle  in  the  eyes 
of  these  newly  arrived  Oriental  ambassadors,  but  they  had 
awakened  the  astonishment  of  Europe,  already  accustomed 
to  such  spectacles.  Evidently  the  amity  of  the  stadholder 

19  Meteren,  Grotius,  Wagenaar,  ubi  sup.  w  Ibid.  31  Ibid. 


1602.  EMBASSY  FROM  SUMATRA  TO  THE  STATES.  HI 

and  his  commonwealth  was  a  jewel  of  price,  and  the  King 
of  Achim  would  have  been  far  more  barbarous  than  he  had 
ever  deemed  the  Dutchman  to  be,  had  he  not  well  heeded 
the  lesson  which  he  had  sent  so  far  to  learn. 

The  chief  of  the  legation,  Abdulzamar,  died  in  Zeeland,  and 
was  buried  with  honourable  obsequies  at  Middleburg,  a  monu 
ment  being  raised  to  his  memory.  The  other  envoys  returned 
to  Sumatra,  fully  determined  to  maintain  close  relations  with 
the  republic.32 

There  had  been  other  visitors  in  Maurice's  lines  before 
Grave  at  about  the  same  period.  Among  others,  Gaston 
Spinola,  recently  created  by  the  archduke  Count  of  Bruay, 
had  obtained  permission  to  make  a  visit  to  a  wounded  rela 
tive,  then  a  captive  in  the  republican  camp,  and  was  hospit 
ably  entertained  at  the  stadholder's  table.  Maurice,  with 
soldierly  bluntness,  ridiculed  the  floating  batteries,  the  castles 
on  wheels,  the  sausages,  and  other  newly-invented  machines, 
employed  before  Ostend,  and  characterized  them  as  rather  fit 
to  catch  birds  with  than  to  capture  a  city,  defended  by  mighty 
armies  and  fleets. 

"  If  the  archduke  has  set  his  heart  upon  it,  he  had  far 
better  try  to  buy  Ostend,"  he  observed. 

"  What  is  your  price  ?"  asked  the  Italian  ;  "  will  you  take 
200,000  ducats?" 

"  Certainly  not  less  than  a  million  and  a  half,"  was  the 
reply  ;  so  highly  did  Maurice  rate  the  position  and  advan 
tages  of  the  city.  He  would  venture  to  prophesy,  he  added, 
that  the  siege  of  Ostend  would  last  as  long  as  the  siege  of 
Troy. 

"  Ostend  is  no  Troy,"  said  Spinola  with  a  courtly  flourish, 
"  although  there  are  certainly  not  wanting  an  Austrian  Aga 
memnon,  a  Dutch  Hector,  and  an  Italian  Achilles." <33  The 
last  allusion  was  to  the  speaker's  namesake  and  kinsman,  the 
Marquis  Ambrose  Spinola,  of  whom  much  was  to  be  heard  in 
the  world  from  that  time  forth. 

Meantime,  although  so  little  progress  had   been  made  at 

M  Meteren,  Grotius,  Wagenaar,  ubi  sup.  33  Gallucci,  ii.  109. 


]J2  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL 

Ostend,  Maurice  had  thoroughly  done  his  work  before  Grave. 
On  the  18th  September  the  place  surrendered,  after  sixty 
days'  siege,  upon  the  terms  usually  granted  by  the  stadholder. 
The  garrison  was  to  go  out  with  the  honours  of  war.  Those 
of  the  inhabitants  who  wished  to  leave  were  to  leave  ;  those 
who  preferred  staying  were  to  stay  ;  rendering  due  allegiance 
to  the  republic,  and  abstaining  in  public  from  the  rites  of  the 
Koman  Church,  without  being  exposed,  however,  to  any  in 
quiries  as  to  their  religious  opinions,  or  any  interference 
within  their  households.34 

The  work  went  slowly  on  before  Ostend.  Much  effect  had 
been  produced,  however,  by  the  operations  of  the  archduke's 
little  naval  force.  The  galley  of  that  day,  although  a  child's 
toy  as  compared  with  the  wonders  of  naval  architecture  of  our 
own  time,  was  an  effective  machine  enough  to  harass  fishing 
and  coasting  vessels  in  creeks  and  estuaries,  and  along  the 
shores  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  during  tranquil  weather. 

The  locomotive  force  of  these  vessels  consisted  of  galley- 
slaves,  in  which  respect  the  Spaniards  had  an  advantage  over 
other  nations  ;  for  they  had  no  scruples  in  putting  prisoners 
of  war  into  chains  and  upon  the  benches  of  the  rowers. 
Humanity — "  the  law  of  Christian  piety,"  in  the  words  of  the 
noble  Grotius — forbade  the  Hollanders  from  reducing  their 
captives  to  such  horrible  slavery,35  and  they  were  obliged  to 
content  themselves  with  condemned  criminals,  and  with  the 
few  other  wretches  whom  abject  poverty  and  the  impossi 
bility  of  earning  other  wages  could  induce  to  accept  the 
service.  And  as  in  the  maritime  warfare  of  our  own  day, 
the  machinery — engines,  wheels,  and  boilers — is  the  especial 
aim  of  the  enemy's  artillery,  so  the  chain-gang  who  rowed  in 
the  waist  of  the  galley,  the  living  enginry,  without  which  the 
vessel  became  a  useless  tub,  was  as  surely  marked  out  for 
destruction  whenever  a  sea-fight  took  place. 

The  Hollanders  did  not  very  much  favour  this  species  of 
war-craft,  both  by  reason  of  the  difficulty  of  procuring  the 

34  Meteren,  470.  Grotius,  xi.  604.  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  99  and  notes.  Wage- 
aaar,  ix.  120.  36  Hist.  ix.  575. 


1602.  PRIVATEER  WORK  OF  FREDERIC  SPINOLA.  H3 

gang,  and  because  to  a  true  lover  of  the  ocean  and  of  naval 
warfare  the  galley  was  about  as  clumsy  and  amphibious  a 
production  as  could  be  hoped  of  human  perverseness.  High 
where  it  should  be  low.  Exposed,  flat,  and  fragile,  where  ele 
vation  and  strength  were  indispensable — encumbered  and 
top-heavy  where  it  should  be  level  and  compact,  weak  in  the 
waist,  broad  at  stem  and  stern,  awkward  in  manoeuvre,  help 
less  in  rough  weather,  sluggish  under  sail,  although  possessing 
the  single  advantage  of  being  able  to  crawl  over  a  smooth 
sea  when  better  and  faster  ships  were  made  stationary  by 
absolute  calm,  the  galley  was  no  match  for  the  Dutch  galleot, 
either  at  close  quarters  or  in  a  breeze. 

Nevertheless  for  a  long  time  there  had  been  a  certain  awe 
produced  by  the  possibility  of  some  prodigious  but  unknown 
qualities  in  these  outlandish  vessels,  and  already  the  Hol 
landers  had  tried  their  hand  at  constructing  them.  On 
a  late  occasion  a  galley  of  considerable  size,  built  at  Dort, 
had  rowed  past  the  Spanish  forts  on  the  Scheld,  gone  up 
to  Antwerp,  and  coolly  cut  out  from  the  very  wharves  of 
the  city  a  Spanish  galley  of  the  first  class,  besides  seven  war- 
vessels  of  lesser  dimensions,  at  first  gaining  advantage  by  sur 
prise,  and  then  breaking  down  all  opposition  in  a  brilliant 
little  fight.  The  noise  of  the  encounter  summoned  the  citi 
zens  and  garrison  to  the  walls,  only  to  witness  the  triumph 
achieved  by  Dutch  audacity,  and  to  see  the  victors  dropping 
rapidly  down  the  river,  laden  with  booty  and  followed  by 
their  prizes.  Nor  was  the  mortification  of  these  unwilling 
spectators  diminished  when  the  clear  notes  of  a  bugle  on 
board  the  Dutch  galley  brought  to  their  ears  the  well-known 
melody  of  "  Wilhelmus  of  Nassau,"  once  so  dear  to  every 
patriotic  heart  in  Antwerp,  and  perhaps  causing  many  a  rene 
gade  cheek  on  this  occasion  to  tingle  with  shame.36 

Frederic  Spinola,  a  volunteer  belonging  to  the  great  and 
wealthy  Genoese  family  of  that  name,  had  been  performing  a 
good  deal  of  privateer  work  with  a  small  force  of  galleys 
which  he  kept  under  his  command  at  Sluys.  He  had  sue- 

36  Hist.  576, 
VOL  IV. — I 


114  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL, 

ceeded  in  inflicting  so  much  damage  upon  the  smaller  mer 
chantmen  of  the  republic,  and  in  maintaining  so  perpetual  a 
panic  in  calm  weather  among  the  seafaring  multitudes  of 
those  regions,  that  he  was  disposed  to  extend  the  scale  of  his 
operations.  On  a  visit  to  Spain  he  had  obtained  permission 
from  Government  to  employ  in  this  service  eight  great  galleys, 
recently  built  on  the  Guadalquivir  for  the  Eoyal  Navy.  He 
was  to  man  and  equip  them  at  his  own  expense,  and  was  to 
be  allowed  the  whole  of  the  booty  that  might  result  from  his 
enterprise.  Early  in  the  autumn  he  set  forth  with  his  eight 
galleys  on  the  voyage  to  Flanders,  but,  off  Cezimbra,  on 
the  Portuguese  coast,  unfortunately  fell  in  with  Sir  Kobert 
Mansell,  who,  with  a  compact  little  squadron  of  English  fri 
gates,  was  lying  in  wait  for  the  homeward-bound  India  fleet 
on  their  entrance  to  Lisbon.  An  engagement  took  place,  in 
which  Spinola  lost  two  of  his  galleys.  His  disaster  might 
have  been  still  greater,  had  not  an  immense  Indian  carrack, 
laden  with  the  richest  merchandize,  just  then  hove  in  sight,  to 
attract  his  conquerors  with  a  hope  of  better  prize-money  than 
could  be  expected  from  the  most  complete  victory  over  him 
and  his  fleet.37 

With  the  remainder  of  his  vessels  Spinola  crept  out  of  signt 
3  October,  while  the  English  were  ransacking  the  carrack.  On 
the  3rd  of  October  he  had  entered  the  channel  with 
a  force  which,  according  to  the  ideas  of  that  day,  was  still  for 
midable.  Each  of  his  galleys  was  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
slave  power,  and  carried,  beside  the  chain-gang,  four  hundred 
fighting  men.  His  flag-ship  was  called  the  St.  Lewis ; 
the  names  of  the  other  vessels  being  the  St.  Philip,  the 
Morning  Star,  the  St.  John,  the  Hyacinth,  and  the  Pa- 
dilla.  The  Trinity  and  the  Opportunity  had  been  de 
stroyed  off  Cezimbra.  Now  there  happened  to  be  cruising 
just  then  in  the  channel,  Captain  Peter  Mol,  master  of  the 
Dutch  war-ship  Tiger,  and  Captain  Lubbertson,  commanding 
the  Pelican.  These  two  espied  the  Spanish  squadron,  pad 
dling  at  about  dusk  towards  the  English  coast,  and  quickly 
*  Grotius,  xi.  607,  608. 


1602.  ATTACK  Otf  SPINOLA'S  FLEET.  115 

gave  notice  to  Vice- Admiral  John  Kant,  who  in  the  States7 
ship  Half-moon,  with  three  other  war-galleots,  was  keeping 
watch  in  that  neighbourhood.  It  was  dead  calm  as  the  night 
fell,  and  the  galleys  of  Spinola,  which  had  crept  close  up  to 
the  Dover  cliffs,  were  endeavouring  to  row  their  way  across 
in  the  darkness  towards  the  Flemish  coast,  in  the  hope  of 
putting  unobserved  into  the  Gut  of  Sluys.38  All  went  well 
with  Spinola  till  the  moon  rose;  but,  with  the  moon,  sprang 
up  a  steady  breeze,  so  that  the  galleys  lost  all  their  advan 
tage.  Nearly  off  Gravelines  another  States'  ship,  the  Mackerel, 
came  in  sight,  which  forthwith  attacked  the  St.  Philip,  pour 
ing  a  broadside  into  her  by  which  fifty  men  were  killed. 
Drawing  off  from  this  assailant,  the  galley  found  herself  close 
to  the  Dutch  admiral  in  the  Half-moon,  who,  with  all  sail  set, 
bore  straight  down  upon  her,  struck  her  amidships  with  a 
mighty  crash,  carrying  off  her  mainmast  and  her  poop,  and 
then,  extricating  himself  with  difficulty  from  the  wreck,  sent 
a  tremendous  volley  of  cannon-shot  and  lesser  missiles 
straight  into  the  waist  where  sat  the  chain-gang.  A  howl  of 
pain  and  terror  rang  through  the  air,  while  oars  and  benches, 
arms,  legs,  and  mutilated  bodies,  chained  inexorably  together, 
floated  on  the  moonlit  waves.  An  instant  later,  and  another 
galleot  bore  down  to  complete  the  work,  striking  with  her 
iron  prow  the  doomed  St.  Philip  so  straightly  and  surely 
that  she  went  down  like  a  stone,  carrying  with  her  galley- 
slaves,  sailors,  and  soldiers,  besides  all  the  treasure  brought 
by  Spinola  for  the  use  of  his  fleet. 

The  Morning  Star  was  the  next  galley  attacked,  Captain 
Sael,  in  a  stout  galleot,  driving  at  her  under  full  sail,  with 
the  same  accuracy  and  solidity  of  shock  as  had  been  displayed 
in  the  encounter  with  the  St.  Philip  and  with  the  same  result. 
The  miserable,  top-heavy  monster  galley  was  struck  between 
mainmast  and  stern,  with  a  blow  which  carried  away  the 
assailant's  own  bowsprit  and  fore-bulwarks,  but  which  com 
pletely  demolished  the  stern  of  the  galley,  and  crushed  out  of 

38  Fleming,  290-294    Bentivoglio,  iii.  516.    Grotius,  ubi  sup.    Haestens,233 
fteqq.    Mcteren,  474 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

existence  the  greater  portion  of  the  live  machinery  sitting 
chained  and  rowing  on  the  benches.  And  again,  as  the  first 
enemy  hauled  off  from  its  victim,  Admiral  Kant  came  up 
once  more  in  the  Half-moon,  steered  straight  at  the  flounder 
ing  galley,  and  sent  her  with  one  crash  to  the  bottom.  It 
was  not  very  scientific  practice  perhaps.  It  was  but  simple 
butting,  plain  sailing,  good  steering,  and  the  firing  of  cannon 
at  short  pistol-shot.  But  after  all,  the  work  of  those  un 
sophisticated  Dutch  skippers  was  done  very  thoroughly, 
without  flinching,  and,  as  usual,  at  great  odds  of  men  and 
guns.  Two  more  of  the  Spanish  galleys  were  chased  into 
the  shallows  near  Gravelines,  where  they  went  to  pieces. 
Another  was  wrecked  near  Calais.  The  galley  which  bore 
Frederic  Spinola  himself  and  his  fortunes  succeeded  in 
reaching  Dunkirk,  whence  he  made  his  way  discomfited,  to 
tell  the  tale  of  his  disaster  to  the  archduke  at  Brussels. 
During  the  fight  the  Dutch  admiral's  boats  had  been  active 
in  picking  up  such  of  the  drowning  crews,  whether  galley- 
slaves  or  soldiers,  as  it  was  possible  to  save.  But  not  more 
than  two  hundred  were  thus  rescued,  while  by  far  the  greater 
proportion  of  those  on  board,  probably  three  thousand  in 
number,  perished,  and  the  whole  fleet,  by  which  so  much 
injury  was  to  have  been  inflicted  on  Dutch  commerce,  was, 
save  one  damaged  galley,  destroyed.39  Yet  scarcely  any  lives 
were  lost  by  the  Hollanders,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  whole 
force  in  their  fleet  did  not  equal  the  crew  of  a  single  one  of 
the  enemy's  ships.  Neither  Spinola  nor  the  archduke  seemed 
likely  to  make  much  out  of  the  contract.  Meantime,  the 
Genoese  volunteer  kept  quiet  in  Sluys,  brooding  over  schemes 
to  repair  his  losses  and  to  renew  his  forays  on  the  indomitable 
Zeelanders. 

Another  winter  had  now  closed  in  upon  Ostend,  while  still 
the  siege  had  scarcely  advanced  an  inch.  During  the  ten 
months  of  Governor  Dorp's  administration,  four  thousand  men 
had  died  of  wounds  or  malady  within  the  town,  and  certainly 
twice  as  many  in  the  trenches  of  the  besieging  force.  Still 
89  Authorities  last  cited 


1602.  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE  OP  OSTEND.  H7 

the  patient  Bucquoy  went  on,  day  after  day,  night  after 
night,  month  after  month,  planting  his  faggots  and  fascines, 
creeping  forward  almost  imperceptibly  with  his  dyke,  paying 
five  florins  each  to  the  soldiers  who  volunteered  to  bring  the 
materials,  and  a  double  ducat  to  each  man  employed  in  laying 
them.  So  close  were  they  under  the  fire  of  the  town,  that  a 
life  was  almost  laid  down  for  every  ducat,  but  the  Gullet, 
which  it  was  hoped  to  close,  yawned  as  wide  as  ever,  and 
the  problem  how  to  reduce  a  city,  open  by  sea  to  the  whole 
world,  remained  without  solution.  On  the  last  day  31  Dec 
of  the  year  a  splendid  fleet  of  transports  arrived  in  1602- 
the  town,  laden  with  whole  droves  of  beeves  and  flocks 
of  sheep,  besides  wine  and  bread  and  beer  enough  to  supply  a 
considerable  city ;  so  that  market  provisions  in  the  be 
leaguered  town  were  cheaper  than  in  any  part  of  Europe.40 
Thus  skilfully  did  the  States- General  and  Prince  Maurice 
watch  from  the  outside  over  Ostend,  while  the  audacious 
but  phlegmatic  sea-captains  brought  their  cargoes  unscathed 
through  the  Gullet,  although  Bucquoy' s  batteries  had  now 
advanced  to  within  seventy  yards  of  the  shore. 

On  the  west  side,  the  besiegers  were  slowly  eating  their 
way  through  the  old  harbour  towards  the  heart  of  the  place. 
Subterranean  galleries,  patiently  drained  of  their  water,  were 
met  by  counter-galleries  leading  out  from  the  town,  and 
many  were  the  desperate  hand-to-hand  encounters,  by  dim 
lanterns,  or  in  total  darkness,  beneath  the  ocean  and  beneath 
the  earth  ;  Hollander,  Spaniard,  German,  Englishman,  Wal 
loon,  digging  and  dying  in  the  fatal  trenches,  as  if  there 
had  been  no  graves  at  home.  Those  insatiable  sand-banks 
seemed  ready  to  absorb  all  the  gold  and  all  the  life  of 
Christendom.  But  the  monotony  of  that  misery  it  is  useless 
to  chronicle.  Hardly  an  event  of  these  dreary  days  has  been 
left  unrecorded  by  faithful  diarists  and  industrious  soldiers, 
but  time  has  swept  us  far  away  from  them,  and  the  world  has 
rolled  on  to  fresher  fields  of  carnage  and  ruin.  All  winter 
long  those  unwearied,  intelligent,  fierce,  and  cruel  creatures 

40  Fleming,  321. 

VOL.  II— 4* 


118  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL 

toiled  and  fought  in  the  stagnant  waters,  and  patiently  bur 
rowed  in  the  earth.  It  seemed  that  if  Ostend  were  ever  lost 
it  would  be  because  at  last  entirely  bitten  away  and  consumed. 
When  there  was  no  Ostend  left,  it  might  be  that  the  arch 
duke  would  triumph. 

As  there  was  always  danger  that  the  movements  on  the 
east  side  might  be  at  last  successful,  it  was  the  command  of 
Maurice  that  the  labours  to  construct  still  another  harbour 
should  go  on  in  case  the  Gullet  should  become  useless,  as  the 
old  haven  had  been  since  the  beginning  of  the  siege.  And 
the  working  upon  that  newest  harbour  was  as  dangerous  to 
the  Hollanders  as  Bucquoy's  dike-building  to  the  Spaniards, 
for  the  pioneers  and  sappers  were  perpetually  under  fire 
from  the  batteries  which  the  count  had  at  last  successfully 
established  on  the  extremity  of  his  work.  It  was  a  piteous 
sight  to  see  those  patient  delvers  lay  down  their  spades  and 
die,  hour  after  hour,  to  be  succeeded  by  their  brethren  only 
to  share  their  fate.  Yet  still  the  harbour  building  pro 
gressed;  for  the  republic  was  determined  that  the  city  should 
be  open  to  the  sea  so  long  as  the  States  had  a  stiver,  or  a 
ship,  or  a  spade. 

While  this  deadly  industry  went  on,  the  more  strictly 
military  operations  were  not  pretermitted  day  nor  night.  The 
Catholics  were  unwearied  in  watching  for  a  chance  of  attack, 
and  the  Hollanders  stood  on  the  ramparts  and  in  the  trenches, 
straining  eyes  and  ears  through  the  perpetual  icy  mists  of 
that  black  winter  to  catch  the  sight  and  sound  of  a  coming 
foe.  Especially  the  by-watches,  as  they  were  called,  were 
enough  to  break  down  constitutions  of  iron;  for,  all  day  and 
night,  men  were  stationed  in  the  inundated  regions,  bound  on 
pain  of  death  to  stand  in  the  water  and  watch  for  a  possible 
movement  of  the  enemy,  until  the  waves  should  rise  so  high 
as  to  make  it  necessary  to  swim.  Then,  until  the  tide  fell 
again,  there  was  brief  repose.41 

And  so  the  dreary  winter  faded  away  at  last  into  chill  and 
blustering  spring.     On  the  13th  of  April,  1603,  a  hurricane, 

41  Fleming,  G50. 


1603.  DESTRUCTIVE  HURRICANE.  119 

such  as  had  not  occurred  since  the  siege  began,  raged  across 
the  ocean,  deluging  and  shattering  the  devoted  13  April, 
town.42  The  waters  rose  over  dyke  and  parapet,  and  1603- 
the  wind  swept  from  the  streets  and  ramparts  every  living 
thing.  Not  a  soldier  or  sailor  could  keep  his  feet,  the  chief 
tower  of  the  church  was  blown  into  the  square,  chimneys  and 
windows  crashed  on  all  sides,  and  the  elements  had  their 
holiday,  as  if  to  prove  how  helpless  a  thing  was  man,  however 
fierce  and  determined,  when  the  powers  of  Nature  arose  in 
their  strength.  It  was  as  if  no  siege  existed,  as  if  no  hostile 
armies  had  been  lying  nearly  two  years  long  close  to  each 
other,  and  losing  no  opportunity  to  fly  at  each  other's  throats. 
The  strife  of  wind  and  ocean  gave  a  respite  to  human  rage. 
It  was  but  a  brief  respite.  At  nightfall  there  was  a  lull  in 
the  tempest,  and  the  garrison  crept  again  to  the  ramparts. 
Instantly  the  departing  roar  of  the  winds  and  waters  were 
succeeded  by  fainter  but  still  more  threatening  sounds,  and 
the  sentinels  on  duty  had  scarce  time  to  give  the  alarm, 
and  the  drums  and  trumpets  to  rally  the  garrison,  when  the 
attack  came.  The  sleepless  Spaniards  were  already  upon 
them.  In  the  Porcupine  fort,  a  blaze  of  wickerwork  and 
building  materials  suddenly  illuminated  the  gathering  gloom 
of  night,  and  the  loud  cries  of  the  assailants,  who  had  suc 
ceeded  in  kindling  this  fire  by  their  missiles,  proclaimed  the 
fierceness  of  the  attack.  Governor  Dorp  was  himself  in  the 
fort,  straining  every  nerve  to  extinguish  the  flames,  and  to 
hold  this  most  important  position.  He  was  successful.  After 
a  brief  but  bloody  encounter  the  Spaniards  were  repulsed 
with  heavy  loss.  All  was  quiet  again,  and  the  garrison  in  the 
Porcupine  were  congratulating  themselves  on  their  victory 
when  suddenly  the  ubiquitous  Philip  Fleming  plunged,  with 
a  face  of  horror,  into  the  governor's  quarters,  informing  him 
that  the  attack  on  the  redoubt  had  been  a  feint,  and  that  the 
Spaniards  were  at  that  very  moment  swarming  all  over  the 
three  external  forts,  called  the  South  Square,  the  West  Square, 
and  the  Polder.43  These  points,  which  have  been  already 
«  Fleming,  351.  «  Ibid  351-304, 


120  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

described,  were  most  essential  to  the  protection  of  the  place, 
as  without  them  the  whole  counterscarp  was  in  danger. 
It  was  to  save  those  exposed  but  vital  positions  that  Sir 
Francis  Vere  had  resorted  to  the  slippery  device  of  the  last 
Christmas  Eve  but  one. 

Dorp  refused  to  believe  the  intelligence.  The  squares 
were  well  guarded,  the  garrison  ever  alert.  Spaniards  were 
not  birds  of  prey  to  fly  up  those  perpendicular  heights,  and 
for  beings  without  wings  the  thing  was  impossible.  He 
followed  Fleming  through  the  darkness,  and  was  soon  con 
vinced  that  the  impossible  was  true.  The  precious  squares 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Nimble  as  monkeys,  those 
yellow-jerkined  Italians,  Walloons,  and  Spaniards — storm- 
hats  on  their  heads  and  swords  in  their  teeth — had  planted 
rope-ladders,  swung  themselves  up  the  walls  by  hundreds 
upon  hundreds,  while  the  fight  had  been  going  on  at  the 
Porcupine,  and  were  now  rushing  through  the  forts  grinning 
defiance,  yelling  and  chattering  with  fierce  triumph,  and 
beating  down  all  opposition.  It  was  splendidly  done.  The 
discomfited  Dorp  met  small  bodies  of  his  men,  panic-struck, 
reeling  out  from  their  stronghold,  wounded,  bleeding,  shriek 
ing  for  help  and  for  orders.  It  seemed  as  if  the  Spaniards 
had  dropped  from  the  clouds.  The  Dutch  commandant  did 
his  best  to  rally  the  fugitives,  and  to  encourage  those  who 
had  remained.  All  night  long  the  furious  battle  raged, 
every  inch  of  ground  being  contested  ;  for  both  Catholics 
and  Hollanders  knew  full  well  that  this  triumph  was  worth 
more  than  all  that  had  been  gained  for  the  archduke  in 
eighteen  months  of  siege.  Pike  to  pike,  breast  to  breast, 
they  fought  through  the  dark  April  night ;  the  last  sobs 
of  the  hurricane  dying  unheard,  the  red  lanterns  flitting 
to  and  fro,  the  fireworks  hissing  in  every  direction  of  earth 
and  air,  the  great  wicker  piles,  heaped  up  with  pitch  and  rosin, 
flaming  over  a  scene  more  like  a  dance  of  goblins  than  a 
commonplace  Christian  massacre.  At  least  fifteen  hundred 
were  killed — besiegers  and  besieged — during  the  storming  of 
the  forts  and  the  determined  but  unsuccessful  attempt  of  the 


1603.  FREDERIC  SPINOLA  AGAIN.  121 

Hollanders  to  retake  them.  And  when  at  last  the  day  had 
dawned,  and  the  Spaniards  could  see  the  full  extent  of  their 
victory,  they  set  themselves  with  unusual  alacrity  to  killing 
such  of  the  wounded  and  prisoners  as  were  in  their  hands, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  they  turned  the  guns  of  their  newly 
acquired  works  upon  the  main  counterscarp  of  the  town.44 

Yet  the  besieged — discomfited  but  undismayed — lost  not  a 
moment  in  strengthening  their  inner  works,  and  in  doing 
their  best,  day  after  day,  by  sortie,  cannonade,  and  every 
possible  device,  to  prevent  the  foe  from  obtaining  full  advan 
tage  of  his  success.  The  triumph  was  merely  a  local  one, 
and  the  patient  Hollanders  soon  proved  to  the  enemy  that 
the  town  was  not  gained  by  carrying  the  three  squares,  but 
that  every  inch  of  the  place  was  to  be  contested  as  hotly  as 
those  little  redoubts  had  been.  Ostend,  after  standing  nearly 
two  years  of  siege,  was  not  to  be  carried  by  storm.  A  goodly 
slice  of  it  had  been  pared  off  that  April  night,  and  was  now 
in  possession  of  the  archduke,  but  this  was  all.45  Meantime 
the  underground  work  was  resumed  on  both  sides. 

Frederic  Spinola,  notwithstanding  the  stunning  defeat  sus 
tained  by  him  in  the  preceding  October,  had  not  lost  heart 
while  losing  all  his  ships.  On  the  contrary,  he  35  May, 
had  been  busy  during  the  winter  in  building  other  1603- 
galleys.  Accordingly,  one  fine  morning  in  May,  Counsellor 
Flooswyk,  being  on  board  a  war  vessel  convoying  some  empty 
transports  from  Ostend,  observed  signs  of  mischief  brewing  as 
he  sailed  past  the  Gut  of  Sluys,  and  forthwith  gave  notice 
of  what  he  had  seen  to  Admiral  Joost  de  Moor,  command 
ing  the  blockading  squadron.  The  counsellor  was  right. 
Frederic  Spinola  meant  mischief.  It  was  just  before  sun 
rise  of  a  beautiful  summer's  day.  The  waves  were  smooth — 
not  a  breath  of  wind  stirring — and  De  Moor,  who  had  four 
little  war-ships  of  Holland,  and  was  supported  besides  by  a 
famous  vessel  called  the  Black  Galley  of  Zeeland,  under  Cap 
tain  Jacob  Michelzoon,  soon  observed  a  movement  from  Sluys.46 

44  Fleming,  351-354.  45  Ibid.     I  counter  are  Groen    van   Prinsterer, 

44  The  best  authorities  for  this  en-  |  Archives,  II.  194  ;  Fleming,  382-384; 


122  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL 

Over  the  flat  and  glassy  surface  of  the  sea,  eight  galleys  of 
the  largest  size  were  seen  crawling  slowly,  like  vast  reptiles, 
towards  his  position.  Four  lesser  vessels  followed  in  the 
wake  of  the  great  galleys.  The  sails  of  the  admiral's  little 
fleet  flapped  idly  against  the  mast.  He  could  only  placidly 
await  the  onset.  The  Black  Galley,  however,  moved  forward 
according  to  her  kind,  and  was  soon  vigorously  attacked  by 
two  galleys  of  the  enemy.  With  all  the  force  that  five 
hundred  rowers  could  impart,  these  two  huge  vessels  ran 
straight  into  the  Zeeland  ship,  and  huried  their  iron  prows  in 
her  sides.  Yet  the  Black  Galley  was  made  of  harder  stuff 
than  were  those  which  had  gone  down  in  the  channel  the 
previous  autumn  under  the  blows  of  John  Kant.  Those  on 
board  her,  at  least,  were  made  of  tougher  material  than 
were  galley-slaves  and  land-soldiers.  The  ramming  was 
certainly  not  like  that  of  a  thousand  horse-power  of  steam, 
and  there  was  no  very  great  display  of  science  in  the  encounter ; 
yet  Captain  Jacob  Michelzoon,  with  two  enemy's  ships  thus 
stuck  to  his  sides,  might  well  have  given  himself  up  for  lost. 
The  disproportion  of  ships  and  men  was  monstrous.  Beside 
the  chain-gang,  each  of  Spinola's  ships  was  manned  by  two 
hundred  soldiers,47  while  thirty-six  musketeers48  from  the 
Flushing  garrison  were  the  only  men-at-arms  in  De  Moor's 
whole  squadron.  But  those  amphibious  Zeelanders  and  Hol 
landers,  perfectly  at  home  in  the  water,  expert  in  handling 
vessels,  and  excellent  cannoneers,  were  more  than  a  match  for 
twenty  times  their  number  of  landsmen.  It  was  a  very 
simple-minded,  unsophisticated  contest.  The  attempt  to 
board  the  Black  Galley  was  met  with  determined  resistance, 
but  the  Zeeland  sailors  clambered  like  cats  upon  the  bowsprits 
of  the  Spanish  galleys,  fighting  with  cutlass  and  handspike, 
while  a  broadside  or  two  was  delivered  with  terrible  effect 
into  the  benches  of  the  chained  and  wretched  slaves.  Captain 
Michelzoon  was  killed,49  but  his  successor,  Lieutenant  Hart, 


Meteren,  485,  486 ;  Gallucci,  xv.  96- 
98  ;  Grotius,  xii.  625, 626 ;  Bentivoglio, 
ill.  519. 


47  Fleming,  383. 

43  Grotius,  626. 

49  Gallucci,  97.    Fleming,  883. 


1603.  DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OF  SPINOLA.  123 

although  severely  wounded,  swore  that  he  would  blow  up  his 
ship  with  his  own  hands  rather  than  surrender.  The  decks  of 
all  the  vessels  ran  with  blood,  but  at  last  the  Black  Galley 
succeeded  in  beating  off  her  assailants  ;  the  Zeelanders, 
by  main  force,  breaking  off  the  enemy's  bowsprits,  so  that 
the  two  ships  of  Spinola  were  glad  to  sheer  off,  leaving  their 
stings  buried  in  the  enemy's  body.50 

Next,  four  galleys  attacked  the  stout  little  galleot  of 
Captain  Logier,  and  with  a  very  similar  result.  Their  prows 
stuck  fast  in  the  bulwarks  of  the  ship,  but  the  boarders  soon 
found  themselves  the  boarded,  and,  after  a  brief  contest,  again 
the  iron  bowsprits  snapped  like  pipe-stems,  and  again  the 
floundering  and  inexperienced  Spaniards  shrank  away  from 
the  terrible  encounter  which  they  had  provoked.  Soon  after 
wards,  Joost  de  Moor  was  assailed  by  three  galleys.  He 
received  them,  however,  with  cannonade  and  musketry  so 
warmly  that  they  willingly  obeyed  a  summons  from  Spinola, 
and  united  with  the  flag-ship  in  one  more  tremendous  onset 
upon  the  Black  Galley  of  Zeeland.  And  it  might  have  gone 
hard  with  that  devoted  ship,  already  crippled  in  the  previous 
encounter,  had  not  Captain  Logier  fortunately  drifted  with 
the  current  near  enough  to  give  her  assistance,  while  the  othet 
sailing  ships  lay  becalmed  and  idle  spectators.  At  last  Spinola, 
conspicuous  by  his  armour,  and  by  magnificent  recklessness 
of  danger,  fell  upon  the  deck  of  his  galley,  torn  to  pieces  with 
twenty-four  wounds  from  a  istone  gun  of  the  Black  Galley, 
while  at  nearly  the  same  moment  a  gentle  breeze  began  in 
the  distance  to  ruffle  the  surface  of  the  waters.  More  than  a 
thousand  men  had  fallen  in  Spinola's  fleet,  inclusive  of  the 
miserable  slaves,  who  were  tossed  overboard  as  often  as 
wounds  made  them  a  cumbrous  part  of  the  machinery,  and 
the  galleys,  damaged,  discomfited,  laden  with  corpses  and 
dripping  with  blood,  rowed  off  into  Sluys  as  speedily  as  they 
could  move,  without  waiting  until  the  coming  wind  should 
bring  all  the  sailing  ships  into  the  fight,  together  with  such 
other  vessels  under  Haul  tain  as  might  be  cruising  in  the 

60  Authorities  cited. 


124  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

distance.  They  succeeded  in  getting  into  the  Gut  of  Sluys, 
and  so  up  to  their  harbour  of  refuge.51  Meantime,  baldheaded, 
weather-beaten  Joost  de  Moor — farther  pursuit  being  im 
possible — piped  all  hands  on  deck,  where  officers  and  men 
fell  on  their  knees,  shouting  in  pious  triumph  the  34th 
Psalm  :52  "I  will  bless  the  Lord  at  all  times,  His  praise  shall 

continually  be  in  my  mouth 0  magnify  the  Lord  with 

me,  and  let  us  exalt  His  name  together."  So  rang  forth  the 
notes  of  humble  thanksgiving  across  the  placid  sea.  And 
assuredly  those  hardy  mariners,  having  gained  a  victory  with 
their  little  vessels  over  twelve  ships  and  three  thousand  men 
— a  numerical  force  of  at  least  ten  times  their  number, — such 
as  few  but  Dutchmen  could  have  achieved,  had  a  right  to 
give  thanks  to  Him  from  whom  all  blessings  flow. 

Thus  ended  the  career  of  Frederic  Spinola,  a  wealthy, 
gallant,  high-born,  brilliant  youth,  who  might  have  earned 
distinction,  and  rendered  infinitely  better  service  to  the  cause 
of  Spain  and  the  archdukes,  had  he  not  persuaded  himself  that 
he  had  a  talent  for  seamanship.  Certainly,  never  was  a  more 
misplaced  ambition,  a  more  unlucky  career.  Not  even  in  that 
age  of  rash  adventure,  when  grandees  became  admirals  and 
•field-marshals  because  they  were  grandees,  had  such  incapa 
city  been  shown  by  any  restless  patrician.  Frederic  Spinola, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  a  landsman  and  a  volunteer,  thinking 
to  measure  himself  on  blue  water  with  such  veterans  as  John 
Kant,  Joost  de  Moor,  and  the  other  Dutchmen  and  Zeelanders 
whom  it  was  his  fortune  to  meet,  could  hardly  escape  the 
doom  which  so  rapidly  befel  him. 

On  board  the  Black  Galley  Captain  Michelzoon,  eleven  of 
his  officers,  and  fifteen  of  his  men  were  killed  ;  Admiral  de 
Moor  was  slightly  wounded,  and  had  five  of  his  men  killed 
and  twenty  wounded  ;  Captain  Logier  was  wounded  in  the 
foot,  and  lost  fifteen  killed  and  twelve  wounded."2 

The  number  of  those  killed  in  Spinola' s  fleet  has  been 
placed  as  high  as  fourteen  hundred,  including  two  hundred 

51  Fleming,  Meteren,  Gallucci,  Bentivoglio,  Grotius,  ubi  sup. 
w  Meteren,  486,  *3  Ibid. 


1603.  EXECUTION  OF  PRISONERS.  125 

officers  and  gentlemen  of  quality,  besides  the  crowds  of 
galley-slaves  thrown  overboard.54  This  was  perhaps  an  ex-» 
aggeration.  The  losses  were,  however,  sufficient  to  put  a 
complete  stop  to  the  enterprise  out  of  which  the  unfortunate 
Spinola  had  conceived  such  extravagant,  hopes  of  fame  and 
fortune. 

The  herring-smacks  and  other  coasters,  besides  the  trans 
ports  passing  to  and  from  Ostend,  sailed  thenceforth  unmo 
lested  by  any  galleys  from  Sluys.  One  unfortunate  sloop, 
however,  in  moving  out  from  the  beleaguered  city,  ran  upon 
some  shoals  before  getting  out  of  the  Gullet  and  thus  fell  a 
prize  to  the  besiegers.  She  was  laden  with  nothing  more 
precious  than  twelve  wounded  soldiers  on  their  way  to  the 
hospitals  at  Flushing.  These  prisoners  were  immediately 
hanged,  at  the  express  command  of  the  archduke,55  because 
they  had  been  taken  on  the  sea  where,  according  to  his 
Highness,  there  were  no  laws  of  war.56 

The  stadholder,  against  his  will — for  Maurice  was  never 
cruel — felt  himself  obliged  to  teach  the  cardinal  better  juris 
prudence  and  better  humanity  for  the  future.  In  order  to 
show  him  that  there  was  but  one  belligerent  law  on  sea  and 
on  land,  he  ordered  two  hundred  Spanish  prisoners  within  his 
lines  to  draw  lots  from  an  urn  in  which  twelve  of  the  tickets 
were  inscribed  with  the  fatal  word  gibbet.  Eleven  of  the 
twelve  thus  marked  by  ill  luck  were  at  once  executed.  The 
twelfth,  a  comely  youth,  was  pardoned  at  the  intercession  of 
a  young  girl.57  It  is  not  stated  whether  or  not  she  became 
his  wife.  It  is  also  a  fact  worth  mentioning,  as  illustrating 
the  recklessness  engendered  by  a  soldier's  life,  that  the  man 
who  drew  the  first  blank  sold  it  to  one  of  his  comrades  and 
plunged  his  hand  again  into  the  fatal  urn.58  Whether  he 
succeeded  in  drawing  the  gibbet  at  his  second  trial  has  not 
been  recorded.  When  these  executions  had  taken  place  in 
full  view  of  the  enemy's  camp,  Maurice  formally  announced 


64  Letter  of  Ernest  Casimir  in  Groen 
v.  Prin.,  Arch.  II.  194.  Grotius  says 
300  killed  and  many  wounded.  Flem 
ing,  p.  ^84,  says  1000  killed  besides 
the  wounded  and  slaves  uncounted. 


56  Grotius,  xii.  630. 

56  Ibid.  "  Sed  aqua  captos  ubi  null  a 
forent  belli  foedera." 

"  Ibid.  Meteren,  487.  Van  der 
Kemp,  107.  68  Grotius,  ubi  sup. 


126  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

that  for  every  prisoner  thenceforth  put  to  death  by  the  arch 
duke  two  captives  from  his  own  army  should  be  hanged.59 
These  stern  reprisals,  as  usual,  put  an  end  to  the  foul  system 
of  martial  murder. 

Throughout  the  year  the  war  continued  to  be  exclusively 
the  siege  of  Ostend.  Yet  the  fierce  operations,  recently  re- 
corded,  having  been  succeeded  by  a  period  of  comparative 
languor,  Governor  Dorp  at  last  obtained  permission  to 
depart  to  repair  his  broken  health.  He  was  succeeded  in 
command  of  the  forces  within  the  town  by  Charles  Van  der 
Noot,  colonel  of  the  Zeeland  regiment  which  had  suffered  so 
much  in  the  first  act  of  the  battle  of  Nieuport.  Previously 
to  this  exchange,  however,  a  day  of  solemn  thanksgiving  and 
prayer  was  set  apart  on  the  anniversary  of  the  beginning  of 
the  siege.60  Since  the  5th  of  July,  1601,  two  years  had  been 
spent  by  the  whole  power  of  the  enemy  in  the  attempt  to 
reduce  this  miserable  village,  and  the  whole  result  thus  far 
had  been  the  capture  of  three  little  external  forts.  There 
seemed  cause  for  thanksgiving. 

Philip  Fleming,  too,  obtained  a  four  weeks'  holiday — the 
first  in  eleven  years — and  went  with  his  family  outside  the 
pestiferous  and  beleaguered  town.  He  was  soon  to  return  to 
his  multifarious  duties  as  auditor,  secretary,  and  chronicler 
of  the  city,  and  unattached  aide-de-camp  to  the  commander- 
in-chief,  whoever  that  might  be,  and  to  perform  his  duty  with 
the  same  patient  courage  and  sagacity  that  had  marked  him 
from  the  beginning.  "An  unlucky  cannon-ball  of  the  enemy," 
as  he  observes,  did  some  damage  at  this  period  to  his  diary, 
but  it  happened  at  a  moment  when  comparatively  little  was 
doing,  so  that  the  chasm  was  of  less  consequence.61 

"And  so  I,  Philip  Fleming,  auditor  to  the  Council  of  War/' 
he  says  with  homely  pathos,  "  have  been  so  continually  em 
ployed  as  not  to  have  obtained  leave  in  all  these  years  to 
refresh,  for  a  few  days  outside  this  town,  my  troubled  spirit 
after  such  perpetual  work,  intolerable  cares,  and  slavery, 
having  had  no  other  pleasure  allotted  me  than  with  daily 

59  Grotius,  Meteren,  ubi  sup.  60  Fleming,  397.  61  Ibid.  399,  seqq. 


J.003.  AUDITOR  FLEMING'S   DIARY.  127 

sadness,  weeping  eyes,  and  heavy  yearnings  to  tread  the 
ramparts,  and,  like  a  poor  slave  laden  with  fetters,  to  look  at 
so  many  others  sailing  out  of  the  harbour  in  order  to  feast 
their  souls  in  other  provinces  with  green  fields  and  the  goodly 
works  of  God.  And  thus  it  has  been  until  it  has  nearly  gone 
out  of  my  memory  how  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  growing  trees, 
and  dumb  beasts  appear  to  mortal  eye." 

He  then,  with  whimsical  indignation,  alludes  to  a  certain 
author  who  pleaded  in  excuse  for  the  shortcomings  of  the 
history  of  the  siege  the  damage  done  to  his  manuscripts  by  a 
cannon-ball.  "Where  the  liar  dreamt  of  or  invented  his 
cannon-ball,"  he  says,  "  I  cannot  tell,  inasmuch  as  he  never 
saw  the  city  of  Ostend  in  his  life  ;  but  the  said  cannon-ball, 
to  my  great  sorrrow,  did  come  one  afternoon  through  my 
office,  shot  from  the  enemy's  great  battery,  which  very  much 
damaged  not  his  memoirs  but  mine  ;  taking  off  the  legs  and 
arms  at  the  same  time  of  three  poor  invalid  soldiers  seated  in 
the  sun  before  my  door  and  killing  them  on  the  spot,  and  just 
missing  my  wife,  then  great  with  child,  who  stood  by  me 
with  faithfulness  through  all  the  sufferings  of  the  bloody 
siege  and  presented  me  twice  during  its  continuance,  by  the 
help  of  Almighty  God,  with  young  Amazons  or  daughters  of 
war."62 

And  so  honest  Philip  Fleming  went  out  for  a  little  time 
to  look  at  the  green  trees  and  the  dumb  creatures  feeding  in 
the  Dutch  pastures.  Meantime  the  two  armies — outside  and 
within  Ostend — went  moiling  on  in  their  monotonous  work  ; 
steadily  returning  at  intervals,  as  if  by  instinct,  to  repair  the 
ruin  which  a  superior  power  would  often  inflict  in  a  half- 
hour  on  the  results  of  laborious  weeks. 
•  In  the  open  field  the  military  operations  were  very  trifling, 
the  wager  of  battle  being  by  common  consent  fought  out  on 
the  sands  of  Ostend,  and  the  necessities  for  attack  and  defence 
absorbing  the  resources  of  each  combatant.  France,  England, 
and  Spain  were  holding  a  perpetual  diplomatic  tournament 
to  which  our  eyes  must  presently  turn,  and  the  Sublime 
62  Fleming,  399, 


128  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

Realm  of  the  Ottoman  and  the  holy  Roman  Empire  were  in 
the  customary  equilibrium  of  their  eternal  strife. 

The  mutiny  of  the  veterans  continued ;  the  "  Italian 
republic "  giving  the  archduke  almost  as  much  trouble, 
despite  his  ban  and  edicts  and  outlawry,  as  the  Dutch 
commonwealth  itself.  For  more  than  a  twelvemonth  the 
best  troops  of  the  Spanish  army  had  been  thus  established 
as  a  separate  empire,  levying  black-mail  on  the  obedient 
provinces,  hanging  such  of  their  old  officers  as  dared  to  re 
monstrate,  and  obeying  their  elected  chief  magistrates  with 
exemplary  docility. 

They  had  become  a  force  of  five  thousand  strong,  cavalry 
and  infantry  together,  all  steady,  experienced  veterans — the 
best  and  bravest  soldiers  of  Europe.  The  least  of  them 
demanded  two  thousand  florins  as  owed  to  him- by  the  King 
of  Spain  and  the  archduke.  The  burghers  of  Bois-le-Duc 
and  other  neighbouring  towns  in  the  obedient  provinces  kept 
watch  and  ward,  not  knowing  how  soon  the  Spaniards  might 
be  upon  them  to  reward  them  for  their  obedience.  Not  a 
peasant  with  provisions  was  permitted  by  the  mutineers  to 
enter  Bois-le-Duc,  while  the  priests  were  summoned  to  pay 
one  year's  income  of  all  their  property  on  pain  of  being 
burned  alive.  "Very  much  amazed  are  the  poor  priests 
at  these  proceedings,"  said  Ernest  Nassau,  "  and  there  is  a 
terrible  quantity  of  the  vile  race  within  and  around  the  city. 
I  hope  one  day  to  have  the  plucking  of  some  of  their  feathers 
myself." 6S 

The  mutiny  governed  itself  as  a  strict  military  democracy, 
and  had  caused  an  official  seal  to  be  engraved,  representing 
seven  snakes  entwined  in  one,  each  thrusting  forth  a  danger 
ous  tongue,  with  the  motto — 

"  tutto  in  ore 
E  sua  Eccelenza  in  nostro  favore."  M 

"  His  Excellency "  meant  Maurice  of  Nassau,  with  whom 
formal  articles  of  compact  had  been  arranged.  It  had  become 

u  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  Archives,  II.  203.  M  Meteren,  486. 


1603.        TREATY  OF  MAURICE  WITH  THE  MUTINEERS.         129 

necessary  for  the  archduke,  notwithstanding  the  steady  drain 
of  the  siege  of  Ostend,  to  detach  a  considerable  army  against 
this  republic  and  to  besiege  them  in  their  capital  of  Hoog- 
straaten.  With  seven  thousand  foot  and  three  thousand 
cavalry  Frederic  Van  den  Berg  took  the  field  against  them 
in  the  latter  part  of  July.  Maurice,  with  nine  thousand  five 
hundred  infantry  and  three  thousand  horse,  lay  near  Gertruy- 
denberg.  When  united  with  the  rebel  "  squadron,"  two  thou 
sand  five  hundred  strong,  he  would  dispose  of  a  force  of 
fifteen  thousand  veterans,  and  he  moved  at  once  to  relieve 
the  besieged  mutineers.65  His  cousin  Frederic,  however,  had 
no  desire  to  measure  himself  with  the  stadholder  at  such 
odds,  and  stole  away  from  him  in  the  dark  without  beat  of 
drum.66  Maurice  entered  Hoogstraaten,  was  received  with 
rapture  by  the  Spanish  and  Italian  veterans,67  and  excited 
the  astonishment  of  all  by  the  coolness  with  which  he  entered 
into  the  cage  of  these  dangerous  serpents — as  they  called 
themselves  —  handling  them,  caressing  them,  and  being 
fondled  by  them  in  return.  But  the  veterans  knew  a  soldier 
when  they  saw  one,  and  their  hearts  warmed  to  the  prince — • 
heretic  though  he  were — more  than  they  had  ever  done  to 
the  unfrocked  bishop  who,  after  starving  them  for  years,  had 
doomed  them  to  destruction  in  this  world  and  the  next. 

The  stadholder  was  feasted  and  honoured  by  the  mutineers 
during  his  brief  visit  to  Hoogstraaten,  and  concluded  with 
them  a  convention,  according  to  which  that  town  was  to  be 
restored  to  him,  while  they  were  to  take  temporary  possession 
of  the  city  of  Grave.  They  were  likewise  to  assist,  with  all 
their  strength,  in  his  military  operations  until  they  should 
make  peace  on  their  own  terms  with  the  archduke.  For 
two  weeks  after  such  treaty  they  were  not  to  fight  against 
the  States,  and  meantime,  though  fighting  on  the  republican 
side,  they  were  to  act  as  an  independent  corps  and  in  no  wise 
to  be  merged  in  the  stadholder's  forces.68  So  much  and  no 
more  had  resulted  from  the  archduke's  excommunication 

w  Meteren,  486-488.  66  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  104,  and  notes 

67  Van  der  Kemp.     Meteren,  vbi  sup.  **  Ibid. 

VOL.  IV. — K 


130  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL. 

of  the  best  part  of  his  army.  He  had  made  a  present  of 
those  troops  to  the  enemy.  He  had  also  been  employing  a 
considerable  portion  of  his  remaining  forces  in  campaigning 
against  their  own  comrades.  While  at  Grave,  the  mutineers, 
or  the  "  squadron  "  as  they  were  now  called,  were  to  be  per 
mitted  to  practise  their  own  religious  rites,  without  offering, 
however,  any  interference  with  the  regular  Protestant  wor 
ship  of  the  place.  When  they  should  give  up  Grave,  Hoog- 
straaten  was  to  be  restored  to  them  if  still  in  possession 
of  the  States,  and  they  were  to  enter  into  no  negotiations  with 
the  archduke  except  with  full  knowledge  of  the  stadholder. 

There  were  no  further  military  operations  of  moment 
during  the  rest  of  the  year. 

Much  more  important,  however,  than  siege,  battle,  or 
mutiny,  to  human  civilization,  were  the  steady  movements 
of  the  Dutch  skippers  and  merchants  at  this  period.  The 
ears  of  Europe  were  stunned  with  the  clatter  of  destruction 
going  on  all  over  Christendom,  and  seeming  the  only  reason 
able  occupation  of  Christians  ;  but  the  little  republic,  while 
fighting  so  heroically  against  the  concentrated  powers  of  des 
potism  in  the  West,  was  most  industriously  building  up  a 
great  empire  in  the  East.  In  the  new  era  just  dawning, 
production  was  to  become  almost  as  honourable  and  potent 
a  principle  as  destruction. 

The  voyages  among  the  spicy  regions  of  the  equator — so 
recently  wrested  from  their  Catholic  and  Faithful  Majesties 
by  Dutch  citizens  who  did  not  believe  in  Borgia — and  the 
little  treaties  made  with  petty  princes  and  commonwealths, 
who  for  the  first  time  were  learning  that  there  were  other 
white  men  in  the  world  beside  the  Portuguese,  had  already  led 
to  considerable  results.  Before  the  close  of  the  previous  year 
that  great  commercial  corporation  had  been  founded — an 
empire  within  an  empire,  a  republic  beneath  a  republic — 
a  counting-house  company  which  was  to  organize  armies, 
conquer  •  kingdoms,  build  forts  and  cities,  make  war  and 
peace,  disseminate  and  exchange  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth  the  various  products  of  civilization,  more  perfectly  than 


1603.  RESTRICTIONS  ON  FRENCH  COMMERCE.  131 

any  agency  hitherto  known,  and  bring  the  farthest  disjoined 
branches  of  the  human  family  into  closer  connection  than 
had  ever  existed  before.  That  it  was  a  monopoly,  offensive 
to  true  commercial  principles,  illiberal,  unjust,  tyrannical, 
ignorant  of  the  very  rudiments  of  mercantile  philosophy, 
is  plain  enough.  For  the  sages  of  the  world  were  but  as 
clowns,  at  that  period,  in  economic  science. 

Was  not  the  great  financier  of  the  age,  Maximilian  de 
Bethune,  at  that  very  moment  exhausting,  his  intellect  in 
devices  for  the  prevention  of  all  international  commerce  even 
in  Europe  ?  "  The  kingdom  of  France,"  he  groaned,  "  is 
stuffed  full  of  the  manufactures  of  our  neighbours,  and  it  is 
incredible  what  a  curse  to  us  are  these  wares.  The  import  of 
all  foreign  goods  has  now  been  forbidden  under  very  great 
penalties."  As  a  necessary  corollary  to  this  madhouse  legis 
lation  an  edict  was  issued,  prohibiting  the  export  of  gold  and 
silver  from  France,  on  pain,  not  only  of  confiscation  of  those 
precious  metals,  but  of  the  whole  fortune  of  such  as  engaged 
in  or  winked  at  the  traffic.  The  king  took  a  public  oath  never 
to  exempt  the  culprits  from  the  punishment  thus  imposed, 
and,  as  the  thrifty  Sully  had  obtained  from  the  great  king  a 
private  grant  of  all  those  confiscations,  and  as  he  judiciously 
promised  twenty-five  per  cent,  thereof  to  the  informer,  no 
doubt  he  filled  his  own  purse  while  impoverishing  the 
exchequer.69 

The  united  States,  not  enjoying  the  blessings  of  a  paternal 
government,  against  which  they  had  been  fighting  almost 
half  a  century,  could  not  be  expected  to  rival  the  stupen 
dous  folly  of  such  political  economy,  although  certainly  nx>t 
emancipated  from  all  the  delusions  of  the  age. 


69  Memoiies  de  Sully,  iv.  8-10,  ed. 
Londres,  1748.  The  great  minister 
adds,  with  diverting  simplicity: — "I 
found  a  remedy ,shorter  and  less  violent 
than  chastisements  and  confiscations, 
to  prevent  the  export  of  specie  ;  that 
was  to  raise  the  value  of  it."  Accord 
ingly  the  crown  of  sixty  sous  was 


fifty-eight  sous  was  put  at  sixty-two 
sous,  and  so  with  the  other  coins  in  pro 
portion.— Ibid,  p.  184. 

Nothing  was  wanting  but  to  declare 
that  the  three-hooped  pot  should  have 
ten  hoops,  that  seven  halfpenny  loaves 
should  be  sold  for  a  penny,  and  to 
make  it  felony  to  drink  small  beer- 


declared  to  be  worth  sixty-five  sous,  j  according  to  the  system  of  an  earlier 
and  the  crown  of  gold  or  pistolet  of  '  financial  reformer. 


132  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL 

Nor  are  we  to  forget  how  very  recently,  and  even  dimly, 
the  idea  of  freedom  in  commerce  has  dawned  upon  nations, 
the  freest  of  all  in  polity  and  religion.  Certainly  the  vices 
and  shortcomings  of  the  commercial  system  now  inaugu 
rated  by  the  republic  may  he  justly  charged  in  great  part  to 
the  epoch,  while  her  vast  share  in  the  expanding  and  upward 
movement  which  civilization,  under  the  auspices  of  self- 
government,  self-help,  political  freedom,  free  thought,  and 
unshackled  science,  was  then  to  undertake — never  more  per 
haps  to  be  permanently  checked — must  be  justly  ascribed  to 
herself. 

It  was  considered  accordingly  that  the  existence  of  s& 
many  private  companies  and  copartnerships  trading  to  the 
East  was  injurious  to  the  interests  of  commerce.  Merchants 
arriving  at  the  different  Indian  ports  would  often  find  that 
their  own  countrymen  had  been  too  quick  for  them,  and  that 
other  fleets  had  got  the  wind  out  of  their  sails,  that  the 
eastern  markets  had  been  stripped,  and  that  prices  had  gone 
up  to  a  ruinous  height,70  while  on  the  other  hand,  in  the 
Dutch  cities,  nutmegs  and  cinnamon,  brocades  and  indigo, 
were  as  plentiful  as  red  herrings.  It  was  hardly  to  be 
expected  at  that  day  to  find  this  very  triumph  of  successful 
traffic  considered  otherwise  than  as  a  grave  misfortune, 
demanding  interference  on  the  part  of  the  only  free  Govern 
ment  then  existing  in  the  world.  That  already  free  compe 
tition  and  individual  enterprise,  had  made  such  progress  in 
enriching  the  Hollanders  and  the  Javanese  respectively  with 
a  superfluity  of  useful  or  agreeable  things,  brought  from 
the  farthest  ends  of  the  earth,  seemed  to  the  eyes  of  that 
day  a  condition  of  things  likely  to  end  in  a  general  catas 
trophe.  With  a  simplicity,  amazing  only  to  those  who  are 
inclined  to  be  vain  of  a  superior  wisdom — not  their  own  but 
that  of  their  wisest  contemporaries — one  of  the  chief  reasons 
for  establishing  the  East  India  Company  was  stated  to  be 
the  necessity  of  providing  against  low  prices  of  Oriental  pro 
ductions  in  Europe. 

T°  Wagenaar,  ix.  147-150. 


1603.  COMMERCIAL  INTERESTS.  133 

But  national  instinct  is  often  wiser  than  what  is  supposed 
to  be  high  national  statesmanship,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  true  foundation  of  the  East  India  Company  was  the 
simple  recognition  of  an  iron  necessity.  Every  merchant  in 
Holland  knew  full  well  that  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards 
could  never  be  driven  out  of  their  commercial  strongholds 
under  the  equator,  except  by  a  concentration  of  the  private 
strength  and  wealth  of  the  mercantile  community.  The 
Government  had  enough  on  its  hands  in  disputing,  inch  by 
inch,  at  so  prodigious  an  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure, 
the  meagre  territory  with  which  nature  had  endowed  the 
little  commonwealth.  Private  organization,  self-help,  union 
of  individual  purses  and  individual  brains,  were  to  conquer  an 
empire  at  the  antipodes  if  it  were  to  be  won  at  all.  By  so 
doing,  the  wealth  of  the  nation  and  its  power  to  maintain 
the  great  conflict  with  the  spirit  of  the  past  might  be  in 
definitely  increased,  and  the  resources  of  Spanish  despotism 
proportionally  diminished.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  of 
Jacob  Heemskerk,  Wolfert  Hermann,  or  Joris  van  Spilberg, 
indomitable  skippers  though  they  were,  that  each,  acting 
on  his  own  responsibility  or  on  that  of  his  supercargo,  would 
succeed  every  day  in  conquering  a  whole  Spanish  fleet  and 
dividing  a  million  or  two  of  prize-money  among  a  few  dozen 
sailors.  Better  things  even  than  this  might  be  done  by 
wholesome  and  practical  concentration  on  a  more  extended 
scale. 

So  the  States-General  granted  a  patent  or  charter  to  one 
great  company  with  what,  for  the  time,  was  an  enormous 
paid-up  capital,  in  order  that  the  India  trade  might  be  made 
secure  and  the  Spaniards  steadily  confronted  in  what  they 
had  considered  their  most  impregnable  possessions.  All 
former  trading  companies  were  invited  to  merge  themselves 
in  the  Universal  East  India  Company,  which,  for  twenty-one 
years,  should  alone  have  the  right  to  trade  to  the  east  of 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  to  sail  through  the  Straits  of 
•Magellan.71 

11  Wagenaar,  ubi  suv.    Meteren,  466  and  T0.     Grotius,  xi.  612,  613. 


134  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XL. 

The  charter  had  been  signed  on  20th  March,  1602,  and 
was  mainly  to  the  following  effect. 

The  company  was  to  pay  twenty-five  thousand  florins  to 
March  20,  tne  States-General  for  its  privilege.  The  whole 
1603-  capital  was  to  be  six  million  six  hundred  thousand 
florins.  The  chamber  of  Amsterdam  was  to  have  one  half  of 
the  whole  interest,  the  chamber  of  Zeeland  one  fourth;  the 
chambers  of  the  Meuse,  namely,  Delft,  Eotterdam,  and  the 
north  quarter,  that  is  to  say,  Hoorn  and  Enkhuizen,  each  a 
sixteenth.  All  the  chambers  were  to  be  governed  by  the 
directors  then  serving,  who  however  were  to  be  allowed  to 
die  out,  down  to  the  number  of  twenty  for  Amsterdam, 
twelve  for  Zeeland,  and  seven  for  each  of  the  other  cham 
bers.  To  fill  a  vacancy  occurring  among  the  directors,  the 
remaining  members  of  the  board  were  to  nominate  three 
candidates,  from  whom  the  estates  of  the  province  should 
choose  one.  Each  director  was  obliged  to  have  an  interest 
in  the  company  amounting  to  at  least  six  thousand  florins, 
except  the  directors  for  Hoorn  and  Enkhuizen,  of  whom  only 
three  thousand  should  be  required.  The  general  assembly 
of  these  chambers  should  consist  of  seventeen  directors,  eight 
for  Amsterdam,  four  for  Zeeland,  two  for  the  Meuse,  and 
two  for  the  north  quarter;  the  seventeenth  being  added  by 
turns  from  the  chambers  of  Zeeland,  the  Meuse,  and  the 
north  quarter.  This  assembly  was  to  be  held  six  years  at 
Amsterdam,  and  then  two  years  in  Zeeland.  The  ships  were 
always  to  return  to  the  port  from  which  they  had  sailed. 
All  the  inhabitants  of  the  provinces  had  the  right,  within  a 
certain  time,  to  take  shares  in  the  company.  Any  province 
or  city  subscribing  for  forty  thousand  florins  or  upwards 
might  appoint  an  agent  to  look  after  its  affairs. 

The  Company  might  make  treaties  with  the  Indian  powers, 
in  the  name  of  the  States-General  of  the  United  Netherlands 
or  of  the  supreme  authorities  of  the  same,  might  build 
fortresses,  appoint  generals,  and  levy  troops,  provided  such 
troops  took  oaths  of  fidelity  to  the  States,  or  to  the  supreme 
authority,  and  to  the  Company.  No  ships,  artillery,  or  other 


1603.  POWERS  OF  THE  EAST  INDIA  COMPANY.  135 

munitions  of  war  belonging  to  the  Company  were  to  be  used 
in  service  of  the  country  without  permission  of  the  Company. 
The  admiralty  was  to  have  a  certain  proportion  of  the  prizes 
conquered  from  the  enemy. 

The  directors  should  not  be  liable  in  property  or  person  for 
the  debts  of  the  Company.  The  generals  of  fleets  returning 
home  were  to  make  reports  on  the  state  of  India  to  the 
States.72 

Notification  of  the  union  of  all  India  companies  with  this 
great  corporation  was  duly  sent  to  the  fleets  cruising  in  those 
regions,  where  it  arrived  in  the  course  of  the  year  1603.73 

Meantime  the  first  fleet  of  the  Company,  consisting  of 
fourteen  vessels  under  command  of  Admiral  Wybrand  van 
Warwyk,  sailed  before  the  end  of  1602,,  and  was  followed 
towards  the  close  of  1603  by  thirteen  other  ships,  under 
Stephen  van  der  Hagen.74 

The'  equipment  of  these  two  fleets  cost  two  million  two 
hundred  thousand  florins.75 

7>  Meteren,  Grotius,  Wagenaar,  ubi  mp.        13  Ibid.       M  Ibid.        75  Ibid. 


136  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

Death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  —  Condition  of  Spain  —  Legations  to  James  I.  — 
Union  of  England  and  Scotland  —  Characteristics  of  the  new  monarch  — 
The  English  Court  and  Government  —  Piratical  practices  of  the  English  — 
Audience  of  the  States'  envoy  with  King  James  — Queen  Elizabeth's  scheme 
for  remodelling  Europe  —  Ambassador  extraordinary  from  Henry  IV.  to 
James  —  De  Rosny's  strictures  on  the  English  people  —  Private  interview 
of  De  Rosny  with  the  States'  envoy —  De  Rosny's  audience  of  the  king  — 
Objects  of  his  mission  —  Insinuations  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  — 
Invitation  of  the  embassy  to  Greenwich  —  Promise  of  James  to  protect  the 
Netherlands  against  Spain  —  Misgivings  of  Barneveld  —  Conference  at 
Arundel  House  —  Its  unsatisfactory  termination  —  Contempt  of  De  Rosny 
for  the  English  counsellors  — Political  aspect  of  Europe  — De  Rosny's  dis 
closure  to  the  king  of  the  secret  object  of  his  mission  —  Agreement  of  James 
to  the  proposals  of  De  Rosny  —  Ratification  of  the  treaty  of  alliance  —  Re 
turn  of  De  Rosny  and  suite  to  France  —  Arrival  of  the  Spanish  ambas 
sador. 

ON  the  24th  of  March,  1603,  Queen  Elizabeth  died  at 
Richmond,  having  nearly  completed  her  seventieth  year.1 
The  two  halves  of  the  little  island  of  Britain  were  at  last 
politically  adjoined  to  each  other  by  the  personal  union  of 
the  two  crowns. 

A  foreigner,  son  of  the  woman  executed  by  Elizabeth, 
succeeded  to  Elizabeth's  throne.  It  was  most  natural  that 
the  Dutch  republic  and  the  French  king,  the  archdukes  and 
his  Catholic  Majesty,  should  be  filled  with  anxiety  as  to  the 
probable  effect  of  this  change  of  individuals  upon  the  fortunes 
of  the  war. 

For  this  Dutch  war  of  independence  was  the  one  absorbing 
and  controlling  interest  in  Christendom.  Upon  that  vast, 
central,  and,  as  men  thought,  baleful  constellation  the 
fates  of  humanity  were  dependent.  Around  it  lesser  political 

1  Meteren,  484     Camden,  661. 


1603.  CONDITION  OF  SPAIN   UNDER  PHILIP  III.  137 

events  were  forced  to  gravitate,  and,  in  accordance  to  their 
relation  to  it,  were  bright  or  obscure.  It  was  inevitable  that 
those  whose  vocation  it  was  to  ponder  the  aspects  of  the 
political  firmament,  the  sages  and  high-priests  who  assumed 
to  direct  human  action  and  to  foretell  human  destiny,  should 
now  be  more  than  ever  perplexed. 

Spain,  since  the  accession  of  Philip  III.  to  his  father's 
throne,  although  rapidly  declining  in  vital  energy,  had  not  yet 
disclosed  its  decrepitude  to  the  world.  Its  boundless  ambition 
survived  as  a  political  tradition  rather  than  a  real  passion, 
while  contemporaries  still  trembled  at  the  vision  of  universal 
monarchy  in  which  the  successor  of  Charlemagne  and  of 
Charles  Y.  was  supposed  to  indulge. 

Meantime,  no  feebler  nor  more  insignificant  mortal  existed 
on  earth  than  this  dreaded  sovereign. 

Scarcely  a  hairdresser  or  lemonade-dealer  in  all  Spain  was 
less  cognizant  of  the  political  affairs  of  the  kingdom  than  was  its 
monarch,  for  Philip's  first  care  upon  assuming  the  crown  was 
virtually  to  abdicate  in  favour  of  the  man  soon  afterwards 
known  as  the  Duke  of  Lerma. 

It  is  therefore  only  by  courtesy  and  for  convenience  that 
history  recognizes  his  existence  at  all,  as  surely  no  human 
being  in  the  reign  of  Philip  III.  requires  less  mention  than 
Philip  III.  himself. 

I  reserve  for  a  subsequent  chapter  such  rapid  glances  at 
the  interior  condition  of  that  kingdom  with  which  it  seemed 
the  destiny  of  the  Dutch  republic  to  be  perpetually  at  war,  as 
may  be  necessary  to  illustrate  the  leading  characteristics  of 
the  third  Philip's  reign. 

Meantime,  as  the  great  queen  was  no  more,  who  was  always 
too  sagacious  to  doubt  that  the  Dutch  cause  was  her  own — 
however  disposed  she  might  be  to  browbeat  the  Dutchmen — 
it  seemed  possible  to  Spain  that  the  republic  might  at  last  be 
deprived  of  its  only  remaining  ally.  Tassis  was  despatched 
as  chief  of  a  legation,  precursory  to  a  more  stately  embassy 
to  be  confided  to  the  Duke  of  Frias.  The  archdukes  sent 
the  prince  of  Arenberg,  while  from  the  united  States  came 


138  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI. 

young  Henry  of  Nassau,  associated  with  John  of  Olden- 
Barneveld,  Falk,  Brederode,  and  other  prominent  states 
men  of  the  commonwealth.2  Ministers  from  Denmark  and 
Sweden,  from  the  palatinate  and  from  numerous  other  powers, 
small  and  great,  were  also  collected  to  greet  the  rising  sun 
in  united  Britain,  while  the  awkward  Scotchman,  who  was 
now  called  upon  to  play  that  prominent  part  in  the  world's 
tragi-comedy  which  had  been  so  long  and  so  majesticaUy 
sustained  by  the  "  Virgin  Queen,"  already  began  to  tremble 
at  the  plaudits  and  the  bustle  which  announced  how  much 
was  expected  of  the  new  performer. 

There  was  indeed  a  new  sovereign  upon  the  throne.  That 
most  regal  spirit  which  had  well  expressed  so  many  of  the 
highest  characteristics  of  the  nation  had  fled.  Mankind 
has  long  been  familiar  with  the  dark,  closing  hours  of  the 
illustrious  reign.  The  great  queen,  moody,  despairing, 
dying,  wrapt  in  profoundest  thought,  with  eyes  fixed  upon 
the  ground  or  already  gazing  into  infinity,  was  besought 
by  the  counsellors  around  her  to  name  the  man  to  whom  she 
chose  that  the  crown  should  devolve. 

"Not  to  a  Rough,"  said  Elizabeth,  sententiously  and 
grimly.3 

When  the  King  of  France  was  named,  she  shook  her  head. 
When  Philip  III.  was  suggested,  she  made  a  still  more 
significant  sign  of  dissent.  When  the  King  of  Scots  was 
mentioned,  she  nodded  her  approval,  and  again  relapsed  into 
silent  meditation.4 

She    died,   and  James  was   King  of  Great   Britain  and 

2  Meteren,  ubi  sup.  I  data  se   a  quel  di  Spagna  e  fece  il 

8  "  Poiche  avvicinatisi  all  'ultima  medesimo  atto,  nominatole  poi  quello 
ora  de'  suoi  giorni  e  ricercata  da  quei  di  Scozia  diede  segno  questo  essere  il 
signori  del  consiglio  che  quasi  tutti  la  '  desiderio  suo  e  poche  ore  dopo  passo 
assistevano  quale  fosse  la  volonta  sua  da  questa  vita  con  universal  dis- 
ed  a  chi  raccommandava  il  regno  disse  piacere." 


ella  queste  sole  parole  :  no  ad  un 
Rough  che  in  lingua  inglese  significa 
persona  bassa  e  vile,  ma  ad  una,  ed 
accenando  con  la  mano  perche  perde 
la  parola,  che  portass  ecorona.  Le  fu 
dimandato  se  al  re  di  Francia  ed  ella 
con  la-  testa  mostrd  che  no,  fu  diman- 


Ibid.  The  particulars  of  Eliza 
beth's  death  are  narrated  in  Despatch 
7  April,  1603,  of  Secretary  Scaramelli, 
Senate  iii.  Secreta,  A.  V.  G.  See  N. 
Barozzi,  note,  p.  45,  of  ser.  iv.  vol. 
unico. 


ACCESSION  OF  JAMES  I.  139 

Ireland.  Cecil  had  become  his  prime  minister  long  before 
the  queen's  eyes  were  closed.  The  hard-featured,  rickety, 
fidgety,  shambling,  learned,  most  preposterous  Scotchman 
hastened  to  take  possession  of  the  throne.  Never  could 
there  have  been  a  more  unfit  place  or  unfit  hour  for  such  a 
man. 

England,  although  so  small  in  dimensions,  so  meagre  in 
population,  so  deficient,  compared  to  the  leading  nations 
of  Europe,  in  material  and  financial  strength,  had  already 
her  great  .  future  swelling  in  her  heart.  Intellectually 
and  morally  she  was  taking  the  lead  among  the  nations. 
Even  at  that  day  she  had  produced  much  which  neither  she 
herself  nor  any  other  nation  seemed  destined  to  surpass. 

Yet  this  most  redoubtable  folk  only  numbered  about  three 
millions,  one-tenth  of  them  inhabiting  London.5  With  the 
Scots  and  Irish  added  they  amounted  to  less  than  five  millions 
of  souls,6  hardly  a  third  as  many  as  the  homogeneous  and 
martial  people  of  that  dangerous  neighbour  France. 

Ireland  was  always  rebellious  ;  a  mere  conquered  province, 
hating  her  tyrant  England's  laws,  religion,  and  people ;  loving 
Spain,  and  believing  herself  closely  allied  by  blood  as  well  as 
sympathy  to  that  most  Catholic  land. 

Scotland,  on  the  accession  of  James,  hastened  to  take 
possession  of  England.  Never  in  history  had  two  races 
detested  each  other  more  fervently.7  The  leeches  and  locusts 

5  Niccolo  Molin,  ambassador  from  I  land,  producing  a  less  sum  than  that, 
Venice  to  James  I.,  puts  the  popula- '  to  which  money  had  to  be  added  from 


tion  of  London  in  1607  at  more  than 
800,000.  Relazione  in  Barozzi  and 
Berchet,  ser.  iv.  vol.  unico. 

6  Antonio  Foscarini,  Venetian  am 
bassador  in  England   in  1618  (Rela- 


England  for  current  expenses. 

7  "  Essendosi  il  regno  della  Scozia 
unito  a  quello  dell'  Inghilterra  sola- 
mente  nella  persona  del  presente  re, 
tuttavia  per  la  divisione  e  contrarieta 


zione  in  Brozzi  and  Berchet,  ser.  iv.  |  degli  animi  che  passa  fra  Scozzesi  ed 
vol.  unico),  estimates  the  whole  popu- 1  Inglesi  non  solo  viene  giudicato  chela 
lation  of  the  empire  at  5,200,000  souls,  I  potenza  di  quel  regno  non  sia  cres- 


of  which  number  3,560,000  are  assigned 
to  England,a  llttlemore  than  1,000,000 
to  Scotland,  and  500,000  to  Ireland. 

The  total  revenue  he  states  as  three 
millions  scudi  —  750,000?.  sterling,  al 
most  entirely  derived  from  England : — 
"  Perche  la  Scozia  con  faticada  ottanta 
mila  (80,0000  scudi  1'anno,"  and  Ire- 


ciuta  ma  diminuita  piuttosto  :  poiche 
1'odio  fra  di  loro  e  passato  tant '  oltre 
che  s'insidiano  la  vita  1'un  Paltro  con 
maniere  molto  stravaganti.  Onde 
molti  Scozzesi  e  de'  piu  principali  per 
salvezza  delle  loro  vite  pensano  di 
ritirarsi  alle  proprie  case;  e  se  non 
fosse  la  violenza  per  dire  cosi  che  loro 


140  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI. 

of  the  north,8  as  they  were  universally  designated  in  England^ 
would  soon  have  been  swept  forth  from  the  country,  or  have 
left  it  of  their  own  accord,  had  not  the  king  employed  all 
that  he  had  of  royal  authority  or  of  eloquent  persuasion  to 
retain  them  on  the  soil.  Of  union,  save  the  personal  union 
of  the  sceptre,  there  was  no  thought.  As  in  Ireland  there 
was  hatred  to  England  and  adoration  for  Spain ;  so  in 
Scotland,  France  was  beloved  quite  as  much  as  England  was 
abhorred.  Who  could  have  foretold,  or  even  hoped,  that 
atoms  so  mutually  repulsive  would  ever  have  coalesced  into 
a  sympathetic  and  indissoluble  whole  ? 

Even  the  virtues  of  James  were  his  worst  enemies.  As 
generous  as  the  day,  he  gave  away  with  reckless  profusion 
anything  and  everything  that  he  could  lay  his  hands  upon. 
It  was  soon  to  appear  that  the  great  queen's  most  unlovely 
characteristic,  her  avarice,  was  a  more  blessed  quality  to  the 
nation  she  ruled  than  the  ridiculous  prodigality  of  James. 

Two  thousand  gowns,  of  the  most  expensive  material; 
adorned  with  gold,  pearls,  and  other  bravery — for  Elizabeth 
was  very  generous  to  herself — were  found  in  the  queen's 
wardrobe,  after  death.  These  magnificent  and  costly  robes, 
not  one  of  which  had  she  vouchsafed  to  bestow  upon  or  to  be 
queath  to  any  of  her  ladies  of  honour,  were  now  presented  by 
her  successor  to  a  needy  Scotch  lord,  who  certainly  did  not 
intend  to  adorn  his  own  person  therewith.9  "  The  hat  was 
ever  held  out,"  said  a  splenetic  observer,  "  and  it  was  filled 
in  overflowing  measure  by  the  new  monarch."10 

In   a   very  short   period  he   had   given  away — mainly  to 

fa  il  re  per  fermarli  di  gia  tutti  ne  se  I  Scozzese  tutte  le  vesti  della  regina 
sariano  andati."  —  N.  Molin,  Rela-  Elizabetta  ch'erano  intorno  due  mille 
zione.  e  d'un  valor  inestimabile  essendo  parte 

di  esse  fregiate  d'oro,  di  perle  e  tutte 
richissime."  —  Francesco     Contarini, 


i  Scozzesi)chiamanolocuste 
e  sanguisughe  d'lnghilterra,  affermano 
che  hanno  trovato  in  quel  regno  le 
minere  d'oro  che  dicono  aver  altre 
volte  perduto  in  Scoz'a." —  Marcan- 
tonio  Correr,  Relazione. 

"  E  per  natura  per  educazione  e  per 


Relazione. 

10  "Di  una  gran  parte  delle  gioie 
della  corona  che  valevano  un  tesoro 
fece  mercede  a  diversi  empiendosi 
di  esse  le  mani  senza  alcun  rigardo  al 


abito   liberalissimo  ed  e  tale  la  sua  !  valor  loro  e  gettandole  nel  cappello 
liberality  che  quando  fu  assunto  alia  !  di  questo  e  di  quello,"  &c.  &c.  —  Ibid. 
corona  d'lnghilterra  dono  ad  un  Signer  ' 


1603.  FINANCIAL   STATE  OF  ENGLAND.  141 

Scotchmen — at  least  two  millions  of  crowns,  in  various  articles 
of  personal  property.11  Yet  England  was  very  poor. 

The  empire,  if  so  it  could  be  called,  hardly  boasted  a 
regular  revenue  of  more  than  two  millions  of  dollars  a-year  ;12 
less  than  that  of  a  fortunate  individual  or  two,  in  our  own 
epoch,  both  in  Europe  and  America  ;  and  not  one-fifth  part  of 
the  contemporary  income  of  France.  The  hundred  thousand 
dollars  of  Scotland's  annual  budget13  did  not  suffice  to  pay  its 
expenses,  and  Ireland  was  a  constant  charge  upon  the  impe 
rial  exchequer.14 

It  is  astounding,  however,  to  reflect  upon  the  pomp,  ex 
travagance,  and  inordinate  pride  which  characterized  the 
government  and  the  court. 

The  expenses  of  James's  household  were  at  least  five  hun 
dred  thousand  crowns,15  or  about  one  quarter  of  the  whole 
revenue  of  the  empire.  Henry  IV.,  with  all  his  extravagance, 
did  not  spend  more  than  one- tenth  of  the  public  income  of 
France  upon  himself  and  his  court. 

Certainly  if  England  were  destined  to  grow  great  it  would 
be  in  despite  of  its  new  monarch.  Hating  the  People,  most 
intolerant  in  religion,  believing  intensely  in  royal  preroga 
tive,  thoroughly  convinced  of  his  regal  as  well  as  his  personal 
infallibility,  loathing  that  inductive  method  of  thought  which 

11  N.  Molin,  Relazione.     "  Essendo    tarini,  make thetotal  revenue  3,000,000 
comune  opinione  che  fra  danari,  gioie  j  dollars, 
e  beni  stabili  abbia  donate  il  re  piu  di 
due  milioni  la  maggior  parte  a  Scoz- 


13  N.  Molin. 

14  "  II  regno  poi  d'Irlanda  non  solo 


non  apporta  beneficio  ma  spesa  piut- 
12  N.  Molin,  Relazione.  The  am-  !  tosto."  — N.  Molin.  "  Gli  altri  due 
bassador  puts  the  income  of  the  crown  regni  di  Scozia  e  d'Irlanda  apportano 
domains  at  125,000^.  sterling,  or  about  seco  piu  spesc  che  rendite." — M.  A. 
500,000  dollars  (scudi).  Taxes  and  Correr,  Relazione. 
customs  he  reckons  at  700,000  dollars,  ]  16  N.  Molin,  Relazione.  "  E  prima 
and  income  from  miscellaneous  sources  i  nel  viver  della  siia  casa  si  consuma 
at  100,000.  To  this  total  of  1,300,000  j  un  anno  per  1'altro  500,000  scudi." 
dollars  he  adds  an  annual  parliamen-  j  "  Ha  un  milione  e  mezzo  d'entrata 
tary  subsidy  of  600,000  dollars  (accord-  j  (ducats,  four  to  the  pound,  subsidies 
ing  to  the  average  in  Elizabeth's  reign,  i  not  counted)  ....  la  spesa  della 


although  in  1607  James  had  not  yet 
had  one),  and  thus  makes  a  general 
budget  of  1,900,000  dols.,  or  somewhat 
less  than  500,000?.  Marcantonio 
Correr,  ambassador  in  1611,  gives 
nearly  the  same  figures.  The  envoys 
of  ten  years  later,  Correr  and  F.  Con- 


sua  casa  arri^a  a  ducati  500.000 
1'anno."  Francesco  Contarini,  amb. 
app.  Giacomo  I.  Relazioni  in  Barozzi 
and  Berchet,  ser.  i.  vol.  unico.  "  Nelle 
spese  della  casa  eccede  senz'  alcuna 
coinparazione  tutti  gli  altri  re  cris- 
tiani,"— Ibid. 


142 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


.  XLI. 


was  already  leading  the  English  nation  so  proudly  on  the 
road  of  intellectual  advancement,  shrinking  from  the  love  of 
free  inquiry,  of  free  action,  of  daring  adventure,  which  was  to 
be  the  real  informing  spirit  of  the  great  British  nation ; 
abhorring  the  Puritans — that  is  to  say,  one-third  of  his  sub 
jects16- — in  whose  harsh  but  lofty  nature  he  felt  instinctively 
that  popular  freedom  was  enfolded — even  as  the  overshadow 
ing  tree  in  the  rigid  husk — and  sending  them  forth  into  the 
far  distant  wilderness  to  wrestle  with  wild  beasts  and  with 
savages  more  ferocious  than  beasts  ;  fearing  and  hating  the 
Catholics  as  the  sworn  enemies  of  his  realm,  his  race,  and 
himself,  trampling  on  them  as  much  as  he  dared,  forcing 
them  into  hypocrisy  to  save  themselves  from  persecution  or 
at  least  pecuniary  ruin  if  they  would  worship  God  according 
to  their  conscience  ;17  at  deadly  feud,  therefore,  on  religious 
grounds,  with  much  more  than  half  his  subjects— Puritans  or 
Papists — and  yet  himself  a  Puritan  in  dogma  and  a  Papist  in 
Church  government,  if  only  the  king  could  be  pope ;  not 
knowing,  indeed,  whether  a  Puritan,  or  a  Jesuit  whom  he 
called  a  Papist-Puritan,18  should  be  deemed  the  more  dis- 


16  "Tre  sono  le  religion!  che  uni- 
versalmente  sono  abbracciate  da  quei 
popoli  :   la    cattolica    ed    apostolica 
romana,  la  protestante  e  la  puritana  : 
questa  oltre  il  danno  e  la  rovina  delle 
anime  tende  a  quell  a  di  prmcipati  e 
di  monarchic  ancora  poiche  e  dirizzata 
tutta  alia  liberta  ed  al  governo  popo- 
lare  ;  e  perche  questo  nome  di  liberta 
e  molto  dolce  e  grato  ad  ognuno  e  pero 
molto  facilmente  abbracciata ;  onde  si 
crede  che  il  terzo  di  quei  popoli  sieno 
puritani  ancorche  il  re  e  li  suoi  usino 
ogni  arte  por  distruggerla." — M.  A. 
Correr,  Relazione. 

"  Sua  Maestaodia  questi  puritani  al- 
tre  tanto  quanto  teme  de'  cattolici." — 
Ibid. 

17  "  Diro  questo  solo  che  un  catto- 
lico  ricusante  che  s'intende  quello  che 
ricusa  di  andare  alle  Ipro  chiese  e 
prediche  se  ha  il  modo  e  obbligato  a 
pagare  80  scudi  al  mese  ;  se  non  ha  da 
pagar  tanto  perde  due  terzi  delli  suoi 
beni ;  sicche  uno  che  averra  600  ducati 
d'entrata  ne  perde  400 ;  se  e  povero  od 


artifice  che  non  abbia  beni  stabili  ogni 
mese  da'  ministri  gli  viene  visitata  la 
casa  e  levato  gli  si  pud  dir  ogni  cosa 
poiche  gli  portano  via  sino  il  letto ,  se 
uno  sara  convinto  di  avere  udito  messe, 
di  avere  tenuto  un  prete  o  gesuita  in 
casa,  anzi  di  avergli  solamente  parlato 
s'intende  incorso  in  delitto  di  lesa 
Maesta  onde  senz'  altro  perde  la  roba 
e  la  vita.  Un  cattolico  s'intende  privo 
della  protezione  delle  leggi  in  tanto 
che  se  sara  egli  creditore  di  alcuno 
non  protra  esercitar  la  sua  azione 
contro  il  debitore  perche  dalla  gius- 
tizia  non  sara  abbracciata  ;  se  il  catto 
lico  sara  oltraggiato  in  parole  o  in 
fatti  non  ha  ricorso  alia  giustizia  : 
intanto  che  li  poveri  cattolici  sono 
costituti  in  una  condizione  infelicis- 
sima,  pretendendo  con  questa  via  il  re 
e  quelli  che  governano  di  andar  a  poco 
a  poco  costringendo  e  riducendo  per 
dir  cosi  a  niente  la  cattolica  religione." 
— N.  Molin,  Relazione. 

18  "  Aborrisce   sopra  tutti  li  padri 
Gesuiti  .  .  .  .  e  compara  appunto  1% 


1603, 


ROBERT  CECIL,  EARL  OF  SALISBURY. 


143 


gusting  or  dangerous  animal ;  already  preparing  for  his 
unfortunate  successor  a  path  to  the  scaffold,  by  employing 
all  the  pedantry,  both  theological  and  philosophical,  at  his 
command  to  bring  parliaments  into  contempt,  and  to  place 
the  royal  prerogative  on  a  level  with  Divinity ;  at  the  head 
of  a  most  martial,  dauntless,  and  practical  nation,  trembling, 
with  unfortunate  physical  timidity,  at  the  sight  of  a  drawn 
sword  ;  ever  scribbling  or  haranguing  in  Latin,  French,  or 
broad  Scotch,19  when  the  world  was  arming,  it  must  always 
be  a  special  wonder  that  one  who  might  have  been  a  re 
spectable,  even  a  useful,  pedagogue,  should  by  the  caprice 
of  destiny  have  been  permitted,  exactly  at  that  epoch,  to  be 
one  of  the  most  contemptible  and  mischievous  of  kings.20 

But  he  had  a  most  effective  and  energetic  minister.  Even 
as  in  Spain  and  in  France  at  the  same  period,  the  adminis 
tration  of  government  was  essentially  in  one  pair  of  hands. 

Robert  Cecil,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  ever  since  the  termination 
of  the  splendid  duumvirate  of  his  father  and  Walsingham,  had 
been  in  reality  supreme.21  *  The  proud  and  terrible  hunchback, 
who  never  forgave,  nor  forgot  to  destroy,  his  enemies,22  had 
now  triumphed  over  the  last  passion  of  the  doting  queen. 
Essex  had  gone  to  perdition. 

Son  of  the  great  minister  who  had  brought  the  mother  of 
James  to  the  scaffold,  Salisbury  had  already  extorted  forgive- 

loro  dottrina  di  macchinar  contro  li  |  del  suoi  clie  viver  alia  libera,  come 
Stati  e  vite  del  principi  con  quelle  del 
puritan!    percid    li   chiama    puritani 
papisti." — M.  A.  Correr,  Ralazione. 

19  "E  pieno  di  eloquenza  non  solo 
nella  propria  sua  lingua  ma  anco  in 
diverse  altre  e  nella  francese  e  latina 
particolarmente."  —  Francesco     Con- 
tarini.    Relazione. 

20  "  Ma  moltopiu  displace  1'averSua 
Maesta   abbandonato  in  tutto  e  per 
tutto  il  governo  dei  suoi  regni,  rimet- 
tendo  il  tutto^al  suo  consiglio,  non 
volendo  egli  ne  trattar  ne  pensar  ad 
altro  che  alia  caccia   ....    Cos!  il 
presente  re  resta  piuttosto  spregiato  ed 
odiato  che  altrimenti :  essendo  infine 
la  natura  di  8.  M.  piuttosto  inclinata 
a  vivere  retiramente  con  otto  o  dieci 


il  costume  del  paese  ed  il  desiderio 
del  popolo." — Ibid. 

21  "  L'autorita  del  quale  e  cosi  asso- 
luta  che  con  verita  si  pud  dire  esser 
egli    il  re  e    governatore  di  quella 
monarchia." — N.  Molin,  Ralazione. 

22  "  E  astuto  e  sagace  e  persecutore 
acerrimo  dei  suoi   nemici :  il  che  si 
vede  dall'  effetto  perche  ne  ha  avuto 
molti   e  tutti   li  ha  fatti  precipitare 
ancorch&  che  fossero  uomini  eminen- 

tissimi e  amico  de'  suoi 

amici   e    fa    volentieri    servizio :  ma 
pero  e  piu  inclinato  alia  vendetta  che 
all'  amore :  e  uomo  superbo  e  terribile." 
— Ibid.     Compare  M.  A.  Correr,  Re 
lazione. 


144 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLI. 


ness  for  that  execution  from  the  feeble  king.  Before  Eliza 
beth  was  in  her  grave,  he  was  already  as  much  the  favourite 
of  her  successor  as  of  herself,  governing  Scotland  as  well  as 
England,  and  being  Prime  Minister  of  Great  Britain  before 
Great  Britain  existed.23 

Lord  High  Treasurer  and  First  Secretary  of  State,  he  was 
now  all  in  all  in  the  council.  The  other  great  lords,  high 
born  and  highly  titled  as  they  were  and  served  at  their  ban 
quets  by  hosts  of  lackeys  on  their  knees — **  Nottinghams, 
Northamptons,  Suffolks — ffi  were,  after  all,  ciphers  or  at  best, 
mere  pensioners  of  Spain.  For  all  the  venality  of  Europe 
was  not  confined  to  the  Continent.26  Spain  spent  at  least  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  crowns"7  annually  among  the 
leading  courtiers  of  James  while  his  wife,  Anne  of  Denmark, 
a  Papist  at  heart,  whose  private  boudoir  was  filled  with  pic 
tures  and  images  of  the  Madonna  and  the  saints,  had  already 
received  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  solid  cash  from 
the  Spanish  court,  besides  much  jewelry,  and  other  valuable 


quali  sono  cosi  ordinary  in  quei  paesi 
che  chi  piu  riceve  e  piu  stimato  ed 
onorato  ricevendo  non  solo  da  sudditi 
ma  da  stranieri  e  da  ministri  di  prin- 
cipi  ancora  siccome  si  e  veduto  in 
diverse  occasion!." — N.  Molin,  Rela 
zione  D'Inghilterra. 

"  Rimettere  il  tutto  si  suoi  ministri 
li  quali  sono  si  fattamente  interessati 
che  senza  li  modi  che  ordinariamente 
sogliono  usar  li  Spagnoli  non  se  ne 
puo  ricevere  quel  beneficio  che  si 
desidera."  Ibid.  "  Avendo  molti  di 
essi  (ministri)  pensioni  da  Spagna, 
altri  son  ben  affetti  verso  la  Francia 
e  forse  il  minor  numero  e  quello  che 
mira  al  solo  ben  e  servizio  del  regno  e 
di  S.  M."  Francesco  Contarini.  Re 
lazione.  "  La  Spagna  ....  usando 
alcuna  volta  con  la  Maesta  sua  1'esoa 
de'  matrimonii  con  li  ministri  quella 
delle  pensioni  e  donativi." — M.  A. 
Correr,  Relazione. 

27  "  All'  ambasciatore  di  Spagna 
residente  alia  corte  d'Inghilterra  sono 
mandati  ogni  anno  150,000  scudi,  non 
per  sua  provizione  ma  per  altri  fini,  e 
pero  impetra  gran  cose." — Fran.  Con 
tarini,  Relazione. 


s'insinuo  nella  grazia 
del  presente  re  ajutandolo  como  S.  M 
medesima  mi  ha  detto  e  occultamente 
in  vita  della  regina  e  scopertamente 
dopo  la  merte.  Cos!  non  solo  gli  e 
riuscito  di  cancellar  dalla  sua  memoria 
la  morte  della  madre  della  quale  fu 
principalmente  autore  il  padre  di  esso 
conte  ma  ha  condotto  la  propria  for- 
tuna  a  quella  tanta  eminenza  nella 
quale  si  trova  al  presente." — M.  A. 
Correr,  Relazione. 

24  N.  Molin,  Ralazione. 

55  "  II  co  :  di  Northampton  custode 

del  private  sigillo il  gran 

ammiraglio  conte  di  Nottingham  ed 
il  conte  di  Suffolk  gran  ciamberlano 

tutti  tre  sono  stati  provi- 

sionati  annualmente  da  Spagna  con 
qualcheduno  altro  del  consiglio  regio." 
— M.  A.  Correr,  Relazione. 

26  «  jje  yj  essendo  alcuno  che  o  tardi 
o  per  tempo  non  si  a  necessitate  di 
ricorrer  al  consiglio  di  qui  e  che 
ognuno  procura  di  acquistarsi  la 
grazia  e  la  protezione  di  alcuno  dei 
consiglieri  il  che  non  si  pud  fare  in 
quel  paese  con  altri  mezzi  ne  con  altre 
vie  che  con  presenti  e  donativi ;  li 


1603.  INFLUENCE  OF  ROBERT  CECIL.  145 

things.28  To  negotiate  with  Government  in  England  was  to 
bribe,  even  as  at  Paris  or  Madrid.  Gold  was  the  only  pass-key 
to  justice,  to  preferment,  or  to  power. 

Yet  the  foreign  subsidies  to  the  English  court  were,  after 
all,  of  but  little  avail  at  that  epoch.29  No  man  had  influence 
but  Cecil,  and  he  was  too  proud,  too  rich,  too  powerful  to  be 
bribed.30  Alone  with  clean  fingers  among  courtiers  and 
ministers,  he  had,  however,  accumulated  a  larger  fortune  than 
any.  His  annual  income  was  estimated  at  two  hundred  thou 
sand  crowns,  and  he  had  a  vast  floating  capital,  always  well 
employed.  Among  other  investments,  he  had  placed  half  a 
million  on  interest  in  Holland,31  and  it  was  to  be  expected, 
therefore,  that  he  should  favour  the  cause  of  the  republic, 
rebellious  and  upstart  though  it  were. 

The  pigmy,  as  the  late  queen  had  been  fond  of  nicknaming 
him,  was  the  only  giant  in  the  Government.  Those  crooked 
shoulders  held  up,  without  flinching,  the  whole  burden  of  the 
State.  Pale,  handsome,  anxious,  suffering,  and  intellectual 
of  visage,  with  his  indomitable  spirit,  ready  eloquence,  and 
nervous  energy,  he  easily  asserted  supremacy  over  all  the 
intriguers,  foreign  and  domestic,  the  stipendiaries,  the  gene 
rals,  the  admirals,  the  politicians,  at  court,  as  well  as  over  the 
Scotch  Solomon  who  sat  on  the  throne. 

But  most  certainly  it  was  for  the  public  good  of  Britain 


28  N.  Molin,  Relazione,  &c.    M.  A. 
Correr,  Relazione.     "  Vanno  nutrendo 
le  speranze  di  poter  un  giorno  metter 
mano  in  quel  regno  (d'Ingliilterra)  e 
psrcio  col  solito  titolo  di  avantaggiare 
la  fede  cattolica  mantengono  diversi 
collegi  d'Inglesi  per  spargere  con  loro 
beneficio  i  soggeti  clie  escono  da  quelli 
e  dopo  la  pace  hanno   dispensati  fra 
quella  nazione  molti  denari  fra  quali  la 
regina  ha  avuto  in    contanti  piu  di 
cento  mille  scudi  oltre  diverse  gioie  e 
altre    cose    di    molto    valsente." — F. 
Priuli,   Relazione   di    Spagna,    1604- 
1608.    N.  Molin. 

29  "Pare  che  li  Spagnuoli  si  sieno 
astenuti  questi  due  ultimi  anni  per  il 
poco  frutto   che  ne  cavano." — M.  A. 
Correr,  Relazione. 

30  "  Ne  ha  mai  voluto  accettar  pen- 

VOL.  IV. — L 


sioni." — M.  A.  Correr,  Relazione. 

31  "Delia  sua  richezza  non  voglio 
parlare  perocche  e  cosa  che  eccede  il 
creder  d'ognuno ;  ma  quasi  tutto  ha 
in  contanti  in  diverse  piazze  di  Europa, 
ma  sotto  diversi  nomi ;  e  mi  e  stato 
affermato  che  in  Olanda  solamente 
abbia  cinque  cento  mille  scudi  li  quali 
gli  rendono  utili  tali  che  se  ne  puo 
contantare."  Ibid.  "  Essendo  opinione 
che  degli  uffici  della  corona  abbi 
cavato  meglio  di  200,000  scudi  all' 
anno,  onde  ha  comprato  molta  quan- 
tita  di  terreni  e  gira  denari  in  diverse 
piazze  specialmente  gran  somma  in 
Olanda  che  profittano  piu  che  medio- 
cremente,  cosa  che  lo  tiene  affezionato 
ed  obbligato  agli  interessi  di  quelle 
provincie. " — Ibid. 


146 


THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLI. 


that  Europe  should  be  pacified.  It  is  very  true  that  the  pira 
tical  interest  would  suffer,  and  this  was  a  very  considerable 
and  influential  branch  of  business.  So  long  as  war  existed 
anywhere,  the  corsairs  of  England  sailed  with  the  utmost 
effrontery  from  English  ports,  to  prey  upon  the  commerce  of 
friend  and  foe  alike.  After  a  career  of  successful  plunder,  it 
was  not  difficult  for  the  rovers  to  return  to  their  native  land, 
and,  with  the  proceeds  of  their  industry,  to  buy  themselves 
positions  of  importance,  both  social  and  political.  It  was  not 
the  custom  to  consider  too  curiously  the  source  of  the  wealth. 
If  it  was  sufficient  to  dazzle  the  eyes  of  the  vulgar,  it  was 
pretty  certain  to* prove  the  respectability  of  the  owner.32 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  envoys  of  the  Dutch  and  Venetian 
republics  sought  redress  for  the  enormous  damage  inflicted 
on  their  commerce  by  English  pirates,  and  invoked  the  pro 
tection  of  public  law.  It  was  always  easy  for  learned  juris- 
consuls  to  prove  such  depredations  to  be  consistent  with 
international  usage  and  with  sound  morality.  Even  at  that 


32  "per  assicurar  quest!  mari  dai 
bertoni  inglesi  che  hanno  apportato  e 
tuttora  apportano  tanto  danno  alle 
navi  e  sudditi  di  Vostra  Serenita  che 
trafficano  in  levante  :  perche  non  e 
dubbio  per  la  iiiformazione  clie  ne  ho 
avuto  che  molti  vascelli  partono 
d'Inghilterra  sotto  il  nome  di  mercanti 
con  qualche  poco  di  carico  per  il 
viaggio  di  levante  ma  il  loro  fine  e 
principalmente  di  far  qualche  preda  se 
la  occasione  si  presenta ;  onde  par- 
tendo  con  questo  nome  di  mercanti 
viene  levata  1'occasione  ai  rappresen- 
tanti  di  Vostra  Serenita  di  opporsi  alia 
loro  uscita  ;  ma  in  effetto  secondo 
1'occasione  esercitano  1'ufncio  di  corsari 
e  quando  loro  riesce  di  far  qualche 
preda  si  contentano  di  restare  esuli  e 
privi  della  patria  per  qualche  spazio 
di  tempo  e  con  qualche  donative  unico 
remedio  in  quel  paese  per  superar 
tutte  le  difncolta  di  poter  ripatriare  e 
godersi  la  guadagnata  preda." — N. 
Molin,  Relazione. 

"Perche  con  la  pace  viene  loro 
levato  il  modo  di  andar  in  corso  con 
che  molti  si  sono  arrichiti  perche  sotto 
pretesto  di  andar  contro  j  nemici  de- 


predavano  anco  le  navi  degli  amici 
come  e  pur  troppo  manifesto  a  V.  S." 
—Ibid. 

"Sono  gli  Inglesi  sopra  tutti  gli 
uomini  dediti  al  corseggiare,  ne  face- 
vano  particolar  professione  in  tempo 
della  regina  Elizabetta  la  quale  la 
permetteva  contro  gli  Spagnuoli  ed 
animava  li  suoi  sudditi  ad  applicarvisi 

di  qua  sono  procedute 

ricchezze  grandi  nelli  particolari, 
accrescimenti  delli  dazii  pubblici  e 
sperienza  e  gloria  nelli  cittadini  ed 
augumento  di  forze  considerabilissime 
a  tutto  il  regno.  Ora  queste  depre- 
dazioni  che  vietate  dalla  pace  contro 
Spagnuoli  si  sono  indlfferentemente 
voltate  sopra  tutti  vengono  piu  d'ogni 

tristizia  odiate  dal  re non 

di  meno  come  non  si  trova  officio  di 
tanta  santita  e  giustizia  che  1'avarizia 
degli  uomini  non  la  soglia  guastar  e 
corromper ;  cosi  e  opinione  che  qtielli 
medesimi  che  hanno  principal  carico 
di  perseguitare  questi  scellerati  li 
abbino  spesse  volte  favoriti  e  protetti." 
— Marc  Antonio  Correr,  Ambasc.  ap- 
presso  Giacomo  I.  1611,  in  Barozzi 
and  Berchet.  S,  iv,  vol.  unico. 


1603. 


ENGLISH  PIRACY. 


147 


period,  although  England  was  in  population  and  in  wealth 
so  insignificant,  it  possessed  a  lofty,  insular  contempt  for  the 
opinions  and  the  doctrines  of  other  nations,  and  expected, 
with  perfect  calmness,  that  her  own  principles  should  be  not 
only  admitted,  but  spontaneously  adored.33 

Yet  the  piratical  interest  was  no  longer  the  controlling 
one.  That  city  on  the  Thames,  which  already  numbered 
more  than  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,34  had  dis 
covered  that  more  wealth  was  to  be  accumulated  by  her 
bustling  shopkeepers  in  the  paths  of  legitimate  industry  than 
by  a  horde  of  rovers  over  the  seas,  however  adventurous  and 
however  protected  by  Government. 

As  for  France,  she  was  already  defending  herself  against 
piracy  by  what  at  the  period  seemed  a  masterpiece  of  in 
ternal  improvement.  The  Seine,  the  Loire,  and  the  Rhone 
were  soon  to  be  united  in  one  chain  of  communication.  Thus 
merchandise  might  be  water-borne  from  the  channel  to  the 
Mediterranean,  without  risking  the  five  or  six  months'  voyage 
by  sea  then  required  from  Havre  to  Marseilles,  and  exposure 
along  the  whole  coast  to  attack  from  the  corsairs  of  England, 
Spain,  and  Barbary,35 

The  envoys  of  the  States-General  had  a  brief  audience  of 
the  new  sovereign,  in  which  little  more  than  phrases  of  com 
pliment  were  pronounced. 

"We  are  here/'  said  Barneveld,  "between  grief  and  joy.  We 
have  lost  her  whose  benefits  to  us  we  can  never  describe  in 


33  "Essendo  1'Inglese    per   natura 
Buperbo  crede  che  ognuno  per  natura 
sia  obbligato  di  accarezzarlo  non  solo 
ma  di  adorarlo."  —  Ibid.     N.  Molin, 
Relazione. 

34  Molin. 

35  Angelo  Badoer,  Ambasc.  in  Fran- 
cia,    Relazione    in  Barozzi   and  Ber- 
chet,  ser  ii.  vol.  i.     "  Ma  finite  questo 
taglio  che  si  lavora  per  far  entrare  la 
Loira  nella  Senna  come  ho  detto  s'e 
risolto    di    fame    un    altro    per    far 
entrare  il   Rodano  che  passa   Lione 
nella    Loira  essendo  gia  il  disegno 
fatto  con  che  s'andrebbe  da  un  mare 
all'  altro  sempre  per  i  fiumi  senza  aver 


mai  a  smontare  in  terra  e  quando 
questo  resti  effettuato,  come  ponendo- 
visi  le  mani  egli  resterebbe  in  non 
lunghi  anni  mentre  continui  la  pace 
nella  Francia  con  piu  brevita  con  piu 
sicurezza  e  con  grand'  utile  a  quel 
regno  si  manderebbero  le  merci  dal 
Mediterraneo  sempre  per  acqua  sino 
nell'  Oceano  senza  averle  a  mandare 
per  tanto  mare  come  si  fa  ora  che  le 
navi  hanno  a  circondare  tutta  la1 
Spagna  per  arrivare  in  quelle  parti 
con  tanto  rischio  di  venti  e  di  corsari 
oltre  il  tempo  di  cinque  o  sei  mesi  che 
alle  volte  consumano  nel  viaggio." 


148  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS  CHAP.  XLL 

words,  but  we  hare  found  a  successor  who  is  heir  not  only  to 
her  kingdom  but  to  all  her  virtues."35  And  with  this  exordium 
the  great  Advocate  plunged  at  once  into  the  depths  of  his 
subject,  so  far  as  was  possible  in  an  address  of  ceremony. 
He  besought  the  king  not  to  permit  Spain,  standing  on  the 
neck  of  the  provinces,  to  grasp  from  that  elevation  at  other 
empires.  He  reminded  James  of  his  duty  to  save  those  of 
his  own  religion  from  the  clutch  of  a  sanguinary  superstition, 
to  drive  away  those  lurking  satellites  of  the  Koman  pontiff 
who  considered  Britain  their  lawful  prey.  He  implored  him 
to  complete  the  work  so  worthily  begun  by  Elizabeth.  If 
all  those  bound  by  one  interest  should  now,  he  urged,  unite 
their  efforts,  the  Spaniard,  deprived  not  only  of  the  Nether 
lands,  but,  if  he  were  not  wise  in  time,  banished  from  the 
ocean  and  stripped  of  •  all  his  transmarine  possessions,  would 
be  obliged  to  consent  to  a  peace  founded  on  the  only  secure 
basis,  equality  of  strength.  The  envoy  concluded  by  beseech 
ing  the  king  for  assistance  to  Ostend,  now  besieged  for  two 
years  long.36 

But  James  manifested  small  disposition  to  melt  in  the  fer 
vour  of  the  Advocate's  eloquence.  He  answered  with  a  few 
cold  commonplaces.  Benignant  but  extremely  cautious,  he 
professed  goodwill  enough  to  the  States  but  quite  as  much 
for  Spain,  a  power  with  which,  he  observed,  he  had  never 
quarrelled,  and  from  which  he  had  received  the  most  friendly 
offices.  The  archdukes,  too,  he  asserted,  had  never  been 
hostile  to  the  realm,  but  only  to  the  Queen  of  England.  In 
brief,  he  was  new  to  English  affairs,  required  time  to  look 
about  him,  but  would  not  disguise  that  his  genius  was  literary, 
studious,  and  tranquil,  and  much  more  inclined  to  peace 
than  to  war.37 

In  truth,  James  had  cause  to  look  very  sharply  about  him. 
It  required  an  acute  brain  and  steady  nerves  to  understand 
and  to  control  the  whirl  of  parties  and  the  conflict  of  interests 
and  intrigues,  the  chameleon  shiftings  of  character  and  colour, 
at  this  memorable  epoch  of  transition  in  the  realm  which  he 

«  Grotius,  xii.  618.    Meteren,  <utt  *tip.  36  Ibid.  »  Ibid. 


1603.  RELATIVE  POSITION  OF  FRANCE  AND  SPAIN.  149 

had  just  inherited.  There  was  a  Scotch  party,  favourable  on 
the  whole  to  France  ;  there  was  a  Spanish  party,  there  was  an 
English  party,  and,  more  busy  than  all,  there  was  a  party — 
not  Scotch,  nor  French,  nor  English,  nor  Spanish — that 
un-dying  party  in  all  commonwealths  or  kingdoms  which  ever 
fights  for  itself  and  for  the  spoils. 

France  and  Spain  had  made  peace  with  each  other  at 
Vervins  five  years  before,  and  had  been  at  war  ever 
since. 

Nothing  could  be  plainer  nor  more  cynical  than  the 
language  exchanged  between  the  French  monarch  and  the 
representative  of  Spain.  That  Philip  III. — as  the  Spanish 
Government  by  a  convenient  fiction  was  always  called — was 
the  head  and  front  of  the  great  Savoy-Biron  conspiracy  to 
take  Henry's  life  and  dismember  his  kingdom,  was  hardly  a 
stage  secret.  Yet  diplomatic  relations  were  still  preserved 
between  the  two  countries,  and  wonderful  diplomatic  inter 
views  had  certainly  been  taking  place  in  Paris. 

Ambassador  Tassis  had  walked  with  lofty  port  into  Henry's 
cabinet,  disdaining  to  salute  any  of  the  princes  of  the  blood 
or  high  functionaries  of  state  in  the  apartments  through  which 
he  passed,  and  with  insolent  defiance  had  called  Henry  to 
account  for  his  dealing  with  the  Dutch  rebels. 

"  Sire,  the  king  my  master  finds  it  very  strange,"  he  said, 
"  that  you  still  continue  to  assist  his  rebels  in  Holland,  and 
that  you  shoot  at  his  troops  on  their  way  to  the  Netherlands. 
If  you  don't  abstain  from  such  infractions  of  his  rights  he 
prefers  open  war  to  being  cheated  by  such  a  pretended  peace. 
Hereupon  I  demand  your  reply." 

"  Mr.  Ambassador,"  replied  the  king,  "  I  find  it  still  more 
strange  that  your  master  is  so  impudent  as  to  dare  to  make 
such  complaints — he  who  is  daily  making  attempts  upon  my 
life  and  upon  this  State.  Even  if  I  do  assist  the  Hollanders, 
what  wrong  is  that  to  him  ?  It  is  an  organized  common 
wealth,  powerful,  neighbourly,  acknowledging  no  subjection 
to  him.  But  your  master  is  stirring  up  rebellion  in  my  own 
kingdom,  addressing  himself  to  the  princes  of  my  blood  and 

VOL.  II— 5* 


150  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLL 

my  most  notable  officers,  so  that  I  have  been  obliged  to  cut 
off  the  head  of  one  of  the  most  beloved  of  them  all.  By 
these  unchristian  proceedings  he  has  obliged  me  to  take  sides 
with  the  Hollanders,  whom  I  know  to  be  devoted  to  me  ;  nor 
have  I  done  anything  for  them  except  to  pay  the  debts  I 
owed  them.  I  know  perfectly  well  that  the  king  your  master 
is  the  head  of  this  conspiracy,  and  that  the  troops  of  Naples 
were  meditating  an  attack  upon  my  kingdom.  I  have  two 
letters  written  by  the  hand  of  your  master  to  Marshal  Biron, 
telling  him  to  trust  Fuentes  as  if  it  were  himself,  and  it  is 
notorious  that  Fuentes  has  projected  and  managed  all  the 
attempts  to  assassinate  me.  Do  you  think  you  have  a  child 
to  deal  with  ?  The  late  King  of  Spain  knew  me  pretty  well. 
If  this  one  thinks  himself  wiser  I  shall  let  him  see  who  I  am. 
Do  you  want  peace  or  war  ?  I  am  ready  for  either." 

The  ambassador,  whose  head  had  thus  been  so  vigorously 
washed — as  Henry  expressed  it  in  recounting  the  interview 
afterwards  to  the  Dutch  envoy,  Dr.  Aerssens — stammered 
some  unintelligible  excuses,  and  humbly  begged  his  Majesty 
not  to  be  offended.  He  then  retired  quite  crest-fallen,  and 
took  leave  most  politely  of  everybody  as  he  went,  down  even 
to  the  very  grooms  of  the  chambers. 

"  You  must  show  your  teeth  to  the  Spaniard,"  said  Henry 
to  Aerssens,  "  if  you  wish  for  a  quiet  life." 

Here  was  unsophisticated  diplomacy ;  for  the  politic 
Henry,  who  could  forgive  assassins  and  conspirators,  crowned 
or  otherwise,  when  it  suited  his  purpose  to  be  lenient,  knew 
that  it  was  on  this  occasion  very  prudent  to  use  the  gift 
of  language,  not  in  order  to  conceal,  but  to  express  his 
thoughts. 

"  I  left  the  king  as  red  as  a  turkey-cock,"  said  Tassis,  as 
soon  as  he  got  home  that  morning,  "and  I  was  another 
turkey-cock.  We  have  been  talking  a  little  bit  of  truth  to 
each  other."38 

In  truth,  it  was  impossible,  as  the  world  was  then  con- 

38  « ifc  weet  doen  Taxis  t'huys  quam  root  als  een  callichoen  gelaeten  end* 
dat  hy  seyde,  ik  hebbe  den  Coninck  ik*  ben  een<  ander.  Wy  hfebben  malcan 


1603.          ELIZABETH'S  INTERVIEW  WITH  DE  BETHUNE.          151 

stituted,  that  France  and  Spain,  in  spite  of  many  secret 
sympathies,  should  not  be  enemies  ;  that  France,  England, 
and  the  Dutch  commonwealth,  although  cordially  disliking 
each  other,  should  not  be  allies. 

Even  before  the  death  of  Elizabeth  a  very  remarkable 
interview  had  taken  place  at  Dover,  in  which  the  queen  had 
secretly  disclosed  the  great  thoughts  with  which  that  most 
imperial  brain  was  filled  just  before  its  boundless  activity 
was  to  cease  for  ever0 

She  had  wished  for  a  personal  interview  with  the  French 
king,  whose  wit  and  valour  she  had  always  heartily  admired. 
Henry,  on  his  part,  while  unmercifully  ridiculing  that  preter 
human  vanity  which  he  fed  with  fantastic  adulation,  never 
failed  to  do  justice  to  her  genius,  and  had  been  for  a  moment 
disposed  to  cross  the  channel,  or  even  to  hold  council  with  her 
on  board  ship  midway  between  the  two  countries.'9  It  was 
however  found  impracticable  to  arrange  any  such  meeting, 
and  the  gossips  of  the  day  hinted  that  the  great  Henry,  whose 
delight  was  in  battle,  and  who  had  never  been  known  to 
shrink  from  danger  on  dry  land,  was  appalled  at  the  idea 
of  sea-sickness,  and  even  dreaded  the  chance  of  being  kid 
napped  by  the  English  pirates.40 

The  corsairs  who  drove  so  profitable  a  business  at  that 
period  by  plundering  the  merchantmen  of  their  enemy,  of 
their  Dutch  and  French  allies,  and  of  their  own  nation,  would 
assuredly  have  been  pleased  with  such  a  prize. 

The  queen  had  confided  to  De  Bethune  that  she  had  some 
thing  to  say  to  the  king  which  she  could  never  reveal  to  other 
ears  than  his,  but  when  the  proposed  visit  of  Henry  was 
abandoned,  it  was  decided  that  his  confidential  minister 
should  slip  across  the  channel  before  Elizabeth  returned  to 
her  palace  at  Greenwich. 


djiren  wat  waerheyt  geseyt,"  &c. — 
Aerssens  to  the  States-General,  4  Oct. 
1603.  Hague  Archives  MS. 

H  jnry  recounted  these  conversations 
with  his  own  lips  to  Dr.  Aerssens,  who 
communicated  them  to  the  States- 
General  jn  his  secret  letters.  I  have  '  anno  1601*  "  ^  Ibid. 


read  them  in  the  Fransche  DepS- 
chen,  AO.  1603-1607,  Royal  Archives 
at  the  Hague  MS,  See  especially 
Aerssens  to  the  States-General,  4  and 
18  October,  1602. 
39  Memoires  de  Sully,  iv.  34-46, 


152  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI 

De  Bethune  accordingly  came  incognito  from  Calais  to 
Dover,  in  which  port  he  had  a  long  and  most  confidential 
interview  with  the  queen.  Then  and  there  the  woman, 
nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  who  governed  despotically  the 
half  of  a  small  island,  while  the  other  half  was  in  the  posses 
sion  of  a  man  whose  mother  she  had  slain,  and  of  a  people 
who  hated  the  English  more  than  they  hated  the  Spaniards 
or  the  French — a  queen  with  some  three  millions  of  loyal  but 
most  turbulent  subjects  in  one  island,  and  with  about  half-a- 
million  ferocious  rebels  in  another  requiring  usually  an  army 
of  twenty  thousand  disciplined  soldiers  to  keep  them  in  a 
kind  of  subjugation,  with  a  revenue  fluctuating  between  eight 
hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling,  and  the  half  of  that  sum, 
and  with  a  navy  of  a  hundred  privateersmen — disclosed  to 
the  French  envoy  a  vast  plan  for  regulating  the  polity  and 
the  religion  of  the  civilized  world,  and  for  remodelling  the 
map  of  Europe.41 

There  should  be  three  religions,  said  Elizabeth — not  count 
ing  the  dispensation  from  Mecca,  about  which  Turk  and  Hun 
might  be  permitted  to  continue  their  struggle  on  the  crepus 
cular  limits  of  civilization.  Everywhere  else  there  should  be 
toleration  only  for  the  churches  of  Peter,  of  Luther,  and  of 
Calvin.  The  house  of  Austria  was  to  be  humbled — the  one 
branch  driven  back  to  Spain  and  kept  there,  the  other  branch 
to  be  deprived  of  the  imperial  crown,  which  was  to  be  disposed 
of  as  in  times  past  by  the  votes  of  the  princely  electors 
There  should  be  two  republics — the  Swiss  and  the  Dutch — 
each  of  those  commonwealths  to  be  protected  by  France  and 
England,  and  each  to  receive  considerable  parings  out  of  the 
possessions  of  Spain  and  the  empire. 

Finally,  all  Christendom  was  to  be  divided  off  into  a  cer 
tain  number  of  powers,  almost  exactly  equal  to  each  other ; 
the  weighing,  measuring,  and  counting,  necessary  to  obtain 
this  international  equilibrium,  being  of  course  the  duty  of 
the  king  and  queen  when  they  should  sit  some  day  together 
at  table. 

«  Memoires  de  Sully,  iv.  34-36,  anno  1601. 


1603.  ELIZABETH'S  ORGANIZATION  SCHEME.  153 

Thus  there  were  five  points ;  sovereigns  and  politicians 
having  always  a  fondness  for  a  neat  summary  in  five  or  six 
points.  Number  one,  to  remodel  the  electoral  system  of  the 
holy  Roman  empire.  Number  two,  to  establish  the  republic 
of  the  United  Provinces.  Number  three,  to  do  as  much  for 
Switzerland.  Number  four,  to  partition  Europe.  Number 
five,  to  reduce  all  religions  to  three.42  Nothing  could  be  more 
majestic,  no  plan  fuller  fraught  with  tranquillity  for  the  rulers 
of  mankind  and  their  subjects.  Thrice  happy  the  people, 
having  thus  a  couple  of  heads  with  crowns  upon  them  and 
brains  within  them  to  prescribe  what  was  to  be  done  in  this 
world  and  believed  as  to  the  next ! 

The  illustrious  successor  of  that  great  queen  now  stretches 
her  benignant  sceptre  over  two  hundred  millions  of  subjects, 
and  the  political  revenues  of  her  empire  are  more  than  a 
hundredfold  those  of  Elizabeth  ;  yet  it  would  hardly  now  be 
thought  great  statesmanship  or  sound  imperial  policy  for  a 
British  sovereign  even  to  imagine  the  possibility  of  the  five 
points  which  filled  the  royal  English  mind  at  Dover. 

But  Henry  was  as  much  convinced  as  Elizabeth  of  the 
necessity  and  the  possibility  of  establishing  the  five  points, 
and  De  Bethune  had  been  astonished  at  the  exact  similarity 
of  the  conclusion  which  those  two  sovereign  intellects  had 
reached,  even  before  they  had  been  placed  in  communion 
with  each  other.  The  death  of  the  queen  had  not  caused 
any  change  in  the  far-reaching  designs  of  which  the  king  now 
remained  the  sole  executor,  and  his  first  thought,  on  the 
accession  of  James,  was  accordingly  to  despatch  De  Bethune, 
now  created  Marquis  de  Rosny,  as  ambassador  extraordinary 
to  England,  in  order  that  the  new  sovereign  might  be  secretly 
but  thoroughly  instructed  as  to  the  scheme  for  remodelling 
Christendom.43 

As  Rosny  was  also  charged  with  the  duty  of  formally  con 
gratulating  King  James,  he  proceeded  upon  his  journey  with 
remarkable  pomp.  He  was  accompanied  by  two  hundred 
gentlemen  of  quality,  specially  attached  to  his  embassy — • 
42  Memoires  de  Sully,  iv.  34-36,  anno  1601.  %  tt  Ibid.  260,  aeqq. 


154  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI 

young  city  fops,  as  he  himself  described  them,  who  were  out 
of  their  element  whenever  they  left  the  pavement  of  Paris 
— and  by  an  equal  number  of  valets,  grooms,  and  cooks.44 
Such  a  retinue  was  indispensable  to  enable  an  ambassador 
to  transact  the  public  business  and  to  maintain  the  public 
dignity  in  those  days  ;  unproductive  consumption  being  ac 
counted  most  sagacious  and  noble. 

Before  reaching  the  English  shore  the  marquis  was  involved 
in  trouble.  Accepting  the  offer  of  the  English  vice-admiral 
lying  off  Calais,  he  embarked  with  his  suite  in  two  English 
vessels,  much  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  De  Vic,  vice-admiral  of 
Francej  who  was  anxious  to  convey  the  French  ambassador  in 
the  war-ships  of  his  country.  There  had  been  suspicion  afloat 
as  to  the  good  understanding  between  England  and  Spain, 
caused  by  the  great  courtesy  recently  shown  to  the  Count  of 
Arenberg,  and  there  was  intense  irritation  among  all  the  sea 
faring  people  of  France  on  account  of  the  exploits  of  the 
English  corsairs  upon  their  coast.45  Rosny  thought  it  best  to 
begin  his,  embassy  by  an  act  of  conciliation,  but  soon  had  cause 
to  repent  his  decision. 

In  mid-channel  they  were  met  by  De  Tie's  vessels  with  the 
French  banner  displayed,  at  which  sight  the  English  com 
mander  was  so  wroth  that  he  forthwith  ordered  a  broadside 
to  be  poured  into  the  audacious  foreigner ;  swearing  with 
mighty  oaths  that  none  but  the  English  flag  should  be  shown 
in  those  waters.  And  thus,  while  conveying  a  French  am 
bassador  and  three  hundred  Frenchmen  on  a  sacred  mission 
to  the  British  sovereign,  this  redoubtable  mariner  of  England 
prepared  to  do  battle  with  the  ships  of  France.  It  was  with 
much  difficulty  and  some  prevarication  that  Kosny  appeased 
the  strife,  representing  that  the  French  flag  had  only  been 
raised  in  order  that  it  might  be  dipped,  in  honour  of  the 
French  ambassador,  as  the  ships  passed  each  other.  The  full^ 
15  June,  shotted  broadside  was  fired  from  fifty  guns,  but  the 

1603.  English  commander  consented,  at  De  Kosny's  re 
presentations,  that  it  should  be  discharged  wide  of  the  mark.46 

«  Memoires  de  Sully,  iv.  268 ;  v.  21.        45  Ibid.  iv.  272.        46  Ibid.  273-6. 


1603.  FRENCH   EMBASSY  TO  ENGLAND.  155 

A  few  shots,  however,  struck  the  side  of  one  of  the  French 
vessels,  and  at  the  same  time,  as  Cardinal  Richelieu 
afterwards  remarked,  pierced  the  heart  of  every  patriotic 
Frenchman.47 

The  ambassador  made  a  sign,  which  De  Vic  understood,  to 
lower  his  flag  and  to  refrain  from  answering  the  fire.48  Thus 
a  battle  between  allies,  amid  the  most  amazing  circumstances, 
was  avoided,  but  it  may  well  be  imagined  how  long  and  how 
deeply  the  poison  of  the  insult  festered. 

Such  an  incident  could  hardly  predispose  the  ambassador 
in  favour  of  the  nation  he  was  about  to  visit,  or  strengthen 
his  hope  of  laying,  not  only  the  foundation  of  a  perpetual 
friendship  between  the  two  crowns,  but  of  effecting  the  palin 
genesis  of  Europe.  Yet  no  doubt  Sully — as  the  world  has 
so  long  learned  to  call  him — was  actuated  by  lofty  sentiments 
in  many  respects  in  advance  of  his  age.  Although  a  brilliant 
and  successful  campaigner  in  his  youth,  he  detested  war,  and 
looked  down  with  contempt  at  political  systems  which  had 
not  yet  invented  anything  better  than  gunpowder  for  the 
arbitrament  of  international  disputes.  Instead  of  war  being 
an  occasional  method  of  obtaining  peace,  it  pained  him  to 
think  that  peace  seemed  only  a  process  for  arriving  at  war. 
Surely  it  was  no  epigram  in  those  days,  but  the  simplest 
statement  of  commonplace  fact,  that  war  was  the  normal 
condition  of  Christians.  Alas  !  will  it  be  maintained  that  in 
the  two  and  a  half  centuries  which  have  since  elapsed  the 
world  has  made  much  progress  in  a  higher  direction  ?  Is 
there  yet  any  appeal  among  the  most  civilized  nations  except 
to  the  logic  of  the  largest  battalions  and  the  eloquence  of  the 
biggest  guns  ? 

De  Rosny  came  to  be  the  harbinger  of  a  political  mil 
lennium,  and  he  heartily  despised  war.  The  schemes,  never 
theless,  which  were  as  much  his  own  as  his  master's,  and 
which  he  was  instructed  to  lay  before  the  English  monarch 
as  exclusively  his  own,  would  have  required  thirty  years  of 

41  M&noires  de  Sully,  iv.  273-6,  and  notes.  *  Ibid. 


156 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLL 


successful  and  tremendous  warfare  before  they  could  have  a 
beginning  of  development. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  so  philosophical  a  mind  as  his, 
while  still  inclining  to  pacific  designs,  should  have  been  led 
by  what  met  his  eyes  and  ears  to  some  rather  severe  gene 
ralizations. 

"  It  is  certain  that  the  English  hate  us,"  he  said,  "  and  with 
a  hatred  so  strong  and  so  general  that  one  is  tempted  to 
place  it  among  the  natural  dispositions  of  this  people.  Yet 
it  is  rather  the  effect  of  their  pride  and  their  presumption  ; 
since  there  is  no  nation  in  Europe  more  haughty,  more  dis 
dainful,  more  besotted  with  the  idea  of  its  own  excellence.  If 
you  were  to  take  their  word  for  it,  mind  and  reason  are  only 
found  with  them  ;  they  adore  all  their  opinions  and  despise 
those  of  all  other  nations  ;  and  it  never  occurs  to  them  to 

listen  to  others,  or  to  doubt  themselves Examine 

what  are  called  with  them  maxims  of  state ;  you  will  find 
nothing  but  the  laws  of  pride  itself,  adopted  through  arro 
gance  or  through  indolence." 49 

"Placed  by  nature  amidst  the  tempestuous  and  variable 
ocean,"  he  wrote  to  his  sovereign,  "  they  are  as  shifting,  as 
impetuous,  as  changeable  as  its  waves.  So  self-contradictory 
and  so  inconsistent  are  their  actions  almost  in  the  same 
instant  as  to  make  it  impossible  that  they  should  proceed 
from  the  same  persons  and  the  same  mind.  Agitated  and 
urged  by  their  pride  and  arrogance  alone,  they  take  all  their 
imaginations  and  extravagances  for  truths  and  realities ;  the 
objects  of  their  desires  and  affections  for  inevitable  events  ; 
not  balancing  and  measuring  those  desires  with  the  ac.tual 
condition  of  things,  nor  with  the  character  of  the  people  with 
whom  they  have  to  deal."  w 

When  the  ambassador  arrived  in  London  he  was  lodged  at 
Arundel  palace.  He  at  once  became  the  cynosure  of  all 
indigenous  parties  and  of  adventurous  politicians  from  every 


49  Memoires,  iv.  291,  292.  Compare 
the  ambassador's  letters  in  Vittorio 
Siri,  vol.  i. 


60  Rosny  to  the  King,  13  June, 
1603,  in  Vittorio  Siri.  Memorie  Re 
coudite,  i,  226. 


13C3.  INTERVIEW  WITH  CECIL.  157 

part  of  Europe  ;  few  knowing  how  to  shape  their  course  since 
the  great  familiar  lustre  had  disappeared  from  the  English 
sky. 

Kosny  found  the  Scotch  lords  sufficiently  favourable  to 
France  ;  the  English  Catholic  grandees,  with  all  the  Howards 
and  the  lord  high  admiral  at  their  head,  excessively  inclined 
to  Spain,  and  a  great  English  party  detesting  both  Spain  and 
France  with  equal  fervour  and  well  enough  disposed  to  the 
United  Provinces,  not  as  hating  that  commonwealth  less  but 
the  two  great  powers  more. 

The  ambassador  had  arrived  with  the  five  points,  not  in 
his  portfolio  but  in  his  heart,  and  they  might  after  all  be  con 
centrated  in  one  phrase — Down  with  Austria,  up  with  the 
Dutch  republic.  On  his  first  interview  with  Cecil,  who  came 
to  arrange  for  his  audience  with  the  king,  he  found  the 
secretary  much  disposed  to  conciliate  both  Spain  and  the 
empire,  and  to  leave  the  provinces  to  shift  for  themselves. 
He  spoke  of  Ostend  as  of  a  town  not  worth  the  pains  taken 
to  preserve  it,  and  of  the  India  trade  as  an  advantage  of 
which  a  true  policy  required  that  the  United  Provinces 
should  be  deprived.61  Already  the  fine  commercial  instinct 
of  England  had  scented  a  most  formidable  rival  on  the 
ocean. 

As  for  the  king,  he  had  as  yet  declared  himself  for  no 
party,  while  all  parties  were  disputing  among  each  other  for 
mastery  over  him.  James  found  himself,  in  truth,  as  much 
astray  in  English  politics  as  he  was  a  foreigner  upon  English 
earth.  Suspecting  every  one,  afraid  of  every  one,  he  was  in 
mortal  awe,  most  of  all,  of  his  wife,  who  being  the  daughter 
of  one  Protestant  sovereign  and  wife  of  another,  and  queen  of 
a  united  realm  dependent  for  its  very  existence  on  antago 
nism  to  Spain  and  Rome,  was  naturally  inclined  to  Spanish 
politics  and  the  Catholic  faith. 

The  turbulent  and  intriguing  Anne  of  Denmark  was  not  at 
the  moment  in  London,  but  James  was  daily  expecting  and 
De  Bethune  dreading  her  arrival. 

61  Letter  last  cited,  307. 


158  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL! 

The  ambassador  knew  very  well  that,  although  the  king 
talked  big  in  her  absence  about  the  forms  which  he  intended 
to  prescribe  for  her  conduct,  he  would  take  orders  from  her 
as  soon  as  she  arrived,  refuse  her  nothing,  conceal  nothing 
from  her,  and  tremble  before  her  as  usual.52 

The  king  was  not  specially  prejudiced  in  favour  of  the 
French  monarch  or  his  ambassador,  for  he  had  been  told 
that  Henry  had  occasionally  spoken  of  him  as  captain  of  arts 
and  doctor  of  arms,  and  that  both  the  Marquis  de  Rosny  and 
his  brother  were  known  to  have  used  highly  disrespectful 
language  concerning  him. 

Before  his  audience,  De  Rosny  received  a  private  visit 
from  Barneveld  and  the  deputies  of  the  States-General,  and 
was  informed  that  since  his  arrival  they  had  been  treated 
with  more  civility  by  the  king.  Previously  he  had  refused 
to  see  them  after  the  first  official  reception,  had  not  been 
willing  to  grant  Count  Henry  of  Nassau  a  private  audience, 
and  had  spoken  publicly  of  the  States  as  seditious  rebels. 

On  the  21st  June  Barneveld  had  a  long  private  interview 

21  June,        with  the  ambassador  at  Arundel  palace,  when  he 

exerted  all  his   eloquence  to   prove  the  absolute 

necessity   of  an    offensive    and   defensive    alliance    between 

France  and  the  United  Provinces  if  the  independence  of  the 

republic  were  ever  to  be  achieved.     Unless  a  French  army 

took  the  field  at  once,  Ostend  would  certainly  fall,  he  urged, 

and  resistance  to  the  Spaniards  would  soon  afterwards  cease.53 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  Advocate  felt  in  his  heart  so 
much  despair  as  his  words  indicated,  but  he  was  most  anx 
ious  that  Henry  should  openly  declare  himself  the  protector  of 
the  young  commonwealth,  and  not  indisposed  perhaps  to 
exaggerate  the  dangers,  grave  as  they  were  without  doubt, 
by  which  its  existence  was  menaced. 

The  ambassador  however  begged  the  Hollander  to  renounce 

any  such  hopes,  assuring  him  that  the  king  had  no  intention 

.;;    •       '/i;v.  >' .     >».!»;•  ;     (<< 

68  Despatches  of  Rosny,  in  Siri,  i.  23k1    '  •  >: 

53  Ibid.  309,  310.  Compare  Rosny's  letter  to  the  King,  in  Groen  v.  Prins- 
terer,  Archives,  II.  206-210. 


1603.  DE   ROSNY  AND  BARNEVELD.  159 

of  publicly  and  singly  taking  upon  his  shoulders  the  whole 
burden  of  war  with  Spain,  the  fruits  of  which  would  not  be  his 
to  gather.  Certainly  before  there  had  been  time  thoroughly  to 
study  the  character  and  inclinations  of  the  British  monarch  it 
would  be  impossible  for  De  Kosny  to  hold  out  any  encourage 
ment  in  this  regard.  He  then  asked  Barneveld  what  he  had 
been  able  to  discover  during  his  residence  in  London  as  to  the 
personal  sentiments  of  James. 

The  Advocate  replied  that  at  first  the  king,  yielding  to  his 
own  natural  tendencies,  and  to  the  advice  of  his  counsellors, 
had  refused  the  Dutch  deputies  every  hope,  but  that  sub 
sequently  reflecting,  as  it  would  seem,  that  peace  would  cost 
England  very  dear  if  English  inaction  should  cause  the 
Hollanders  to  fall  again  under  the  dominion  of  the  Catholic 
king,  or  to  find  their  only  deliverance  in  the  protection  of 
France,  and  beginning  to  feel  more  acutely  how  much 
England  had  herself  to  fear  from  a  power  like  Spain,  he  had 
seemed  to  awake  out  of  a  profound  sleep,  and  promised  to 
take  these  important  affairs  into  consideration. 

Subsequently  he  had  fallen  into  a  dreary  abyss  of  indecision, 
where  he  still  remained.54  It  was  certain  however  that  he 
would  form  no  resolution  without  the  concurrence  of  the  King 
of  France,  whose  ambassador  he  had  been  so  impatiently 
expecting,  and  whose  proposition  to  him  of  a  double  marriage 
between  their  respective  children  had  given  him  much  satis 
faction. 

De  Bosny  felt  sure  that  the  Dutch  statesmen  were  far  too 
adroit  to  put  entire  confidence  in  anything  said  by  James, 
whether  favourable  or  detrimental  to  their  cause.  He  con 
jured  Barneveld  therefore,  by  the  welfare  of  his  country,  to 
conceal  nothing  from  him  in  regard  to  the  most  secret 
resolutions  that  might  have  been  taken  by  the  States  in  the 
event  of  their  being  abandoned  by  England,  or  in  case  of 
their  being  embarrassed  by  a  sudden  demand  on  the  part 
of  that  power  for  the  cautionary  towns  offered  to  Elizabeth.55 

Barneveld,  thus  pressed,  and  considering  the  ambassador 
H  Better  of  Bosny,  itbi  mpf  P»  Ifrd,  313, 


160  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLi. 

as  the  confidential  counsellor  of  a  sovereign  who  was  the 
republic's  only  friend,  no  longer  hesitated.  Making  a  merit 
to  himself  of  imparting  an  important  secret,  he  said  that  the 
state-council  of  the  commonwealth  had  resolved  to  elude 
at  any  cost  the  restoration  of  the  cautionary  towns.56 

The  interview  was  then  abruptly  terminated  by  the  arrival 
of  the  Venetian  envoy. 

The  22nd   of  June   arrived.     The    marquis   had   ordered 
22  June,      mourning  suits  for  his  whole  embassy  and  retinue; 
by  particular  command  of  his  sovereign,  who  wished 
to  pay  this  public  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  great  queen. 

To  his  surprise  and  somewhat  to  his  indignation,  he  was 
however  informed  that  no  one,  stranger  or  native,  Scotchman 
or  Englishman,  had  been  permitted  to  present  himself  to  the 
king  in  black,  that  his  appearance  there  in  mourning  would 
be  considered  almost  an  affront,  and  that  it  was  a  strictly 
enforced  rule  at  court  to  abstain  from  any  mention  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  to  affect  an  entire  oblivion  of  her  reign.57 

At  the  last  moment,  and  only  because  convinced  that 
he  might  otherwise  cause  the  impending  negotiations 
utterly  to  fail,  the  ambassador  consented  to  attire  himself, 
the  hundred  and  twenty  gentlemen  selected  from  his  diplo 
matic  family  to  accompany  him  on  this  occasion,  and  all 
his  servants,  in  gala  costume.  The  royal  guards,  with  the 
Earl  of  Derby  at  their  head,  came  early  in  the  afternoon 
to  Arundel  House  to  escort  him  to  the  Thames,  and  were 
drawn  up  on  the  quay  as  the  marquis  and  his  followers 
embarked  in  the  splendid  royal  barges  provided  to  convey 
them  to  Greenwich.58 

On  arriving  at  their  destination  they  were  met  at  the 
landing  by  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  and  escorted  with 
great  pomp  and  through  an  infinite  multitude  of  spectators 
to  the  palace.  Such  was  the  crowd,  without  and  within,  of 
courtiers  and  common  people,  that  it  was  a  long  time  before 
the  marquis,  preceded  by  his  hundred  and  twenty  gentle 
men,  reached  the  hall  of  audience. 
*•  Letter  of  Rosny,  ubiaup.  57  Ibid,  320,  321.  68  Ibid,  323,  seqq. 


1603  INTERVIEW  WITH  KING  JAMES.  161 

At  last  he  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  throne,  when  James 
arose  and  descended  eagerly  two  steps  of  the  dais  in  order  to 
greet  the  ambassador.  He  would  have  descended  them  all 
had  not  one  of  the  counsellors  plucked  him  by  the  sleeve, 
whispering  that  he  had  gone  quite  far  enough. 

"  And  if  I  honour  this  ambassador,"  cried  James,  in  a  loud 
voice,  "  more  than  is  usual,  I  don't  intend  that  it  shall  serve 
as  a  precedent  for  others.  I  esteem  and  love  him  particularly, 
because  of  the  affection  which  I  know  he  cherishes  for  me, 
of  his  firmness  in  our  religion,  and  of  his  fidelity  to  his 
master." 59 

Much  more  that  was  personally  flattering  to  the  marquis 
was  said  thus  emphatically  by  James.  To  all  this  the  ambas 
sador  replied,  not  by  a  set  discourse,  but  only  by  a  few  words 
of  compliment,  expressing  his  sovereign's  regrets  at  the 
death  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  his  joy  at  the  accession  of 
the  new  sovereign.  He  then  delivered  his  letters  of  credence, 
and  the  complimentary  conversation  continued  ;  the  king 
declaring  that  he  had  not  left  behind  him  in  Scotland  his 
passion  for  the  monarch  of  France,  and  that  even  had  he 
found  England  at  war  with  that  country  on  his  accession 
he  would  have  instantly  concluded  a  peace  with  a  prince 
whom  he  so  much  venerated. 

Thus  talking,  the  king  caused  his  guest  to  ascend  with  him 
to  the  uppermost  steps  of  the  dais,  babbling  on  very  rapidly 
and  skipping  abruptly  from  one  subject  to  another.  De  Rosny 
took  occasion  to  express  his  personal  esteem  and  devotion, 
and  was  assured  by  the  king  in  reply  that  the  slanders 
in  regard  to  him  which  had  reached  the  royal  ears  had 
utterly  failed  of  their  effect.  It  was  obvious  that  they  were 
the  invention  of  Spanish  intriguers  who  wished  to  help  that 
nation  to  universal  monarchy.  Then  he  launched  forth  into 
general  and  cordial  abuse  of  Spain,  much  to  the  satisfaction 
of  Count  Henry  of  Nassau,  who  stood  near  enough  to  hear  a 
good  deal  of  the  conversation,  and  of  the  other  Dutch  deputies 
who  were  moving  about,  quite  unknown,  in  the  crowd.  He 
M  Letter  of  Rosny.  Siri,  vol.  i.  324. 

VOL.  IV. M 


162  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI 

denounced  very  vigorously  the  malignity  of  the  Spaniards  in 
lighting  fires  everywhere  in  their  neighbours'  possessions, 
protested  that  he  would  always  oppose  their  wicked  designs, 
but  spoke  contemptuously  of  their  present  king  as  too  feeble 
of  mind  and  body  ever  to  comprehend  or  to  carry  out  the 
projects  of  his  predecessors. 

Among  other  gossip,  James  asked  the  envoy  if  he  went  to 
hear  the  Protestant  preaching  in  London.  Being  answered 
in  the  affirmative,  he  expressed  surprise,  having  been  told,  he 
said,  that  it  was  Kosny's  intention  to  repudiate  his  religion 
as  De  Sancy  had  done,  in  order  to  secure  his  fortunes.  The 
marquis  protested  that  such  a  thought  had  never  entered 
his  head,  but  intimated  that  the  reports  might  come  from 
his  familiar  intercourse  with  the  papal  nuncius  and  many 
French  ecclesiastics.  The  king  asked  if,  when  speaking 
with  the  nuncius,  he  called  the  pope  his  Holiness,  as  by  so 
doing  he  would  greatly  offend  God,  in  whom  alone  was 
holiness.  Kosny  replied  that  he  commonly  used  the  style 
prevalent  at  court,  governing  himself  according  to  the  rules 
adopted  in  regard  to  pretenders  to  crowns  and  kingdoms 
which  they  thought  belonged  to  them,  but  the  possession  of 
which  was  in  other  hands,  conceding  to  them,  in  order  not  to 
offend  them,  the  titles  which  they  claimed.60 

James  shook  his  head  portentously,  and  changed  the 
subject. 

The  general  tone  of  the  royal  conversation  was  agreeable 
enough  to  the  ambassador,  who  eagerly  alluded  to  the  perfi 
dious  conduct  of  a  Government  which,  ever  since  concluding 
the  peace  of  Vervins  with  Henry,  had  been  doing  its  best 
to  promote  sedition  and  territorial  dismemberment  in  his 
kingdom,  and  to  assist  all  his  open  and  his  secret  enemies. 

James  assented  very  emphatically,  and  the  marquis  felt 
convinced  that  a  resentment  against  Spain,  expressed  so 
publicly  and  so  violently  by  James,  could  hardly  fail  to  be 
sincere.  He  began  seriously  to  hope  that  his  negotiations 
would  be  successful,  and  was  for  soaring  at  once  into  the 

60  Despatches  of  Rosny,  in  Vitt.  Siri,  i.  231. 


1603.  APPARENT   CANDOUR  OF  THE   KING.  163 

regions  of  high  politics,  when  the  king  suddenly  began  to  talk 
of  hunting. 

"And  so  you  sent  half  the  stag  I  sent  you  to  Count 
Arenberg,"  said  James  ;  "  but  he  is  very  angry  about  it, 
thinking  that  you  did  so  to  show  how  much  more  I  make  of 
you  than  I  do  of  him.  And  so  I  do;  for  I  know  the  difference 
between  your  king,  my  brother,  and  his  masters  who  have 
sent  rne  an  ambassador  who  can  neither  walk  nor  talk,  and 
who  asked  me  to  give  him  audience  in  a  garden  because  he 
cannot  go  upstairs."61 

The  king  then  alluded  to  Tassis,  chief  courier  of  his  Ca 
tholic  Majesty  and  special  envoy  from  Spain,  asking  whether 
the  marquis  had  seen  him  on  his  passage  through  France. 

"  Spain  sends  me  a  postillion-ambassador,"  said  he,  "  that 
he  may  travel  the  faster  and  attend  to  business  by  post."62 

It  was  obvious  that  James  took  a  sincere  satisfaction  in 
abusing  everything  relating  to  that  country  from  its  sovereign 
and  the  Duke  of  Lerma  downwards;63  but  he  knew  very  well 
that  Yelasco,  constable  of  Castile,  had  been  already  designated 
as  ambassador,  and  would  soon  be  on  his  way  to  England. 

De  Kosny  on  the  termination  of  his  audience  was  escorted 
in  great  state  by  the  Earl  of  Northumberland  to  the  barges. 

A  few  days  later,  the  ambassador  had  another  private 
audience,  in  which  the  king  expressed  himself  with 
apparent  candour  concerning  the  balance  of  power.64 
Christendom,  in  his  opinion,  should  belong  in  three  equal 
shares  to  the  families  of  Stuart,  Bourbon,  and  Habsburg  ; 
but  personal  ambition  and  the  force  of  events  had  given  to 
the  house  of  Austria  more  than  its  fair  third.  Sound  policy 
therefore  required  a  combination  between  France  and  Eng 
land,  in  order  to  reduce  their  copartner  within  proper  limits. 
This  was  satisfactory  as  far  as  it  went,  and  the  ambassador 
complimented  the  king  on  his  wide  views  of  policy  and  his 
lofty  sentiments  in  regard  to  human  rights. 


61  Sully,    Memoires,  iv.   331,   seqq. 
Despatches  of  Rosny,  in  Vitt.  Siri,  i. 

62  Memoires,  ubi  sup. 

68  See  especially  the  despatches  of 


the  ambassador  to  the  king  in  the 
month  of  July,  in  Vittorio  Siri,  Mem. 
Rec.  i. 
64  Memoires,  355,  segg. 


164  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI 

Warming  with  the  subject,  James  held  language  very 
similar  to  that  which  De  Rosny  and  his  master  had  used  in 
their  secret  conferences,  and  took  the  ground  unequivocally 
that  the  secret  war  levied  by  Spain  against  France  and 
England,  as  exemplified  in  the  Biron  conspiracy,  the  assault 
on  Geneva,  the  aid  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  and  in  the  per 
petual  fostering  of  Jesuit  intrigues,  plots  of  assassination,  and 
other  conspiracies  in  the  British  islands,  justified  a  secret  war 
on  the  part  of  Henry  and  himself  against  Philip. 

The  ambassador  would  have  been  more  deeply  impressed 
with  the  royal  language  had  he  felt  more  confidence  in  the 
royal  character. 

Highly  applauding  the  sentiments  expressed,  and  desiring 
to  excite  still  further  the  resentment  of  James  against  Spain, 
he  painted  a  vivid  picture  of  the  progress  of  that  aggressive 
power  in  the  past  century.  She  had  devoured  Flanders, 
Burgundy,  Granada,  Navarre,  Portugal,  the  German  Empire, 
Milan,  Naples,  and  all  the  Indies.  If  she  had  not  swallowed 
likewise  both  France  and  England  those  two  crowns  were 
indebted  for  their  preservation,  after  the  firmness  of  Elizabeth 
and  Henry,  to  the  fortunate  incident  of  the  revolt  of  the  Nether 
lands.^ 

De  Rosny  then  proceeded  to  expound  the  necessity  under 
which  James  would  soon  find  himself  of  carrying  on  open 
war  with  Spain,  and  of  the  expediency  of  making  preparations 
for  the  great  struggle  without  loss  of  time. 

He  therefore  begged  the  king  to  concert  with  him  some 
satisfactory  measure  for  the  preservation  of  the  United 
Provinces. 

"  But,"  said  James,  "  what  better  assistance  could  we  give 

65  Memoires,  359.  And  in  thus  speak 
ing  he  expressed  the  firm  conviction 


of  the  whole  French  court.  "Pro 
vided  the  States  remain  at  war,"  said 
Villeroy,  "  and  the  Spaniards  have 
this  bone  to  gnaw,  it  will  always  be  in 
the  power  of  the  English  to  change 
their  minds.  If  Spain  could  get  this 


could  her  insolence  be  cheeked  ?  The 
kingdoms  of  France  and  England 
being  filled  with  discords  in  regard  to 
religion  as  they  are,  how  can  they 
resist  Spanish  power  and  Spanish  cor 
ruption  ?  Even  now  they  can  hardly 
do  it,  occupied,  diverted,  and  wearied 
as  are  the  Spaniards  with  their  wai 


get 

thorn  out  of  her  foot  which  God  has  !  against  the  Netherlands."     Groen  v 
put  there,  and  thus  far  lias  kept  there  '  Prinsterer,  Archives,  II.  231,  232. 
so    miraculously,  with    what    bridle  | 


1600.       INVITATION  OF  THE  EMBASSY  TO  GREENWICH.        165 

the  Netherlander®  than  to  divide  their  territory  between  the 
States  and  Spain ;  agreeing  at  the  same  time  to  drive 
the  Spaniard  out  altogether,  if  he  violates  the  conditions 
which  we  should  guarantee."66 

This  conclusion  was  not  very  satisfactory  to  De  Kosny,  who 
saw  in  the  bold  language  of  the  king — followed  thus  by  the 
indication  of  a  policy  that  might  last  to  the  Greek  Kalends, 
and  permit  Ostend,  Dutch  Flanders,  and  even  the  republic  to 
fall — nothing  but  that  mixture  of  timidity,  conceit,  and  pro 
crastination  which  marked  the  royal  character.  He  pointed 
out  to  him  accordingly  that  Spanish  statesmanship  could  beat 
the  world  in  the  art  of  delay,  and  of  plucking  the  fruits  of 
delay,  and  that  when  the  United  Provinces  had  been  once 
subjugated,  the  turn  of  England  would  come.  It  would  be 
then  too  late  for  him  to  hope  to  preserve  himself  by  such 
measures  as,  taken  now,  would  be  most  salutary.67 

A  few  days  later  the  king  invited  De  Kosny  and  the  two 
hundred  members  of  his  embassy  to  dine  at  Greenwich,  and 
the  excursion  down  the  Thames  took  place  with  the  usual 
pomp. 

The  two  hundred  dined  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  court ; 
while  at  the  king's  table,  on  an  elevated  platform 

,1  i     n  i     ,    T^      -r.  29  June. 

in  the   same   hall,  were   no  guests  but  De  Kosny, 
and  the  special  envoy  of  France,  Count  Beaumont. 

The  furniture  and  decorations  of  the  table  were  sumptuous, 
and  the  attendants,  to  the  surprise  of  the  Frenchmen,  went  on 
their  knees  whenever  they  offered  wine  or  dishes  to  the  king. 
The  conversation  at  first  was  on  general  topics,  such  as  the 
heat  of  the  weather,  which  happened  to  be  remarkable, 

66  Memoires,  iv.  404,  seqq.  Siri,  |  and  to  establish  a  universal  monarchy. 
ubi  sup.  |  That  is  the  bottom  of  their  intentions. 

61  Memoires,  ubi  sup.  363.  "In  truth,"  i  It  is  the  regular  covetousness  and 
wrote  the  ambassador  to  his  sovereign,  j  ambition  of  Spain,  continued  by  the 
"  Spain  wishes  to  honey  you  both  (the  successors  of  Charles  V.  The  two 
kings  of  France  and  England)  in  order  houses  of  Austria  and  of  Spain  being- 
to  accomplish  more  easily  the  complete  united,  she  has  reached  such  an  in- 
conquest  of  the  Netherlands.  When  crease  of  power  in  less  than  one 
these  are  joined  to  her  great  and  hundred  years  that  the  very  imagina- 
almost  infinite  power,  she  hopes  to  tion  of  it  is  terrific." — Sully  to  the 
give  the  law  to  Christendom,  to  make  King,  in  Groen  v.  Prinsterer,  ii.  204 
herself  formidable  to  all  other  princes,  205, 


166  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XU 

the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  and  the  merits  of  the  sermon 
which,  as  it  was  Sunday,  De  Kosny  had  been  invited  to  hear 
before  dinner  in  the  royal  chapel. 

Soon  afterwards,  however,  some  allusion  being  made  to  the 
late  queen,  James  spoke  of  her  with  contempt.  He  went  so 
far  as  to  say  that,  for  a  long  time  before  her  death,  he  had 
governed  the  councils  of  England;  all  her  ministers  obeying 
and  serving  him  much  better  than  they  did  herself.68  He 
then  called  for  wine,  and,  stretching  out  his  glass  towards  his 
two  guests,  drank  to  the  health  of  the  king  and  queen  and 
royal  family  of  France. 

De  Kosny  replied  by  proposing  the  health  of  his  august 
host,  not  forgetting  the  queen  and  their  children,  upon  which 
the  king,  putting  his  lips  close  to  the  ambassador's  ear,  re 
marked  that  his  next  toast  should  be  in  honour  of  the  matri 
monial  union  which  was  proposed  between  the  families  of 
Britain  and  France.69 

This  was  the  first  allusion  made  by  James  to  the  alliance, 
and  the  occasion  did  not  strike  the  marquis  as  particularly 
appropriate  to  such*  a  topic.  He  however  replied  in  a  whisper 
that  he  was  rejoiced  to  hear  this  language  from  the  king, 
having  always  believed  that  there  would  be  no  hesitation  on 
his  part  between  King  Henry  and  the  monarch  of  Spain,  who, 
as  he  was  aware,  had  made  a  similar  proposition.  James, 
expressing  surprise  that  his  guest  was  so  well  informed, 
avowed  that  he  had  in  fact  received  the  same  offer  of  the 
Infanta  for  his  son  as  had  been  made  to  his  Christian  Majesty 
for  the  Dauphin.  What  more  convenient  counters  in  the 
great  game  of  state  than  an  infant  prince  and  princess  in  each 
of  the  three  royal  families  to  which  Europe  belonged !  To 
how  many  grave  political  combinations  were  these  unfortunate 
infants  to  give  rise,  and  how  distant  the  period  when  great 
nations  might  no  longer  be  tied  to  the  pinafores  of  children 
in  the  nursery! 

After  this  little  confidential  interlude,  James  expressed  in 
a  loud  voice,  so  that  all  might  hear,  his  determination  never 
68  Memoires,  iv.  378.  M  Ibid. 


1603.  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  CONFERENCE.  167 

to  permit  the  subjugation  of  the  Netherlands  by  Spain. 
Measures  should  be  taken  the  very  next  day,  he  promised, 
in  concert  with  the  ambassador,  as  to  the  aid  to  be  given 
to  the  States.  Upon  the  faith  of  this  declaration  De  Kosny 
took  from  his  pocket  the  plan  of  a  treaty,  and  forthwith,  in 
the  presence  of  all  the  ministers,  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
king,  who  meantime  had  risen  from  table.  The  ambassador 
also  took  this  occasion  to  speak  publicly  of  the  English  pira 
cies  upon  French  commerce  while  the  two  nations  were  at 
peace.  The  king,  in  reply,  expressed  his  dissatisfaction 
at  these  depredations  and  at  the  English  admiral  who 
attempted  to  defend  what  had  been  done. 

He  then  took  leave  of  his  guests,  and  went  off  to  bed,  where 
it  was  his  custom  to  pass  his  afternoons.70 

It  was  certain  that  the  Constable  of  Castile  was  now  to 
arrive  very  soon,  and  the  marquis  had,  meantime,  obtained 
information  on  which  he  relied,  that  this  ambassador  would 
come  charged  with  very  advantageous  offers  to  the  English 
court.  Accounts  had  been  got  ready  in  council,  of  all  the 
moneys  due  to  England  by  France  and  by  the  States,  and 
it  was  thought  that  these  sums,  payment  of  which  was  to  be 
at  once  insisted  upon,  together  with  the  Spanish  dollars  set 
afloat  in  London,  would  prove  sufficient  to  buy  up  all  resist 
ance  to  the  Spanish  alliance.71 

Such  being  the  nature  of  the  information  furnished  to  De 
Rosny,  he  did  not  look  forward  with  very  high  hopes  to  the 
issue  of  the  conference  indicated  by  King  James  at  the  Green 
wich  dinner.  As,  after  all,  he  would  have  to  deal  once  more 
with  Cecil,  the  master-spirit  of  the  Spanish  party,  it  did  not 
seem  very  probable  that  the  king's  whispered  professions  of 
affection  for  France,  his  very  loud  denunciations  of  Spanish 
ambition,  and  his  promises  of  support  to  the  struggling  pro 
vinces,  would  be  brought  into  any  substantial  form  for  human 
nourishment.  Whispers  and  big  words,  touching  of  glasses 
at  splendid  banquets,  and  proposing  of  royal  toasts,  would  not 

70  Memoires,  iv.  380. 

«  Ibid.  375,  376.    Despatches  of  Rosny,  in  Sin. 


168  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLl 

go  far  to  help  those  soldiers  in  Ostend,  a  few  miles  away, 
fighting  two  years  long  already  for  a  square  half-mile  of  barren 
sand,  in  which  seemed  centred  the  world's  hopes  of  freedom. 

Barneveld  was  inclined  to  take  an  even  more  gloomy  view 
than  that  entertained  by  the  French  ambassador.  He  had^ 
in  truth,  no  reason  to  be  sanguine.  The  honest  republican 
envoys  had  brought  no  babies  to  offer  in  marriage.  Their 
little  commonwealth  had  only  the  merit  of  exchanging  buffets 
forty  years  long  with  a  power  which,  after  subjugating  the 
Netherlands,  would  have  liked  to  annihilate  France  and  Eng 
land  too,  and  which,  during  that  period,  had  done  its  best  to 
destroy  and  dismember  both.  It  had  only  struggled  as  no 
nation  in  the  world's  history  had  ever  done,  for  the  great 
principle  upon  which  the  power  and  happiness  -of  England 
were  ever  to  depend.  It  was  therefore  not  to  be  expected 
that  its  representatives  should  be  received  with  the  distinc 
tion  conferred  upon  royal  envoys.  Barneveld  and  his  col 
leagues  accordingly  were  not  invited,  with  two  hundred 
noble  hangers-on,  to  come  down  the  Thames  in  gorgeous 
array,  and  dine  at  Greenwich  palace;  but  they  were  per 
mitted  to  mix  in  the  gaping  crowd  of  spectators,  to  see  the 
fine  folk,  and  to  hear  a  few  words  at  a  distance  which  fell 
from  august  lips.72  This  was  not  very  satisfactory,  as  Barne 
veld  could  rarely  gain  admittance  to  James  or  his  ministers. 
De  Rosny,  however,  was  always  glad  to  confer  with  him,  and 
was  certainly  capable  of  rendering  justice  both  to  his  genius 
and  to  the  sacredness  of  his  cause.  The  Advocate,  in  a  long 
conference  with  the  ambassador,  thought  it  politic  to  paint 
the  situation  of  the  republic  in  even  more  sombre  colours 
,than  seemed  to  De  Rosny  justifiable.  He  was,  indeed,  the 
more  struck  with  Barneveld's  present  despondency,  because, 
at  a  previous  conference,  a  few  days  before,  he  had  spoken 
almost  with  contempt  of  the  Spaniards,  expressing  the 
opinion  that  the  mutinous  and  disorganized  condition  of 
the  archduke's  army  rendered  the  conquest  of  Ostend  im 
probable,  and  hinted  at  a  plan,  of  which  the  world  as  yet 
w  Memoires,  iv.  327. 


1603.          CONFERENCE  OF  DE  ROSNY  AND  BARNEVELD.          169 

knew  nothing,  which  would  save  that  place,  or  at  any  rate 
would  secure  such  an  advantage  for  the  States  as  to  more 
than  counterbalance  its  possible  loss.73  This  very  sanguine 
demeanour  had  rather  puzzled  those  who  had  conferred 
with  the  Advocate,  although  they  were  ere  long  destined 
to  understand  his  allusions,  and  it  was  certainly  a  contrast 
to  his  present  gloom.  He  assured  De  Kosny  that  the  Hol 
landers  were  becoming  desperate,  and  that  they  were  capable 
of  abandoning  their  country  in  mass,  and  seeking  an  asylum 
beyond  the  seas.74  The  menace  was  borrowed  from  the 
famous  project  conceived  by  William  the  Silent  in  darker 
days,  and  seemed  to  the  ambassador  a  present  anachronism. 
Obviously  it  was  thought  desirable  to  force  the  French  policy 
to  extreme  lengths,  and  Barneveld  accordingly  proposed  that 
Henry  should  take  the  burthen  upon  his  shoulders  of  an  open 
war  with  Spain,  in  the  almost  certain  event  that  England 
would  make  peace  with  that  power.  De  Kosny  calmly  inti 
mated  to  the  Advocate  that  this  was  asking  something  entirely 
beyond  his  power  to  grant,  as  the  special  object  of  his  mission 
was  to  form  a  plan  of  concerted  action  with  England.75 

The  cautionary  towns  being  next  mentioned,  Barneveld 
stated  that  a  demand  had  been  made  upon  Envoy  Caron  by 
Cecil  for  the  delivery  of  those  places  to  the  English  Govern 
ment,  as  England  had  resolved  to  make  peace  with  Spain. 
The  Advocate  confided,  however,  to  De  Kosny  that  the 
States  would  interpose  many  difficulties,  and  that  it  would 


73  Memoires,  iv.  344,  345. 

74  Ibid.  381. 

75  The  great  object  of  Henry  was  to 
prevent  a  treaty  between  the  kings  of 
Spain  and  Britain,  and  above  all  to 
exclude  the  United  Provinces  from 
any  such  arrangement.     "  You  know 
how  much  interest  I  have  in  this,"  he 

'said  to  his  ambassador  ;  "  it  is  the  most 
important  affair  of  my  reign.  You 
must  never  forget  what  my  interest 
requires,  that  these  two  kings  shall 
never  come  to  an  agreement.  I  don't 
wish  the  States  to  enter  into  the  treaty 
or  to  lay  down  their  arms  on  any  pre 
text.  Nevertheless,  I  ought  not  to 
appear  to  have  any  wish  to  prevent  a 


peace  between  the  two  kingdoms,  nor 
the  reconciliation  of  the  provinces, 
both  on  account  of  my  reputation  and 
because  any  demonstration  that  I 
might  make  would  rather  increase  than 
diminish  the  desire  of  the  two  kings  to 
come  to  an  understanding." — (Groen 
v.  Prinsterer,  Archives,  II.  224-226). 
These  being  the  secret  intentions  of 
the  monarch,  candidly  expressed,  it 
was  obviously  a  delicate  matter  for 
De  Rosny,  who  knew  that  his  master 
meant  to  remain  at  peace  and  yet  reap 
the  advantage  of  a  successful  war  at 
the  expense  of  his  friends  and  enemies 
alike,  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  all 
parties. 


170  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI. 

be  long  before  the  towns  were  delivered.  This  important 
information  was  given  under  the  seal  of  strictest  secrecy,  and 
was  coupled  with  an  inference  that  a  war  between  the  repub 
lic  and  Britain  would  be  the  probable  result,  in  which  case 
the  States  relied  upon  the  alliance  with  France.  The  ambas 
sador  replied  that  in  this  untoward  event  the  republic  would 
have  the  sympathy  of  his  royal  master,  but  that  it  would  be 
out  of  the  question  for  him  to  go  to  war  with  Spain  and  Eng 
land  at  the  same  time.76 

On  the  same  afternoon  there  was  a  conference  at  Arundel 
House  between  the  Dutch  deputies,  the  English  counsellors, 
and  De  Rosny,  when  Barneveld  drew  a  most  dismal  picture 
of  the  situation  ;  taking  the  ground  that  now  or  never  was 
the  time  for  driving  the  Spaniards  entirely  out  of  the  Nether 
lands.  Cecil  said  in  a  general  way  that  his  Majesty  felt  a 
deep  interest  in  the  cause  of  the  provinces,  and  the  French 
ambassador  summoned  the  Advocate,  now  that  he  was  assured 
of  the  sympathy  of  two  great  kings,  to  furnish  some  plan  by 
which  that  sympathy  might  be  turned  to  account.  Barneveld, 
thinking  figures  more  eloquent  than  rhetoric,  replied  that 
the  States.,  besides  garrisons,  had  fifteen  thousand  infantry 
and  three  thousand  cavalry  in  the  field,  and  fifty  war  ships 
in  commission,  with  artillery  and  munitions  in  proportion, 
and  that  it  would  be  advisable  for  France  and  England  to 
furnish  an  equal  force,  military  and  naval,  to  the  common 
cause.77 

De  Eosny  smiled  at  the  extravagance  of  the  proposition. 
Cecil,  again  taking  refuge  in  commonplaces,  observed  that 
his  master  was  disposed  to  keep  the  peace  with  all  his  neigh 
bours,  but  that,  having  due  regard  to  the  circumstances,  he 
was  willing  to  draw  a  line  between  the  wishes  of  the  States 
and  his  own,  and  would  grant  them  a  certain  amount  of  * 
succour  underhand. 

Thereupon  the  Dutch  deputies  withdrew  to  confer.     De 
Rosny,  who  had  no  faith  in  Cecil's  sincerity — the  suggestion 
being  essentially  the  one  which  he  had  himself  desired — went 
•w  Memoires,  iv.  383  «  Ibid.  383-395, 


1603.  CONFERENCE  AT  ARUNDEL  HOUSE.  17] 

meantime  a  little  deeper  into  the  subject,  and  soon  found  that 
England,  according  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  had  no  idea  of 
ruining  herself  for  the  sake  of  the  provinces,  or  of  entering 
into  any  positive  engagements  in  their  behalf.  In  case  Spain 
should  make  a  direct  attack  upon  the  two  kings  who  were  to 
constitute  themselves  protectors  of  Dutch  liberty,  it  might  be 
necessary  to  take  up  arms.  The  admission  was  on  the  whole 
superfluous,  it  not  being  probable  that  Britain,  even  under  a 
Stuart,  would  be  converted  to  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance. 
Yet  in  this  case  it  was  suggested  by  Cecil  that  the  chief 
reliance  of  his  Government  would  be  on  the  debts  owed  by 
the  Dutch  and  French  respectively,  which  would  then  be 
forthwith  collected. 

De  Rosny  was  now  convinced  that  Cecil  was  trifling  with 
him,  and  evidently  intending  to  break  off  all  practical  nego 
tiations.  He  concealed  his  annoyance,  however,  as  well  as 
he  could,  and  simply  intimated  that  the  first  business  of 
importance  was  to  arrange  for  the  relief  of  Ostend  ;  that 
eventualities,  such  as  the  possible  attack  by  Spain  upon  France 
and  England,  might  for  the  moment  be  deferred,  but  that  if 
England  thought  it  a  safe  policy  to  ruin  Henry  by  throwing 
on  his  shoulders  the  whole  burthen  of  a  war  with  the  common 
enemy,  she  would  discover  and  deeply  regret  her  fatal  mis 
take.  The  time  was  a  very  ill-chosen  one  to  summon  France 
to  pay  old  debts,  and  his  Christian  Majesty  had  given  his 
ambassador  no  instructions  contemplating  such  a  liquidation. 
It  was  the  intention  to  discharge  the  sum  annually,  little  by 
little,  but  if  England  desired  to  exhaust  the  king  by  these 
peremptory  demands,  it  was  an  odious  conduct,  and  very  dif 
ferent  from  any  that  France  had  ever  pursued. 

The  English  counsellors  were  not  abashed  by  this  rebuke, 
but  became,  on  the  contrary,  very  indignant,  avowing  that 
if  anything  more  'Was  demanded  of  them,  England  would 
entirely  abandon  the  United  Provinces.  "Cecil  made  him 
self  known  to  me  in  this  conference,"  said  De  Kosny,  "for 
exactly  what  he  was.  He  made  use  only  of 'double 'meanings 
and  vague  propositions,  feeling  that  reason  was  not  on  his 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLl 

side.  He  was  forced  to  blush  at  his  own  self-contradictions, 
when,  with  a  single  word,  I  made  him  feel  the  absurdity  of 
his  language.  Now,  endeavouring  to  intimidate  me,  he  exag 
gerated  the  strength  of  England,  and  again  he  enlarged  upon 
the  pretended  offers  made  by  Spain  to  that  nation." 78 

The  secretary,  desirous  to  sow  discord  between  the  Dutch 
deputies  and  the  ambassador,  then  observed  that  France 
ought  to  pay  to  England  £50,000  upon  the  nail,  which 
sum  would  be  at  once  appropriated  to  the  necessities  of  the 
States.  " But  what  most  enraged  me,"  said  De  Rosny,  "was 
to  see  these  ministers,  who  had  come  to  me  to  state  the  inten 
tions  of  their  king,  thus  impudently  substitute  their  own  ;  for 
I  knew  that  he  had  commanded  them  to  do  the  very  contrary 
to  that  which  they  did." 79 

The  conference  ended  with  a  suggestion  by  Cecil,  that 
as  France  would  only  undertake  a  war  in  conjunction  with 
England,  and  as  England  would  only  consent  to  this  if  paid 
by  France  and  the  States,  the  best  thing  for  the  two  kings  to 
do  would  be  to  do  nothing,  but  to  continue  to  live  in  friend 
ship  'together,  without  troubling  themselves  about  foreign 
complications. 

This  was  the  purpose  towards  which  the  English  counsellors 
had  been  steadily  tending,  and  these  last  words  of  Cecil 
seemed  to  the  ambassador  the  only  sincere  ones  spoken  by  him 
in  the  whole  conference. 

"If  I  kept  silence,"  said  the  ambassador,  "it  was  not 
because  I  acquiesced  in  their  reasoning.  On  the  contrary, 
the  manner  in  which  they  had  just  revealed  themselves,  and 
avowed  themselves  in  a  certain  sort  liars  and  impostors,  had 
given  me  the  most  profound  contempt  for  them.  I  thought, 
however,  that  by  heating  myself  and  contending  with  them — 
so  far  from  causing  them  to  abandon  a  resolution  which  they 
had  taken  in  concert — I  might  even  bring  about  a  total 
rupture.  On  the  other  hand,  matters  remaining  as  they 
were,  and  a  friendship  existing  between  the  two  kings,  which 
might  perhaps  be  cemented  by  a  double  marriage,  a  more 
™  Memoires,  iv.  391.  «  Ibid.  392,  393. 


1603.  INSINCERITY  OF  THE  COUNSELLORS.  173 

favourable  occasion  might  present  itself  for  negotiation.  I 
did  not  yet  despair  of  the  success  of  my  mission,  because 
I  believed  that  the  king  had  no  part  in  the  designs  which  his 
counsellors  wished  to  carry  out."  * 

That  the  counsellors,  then  struggling  for  dominion  over  the 
new  king  and  his  kingdom,  understood  the  character  of  their 
sovereign  better  than  did  the  ambassador,  future  events  were 
likely  enough  to  prove.  That  they  preferred  peace  to  war, 
and  the  friendship  of  Spain  to  an  alliance,  offensive  and 
defensive,  with  France  in  favour  of  a  republic  which  they 
detested,  is  certain.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  understand 
why  they  were  "  liars  and  impostors  "  because,  in  a  conference 
with  the  respresentative  of  France,  they  endeavoured  to  make 
their  own  opinions  of  public  policy  valid  rather  than  content 
themselves  simply  with  being  the  errand-bearers  of  the  new 
king,  whom  they  believed  incapable  of  being  stirred  to  an 
honourable  action. 

The  whole  political  atmosphere  of  Europe  was  mephitic  with 
falsehood,  and  certainly  the  gales  which  blew  from  the  Eng 
lish  court  at  the  accession  of  James  were  not  fragrant,  but  De 
Rosny  had  himself  come  over  from  France  under  false  pre 
tences.  He  had  been  charged  by  his  master  to  represent 
Henry's  childish  scheme,  which  he  thought  so  gigantic,  for 
the  regeneration  of  Europe,  as  a  project  of  his  own,  which  he 
was  determined  to  bring  to  execution,  even  at  the  risk  of  infi 
delity  to  his  sovereign,  and  the  first  element  in  that  whole 
policy  was  to  carry  on  war  underhand  against  a  power  with 
which  his  master  had  just  sworn  to  preserve  peace.  In  that 
age  at  least  it  was  not  safe  for  politicians  to  call  each  other 
hard  names. 

The  very  next  day  De  Kosny  had  a  long  private  interview 
with  James  at  Greenwich.  Being  urged  to  speak  without 
reserve,  the  ambassador  depicted  the  privy  counsellors  to  the 
king  as  false  to  his  instructions,  traitors  to  the  best  inte 
rests  of  their  country,  the  humble  servants  of  Spain,  and  most 
desirous  to  make  their  royal  master  the  slave  of  that  power 

80  Meroojies,  394,  395, 


174  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI. 

under  the  name  of  its  ally.  He  expressed  the  opinion, 
accordingly,  that  James  would  do  better  in  obeying  only  the 
promptings  of  his  own  superior  wisdom,  rather  than  the  sug 
gestions  of  the  intriguers  about  him.  The  adroit  De  Rosny 
thus  softly  insinuated  to  the  flattered  monarch  that  the 
designs  of  France  were  the  fresh  emanations  of  his  own 
royal  intellect.  It  was  the  whim  of  James  to  imagine  him 
self  extremely  like  Henry  of  Bourbon  in  character,  and  he 
affected  to  take  the  wittiest,  bravest,  most  adventurous,  and 
most  adroit  knight-errant  that  ever  won  and  wore  a  crown  as 
his  perpetual  model. 

It  was  delightful,  therefore,  to  find  himself,  in  company 
with  his  royal  brother,  making  and  unmaking  kings,  destroy 
ing  empires,  altering  the  whole  face  of  Christendom,  and, 
better  than  all,  settling  then  and  for  ever  the  theology  of  the 
whole  world,  without  the  trouble  of  moving  from  his  easy 
chair,  or  of  incurring  any  personal  danger. 

He  entered  at  once,  with  the  natural  tendency  to  suspicion 
of  a  timid  man,  into  the  views  presented  by  De  Eosny  as  to  the 
perfidy  of  his  counsellors.  He  changed  colour,  and  was  visibly 
moved,  as  the  ambassador  gave  his  version  of  the  recent 
conference  with  Cecil  and  the  other  ministers,  and  being 
thus  artfully  stimulated,  he  w^as  prepared  to  receive  with 
much  eagerness  the  portentous  communications  now  to  be 
made. 

The  ambassador,  however,  caused  him  to  season  his  admira 
tion  until  he  had  taken  a  most  solemn  oath,  by  the  sacra 
ment  of  the  Eucharist,  never  to  reveal  a  syllable  of  what 
he  was  about  to  hear.  This  done,  and  the  royal  curiosity 
excited  almost  beyond  endurance,  De  Rosny  began  to  unfold 
the  stupendous  schemes  which  had  been  concerted  between 
Elizabeth  and  Henry  at  Dover,  and  which  formed  the  secret 
object  of  his  present  embassy.  Feeling  that  the  king  was 
most  malleable  in  the  theological  part  of  his  structure,  the 
wily  envoy  struck  his  first  blows  in  that  direction,  telling  him 
that  his  own  interest  in  the  religious  condition  of  Europe,  and 
especially  in  the  firm  establishment  of  the  Protestant  faith, 


1603.  HENRY'S  GREAT  POLITICAL  SCHEME.  175 

far  surpassed  in  his  mind  all  considerations  of  fortune,  country, 
or  even  of  fidelity  to  his  sovereign.81  Thus  far,  political  con 
siderations  had  kept  Henry  from  joining  in  the  great  Catholic 
League,  but  it  was  possible  that  a  change  might  occur  in  his 
system,  and  the  Protestant  form  of  worship,  abandoned  by  its 
ancient  protector,  might  disappear  entirely  from  France  and 
from  Europe.  De  Bosny  had,  therefore,  felt  the  necessity  of 
a  new  patron  for  the  reformed  religion  in  this  great  emergency, 
and  had  naturally  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  puissant  and  sagacious 
prince  who  now  occupied  the  British  throne.  Now  was  the 
time,  he  urged,  for  James  to  immortalize  his  name  by  becom 
ing  the  arbiter  of  the  destiny  of  Europe.  It  would  always 
seem  his  own  design,  although  Henry  was  equally  interested 
in  it  with  himself.  The  plan  was  vast  but  simple,  and  per 
fectly  easy  of  execution.  There  would  be  no  difficulty  in 
constructing  an  all-powerful  league  of  sovereigns  for  the  de 
struction  of  the  house  of  Austria,  the  foundation-stones  of 
which  would  of  course  be  France,  Great  Britain,  and  the 
United  Provinces.  The  double  marriage  between  the  Bour 
bon  and  Stuart  families  would  indissolubly  unite  the  two 
kingdoms,  while  interest  and  gratitude,  a  common  hatred  and 
a  common  .love,  would  bind  the  republic  as  firmly  to  the 
union.  Denmark  and  Sweden  were  certainly  to  be  relied 
upon,  as  well  as  all  other  Protestant  princes.  The  ambitious 
and  restless  Duke  of  Savoy  would  be  gained  by  the  offer  of 
Lombardy  and  a  kingly  crown,  notwithstanding  his  matri 
monial  connection  with  Spain.  As  for  the  German  princes, 
they  would  come  greedily  into  the  arrangement,  as  the 
league,  rich  in  the  spoils  of  the  Austrian  house,  would  have 
Hungary,  Bohemia,  Silesia,  Moravia,  the  archduchies,  and 
other  splendid  provinces  to  divide  among  them. 

The  pope  would  be  bought  up  by  a  present,  in  fee-simple, 
of  Naples,  and  other  comfortable  bits  of  property,  of  which  he 
was  now  only  feudal  lord.  Sicily  would  be  an  excellent  sop 
for  the  haughty  republic  of  Venice.  The  Franche  Comte, 
Alsace,  Tirol,  were  naturally  to  be  annexed  to  Switzerland  ; 

81  Memoires,  iv.  402. 


176  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI. 

Liege  and  the  heritage  of  the  Duke  of  Cleves  and  Juliers  to 
the  Dutch  commonwealth.82 

The  King  of  France,  who,  according  to  De  Kosny's  solemn 
assertions,  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  whole  scheme,83  would, 
however,  be  sure  to  embrace  it  very  heartily  when  James 
should  propose  it  to  him,  and  would  be  far  too  disinterested 
to  wish  to  keep  any  of  the  booty  for  himself.  A  similai 
self-denial  was,  of  course,  expected  of  James,  the  two  great 
kings  satisfying  themselves  with  the  proud  consciousness  of 
having  saved  society,  rescued  the  world  from  the  sceptre  of 
an  Austrian  universal  monarchy,  and  regenerated  European 
civilization  for  all  future  time.84 

The  monarch  listened  with  ravished  ears,  interposed  here 
and  there  a  question  or  a  doubt,  but  devoured  every  detail  of 
the  scheme,  as  the  ambassador  slowly  placed  it  before  him. 

De  Kosny  showed  that  the  Spanish  faction  was  not  in  reality 
so  powerful  as  the  league  which  would  be  constructed  for  its 
overthrow.  It  was  not  so  much  a  religious  as  a  political  fron 
tier  which  separated  the  nations.  He  undertook  to  prove 
this,  but,  after  all,  was  obliged  to  demonstrate  that  the  defec 
tion  of  Henry  from  the  Protestant  cause  had  deprived  him  of 
his  natural  allies,  and  given  him  no  true  friends  in  exchange 
for  the  old  ones. 

Essentially  the  Catholics  were  ranged  upon  one  side,  and 
the  Protestants  on  the  other,  but  both  religions  were  necessary 
to  Henry  the  Huguenot.  The  bold  free-thinker  adroitly 
balanced  himself  upon  each  creed.  In  making  use  of  a  stern 
and  conscientious  Calvinist,  like  Maximilian  de  Bethune,  in 
his  first  assault  upon  the  theological  professor  who  now  stood 
in  Elizabeth's  place,  he  showed  the  exquisite  tact  which  never 
failed  him.  Toleration  for  the  two  religions  which  had  political 
power,  perfect  intolerance  for  all  others  ;  despotic  forms  of 
polity,  except  for  two  little  republics  which  were  to  be  smo 
thered  with  protection  and  never  left  out  of  leading  strings, 
a  thorough  recasting  of  governments  and  races,  a  palingenesis 
of  Europe,  a  nominal  partition  of  its  hegemony  between 
*»  Memoires,iv.  204.  «  Ibid.  M  Ibid.  404,  seqq. 


1603.  JAMES'S  APPROVAL  OF  THE  PROJECT.  177 

France  and  England,  which  was  to  be  in  reality  absorbed  by 
France,  and  the  annihilation  of  Austrian  power  east  and  west, 
these  were  the  vast  ideas  with  which  that  teeming  Bourbon 
brain  was  filled.  It  is  the  instinct  both  of  poetic  and  of  ser 
vile  minds  to  associate  a  sentiment  of  grandeur  with  such  fan 
tastic  dreams,  but  usually  on  condition  that  the  dreamer 
wears  a  crown.  When  the  regenerator  of  society  appears 
with  a  wisp  of  straw  upon  his  head,  unappreciative  society  is 
apt  to  send  him  back  to  his  cell.  There,  at  least,  his  capacity 
for  mischief  is  limited. 

If  to  do  be  as  grand  as  to  imagine  what  it  were  good  to  do, 
then  the  Dutchmen  in  Hell's  Mouth  and  the  Porcupine  fight 
ing  Universal  Monarchy  inch  by  inch  and  pike  to  pike,  or 
trying  conclusions  with  the  ice-bears  of  Nova  Zembla,  or  cap 
turing  whole  Portuguese  fleets  in  the  Moluccas,  were  effecting 
as  great  changes  in  the  world,  and  doing  perhaps  as  much  for 
the  advancement  of  civilization,  as  James  of  the  two  Britains 
and  Henry  of  France  and  Navarre  in  those  his  less  heroic 
days,  were  likely  to  accomplish.  History  has  long  known 
the  results. 

The  ambassador  did  his  work  admirably.  The  king  em 
braced  him  in  a  transport  of  enthusiasm,  vowed  by  all  that 
was  most  sacred  to  accept  the  project  in  all  its  details,  and 
exacted  from  the  ambassador  in  his  turn  an  oath  on  the 
Eucharist  never  to  reveal,  except  to  his  master,  the  mighty 
secrets  of  their  conference.85 

The  interview  had  lasted  four  hours.  When  it  was  con 
cluded,  James  summoned  Cecil,  and  in  presence  of  the 
ambassador  and  of  some  of  the  counsellors,  lectured  him 
soundly  on  his  presumption  in  disobeying  the  royal  commands 
in  his  recent  negotiations  with  De  Rosny.  He  then  announced 
his  decision  to  ally  himself  strictly  with  France  against  Spain 
in  consequence  of  the  revelations  just  made  to  him,  and  of 
course  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  United  Provinces.  Telling 
the  crest-fallen  Secretary  of  State  to  make  the  proper  official 
communications  on  the  subject  to  the  ambassadors  of  my 
85  Memoires,  iv.  417,  et  seqq.  Despatches  in  Siri,  vol.  1. 

VOL.  IV. — N 


178  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLI. 

lords  the  States-General,86 — thus  giving  the  envoys  from  the 
republic  for  the  first  time  that  pompous  designation, — the  king 
turned  once  more  to  the  marquis  with  the  exclamation, — 
"  Well,  Mr.  Ambassador,  this  time  I  hope  that  you  are  satis 
fied  with  me  ?" 87 

In  the  few  days  following  De  Rosny  busied  himself  in 
drawing  up  a  plan  of  a  treaty  embodying  all  that  had  been 
agreed  upon  between  Henry  and  himself,  and  which  he  had 
just  so  faithfully  rehearsed  to  James.  He  felt  now  some 
inconvenience  from  his  own  artfulness,  and  was  in  a  measure 
caught  in  his  own  trap.  Had  he  brought  over  a  treaty  in  his 
pocket,  James  would  have  signed  it  on  the  spot,  so  eager  was 
he  for  the  regeneration  of  Europe.  It  was  necessary,  how 
ever,  to  continue  the  comedy  a  little  longer,  and  the  ambas 
sador,  having  thought  it  necessary  to  express  many  doubts 
whether  his  master  could  be  induced  to  join  in  the  plot,  and 
to  approve  what  was  really  his  own  most  cherished  plan; 
could  now  do  no  more  than  promise  to  use  all  his  powers 
of  persuasion  unto  that  end. 

The  project  of  a  convention,  which  James  swore  most 
solemnly  to  sign,  whether  it  were  sent  to  him  in  six  weeks  or 
six  months,  was  accordingly  rapidly  reduced  to  writing  and 
approved.  It  embodied,  of  course,  most  of  the  provisions 
discussed  in  the  last  secret  interview  at  Greenwich.  The 
most  practical  portion  of  it  undoubtedly  related  to  the  United 
Provinces,  and  to  the  nature  of  assistance  to  be  at  once 
afforded  to  that  commonwealth,  the  only  ally  of  the  two  king 
doms  expressly  mentioned  in  the  treaty.  England  was  to 
furnish  troops,  the  number  of  which  was  not  specified,  and 
France  was  to  pay  for  them,  partly  out  of  her  own  funds, 
partly  out  of  the  amount  due  by  her  to  England.  It  was,  how 
ever,  understood,  that  this  secret  assistance  should  not  be 
considered  to  infringe  the  treaty  of  peace  which  already 
existed  between  Henry  and  the  Catholic  king.  Due  and 
detailed  arrangements  were  made  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
the  allies  were  to  assist  each  other,  in  case  Spain,  not  re 
s'5  Memojres,  iv,  430.  87  Ibid. 


1603. 


DIFFICULTY  OF  ITS  ACHIEVEMENT. 


179 


lishing  this  kind  of  neutrality,  should  think  proper  openly 
to  attack  either  great  Britain  or  France,  or  both.88 

Unquestionably  the  Dutch  republic  was  the  only  portion  of 
Europe  likely  to  be  substantially  affected  by  these  secret  ar 
rangements  ;  for,  after  all,  it  had  not  been  found  very  easy  to 
embody  the  splendid  visions  of  Henry,  which  had  so  dazzled 
the  imagination  of  James  in  the  dry  clauses  of  a  protocol. 

It  was  also  characteristic  enough  of  the  crowned  conspira 
tors,  that  the  clause  relating  to  the  United  Provinces  provided 
that  the  allies  would  either  assist  them  in  the  attainment  of 
their  independence,  or89 — if  it  should  be  considered  expe 
dient  to  restore  them  to  the  domination  of  Spain  or  the 
empire — would  take  such  precautions  and  lay  down  such 
conditions  as  would  procure  perfect  tranquillity  for  them,  and 
remove  from  the  two  allied  kings  the  fear  of  a  too  absolute 
government  by  the  house  of  Austria  in  those  provinces. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  impotent  conclu 
sion.  Those  Dutch  rebels  had  not  been  fighting  for  tran 
quillity.  The  tranquillity  of  the  rock  amid  raging  waves — 
according  to  the  device  of  the  father  of  the  republic — they 
had  indeed  maintained  ;  but  to  exchange  their  turbulent  and 
tragic  existence,  ever  illumined  by  the  great  hope  of  freedom, 
for  repose  under  one  despot  guaranteed  to  them  by  two  others, 
was  certainly  not  their  aim.  They  lacked  the  breadth  of  vision 
enjoyed  by  the  regenerators  who  sat  upon  mountain-tops. 

They  were  fain  to  toil  on  in  their  own  way.  Perhaps,  how 
ever,  the  future  might  show  as  large  results  from  their  work 
as  from  the  schemes  of  those  who  were  to  begin  the  humilia 
tion  of  the  Austrian  house  by  converting  its  ancient  rebels 
into  tranquil  subjects. 

The  Marquis  of  Rosny,  having  distributed  60,000  crowns 
among  the  leading  politicians  and  distinguished  personages 
at  the  English  court,  with  ample  promises  of  future 
largess  if  they  remained  true  to  his  master,90  took  an  affec- 


88  Sully,  Memoires,  v.  1-12. 

89  Ibid,  7,  8. 

*  Ibid,  20,  35,  40.         "  L'objet  du 


roy  en  faisant  tant  de  riches  presens 
dont  meme  une  bonne  partie  fut  con- 
tumee  aux  seigneurs  Anglais  en  forme 


180 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XL! 


tionate  farewell  of  King  James,  and  returned  with  his  noble 
two  hundred  to  recount  his  triumphs  to  the  impatient 
Henry.  The  treaty  was  soon  afterwards  duly  signed  and 
ratified  by  the  high  contracting  parties.  It  was,  however,  for 
future  history  to  register  its  results  on  the  fate  of  pope, 
emperor,  kings,  potentates,  and  commonwealths,  and  to  show 
the  changes  it  would  work  in  the  geography,  religion,  and 
polity  of  the  world.91 

The  deputies  from  the  States-General,  satisfied  with  the 
practical  assistance  promised  them,  soon  afterwards  took  their 
departure  with  comparative  cheerfulness,  having  previously 
obtained  the  royal  consent  to  raise  recruits  in  Scotland. 
Meantime  the  great  Constable  of  Castile,  ambassador  from  his 
Catholic  Majesty,  had  arrived  in  London,  and  was  wroth  at 
all  that  he  saw  and  all  that  he  suspected.  He,  too,  began  to 
scatter  golden  arguments  with  a  lavish  hand  among  the 
great  lords  and  statesmen  of  Britain,92  but  found  that  the 
financier  of  France  had,  on  the  whole,  got  before  him  in  the 
business,  and  was  skilfully  maintaining  his  precedence  from 
the  other  side  of  the  channel. 

But  the  end  of  these  great  diplomatic  manoeuvres  had  not 
yet  come. 


de  pension,  etoit  de  les  retenir  et  de 
les  attacher  de  plus  en  plus  a  son 
parti.  Je  les  fis  sur  ma  propre  con- 
naissance  et  sur  les  recommandations 
de  Beaumont,  et  ma  principale  atten 
tion  fut  de  les  distribuer  de  maniere 
qu'ils  ne  fissent  naitre  aucune  jalousie 
entre  ces  seigneurs  Anglois  et  que 
le  roy  lui  meme  n'en  prit  aucun 
eoupcon,"  &c.  &c. 

91  "  II  multiplia  le  nombre  de  ses 
creatures  parcequ'il  fit  des  liberalites 
extraordinaires  a  tous  ceux  dont  il 
arut  avoir  besoin,  &c.  &c.  Ibid.  35 


92  Et  pour  user  de  toutes  sortes 
de  centre  batteries  contre  les  Es- 
pagnols  qui  faisoient  des  presens  a 
toutes  mains,  on  en  fit  aussi  et  meme 
des  pensions  a  tout  ce  qu'il  y  avoit 
d'Anglois  distingues  a  la  cour  du  Roi 

Jacques c'est  ainsi  que 

TEspagne  se  vit  frustree  des  brillantes 
esperances  qu'elle  avoit  con^ues  contre 
nous  de  1'avenement  du  Roy  d'Ecosse 
a  la  couronne  d'Angleterre  et  qui 
etoit  peut-etre  le  motif  des  armamens 
immenses  qu'elle  fit  cette  annee." 
Ibid.  40. 


1603.  SIEGE  OF  OSTEND.  181 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

Siege  of  Ostend  —  The  Marquis  Spinola  made  commander-in-chief  of  tlie 
besieging  army — Discontent  of  the  troops  —  General  aspect  c*  the  opera 
tions  —  Gradual  encroachment  of  the  enemy. 

THE  scene  again  shifts  to  Ostend.  The  Spanish  cabinet, 
wearied  of  the  slow  progress  of  the  siege,  and  not  entirely 
satisfied  with  the  generals,  now  concluded  almost  without 
consent  of  the  archdukes,  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  jobs 
ever  made,  even  in  those  jobbing  days.  The  Marquis  Spinola, 
elder  brother  of  the  ill-fated  Frederic,  and  head  of  the  illus 
trious  Genoese  family  of  that  name,  undertook  to  furnish  a 
large  sum  of  money  which  the  wealth  of  his  house  and  its  con 
nection  with  the  great  money-lenders  of  Genoa  enabled  him 
to  raise,  on  condition  that  he  should  have  supreme  command 
of  the  operations  against  Ostend  and  of  the  foreign  armies  in 
the  Netherlands.1  He  was  not  a  soldier,  but  he  entered  into 
a  contract,  by  his  own  personal  exertions  both  on  the  exchange 
and  in  the  field,  to  reduce  the  city  which  had  now  resisted  all 
the  efforts  of  the  archduke  for  more  than  two  years.  Certainly 
this  was  an  experiment  not  often  hazarded  in  warfare.  The 
defence  of  Ostend  was  in  the  hands  of  the  best  and  most 
seasoned  fighting-men  in  Europe.  The  operations  were  under 
the  constant  supervision  of  the  foremost  captain  of  the  age ; 
for  Maurice,  in  consultation  with  the  States-General,  received 
almost  daily  reports  from  the  garrison,  and  regularly  furnished 
advice  and  instructions  as  to  their  proceedings.  He  was  more 
over  ever  ready  to  take  the  field  for  a  relieving  campaign. 
Nothing  was  known  of  Spinola  save  that  he  was  a  high-born 
and  very  wealthy  patrician  who  had  reached  his  thirty-fourth 

1  Gallucci,  II.  lib.  xvi.  109-137,  138.     Bentivoglio,  iii.  519.     Grotius,  lii 
633,  634.     Wagenaar,  ix.  162,  163. 

VOL.  II— 6* 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL1I. 

year  without  achieving  personal  distinction  of  any  kind,  and 
who,  during  the  previous  summer,  like  so  many  other  nobles 
from  all  parts  of  Europe,  had  thought  it  worth  his  while  to 
drawl  through  a  campaign  or  two  in  the  Low  Countries.  It 
was  the  mode  to  do  this,  and  it  was  rather  a  stigma  upon  any 
young  man  of  family  not  to  have  been  an  occasional  looker 
on  at  that  perpetual  military  game.  His  brother  Frederic, 
as  already  narrated,  had  tried  his  chance  for  fame  and  fortune 
in  *  the  naval  service,  and  had  lost  his  life  in  the  •  adventure 
without  achieving  the  one  or  the  other.  This  was  not  a 
happy  augury  for  the  head  of  the  family.  Frederic  had  made 
an  indifferent  speculation.  What  could  the  brother  hope  by 
taking  the  field  against  Maurice  of  Nassau  and  Lewis  Wil 
liam  and  the  Baxes  and  Meetkerkes  ?  Nevertheless  the  arch 
duke  eagerly  accepted  his  services,  while  the  Infanta,  fully 
confident  of  his  success  before  he  had  ordered  a  gun  to  be 
fired,  protested  that  if  Spinola  did  not  take  Ostend  nobody 
would  ever  take  it.2  There  was  also,  strangely  enough,  a 
general  feeling  through  the  republican  ranks  that  the  long- 
expected  man  had  come. 

Thus  a  raw  volunteer,  a  man  who  had  never  drilled  a 
hundred  men,  who  had  never  held  an  officer's  commission  in 
any  army  in  the  world,  became,  as  by  the  waving  of  a  wand, 
a  field-marshal  and  commander-in-chief  at  a  most  critical 
moment  in  history,  in  the  most  conspicuous  position  in 
Christendom,  and  in  a  great  war,  now  narrowed  down  to  a 
single  spot  of  earth,  on  which  the  eyes  of  the  world  were  fixed, 
and  the  daily  accounts  from  which  were  longed  for  with 
palpitating  anxiety.  What  but  failure  and  disaster  could  be 
expected  from  such  astounding  policy  ?  Every  soldier  in  the 
Catholic  forces — from  grizzled  veterans  of  half  a  century  who 
had  commanded  armies  and  achieved  victories  when  this 
dainty  young  Italian  was  in  his  cradle,  down  to  the  simple 
musketeer  or  rider  who  had  been  campaigning  for  his  daily 
bread  ever  since  he  could  carry  a  piece  or  mount  a  horse — - 
was  furious  with  discontent  or  outraged  pride. 

2  Gallucci,  ubi  sup. 


1603.  THE  NEW  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.  183 

Very  naturally  too,  it  was  said  that  the  position  of  the 
archdukes  had  become  preposterous.  It  was  obvious,  notwith 
standing  the  pilgrimages  of  the  Infanta  to  Our  Lady  of  Hall,3 
to  implore  not  only  the  fall  of  Ostend,  but  the  birth  of  a  suc 
cessor  to  their  sovereignty,  that  her  marriage  would  for  ever 
remain  barren.  Spain  was  already  acting  upon  this  theory, 
it  was  said,  for  the  contract  with  Spinola  was  made,  not  at 
Brussels,  but  at  Madrid,  and  a  foreign  army  of  Spaniards  and 
Italians,  under  the  supreme  command  of  a  Genoese  adven 
turer,  was  now  to  occupy  indefinitely  that  Flanders  which 
had  been  proclaimed  an  independent  nation,  and  duly  be 
queathed  by  its  deceased  proprietor  to  his  daughter. 

Ambrose  Spinola,  son  of  Philip,  Marquis  of  Venafri,  and 
his  wife,  Polyxena  Grimaldi,4  was  not  appalled  by  the  mur 
murs  of  hardly  suppressed  anger  or  public  criticism.  A 
handsome,  aristocratic  personage,  with  an  intellectual,  sad, 
but  sympathetic  face,  fair  hair  and  beard,  and  imposing  but 
attractive  presence — the  young  volunteer,  at  the  beginning 
of  October,  made  his  first  visit  of  inspection  in  the  lines 
before  Ostend.  After  studying  the  situation  of  affairs  very 
thoroughly,  he  decided  that  the  operations  on  the  Gullet 
or  eastern  side,  including  Bucquoy's  dike,  with  Pompey 
Targone's  perambulatory  castles  and  floating  batteries,  were 
of  secondary  importance.  He  doubted  the  probability  of 
closing  up  a  harbour,  now  open  to  the  whole  world  and 
protected  by  the  fleets  of  the  first  naval  power  of  Europe, 
with  wickerwork,  sausages,  and  bridges  upon  barrels.  His 
attention  was  at  once  concentrated  on  the  western  side, 
and  he  was  satisfied  that  only  by  hard  fighting  and  steady 
delving  could  he  hope  to  master  the  place.  To  gain  Ostend 
he  would  be  obliged  to  devour  it  piecemeal  as  he  went  on. 

Whatever  else  might  be  said  of  the  new  commander-in- 
ehief,  it  was  soon  apparent  that,  although  a  volunteer  and  a 
patrician,  he  was  no  milksop.  If  he  had  been  accustomed 
all  his  life  to  beds  of  down,  he  was  as  ready  now  to  lie  in  the 
trenches,  with  a  cannon  for  his  pillow,  as  the  most  ironclad 

3  Meteren,  493v  4  GaUucci,  ubi  w$. 


184  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIL 

veteran  in  the  ranks.  He  seemed  to  require  neither  sleep  nor 
food,  and  his  reckless  habit  of  exposing  himself  to  unnecessary 
danger  was  the  subject  of  frequent  animadversion  on  the  part 
both  of  the  archdukes  and  of  the  Spanish  Government.5 

It  was  however  in  his  case  a  wise  temerity.  The  veterans 
whom  he  commanded  needed  no  encouragement  to  daring 
deeds,  but  they  required  conviction  as  to  the  valour  and  zeal 
of  their  new  commander,  and  this  was  afforded  them  in  over 
flowing  measure. 

It  is  difficult  to  decide,  after  such  a  lapse  of  years,  as  to  how 
much  of  the  long  series  of  daily  details  out  of  which  this 
famous  siege  was  compounded  deserves  to  be  recorded.     It  is 
not  probable  that  for  military  history  many  of  the  incidents 
have  retained  vital  importance.      The   world   rang,  at   the 
beginning  of  the  operations,  with  the  skill  and  inventive  talent 
of  Targone,  Giustiniani,  and  other  Italian  engineers,  artificers, 
and  pyrotechnists,  and  there  were  great  expectations  conceived 
of  the  effects  to  be  produced  by  their  audacious  and  original 
devices.      But    time   wore   on.      Pompey's    famous    floating 
battery  would  not  float,  his  moving  monster  battery  would 
not  move.     With  the  one,  the  subtle  Italian  had  intended  to 
close  up  the  Gullet  to  the  States'  fleets.     It  was  to  rest  on  the 
bottom  at  low  water  at  the  harbour's  mouth,  to  rise  majestically 
with  the  flood,  and  to  be  ever  ready  with  a  formidable  broad 
side  of  fifty  pounders  against  all  comers.     But  the  wild  waves 
and  tempests  of  the  North  Sea  soon  swept  the  ponderous  toy 
into  space,  before  it  had  fired  a  gun.     The  gigantic  chariot,  on 
which  a  moveable  fort  was  constructed,  was  still  more  porten 
tous  upon  paper  than  the  battery.     It  was  directed  against 
that  republican  work,  defending  the  Gullet,  which  was  called 
in  derision  the  Spanish  Half-moon.     It  was  to  be  drawn  by 
forty  horses,  and  armed  with  no  man  knew  how  many  great 
guns,  with  a  mast  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high  in  the  centre 
of  the  fort,  up  and  down  which  played  pulleys  raising  and 
lowering  a  drawbridge  long  enough  to  span  the  Gullet. 

It  was  further  provided  with  anchors,  which  were  to  be 

6  Gallucci, 


1603.  PROGRESS  OP  OPERATIONS.  185 

tossed  over  the  parapet  of  the  doomed  redoubt,  while  the 
assailants,  thus  grappled  to  the  enemy's  work,  were  to  dash 
over  the  bridge  after  having  silenced  the  opposing  fire  by 
means  of  their  own  peripatetic  battery. 

Unfortunately  for  the  fame  of  Pompey,  one  of  his  many 
wheels  was  crushed  on  the  first  attempt  to  drag  the  chariot  to 
the  scene  of  anticipated  triumph,  the  whole  structure  remained 
embedded  in  the  sand,  very  much  askew  ;  nor  did  all  the 
mules  and  horses  that  could  be  harnessed  to  it  ever  succeed 
in  removing  it  an  inch  out  of  a  position,  which  was  anything 
but  triumphant.6 

It  seemed  probable  enough  therefore  that,  so  far  as 
depended  on  the  operations  from  the  eastern  side,  the  siege 
of  Ostend,  which  had  now  lasted  two  years  and  three  months, 
might  be  protracted  for  two  years  and  three  months  longer. 
Indeed,  Spinola  at  once  perceived  that  if  the  archduke  was 
ever  to  be  put  in  possession  of  the  place  for  which  he  had  pro 
fessed  himself  ready  to  wait  eighteen  years,  it  would  be  well 
to  leave  Bucquoy  and  Targone  to  build  dykes  and  chariots 
and  bury  them  on  the  east  at  their  leisure,  while  more  energy 
was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  line  of  fortifications  of  the  west 
than  had  hitherto  been  employed.  There  had  been  shooting 
enough,  bloodshed  enough,  suffering  enough,  but  it  was 
amazing  to  see  the  slight  progress  made.  The  occupation  of 
what  were  called  the  external  Squares  has  been  described. 
This  constituted  the  whole  result  of  the  twenty-seven  months' 
work. 

The  town  itself— the  small  and  very  insignificant  kernel 
which  lay  enclosed  in  such  a  complicated  series  of  wrappings 
and  layers  of  defences — seemed  as  far  off  as  if  it  were 
suspended  in  the  sky.  The  old  haven  or  canal,  no  longer 
navigable  for  ships,  still  served  as  an  admirable  moat  which 
the  assailants  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  laying  entirely  dry. 
It  protected  the  counterscarp,  and  was  itself  protected  by  an 
exterior  series  of  works,  while  behind  the  counterscarp  was 

«  Meteren,  496,  497.     Gallucci,  lib.  xvi.  xvii.  xviii.     Bentivoglio,  iii.  520- 
524.    Fleming,  432,  433,  et  passim.    Grotius,  lib  xii.  xiii. 


186  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIL 

still  another  ditch,  not  so  hroad  nor  deep  as  the  canal,  hut  a 
formidable  obstacle  even  after  the  counterscarp  should  be 
gained.  There  were  nearly  fifty  forts  and  redoubts  in  these 
lines,  of  sufficient  importance  to  have  names  which  in  those 
days  became  household  words,  not  only  in  the  Netherlands, 
but  in  Europe  ;  the  siege  of  Ostend  being  the  one  military 
event  of  Christendom,  so  long  as  it  lasted.  These  names  are 
of  course  as  much  forgotten  now  as  those  of  the  bastions  before 
Nineveh.  A  very  few  of  them  will  suffice  to  indicate  the 
general  aspect  of  the  operations.  On  the  extreme  south-west 
of  Ostend  had  been  in  peaceful  times  a  polder — the  general 
term  to  designate  a  pasture  out  of  which  the  sea- water  had 
been  pumped — and  the  forts  in  that  quarter  were  accordingly 
called  by  that  name,  as  Polder  Half-moon,  Polder  Ravelin, 
or  great  and  little  Polder  Bulwark,  as  the  case  might  be. 
Farther  on  towards  the  west,  the  north-west,  and  the  north, 
and  therefore  towards  the  beach,  were  the  West  Ravelin, 
West  Bulwark,  Moses's  Table,  the  Porcupine,  the  Hell's 
Mouth,  the  old  church,  and  last  and  most  important  of  all, 
the  Sand  Hill.  The  last-named  work  was  protected  by  the 
Porcupine  and  Hell's  Mouth,  was  the  key  to  the  whole  series 
of  fortifications,  and  was  connected  by  a  curtain  with  the  old 
church,  which  was  in  the  heart  of  the  old  town.7 

Spinola  had  assumed  command  in  October,  but  the  winter 
was  already  closing  in  with  its  usual  tempests  and  floods  before 
there  had  been  time  for  him  to  produce  much  effect.  It 
seemed  plain  enough  to  the  besieged  that  the  object  of  the 
memy  would  be  to  work  his  way  through  the  Polder,  and 
so  gradually  round  to  the  Porcupine  and  the  Sand  Hill. 
Precisely  in  what  directions  his  subterraneous  passages 
might  be  tending,  in  what  particular  spot  of  the  thin  crust 
upon  which  they  all  stood  an  explosion  might  at  any  moment 
be  expected,  it  was  of  course  impossible  to  know.  They  were 
sure  that  the  process  of  mining  was  steadily  progressing,  and 
Maurice  sent  orders  to  countermine  under  every  bulwark, 
and  to  secretly  isolate  every  bastion,  so  that  it  would  be 

7  Fleming,  Meteren,  Bentivoglio,  Grotius,  ubi  sup. 


1604  STORMING  OF  THE  POLDER  BULWARK.  187 

necessary  for  Spinola  to  make  his  way,  fort  by  fort,  and  inch 
by  inch.8 

Thus  they  struggled  drearily  about  under  ground,  friend 
and  foe,  often  as  much  bewildered  as  wanderers  in  the  cata 
combs.  To  a  dismal  winter  succeeded  a  ferocious  spring. 
Both  in  February  and  March  were  westerly  storms,  such  as 
had  not  been  recorded  even  on  that  tempest-swept  coast  for 
twenty  years,  and  so  much  damage  was  inflicted  on  the 
precious  Sand  Hill  and  its  curtain,  that,  had  the  enemy  been 
aware  of  its  plight,  it  is  probable  that  one  determined  assault 
might  have  put  him  in  possession  of  the  place.  But  Ostend 
was  in  charge  of  a  most  watchful  governor,  Peter  van  Gieselles, 
who  had  succeeded  Charles  van  der  Noot  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1603.9  A  plain,  lantern-jawed,  Dutch  colonel,  with  close- 
cropped  hair,  a  long  peaked  beard,  and  an  eye  that  looked  as 
if  it  had  never  been  shut  ;  always  dressed  in  a  shabby  old 
jerkin  with  tarnished  flowers  upon  it,  he  took  command  with 
a  stout  but  heavy  heart,  saying  that  the  place  should  never  be 
surrendered  by  him,  but  that  he  should  never  live  to  see  the 
close  of  the  siege.10  He  lost  no  time  in  repairing  the  damages 
of  the  tempest,  being  ready  to  fight  the  west  wind,  the  North 
Sea,  and  Spinola  at  any  moment,  singly  or  conjoined.  He 
rebuilt  the  curtain  of  the  Sand  Hill,  added  fresh  batteries  to 
the  Porcupine  and  Hell's  Mouth,  and  amused  and  distracted 
the  enemy  with  almost  daily  sorties  and  feints.  His  soldiers 
passed  their  days  and  nights  up  to  the  knees  in  mud  and 
sludge  and  sea-water,  but  they  saw  that  their  commander 
never  spared  himself,  and  having  a  superfluity  of  food  and 
drink,  owing  to  the  watchful  care  of  the  States-General,  who 
sent  in  fleets  laden  with  provisions  faster  than  they  could  be 
consumed,  they  were  cheerful  and  content.  ' 

On  the  12th  March  there  was  a  determined  effort  to  carry 
the  lesser  Polder  Bulwark.  After  a  fierce  and  13  March, 
bloody  action,  the  place  was  taken  by  storm,  and  the  1604- 
first  success  in  the  game  was  registered  for  Spinola.  The 
little  fort  was  crammed  full  of  dead,  but  such  of  the  defenders 
s  Fleming.  Ibid.  418.  10  Ibid. 


188  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLH 

as  survived  were  at  last  driven  out  of  it,  and  forced  to  take 
refuge  in  the  next  work.11  Day  after  day  the  same  bloody 
business  was  renewed,  a  mere  monotony  of  assaults,  repulses, 
sallies,  in  which  hardly  an  inch  of  ground  was  gained  on  either 
side,  except  at  the  cost  of  a  great  pile  of  corpses.  "  Men  will 
never  know,  nor  can  mortal  pen  ever  describe/'  said  one  who 
saw  it  all,  "  the  ferocity  and  the  pertinacity  of  both  besiegers 
and  besieged."12  On  the  15th  of  March,  Colonel 
Catrice,  an  accomplished  Walloon  officer  of  engi 
neers,  commanding  the  approaches  against  the  Polder,  was 

killed.13     On  the  21st  March,  as  Peter  Gieselles 
21  March.  .  ,,.         ,.. 

was  taking  his  scrambling  dinner  in  company  with 

Philip  Fleming,  there  was  a  report  that  the  enemy  was  out 
again  in  force.  A  good  deal  of  progress  had  been  made  during 
the  previous  weeks  on  the  south-west  and  west,  and  more  was 
suspected  than  was  actually  known.  It  was  felt  that  the 
foe  was  steadily  nibbling  his  way  up  to  the  counterscarp. 
Moreover,  such  was  the  emulation  among  the  Germans, 
Walloons,  Italians,  and  Spaniards  for  precedence  in  working 
across  the  canal,14  that  a  general  assault  and  universal 
explosion  were  considered  at  any  instant  possible.  The 
governor  sent  Fleming  to  see  if  all  was  right  in  the  Por 
cupine,  while  he  himself  went  to  see  if  a  new  battery,  which 
he  had  just  established  to  check  the  approaches  of  the  enemy 
towards  the  Polder  Half-moon  and  Kavelin  in  a  point  very  near 
the  counterscarp,  was  doing  its  duty.  Being,  as  usual,  anxious 
to  reconnoitre  with  his  own  eyes,  he  jumped  upon  the  rampart. 
But  there  were  sharp-shooters  in  the  enemy's  trenches,  and 
they  were  familiar  with  the  governor's  rusty  old  doublet 
and  haggard  old  face.15  Hardly  had  he  climbed  upon  the 
breastwork  when"  a  ball  pierced  his  heart,  and  he  fell  dead 
without  a  groan.16  There  was  a  shout  of  triumph  from  the 
outside,  while  the  tidings  soon  spread  sadness  through 
the  garrison,  for  all  loved  and  venerated  the  man.17  Philip 
Fleming,  so  soon  as  he  learned  the  heavy  news,  lost  no  time 

»  Fleming,  470,  471.        12  Ibid.        ls  Ibid.  473.         14  Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup. 
v  Fleming,  479,  480,  l6  Ibid.  "  Jbid, 


1604.  FALL  OF  THE  POLDER  RAVELIN.  139 

in  unavailing  regrets,  but  instantly  sent  a  courier  to  Prince 
Maurice  ;  meantime  summoning  a  council  of  superior  officers, 
by  whom  Colonel  John  van  Loon  was  provisionally  appointed 
commandant.18 

A  stately,  handsome  man,  a  good  officer,  but  without 
extensive  experience,  he  felt  himself  hardly  equal  to  the 
immense  responsibility  of  the  post,  but  yielding  to  the  per 
suasions  of  his  comrades,  proceeded  to  do  his  best.  His  first 
care  was  to  secure  the  all-important  Porcupine,  towards  which 
the  enemy  had  been  slowly  crawling  with  his  galleries  and 
trenches.  Four  days  after  he  had  accepted  the  35  March, 
command  he  was  anxiously  surveying  that  fortifica-  1604- 
tion,  and  endeavouring  to  obtain  a  view  of  the  enemy's  works, 
when  a  cannon-ball  struck  him  on  the  right  leg,  so  that  he 
died  the  next  day.19  Plainly  the  post  of  commandant  of 
Ostend  was  no  sinecure.  He  was  temporarily  succeeded  by 
Sergeant-Major  Jacques  de  Bievry,  but  the  tumults  and  con 
fusion  incident  upon  this  perpetual  change  of  head  were 
becoming  alarming.  The  enemy  gave  the  garrison  no  rest 
night  nor  day,  and  it  had  long  become  evident  that  the 
young  volunteer,  whose  name  was  so  potent  on  the  Genoa 
Exchange,  was  not  a  man  of  straw  nor  a  dawdler,  however  the 
superseded  veterans  might  grumble.  At  any  rate  the  troops 
on  either  side  were  like  to  have  their  fill  of  work. 

On  the  2nd  April  the  Polder  Kavelin  was  carried  by  storm. 
It  was   a  most  bloody  action.     Never  were  a  few 
square  feet  of  earth  more  recklessly  assailed,  more 
resolutely  maintained.      The  garrison  did  not  surrender  the 
place,   but   they  all  laid    down   their  lives   in  its   defence. 
Scarcely  an  individual  of  them  all  escaped,  and  the  foe,  who 
paid  dearly  with  heaps  of  dead  and  wounded  for  his  prize, 
confessed  that   such   serious   work  as   this  had  scarce  been 
known  before   in  any  part   of  that  great  slaughter-house, 
Flanders.20 

A  few  days  later,  Colonel  Bievry,  provisional  commandant, 
was  desperately  wounded  in  a  sortie,  and  was  carried  off  to 
"  Fleming,  479,  480.  19  Ibid.  487,  492.  80  Ibid.  501,  502. 


190  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIi 

Zeeland.21  The  States-General  now  appointed  Jacques  van  der 
Meer,  Baron  of  Berendrecht,  to  the  post  of  honour  and  of 
danger.22  A  noble  of  Flanders,  always  devoted  to  the  repub 
lican  cause ;  an  experienced  middle-aged  officer,  vigilant, 
energetic,  nervous  ;  a  slight  wiry  man,  with  a  wizened  little 
face,  large  bright  eyes,  a  meagre  yellow  beard,  and  thin 
sandy  hair  flowing  down  upon  his  well-starched  ruff,  the  new 
governor  soon  showed  himself  inferior  to  none  of  his  predeces 
sors  in  audacity  and  alertness.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a 
more  irritating  position  in  many  respects  than  that  of  com 
mander  in  such  an  extraordinary  leaguer.  It  was  not  a  formal 
siege.  Famine,  which  ever  impends  over  an  invested  place, 
and  sickens  the  soul  with  its  nameless  horrors,  was  not  the 
great  enemy  to  contend  against  here.  Nor  was  there  the 
hideous  alternative  between  starving  through  obstinate  resis 
tance  or  massacre  on  submission,  which  had  been  the  lot  of 
so  many  Dutch  garrisons  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  war. 
Ketreat  by  sea  was  ever  open  to  the  Ostend  garrison,  and 
there  was  always  an  ample  supply  of  the  best  provisions 
and  of  all  munitions  of  war.  But  they  had  been  unceasingly 
exposed  to  two  tremendous  enemies.  During  each  winter 
and  spring  the  ocean  often  smote  their  bastions  and  bulwarks 
in  an  hour  of  wrath  till  they  fell  together  like  children's  toys, 
'and  it  was  always  at  work,  night  and  day,  steadily  lapping  at 
the  fragile  foundations  on  which  all  their  structures  stood. 
Nor  was  it  easy  to  give  the  requisite  attention  to  the  devour 
ing  sea,  because  all  the  materials  that  could  be  accumulated 
seemed  necessary  to  repair  the  hourly  damages  inflicted  by 
their  other  restless  foe. 

Thus  the  day  seemed  to  draw  gradually  but  inexorably- 
nearer  when  the  place  would  be,  not  captured,  but  consumed. 
There  was  nothing  for  it,  so  long  as  the  States  were  deter 
mined  to  hold  the  spot,  but  to  meet  the  besieger  at  every  point, 
above  or  below  the  earth,  and  sell  every  inch  of  that  little 
morsel  of  space  at  the  highest  price  that  brave  men  could 
impose. 

"  Fleming,  505.  22  Ibid.  510. 


1604.  TAKING  OF  THE  WESTERN  RAVELIN  191 

So  Berendrecht,  as  vigilant  and  devoted  as  even  Peter 
Grieselles  had  ever  been,  now  succeeded  to  the  care  of  the 
Polders  and  the  Porcupines,  and  the  Hell's  Mouths,  and  all  the 
other  forts,  whose  quaint  designations  had  served,  as  usually 
is  the  case  among  soldiers,  to  amuse  the  honest  patriots  in  the 
midst  of  their  toils  and  danger.  On  the  18th  April  jg  April, 
the  enemy  assailed  the  great  western  Ravelin,  and  1604- 
after  a  sanguinary  hand-to-hand  action,  in  which  great 
numbers  of  officers  and  soldiers  were  lost  on  both  sides,  he 
carried  the  fort ;  the  Spaniards,  Italians,  Germans,  and 
Walloons  vieing  with  each  other  in  deeds  of  extraordinary 
daring,  and  overcoming  at  last  the  resistance  of  the  garrison.23 

This  was  an  important  success.  The  foe  had  now  worked 
his  way  with  galleries  and  ditches  along  the  whole  length 
of  the  counterscarp  till  he  was  nearly  up  with  the  Porcupine, 
and  it  was  obvious  that  in  a  few  days  he  would  be  master  of 
the  counterscarp  itself. 

A  less  resolute  commander,  at  the  head  of  less  devoted 
troops,  might  have  felt  that  when  that  .inevitable  event  should 
arrive  all  that  honour  demanded  would  have  been  done,  and 
that  Spinola  was  entitled  to  his  city.  Berendrecht  simply 
decided  that  if  the  old  counterscarp  could  no  longer  be  held 
it  was  time  to  build  a  new  counterscarp.  This,  too,  had  been 
for  some  time  the  intention  of  Prince  Maurice.  A  plan  for 
this  work  had  already  been  sent  into  the  place,  and  a  dis 
tinguished  English  engineer,  Ralph  Dexter  by  name,  arrived 
with  some  able  assistants  to  carry  it  into  execution.24  It 
having  been  estimated  that  the  labour  would  take  three 
weeks  of  time,  without  more  ado  the  inner  line  was  carefully 
drawn,  cutting  off  with  great  nicety  and  precision  about  one 
half  the  whole  place.  Within  this  narrowed  circle  the  same 
obstinate  resistance  was  to  be  offered  as  before,  and  the 
bastions  and  redoubts  of  the  new  entrenchment  were  to  be 
baptized  with  the  same  uncouth  names  which  two  long  years 
of  terrible  struggle  had  made  so  precious.  The  work  was 
very  laborious  ;  for  the  line  was  drawn  straight  through  the 
«3  Fleming,  515,  6161  *  Ibid,  616-633. 


192  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLII. 

town,  and  whole  streets  had  to  be  demolished  and  the  houses 
to  their  very  foundations  shovelled  away.  Moreover  the  men 
were  forced  to  toil  with  spade  in  one  hand  and  matchlock  in 
the  other,  ever  ready  to  ascend  from  the  ancient  dilapidated 
cellars  in  order  to  mount  the  deadly  breach  at  any  point  in 
the  whole  circumference  of  the  place.25 

It  became  absolutely  necessary  therefore  to  send  a  sufficient 
force  of  common  workmen  into  the  town  to  lighten  the  labours 
of  the  soldiers.  Moreover  the  thought,  although  whistled  to 
the  wind,  would  repeatedly  recur,  that,  after  all,  there  must 
be  a  limit  to  these  operations,  and  that  at  last  there  would 
remain  no  longer  any  earth  in  which  to  find  a  refuge. 

The  work  of  the  new  entrenchment  went  slowly  on,  but  it 
was  steadily  done.  Meantime  they  were  comforted  by  hear 
ing  that  the  stadholder  had  taken  the  field  in  Flanders,  at  the 
head  of  a  considerable  force,  and  they  lived  in  daily  expecta 
tion  of  relief.  It  will  be  necessary,  at  the  proper  moment,  to 
indicate  the  nature  of  Prince  Maurice's  operations.  For  the 
present,  it  is  better  that  the  reader  should  confine  his  atten 
tion  within  the  walls  of  Ostend. 

By  the  llth  May,  the  enemy  had  effected  a  lodgment  in 

11  May,    a  corner  of  the  Porcupine,  and  already  from  that 

1604        point  might  threaten  the  new  counterscarp  before  it 

should  be   completed.     At   the   same   time   he  had  gnawed 

through  to  the  West  Bulwark,  and  was  busily  mining  under  the 

Porcupine  itself.     In  this  fort  friend  and  foe  now  lay  together, 

packed  like  herrings,  and  profited  by  their  proximity  to  each 

other  to  vary  the  monotony  of  pike  and  snaphance  with  an 

occasional  encounter  of  epistolary  wit. 

Thus  Spanish  letters,  tied  to  sticks,  and  tossed  over  into  the 
next  entrenchment,  were  replied  to  by  others,  composed  in  four 
languages  by  the  literary  man  of  Ostend,  Auditor  Fleming, 
and  shot  into  the  enemy's  trenches  on  cross-bow  bolts.26 

On  the  29th  May,  a  long  prepared  mine  was  sprung  beneath 
the  Porcupine.     It  did  its  work  effectively,  and  the 
ay'     assailants  did  theirs  no  less  admirably,  crowding  into 
16  Fleming,  516-522.  S6  Ibid.  528,  seqq. 


1604  STORMING  OF  THE  PORCUPINE  FORT.  193 

the  breach  with  headlong  ferocity,  and  after  a  long  and  san*. 
guinary  struggle  with  immense  loss  on  both  sides,  carrying 
the  precious  and  long-coveted  work  by  storm.27  Inch  by  inch 
the  defenders  were  thus  slowly  forced  back  toward  their  new 
entrenchment.  On  the  same  day,  however,  they  inflicted 
a  most  bloody  defeat  upon  the  enemy  in  an  attempt  to  carry 
the  great  Polder.  He  withdrew,  leaving  heaps  of  slain,  so 
that  the  account  current  for  the  day  would  have  balanced 
itself,  but  that  the  Porcupine,  having  changed  hands,  now 
bristled  most  formidably  against  its  ancient  masters.28  The 
daily  slaughter  had  become  sickening  to  behold.  There  were 
three  thousand  effective  men  in  the  garrison.  More  could 
have  been  sent  in  to  supply  the  steady  depletion  in  the  ranks, 
but  there  was  no  room  for  more.  There  was  scarce  space 
enough  for  the  living  to  stand  to  their  work,  or  for  the  dead 
to  lie  in  their  graves.  And  this  was  an  advantage  which 
could  not  fail  to  tell.  Of  necessity  the  besiegers  would 
always  very  far  outnumber  the  garrison,  so  that  the  final 
success  of  their  repeated  assaults  became  daily  more  and 
more  possible. 

Yet  on  the  2nd  June  the  enemy  met  not  only  with  another 
signal  defeat,  but  also  with  a  most  bitter  surprise. 
On  that  day  the  mine  which  he  had  been  so  long 
and  so  laboriously  constructing  beneath  the  great  Polder 
Bulwark  was  sprung  with  magnificent  effect.  A  breach, 
forty  feet  wide,  was  made  in  this  last  stronghold  of  the  old 
defences,  and  the  soldiers  leaped  into  the  crater  almost  before 
it  had  ceased  to  blaze,  expecting  by  one  decisive  storm  to 
make  themselves  masters  at  last  of  all  the  fortifications,  and 
therefore  of  the  town  itself.  But  as,  emerging  from  the 
mine,  they  sprang  exulting  upon  the  shattered  bulwark,  a 
transformation  more  like  a  sudden  change  in  some  holiday 
pantomime  than  a  new  fact  in  this  three  years'  most  tragic 
siege  presented  itself  to  their  astonished  eyes.  They  had 
carried  the  last  defence  of  the  old  counterscarp,  and  behold — 
a  new  one,  which  they  had  never  dreamed  of,  bristling  before 

87  Fleming,  538.  88  Ibid. 

VOL.  IV. — 0 


194  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLH. 

their  eyes,  with  a  flanking  battery  turned  directly  upon 
them.29  The  musketeers  and  pikemen,  protected  by  their 
new  works,  now  thronged  towards  the  assailants  ;  giving  them 
so  hearty  a  welcome  that  they  reeled  back,  discomfited,  after 
a  brief  but  severe  struggle,  from  the  spot  of  their  anticipated 
triumph,  leaving  their  dead  and  dying  in  the  breach.30 

Four  days  later,  Berendrecht,  with  a  picked  party  of  English 
troops,  stole  out  for  a  reconnaissance,  not  wishing 
to  trust  other  eyes  than  his  own  in  the  imminent 
peril  of  the  place. 

The  expedition  was  successful.  A  few  prisoners  were 
taken,  and  valuable  information  was  obtained,  but  these 
advantages  were  counterbalanced  by  a  severe  disaster.  The 
vigilant  and  devoted  little  governor,  before  effecting  his 
entrance  into  the  sally  port,  was  picked  off  by  a  sharpshooter, 
and  died  the  next  day.31  This  seemed  the  necessary  fate  of 
the  commandants  of  Ostend,  where  the  operations  seemed 
more  like  a  pitched  battle  lasting  three  years  than  an 
ordinary  siege.  Grieselles,  Van  Loon,  Bievry,  and  now 
Berendrecht,  had  successively  fallen  at  the  post  of  duty  since 
the  beginning  of  the  year.  Not  one  of  them  was  more 
sincerely  deplored  than  Berendrecht.  His  place  was  supplied 
by  Colonel  Uytenhoove,  a  stalwart,  hirsute,  hard-fighting 
Dutchman,  the  descendant  of  an  ancient  race,  and  seasoned 
in  many  a  hard  campaign. 

The  enemy  now  being  occupied  in  escarping  and  furnishing 
with  batteries  the  positions  he  had  gained,  with  the  obvious 
intention  of  attacking  the  new  counterscarp,  it  was  resolved 
to  prepare  for  the  possible  loss  of  this  line  of  fortifications  by 
establishing  another  and  still  narrower  one  within  it. 

Half  the  little  place  had  been  shorn  away  by  the  first 
change.  Of  the  half  which  was  still  in  possession  of  the 
besieged  about  one- third  was  now -set  off,  and  in  this  little 
corner  of  earth,  close  against  the  new  harbour,  was  set  up 
their  last  refuge.  They  called  the  new  citadel  Little  Troy,  and 
announced,  with  pardonable  bombast,  that  they  would  hold 
»  Fleming,  543.  80  Ibid.  31  Ibid.  546. 


1604.  CONSTRUCTION  OP  AN  INNER  CITADEL.  195 

out  there  as  long  as  the  ancient  Trojans  had  defended  Ilium.32 
With  perfect  serenity  the  engineers  set  about  their  task  with 
line,  rule,  and  level,  measuring  out  the  bulwarks  and  bastions, 
the  miniature  salients,  half-moons,  and  ditches,  as  neatly  and 
methodically  as  if  there  were  no  ceaseless  cannonade  in  their 
earSj  and  as  if  the  workmen  were  not  at  every  moment 
summoned  to  repel  assaults  upon  the  outward  wall.  They 
sent  careful  drawings  of  Little  Troy  to  Maurice  and  the  States, 
and  received  every  encouragement  to  persevere,  together  with 
promises  of  ultimate  relief.83 

But  there  was  one  serious  impediment  to  the  contemplated 
construction  of  the  new  earth-works.  They  had  no  earth. 
Nearly  everything  solid  had  been  already  scooped  away  in 
the  perpetual  delving.  The  sea-dykes  had  been  robbed  of 
their  material,  so  that  the  coming  winter  might  find  besiegers 
and  besieged  all  washed  together  into  the  German  Ocean,  and 
it  was  hard  digging  and  grubbing  among  the  scanty  cellarages 
of  the  dilapidated  houses.  But  there  were  plenty  of  graves, 
filled  with  the  results  of  three  years'  hard  fighting.  And 
now,  not  only  were  all  the  cemeteries  within  the  precincts 
shovelled  and  carted  in  mass  to  the  inner  fortifications,  but 
rewards  being  offered  of  ten  stivers  for  each  dead  body,  great 
heaps  of  disinterred  soldiers  were  piled  into  the  new 
ramparts.84  Thus  these  warriors,  after  laying  down  their 
lives  for  the  cause  of  freedom,  were  made  to  do  duty  after 
death.  Whether  it  were  just  or  no  thus  to  disturb  the  repose 
— if  repose  it  could  be  called — of  the  dead  that  they  might 
once  more  protect  the  living,  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that 
they  took  ample  revenge  on  the  already  sufficiently  polluted 
atmosphere. 

On  the  17th  June  the  foe  sprang  a  mine  under  the  western 
bulwark,  close  to   a  countermine   exploded  by  the    i7june, 
garrison  the  day  before.     The  assailants  thronged    1604- 
as    merrily   as    usual  to    the    breach,   and   were  met  with 
customary  resolution  by  the  besieged  ;  Governor  Uytenhoove, 

88  Haestens,  272.     Grotius,  xiii.  645.  33  Fleming,  551,  seqq. 

34  Haestens,  272. 


196  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLII. 

clad  in  complete  armour,  leading  his  troops.  The  enemy, 
after  an  hour's  combat,  was  repulsed  with  heavy  loss,  but  the 
governor  fell  in  the  midst  of  the  fight.35  Instantly  he  was 
seized  by  the  legs  by  a  party  of  his  own  men,  some  English 
desperadoes  among  the  number,  who,  shouting  that  the  colonel 
was  dead,  were  about  to  render  him  the  last  offices  by  plunder 
ing  his  body.  The  ubiquitous  Fleming,  observing  the  scene, 
flew  to  the  rescue  and,  with  the  assistance  of  a  few  officers, 
drove  off  these  energetic  friends,  and  taking  off  the  governor's 
casque,  discovered  that  he  still  breathed.36  That  he  would 
soon  have  ceased  to  do  so,  had  he  been  dragged  much  farther 
in  his  harness  over  that  jagged  and  precipitous  pile  of  rubbish, 
was  certain.37  He  was  desperately  wounded,  and  of  course 
incapacitated  for  his  post.  Thus,  in  that  year,  before  the 
summer  solstice,  a  fifth  commandant  had  fallen. 

On  the  same  day,  simultaneously  with  this  repulse  in  the 
West  Bulwark,  the  enemy  made  himself  at  last  completely 
master  of  the  Polder.  Here,  too,  was  a  savage  hand-to-hand 
combat  with  broadswords  and  pikes,  and  when  the  pikes  were 
broken,  with  great  clubs  and  stakes  pulled  from  the  fascines;38 
but  the  besiegers  were  victorious,  and  the  defenders  sullenly 
withdrew  with  their  wounded  to  the  inner  entrenchments. 

On  the  27th  June,  Daniel  de  Hartaing,  Lord  of  Marquette, 

was  sent  by  the  States-General  to  take  command 

in  Ostend/9     The  colonel  of  the  Walloon  regiment 

which  had  rendered  such  good  service  on  the  famous  field 

of  Nieuport,  the  new  governor,  with  his  broad,  brown,  cheerful 

face,  and  his  Milan  armour,  was  a  familiar  figure  enough  to 

the  campaigners  on  both  sides  in  Flanders  or  Germany. 

The  stoutest  heart  might  have  sunk  at  the  spectacle  which 
the  condition  of  the  town  presented  at  his  first  inspection.  The 
States-General  were  resolved  to  hold  the  place,  at  all  hazards, 
and  Marquette  had  come  to  do  their  bidding,  but  it  was 
difficult  to  find  anything  that  could  be  called  a  town.  The 
great  heaps  of  rubbish,  which  had  once  been  the  outer  walls, 
were  almost  entirely  in  the  possession  of  the  foe,  who  had 

»  Fleming,  555.         3«  Ibid.         3?  Ibid.         «•  Ibid.  556.        39  Ibid.  560. 


1604,  ENCROACHMENT  OF  THE  ENEMY.  197 

lodged  himself  in  all  that  remained  of  the  defiant  Porcu 
pine,  the  Hell's  Mouth,  and  other  redoubts,  and  now  pointed 
from  them  at  least  fifty  great  guns  against  their  inner  walls. 
The  old  town,  with  its  fortifications,  was  completely  honey 
combed,  riddled,  knocked  to  pieces,  and,  although  the  Sand 
Hill  still  held  out,  it  was  plain  enough  that  its  days  were 
numbered  unless  help  should  soon  arrive.  In  truth,  it 
required  a  clear  head  and  a  practised  eye  to  discover  among 
those  confused  masses  of  prostrate  masonry,  piles  of  brick, 
upturned  graves,  and  mounds  of  sand  and  rubbish,  anything 
like  order  and  regularity.  Yet  amid  the  chaos  there  was 
really  form  and  meaning  to  those  who  could  read  aright,  and 
Marquette  saw,  as  well  in  the  engineers'  lines  as  in  the  indo 
mitable  spirit  that  looked  out  of  the  grim  faces  of  the  garrison, 
that  Ostend,  so  long  as  anything  of  it  existed  in  nature,  could 
be  held  for  the  republic.  Their  brethren  had  not  been  firmer, 
when  keeping  their  merry  Christmas,  seven  years  before,  under 
the  North  Pole,  upon  a  pudding  made  of  the  gunner's  cart 
ridge  paste,  or  the  Knights  of  the  Invincible  Lion  in  the  horrid 
solitudes  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  than  were  the  defenders  of  this 
sandbank. 

Whether  the  place  were  worth  the  cost  or  not,  it  was  for 
my  lords  the  States-General  to  decide,  not  for  Governor 
Marque tte.  And  the  decision  of  those  "  high  and  mighty " 
magistrates,  to  whom  even  Maurice  of  Nassau  bowed  without 
a  murmur,  although  often  against  his  judgment,  had  been 
plainly  enough  announced. 

And  so  shiploads  of  deals  and  joists,  bricks,  nails,  and 
fascines,  with  all  other  requisite  building  materials,  were  sent 
daily  in  from  Zeeland.40  in  order  that  Little  Troy  might  be 
completed;  and,  with  God's  help,  said  the  garrison,  the  re 
public  shall  hold  its  own. 

And  now  there  were  two  months  more  of  mining  and 
countermining,  of  assaults  and  repulses,  of  cannonading  and 
hand-to-hand  fights  with  pikes  and  clubs.  Nearer  and  nearer, 
day  by  day,  and  inch  by  inch,  the  foe  had  crawled  up  to 

«•  Fleming. 


198  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLH 

the  verge  of  their  last  refuge,  and  the  walls  of  Little  Troy, 
founded  upon  fresh  earth  and  dead  men's  bones,  and  shifting 
sands,  were  beginning  to  quake  under  the  guns  of  the  inex- 
27  August,  orable  volunteer  from  Genoa.  Yet  on  the  27th 
1604.  August  there  was  great  rejoicing  in  the  beleaguered 
town.  Cannon  thundered  salutes,  bonfires  blazed,  trumpets 
rang  jubilant  blasts,  and,  if  the  church-bells  sounded  no 
merry  peals,  it  was  because  the  only  church  in  the  place  had 
been  cut  off  in  the  last  slicing  away  by  the  engineers.  Hymns 
of  thanksgiving  ascended  to  heaven,  and  the  whole  garrison 
fell  on  their  knees,  praying  fervently  to  Almighty  God,  with 
devout  and  grateful  hearts.41  It  was  not  an  ignoble  spectacle 
to  see  those  veterans  kneeling  where  there  was  scarce  room 
to  kneel,  amid  ruin  and  desolation,  to  praise  the  Lord  for  his 
mercies.  But  to  explain  this  general  thanksgiving  it  is  now 
necessary  for  a  moment  to  go  back. 

41  Fleming,  573. 


1604.  HENRY'S  ADVICE  TO  THE  STATES. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

Policy  of  the  King  of  France  —  Operations  of  Prince  Maurice  — Plans  for  a 
Flemish  Campaign  —  Passage  into  Flanders — Fort  St.  Catharine—  Flight: 
of  its  garrison,  and  occupation  by  Maurice  —  Surrender  of  Ysendyke  and 
Aardenburg  —  Skirmish  at  Stamper's  Hook  —  Siege  of  Sluys  by  Prince 
Maurice  —  Ineffectual  attempt  of  Spinola  to  relieve  the  town  —  Its  capitu. 
lation  and  restoration  to  the  States — Death  of  Lewis  Gunther  of  Nassau  — 
Operations  at  Ostend  —  Surrender  of  the  garrison  —  Desolation  of  the  scene 
after  its  evacuation. 

THE  States-General  had  begun  to  forget  the  severe  lesson 
taught  them  in  the  Meuport  campaign.  Being  determined  to 
hold  Ostend,  they  became  very  impatient,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  present  year,  that  Maurice  should  once  more  invade 
Flanders,  at  the  head  of  a  relieving  army,  and  drive  the  arch 
dukes  from  before  the  town. 

They  were  much  influenced  in  this  policy  by  the  persistent 
advice  of  the  French  king.  To  the  importunities  of  their 
envoy  at  Paris,  Henry  had,  during  the  past  eighteen  months, 
replied  by  urging  the  States  to.  invade  Flanders  and  seize  its 
ports.  When  they  had  thus  something  to  place  as  pledges  in 
his  hands,  he  might  accede  to  their  clamour  and  declare  war 
against  Spain.  But  he  scarcely  concealed  his  intention,  in 
such  case,  to  annex  both  the  obedient  and  the  United  Nether 
lands  to  his  own  dominions.  Meantime,  before  getting  into 
the  saddle,  he  chose  to  be  guaranteed  against  loss.  "  Assure 
my  lords  the  States  that  I  love  them,"  he  said,  "  and  shall 
always  do  my  best  for  them." l  His  affection  for  the  territory 
of  my  lords  was  even  warmer  than  the  sentiments  he  enter 
tained  for  themselves.  Moreover,  he  grudged  the  preliminary 
expenses  which  would  be  necessary  even  should  he  ultimately 
make  himself  sovereign  of  the  whole  country.  Kosny  assured 
the  envoy  that  he  was  mistaken  in  expecting  a  declaration  of 
1  Aerssens  to  Olden-Barneveld,  in  Van  Deventer,  ii.  333-335. 


200  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIII 

war  against  Spain.  "  Not  that  he  does  not  think  it  useful 
and  necessary/'  said  the  minister,  "but  he  wishes  to  have  war 
and  peace  both  at  once — peace  because  he  wishes  to  make  no 
retrenchments  in  his  pleasures  of  women,  dogs,  and  buildings, 
and  so  war  would  be  very  inopportune.  In  three  months  he 
would  be  obliged  to  turn  tail  for  want  of  means  (to  use  his 
own  words),  although  I  would  furnish  him  funds  enough,  if  he 
would  make  the  use  of  them  that  he  ought." 2 

The  Queen  of  England,  who,  with  all  her  parsimony  and 
false  pretences,  never  doubted  in  her  heart  that  perpetual 
hostility  to  Spain  was  the  chief  bulwark  of  her  throne,  and 
that  the  republic  was  fighting  her  battles  as  well  as  its  own, 
had  been  ready  to  make  such  a  lively  war  in  conjunction  with 
France  as  would  drive  the  Spaniard  out  of  all  the  Nether^ 
lands.  But  Henry  was  not  to  be  moved.  "  I  know  that  if  I 
should  take  her  at  her  word/'  said  he,  "  she  would  at  once 
begin  to  screw  me  for  money.  She  has  one  object,  I  an 
other."  Villeroy  had  said  plainly  to  Aerssens,  in  regard  to 
the  prevalent  system  of  Englishmen,  Spaniards,  and  French 
men  being  at  war  with  each  other,  while  the  Governments 
might  be  nominally  at  peace,  "  Let  us  take  off  our  masks. 
If  the  Spaniard  has  designs  against  our  State,  has  he  not 
cause  ?  He  knows  the  aid  we  are  giving  you,  and  resents  it. 
If  we  should  abstain,  he  would  leave  us  in  peace.  If  the 
Queen  of  England  expects  to  draw  us  into  a  league,  she  is 
mistaken.  Look  to  yourselves  and  be  on  your  guard. 
Eichardot  is  intriguing  with  Cecil.  You  give  the  queen 
securities,  fortresses,  seats  in  your  council.  The  king  asks 
nothing  but  communication  of  your  projects." 3 

In  short,  all  the  comfort  that  Aerssens  had  been  able 
to  derive  from  his  experiences  at  the  French  court  in  the 
autumn  of  1602,  was  that  the  republic  could  not  be  too  sus 
picious  both  of  England  and  France.  Bosny  especially  he 
considered  the  most  dangerous  of  all  the  politicians  in  France. 
His  daughter  was  married  to  the  Prince  of  Espinoy,  whose 
50,000  livres  a  year  would  be  safer  the  more  the  archduke 

*  Aerssens  to  Olden-Barneveld,  in  Van  Deventer,  ii.  333-335.          *  Ibid. 


1604.  CAMPAIGN  IN  FLANDERS.  201 

was  strengthened.  "  But  for  this  he  would  be  stiffer,"  said 
Aerssens.4  Nevertheless  there  were  strong  motives  at  work, 
pressing  France  towards  the  support  of  the  States.  There 
were  strong  political  reasons,  therefore,  why  they  should  carry 
the  war  into  Flanders,  in  conformity  with  the  wishes  of  the 
king. 

The  stadholder,  after  much  argument/  yielded  as  usual  to 
the  authority  of  the  magistrates,  without  being  convinced  as 
to  the  sagacity  of  their  plans.     It  was  arranged  that  an  army 
should  make  a  descent  upon  the  Flemish  coast  in  the  early 
spring,  and  make  a  demonstration  upon  Sluys.     The  effect  of 
this  movement,  it  was  thought,  would  be  to  draw  the  enemy 
out  of  his  entrenchments,  in  which  case  it  would  be  in  the 
power  of  Maurice  to  put  an  end  at  once  to  the  siege.     It  is 
unquestionable  that  the  better  alternative,  in  the  judgment  of 
the  prince,  was  to  take  possession,  if  possible,  of  Sluys  itself. 
His  preparations  were,  however,  made  with  a  view  to  either 
event,  and  by  the  middle  of  April  he  had  collected  at  Wil- 
lemstad  a  force  of  fifteen  thousand  foot  and  three  thousand 
horse.     As  on  the  former  memorable  expedition,  he  now  again 
insisted  that  a  considerable  deputation  of  the  States  and  of 
the  States'  council  should  accompany  the  army.5    His  brother 
Henry,  and  his  cousins  Lewis  William,  Lewis  Gunther,  and 
Ernest  Casimir,  were  likewise  with  him,  as  well  as  the  Prince 
of  Anhalt  and  other  distinguished  personages. 

On  the  25th  April  the  army,  having  crossed  the       A 
mouth  of  the  West  Scheld,  from  Zeeland,  in  number 
less  vessels  of  all  sizes  and  degrees,  effected  their  debarkation 
on  the  island  of  Cadzand.6 

In  the  course  of  two  days  they  had  taken  possession  of  the 
little  town,  and  all  the  forts  of  that  island,  having  made  their 
entrance  through  what  was  called  the  Black  Channel.  Had 
they  steered  boldly  through  the  Swint  or  Sluys  channel  at 
once,  it  is  probable  that  they  might  have  proceeded  straight 


4  Aerssens  to  Olden-Barneveld,  in 
Van  Deventer,  ii.  333-335. 
*  V.  d.  Kemp,  ii.  109,  seqq.,  and  notes. 


6  Bentivoglio,  iii.  525-529  Meteren 
494, 495.  Grotius,  xiii.  639-644.  Flem 
ing.  Haestens. 


202  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIIL 

up  to  Sluys,  and  taken  the  place  by  surprise.  Maurice's 
habitual  caution  was,  perhaps,  on  this  occasion,  a  disadvan 
tage  to  him,  but  he  would  have  violated  the  rules  of  war,  and 
what  seemed  the  dictates  of  common  sense,  had  he  not  secured 
a  basis  of  operations,  and  a  possibility  of  retreat,  before  plung 
ing  with  his  army  into  the  heart  of  a  hostile  country.  The 
republic  still  shuddered  at  the  possible  catastrophe  of  four 
years  before,  when  circumstances  had  forced  him  to  take  the 
heroic  but  dangerous  resolution  of  sending  off  his  ships  from 
Nieuport.  Before  he  had  completed  his  arrangements  for 
supplies  on  the  island  of  Cadzand,  he  learned  from  scouts 
and  reconnoitring  parties  that  Spinola  had  sent  a  thousand 
infantry,  besides  five  hundred  cavalry,  under  Trivulzio,  to 
guard  the  passage  across  the  Swint.  Maurice  was  thus  on 
the  wrong  side  of  the  great  channel  by  which  Sluys  commu 
nicated  with  the  sea.7 

The  town  of  Sluys  and  its  situation  have  been  described 
in  a  former  chapter.8  As  a  port,  it  was  in  those  days  consi 
dered  a  commodious  and  important  one,  capable  of  holding 
five  hundred  ships.  As  a  town,  it  was  not  so  insignificant  as 
geographical  and  historical  changes  have  since  made  it,  and 
was  certainly  far  superior  to  Ostend,  even  if  Ostend  had 
not  been  almost  battered  out  of  existence.  It  had  spacious 
streets  and  squares,  and  excellent  fortifications  in  perfectly 
good  condition.  It  was  situate  in  a  watery  labyrinth,  many 
slender  streams  from  the  interior  and  several  saltwatqr  creeks 
being  complicated  around  it,  and  then  flowing  leisurely,  in 
one  deep  sluggish  channel,  to  the  sea.  The  wrath  of  Leices 
ter,  when  all  his  efforts  to  relieve  the  place  had  been  baffled 
by  the  superior  skill  of  Alexander  Farnese,  has  been  de 
picted,  and  during  the  seventeen  years  which  had  elapsed 
since  its  capture,  the  republic  had  not  ceased  to  deplore 
that  disaster.  Obviously  if  the  present  expedition  could 
end  in  the  restoration  of  Sluys  to  its  rightful  owners,  it 
would  be  a  remarkable  success,  even  if  Ostend  should  fall. 
Sluys  and  its  adjacent  domains  formed  a  natural  portion  of 
»  Fleming,  584-587-  8  Vol.  II.  chap,  xvi, 


1604.  ADVANCE  TOWARDS  OOSTBURGK  203 

the  Zeeland  archipelago,  the  geographical  counterpart 
of  Flushing.  With  both  branches  of  the  stately  Scheld  in 
its  control,  the  republic  would  command  the  coast,  and  might 
even  dispense  with  Ostend,  which,  in  the  judgment  of  Maurice, 
was  an  isolated  and  therefore  not  a  desirable  military  posses 
sion.  The  States-General  were  of  a  different  opinion.  They 
much  desired  to  obtain  Sluys,  but  they  would  not  listen  to  the 
abandonment  of  Ostend.  It  was  expected  of  the  stadholder, 
therefore,  that  he  should  seize  the  one  and  protect  the  other. 
The  task  was  a  difficult  one.  A  less  mathematical  brain  than 
that  of  Maurice  of  Nassau  would  have  reeled  at  the  problem 
to  be  solved.  To  master  such  a  plexus  of  canals,  estuaries, 
and  dykes,  of  passages  through  swamps,  of  fords  at  low  water 
which  were  obliterated  by  flood- tide  ;  to  take  possession  of  a 
series  of  redoubts  built  on  the  only  firm  points  of  land,  with 
nothing  but  quaking  morass  over  which  to  manoeuvre  troops 
or  plant  batteries  against  them,  would  be  a  difficult  study, 
even  upon  paper.  To  accomplish  it  in  the  presence  of  a  vigi 
lant  and  anxious  foe  seemed  bewildering  enough. 

At  first  it  was  the  intention  of  the  stadholder,  disappointed 
at  learning  the  occupation  of  the  Swint,  to  content  himself 
with  fortifying  Cadzand,  in  view  of  future  operations  at  some 
more  favourable  moment.9  So  meagre  a  result  would  cer 
tainly  not  have  given  great  satisfaction  to  the  States,  nor 
added  much  to  the  military  reputation  of  Maurice.  While 
he  hesitated  between  plunging  without  a  clue  into  the  watery 
maze  around  him,  and  returning  discomfited  from  the  expe 
dition  on  which  such  high  hopes  had  been  built,  a  Flemish 
boor  presented  himself.  He  offered  to  guide  the  army  around 
the  east  and  south  of  Sluys,  and  to  point  out  passages  where 
it  would  be  possible  to  cross  the  waters,  which,  through  the 
care  of  Spinola,  now  seemed  to  forbid  access  to  the  place.10 
Maurice  lingered  no  longer.  On  the  28th  April,  led 
by  the  friendly  boor,  he  advanced  towards  Oost- 
burg.  Next  morning  a  small  force  of  the  enemy's  infantry 
and  cavalry  was  seen,  showing  that  there  must  be  foothold  in 
9  Fleming,  585.  10  Ibid.  Grotius,  uU  sup. 


204  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIII. 

that  direction.  He  sent  out  a  few  companies  to  skirmish 
with  those  troops,  who  fled  after  a  very  brief  action,  and,  in 
flying,  showed  their  pursuers  the  road.  Maurice  marched 
in  force,  straight  through  the  waters,  on  the  track  of  the 
retreating  foe.  They  endeavoured  to  rally  at  the  fort  of 
Coxie,  which  stood  upon  and  commanded  a  dyke,  but  the 
republicans  were  too  quick  for  them,  and  drove 
them  out  of  the  place.11  The  stadholder,  thus  ob 
taining  an  unexpected  passage  into  Flanders,  conceived  strong 
hopes  of  success,  despite  the  broken  nature  of  the  ground. 
Continuing  to  feel  his  way  cautiously  through  the  wilderness 
of  quagmire,  he  soon  came  upon  a  very  formidable  obstacle. 
The  well-built  and  well-equipped  redoubt  of  St.  Catharine 
rose  frowning  before  him,  overshadowing  his  path,  and  com 
pletely  prohibiting  all  further  progress.  Plainly  it 
would  be  necessary  to  reduce  this  work  at  once, 
unless  he  were  willing  to  abandon  his  enterprise.  He  sent 
back  to  Cadzand  for  artillery,  but  it  was  flood-tide,  the  waters 
were  out,  and  it  was  not  till  late  in  the  afternoon  that  nine 
pieces  arrived.  The  stadholder  ordered  a  cannonade,  less 
with  the  hope  of  producing  an  impression  by  such  inadequate 
means  on  so  strong  a  work,  than  with  the  intention  of  show 
ing  the  enemy  that  he  had  brought  field-guns  with  him,  and 
was  not  merely  on  an  accidental  foray.  At  the  same  time, 
having  learned  that  the  garrison,  which  was  commanded  by 
Trivulzio,  was  composed  of  only  a  few  regular  troops,  and  a 
large  force  of  guerillas,  he  gave  notice  that  such  combatants 
were  not  entitled  to  quarter,  and  that  if  captured  they  would 
be  all  put  to  the  sword.  The  reply  to  this  threat  was  not 
evacuation  but  defiance.  Especially  a  volunteer  ensign 
mounted  upon  a  rampart,  and  danced  about,  waving  his  flag 
gaily  in  the  face  of  the  assailants.  Maurice  bitterly  remarked 
to  his  staff  that  such  a  man  alone  was  enough  to  hold  the 
fort.12  As  it  was  obvious  that  the  place  would  require  a  siege 
in  form,  and  that  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  establish 
batteries  upon  that  quaking  soil,  where  there  was  no  dry  land 
11  Grotius,  ubi  sup.  n  Fleming,  586. 


1601  OCCUPATION  OF  FORT  ST.  CATHARINE.  205 

for  cavalry  or  artillery  to  move,  Maurice  ordered  the  nine 
guns  to  be  carried  back  to  Cadzand  that  night,  betaking  him 
self,  much  disappointed,  in  the  same  direction.13  Yet  it  so 
happened  that  the  cannoneers,  floundering  through  the  hogs, 
made  such  an  outcry — especially  when  one  of  their  guns 
became  so  bemired  that  it  was  difficult  for  them  to  escape  the 
disgrace  of  losing  it — that  the  garrison,  hearing  a  great 
tumult,  which  they  could  not  understand,  fell  into  one  of 
those  panics  to  which  raw  and  irregular  troops  are  liable.14 
Nothing  would  convince  them  that  fresh  artillery  had  not 
arrived,  that  the  terrible  stadholder  with  an  immense  force 
was  not  creating  invincible  hatteries,  and  that  they  should  be 
all  butchered  in  cold  blood,  according  to  proclamation,  before 
the  dawn  of  day.  They  therefore  evacuated  the 
place  under  cover  of  the  night,  so  that  this  absurd 
accident  absolutely  placed  Maurice  in  possession  of  the  very 
fort — without  striking  a  blow — which  he  was  about  to  aban 
don  in  despair,  and  which  formed  the  first  great  obstacle  to 
his  advance.15 

Having  occupied  St.  Catharine's,  he  moved  forward  to 
Ysejidyke,  a  strongly  fortified  place  three  leagues  to  the  east 
ward  of  Sluys,  and  invested  it  in  form.  Meantime 
a  great  danger  was  impending  over  him.  A  force 
of  well-disciplined  troops,  to  the  number  of  two  thousand, 
dropped  down  in  boats  from  Sluys  to  Cadzand,  for  the  purpose 
of  surprising  the  force  left  to  guard  that  important  place. 
The  expedition  was  partially  successful.  Six  hundred  landed, 
beating  down  all  opposition.  But  a  few  Scotch  companies 
held  firm,  and  by  hard  fighting  were  able  at  last  to  drive  the 
invaders  back  to  their  sloops,  many  of  which  were  sunk  in 
the  affray,  with  all  on  board.  The  rest  ignominiously  re 
treated.16  Had  the  enterprise  been  as  well  executed  as  it 
was  safely  planned,  it  would  have  gone  hard  with  the  stad 
holder  and  his  army.  It  is  difficult  to  see  in  what  way  he 
could  have  extricated  himself  from  such  a  dilemma,  being 
thus  cut  off  from  his  supplies  and  his  fleet,  and  therefore  from 

18  Fleming,  587?        14  Ibid.         J6  Ibid.         16  Ibid.  588,  Grotius,  ubi  tup. 


206  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIU 

all  possibility  of  carrying  out  his  design  or  effecting  his  escape 
to  Zeeland.  Certainly  thus  far,  fortune  had  favoured  his 
bold  adventure. 

He  now  sent  his  own  trumpeter,  Master  Hans,  to  summon 

Ysendyke  to  a   surrender.     The  answer  was  a  bullet  which 

went  through  the  head  of  unfortunate  Master  Hans.    Maurice, 

enraged  at  this  barbarous  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  drew 

his  lines  closer.     Next  day  the  garrison,  numbering 

ay'    six  hundred,  mostly  Italians,  capitulated,  and  gave 

up  the  musketeer  who  had  murdered  the  trumpeter.17 

Two  days  later  the  army  appeared  before  Aardenburg,  a 
well-fortified  town  four  miles  south  of  Sluys.     It  surrendered 
disgracefully,  without   striking  a  blow.     The   place 
was  a  most  important  position  for  the  investment  of 
Sluys.      Four  or  five  miles   further  towards  the  west,  two 
nearly  parallel  streams,  both  navigable,  called  the  Sweet  and 
the  Salt,  ran  from  Dam  to  Sluys.     It  was  a  necessary  but 
most  delicate  operation,  to  tie  up  these  two  important  arteries. 
An  expedition  despatched  in  this  direction  came  upon  Trivul- 
zio  with  a  strong  force  of  cavalry,  posted  at  a  pass  called 
Stamper's  Hook,  which  controlled  the  first  of  these  streams. 
The  narrowness  of  the  pathway  gave  the  advantage  to  the 
Italian  commander.     A  warm  action  took  place,  in 
which    the    republican    cavalry   were   worsted,   and 
Paul  Bax  severely  wounded.     Maurice  coming  up  with  the 
infantry  at  a  moment  when  the  prospect  was  very  black, 
turned  defeat  into  victory  and  completely  routed  the  enemy, 
who  fled  from  the  precious  position  with  a  loss  of  five  hundred 
killed   and   three  hundred  prisoners,   eleven   officers    among 
them.18    The  Sweet  was  now  in  the  stadholder's  possession. 
Next  day  he  marched   against  the   Salt,  at  a  pass 
where  fourteen  hundred   Spaniards  were  stationed. 
Making  very  ostentatious   preparations  for  an  attack  upon 
this  position,  he  suddenly  fell  backwards  down  the  stream  to 
a  point  which  he  had  discovered  to  be  fordable  at  low  water, 

17  Grotius,  ubi  mp. 

18  Ibid.  591,  572.    Bentivoglio,  iii.  527,  528.    Meteren,  494,  495. 


1604  SIEGE  OF  SLUYS.  207 

and  marched  his  whole  army  through  the  stream  while  the 
skirmishing    was    going  on   a  few  miles   farther    up.     The 
Spaniards,  discovering  their  error,  and  fearing  to  be  cut  off, 
scampered  hastily  away  to  Dam.     Both  streams  were  now  in 
the  control  of  the  republican  army,  while  the  single  fort  of 
St.  Joris  was  all  that  was  now  interposed  between  Maurice 
and  the  much-coveted  Swint.     This  redoubt,  armed 
with  nine  guns,   and    provided   with   a   competent 
garrison,  was  surrendered  on  the  23rd  May.19 

The  Swint,  or  great  sea-channel  of  Sluys,  being  now  com 
pletely  in  the  possession  of  the  stadholder,  he  deliberately 
proceeded  to  lay  out  his  lines,  to  make  his  entrenched  camp, 
and  to  invest  his  city  with  the  beautiful  neatness  which  ever 
characterized  his  sieges.  A  groan  came  from  the  learned 
Lipsius,  as  he  looked  from  the  orthodox  shades  of  Louvain 
upon  the  progress  of  the  heretic  prince. 

"  Would  that  I  were  happier,"  he  cried,  "  but  things  are 
not  going  on  in  Flanders  as  I  could  wish.  How  easy  it 
would  have  been  to  save  Sluys,  which  we  are  now  trying  so 
hard  to  do,  had  we  turned  our  attention  thither  in  time  !  But 
now  we  have  permitted  the  enemy  to  entrench  and  fortify 
himself,  and  we  are  the  less  excusable  because  we  know  to 
our  cost  how  felicitously  he  fights  with  the  spade,  and  that  he 

builds  works  like  an  ancient  Koman Should  we  lose 

Sluys,  which  God  forbid,  how  much  strength  and  encourage 
ment  will  be  acquired  by  the  foe,  and  by  all  who  secretly  or 
openly  favour  him  !  Our  neighbours  are  all  straining  their 
eyes,  as  from  a  watch-tower,  eager  to  see  the  result  of  all 
these  doings.  But  what  if  they  too  should  begin  to  move  ? 
Where  should  we  be  ?  I  pray  God  to  have  mercy  on  the 
Netherlander,  whom  He  has  been  so  many  years  chastising 
with  heavy  whips."  K 

It  was  very  true.  The  man  with  the  spade  had  been 
allowed  to  work  too  long  at  his  felicitous  vocation.  There 
had  been  a  successful  effort  made  to  introduce  reinforcements 

11  Fleming,  Bentivo.,  Met.,  ubi  sup     Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  110,  111,  and  notes. 
*  Letter  to  Heer  de  Vertering,  in  Haestens,  285.  and  Fleming,  289,  290. 


208  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XLIIL 

to  the  garrison.  Troops,  to  the  number  of  fifteen  hundred, 
had  been  added  to  those  already  shut  up  there,  but  the 
attempts  to  send  in  supplies  were  not  so  fortunate.  Maurice 
had  completely  invested  the  town  before  the  end  of  May, 
having  undisputed  possession  of  the  harbour  and  of  all  the 
neighbouring  country.  He  was  himself  encamped  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Swint ;  Charles  van  der  Noot  lying  on  the  south0 
The  submerged  meadows,  stretching  all  around  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  haven,  he  had  planted  thickly  with  gunboats.  Scarcely 
a  bird  or  a  fish  could  go  into  or  out  of  the  place.  Thus  the 
stadholder  exhibited  to  the  Spaniards  who,  fifteen  miles  off 
towards  the  west,  had  been  pounding  and  burrowing  three 
years  long  before  Ostend  without  success,  what  he  understood 
by  a  siege. 

On  the  22nd  of  May  a  day  of  solemn  prayer  and  fasting 
was,  by  command  of  Maurice,  celebrated  through 
out  the  besieging  camp.  In  order  that  the  day 
should  be  strictly  kept  in  penance,  mortification,  and  thanks 
giving,  it  was  ordered,  on  severe  penalties,  that  neither  the 
commissaries  nor  sutlers  should  dispense  any  food  whatever, 
throughout  the  twenty-four  hours.21  Thus  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  republic  prepared  his  troops  for  the  work 
before  them. 

In  the  very  last  days  of  May  the  experiment  was  once 
29, 30  May,  more  vigorously  tried  to  send  in  supplies.  A  thou- 
1604.  sand  galley-slaves,  the  remnant  of  Frederic  Spinola's 

unlucky  naval  forces,  whose  services  were  not  likely  very 
soon  to  be  required  at  sea,  were  sent  out  into  the  drowned 
land,  accompanied  by  five  hundred  infantry.  Simultaneously 
Count  Berlaymont,  at  the  head  of  four  thousand  men,  con 
veying  a  large  supply  of  provisions  and  munitions;  started 
from  Dam.  Maurice,  apprised  of  the  adventure,  sallied  forth 
with  two  thousand  troops  to  meet  them.  Near  Stamper's 
Hook  he  came  upon  a  detachment  of  Berlaymont's  force, 
routed  them,  and  took  a  couple  of  hundred  prisoners.  Learn 
ing  from  them  that  Berlaymont  himself,  with  the  principal 

81  Fleming,  593. 


1604.  SIEGE  OF  SLUYS.  209 

part  of  his  force,  had  passed  farther  on,  he  started  off  in  pur 
suit  ;  but,  unfortunately  taking  a  different  path  through  the 
watery  wilderness  from  the  one  selected  by  the  flying  foe,  he 
was  not  able  to  prevent  his  retreat  by  a  circuitous  route  to 
Dam.  From  the  prisoners,  especially  from  the  galley-slaves, 
who  had  no  reason  for  disguising  the  condition  of  the  place, 
he  now  learned  that  there  were  plenty  of  troops  in  Sluys, 
but  that  there  was  already  a  great  lack  of  provisions.  They 
had  lost  rather  than  gained  by  their  success  in  introducing 
reinforcements  without  supplies.22  Upon  this  information 
Maurice  now  resolved  to  sit  quietly  down  and  starve  out 
the  garrison.  If  Spinola,  in  consequence,  should  raise  the 
siege  of  Ostend,  in  order  to  relieve  a  better  town,  he  was 
prepared  to  give  him  battle.  If  the  marquis  held  fast  to 
his  special  work,  Sluys  was  sure  to  surrender.  This  being 
the  position  of  affairs,  the  deputies  of  the  States-General 
took  their  leave  of  the  stadholder,  and  returned  to  the 
Hague.23 

Two  months  passed.  It  was  midsummer,  and  the  famine 
in  the  beleaguered  town  had  become  horrible.  The  same 
hideous  spectacle  was  exhibited  as  on  all  occasions  where 
thousands  of  human  beings  are  penned  together  without  food. 
They  ate  dogs,  cats,  and  rats,  the  weeds  from  the  churchyards, 
old  saddles,  and  old  shoes,  and,  when  all  was  gone,  they  began 
to  eat  each  other.  The  small  children  diminished  rapidly  in 
numbers,24  while  beacons  and  signals  of  distress  were  fired  day 
and  night,  that  the  obdurate  Spinola,  only  a  few  miles  off, 
might  at  last  move  to  their  relief. 

The  archdukes  too  were  beginning  to  doubt  whether  the 
bargain  were  a  good  one.  To  give  a  strong,  new,  well-fortified 
city,  with  the  best  of  harbours,  in  exchange  for  a  heap  of  rub 
bish  which  had  once  been  Ostend,  seemed  unthrifty  enough. 
Moreover,  they  had  not  got  Ostend,  while  sure  to  lose  Sluys. 
At  least  the  cardinal  could  no  longer  afford  to  dispense  with 
the  service  of  his  best  corps  of  veterans  who  had  demanded 

82  Fleming,  592.    Meteren,  Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup. 

83  Fleming,  593.  24  Gallucci,  ii.  176, 
VOL.  IV, — P 


210  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIII. 

their  wages  so  insolently,  and  who  had  laughed  at  his  offer  of 
excommunication  by  way  of  payment  so  heartily.  Flinging 
away  his  pride,  he  accordingly  made  a  treaty  with  the  mu 
tinous  "  squadron  "  at  Grave,  granting  an  entire  pardon  for  all 
their  offences,  and  promising  full  payment  of  their  arrears0 
Until  funds  should  be  collected  sufficient  for  this  purpose, 
they  were  to  receive  twelve  stivers  a  day  each  foot-soldier, 
and  twenty-four  stivers  each  cavalryman,  and  were  to  have 
the  city  of  Roermond  in  pledge.  The  treaty  was  negotiated 
by  Guerrera,  commandant  of  Ghent  citadel,  and  by  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Roermond,  while  three  distinguished  hostages  were 
placed  in  the  keeping  of  the  mutineers  until  the  contract 
should  be  faithfully  executed  :  Guerrera  himself,  Count  Fon- 
tenoy,  son  of  Marquis  d'Havre,  and  Avalos,  commander  of  a 
Spanish  legion.25  Thus,  after  making  a  present  of  the  ser 
vices  of  these  veterans  for  a  twelvemonth  to  the  stadholder, 
and  after  employing  a  very  important  portion  of  his  remain 
ing  forces  in  a  vain  attempt  to  reduce  their  revolt,  the  arch 
duke  had  now  been  fain  to  purchase  their  submission  by 
conceding  all  their  demands.  It  would  have  been  better 
economy  perhaps  to  come  to  this  conclusion  at  an  earlier 
day. 

It  would  likewise  have  been  more  judicious,  according  to 
the  lamentations  of  Justus  Lipsius,  had  the  necessity  of 
saving  Sluys  been  thought  of  in  time.  Now  that  it  was 
thoroughly  enclosed,  so  that  a  mouse  could  scarce  creep 
through  the  lines,  the  archduke  was  feverish  to  send  in  a 
thousand  wagon  loads  of  provisions.  Spinola,  although  in 
reality  commander-in-chief  of  a  Spanish  army,  and  not 
strictly  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  Flemish  sovereigns, 
obeyed  the  appeal  of  the  archduke,  but  he  obeyed  most 
reluctantly.  Two-thirds  of  Ostend  had  been  effaced,  and  it 
was  hard  to  turn  even  for  a  moment  from  the  spot  until  all 
should  have  been  destroyed. 

Leaving  Rivas  and  Bucquoy  to  guard  the  entrenchments, 
and  to  keep  steadily  to  the  work,  Spinola  took  the  field  with 

«  Meteren,  495,  49& 


1604  ATTEMPTED  RELIEF  BY  SPINOLA.  211 

a  large  force  of  all  arms,  including  the  late  mutineers 
and  the  troops  of  Count  Trivulzio.  On  the  8th  August  he 
appeared  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Salt  and  Sweet  streams, 
and  exchanged  a  few  cannon-shots  with  the  republicans. 
Next  day  he  made  a  desperate  assault  with  three  thousand 
men  and  some  companies  of  cavalry,  upon  Lewis  William's 
quarters,  where  he  had  reason  to  believe  the  lines  were 
weakest.  He  received  from  that  most  vigilant  commander 
a  hearty  welcome,  however,  and  after  a  long  skirmish  was 
obliged  to  withdraw,  carrying  off  his  dead  and  wounded, 
together  with  a  few  cart-horses  which  had  been  found  grazing 
outside  the  trenches.  Not  satisfied  with  these  trophies  or 
such  results,  he  remained  several  days  inactive,  and  ^ 
then  suddenly  whirled  around  Aardenburg  with  his 
whole  army,  directly  southward  of  Sluys,  seized  the  forts  of 
St.  Catharine  and  St.  Philip,  which  had  been  left  with  very 
small  garrisons,  and  then  made  a  furious  attempt  to  break 
the  lines  at  Oostburg,  hoping  to  cross  the  fords  at  that  place, 
and  thus  push  his  way  into  the  isle  of  Cadzand.  The  resist 
ance  to  his  progress  was  obstinate,  the  result  for  a  time 
doubtful.  After  severe  fighting  however  he  crossed  the 
waters  of  Oostburg  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.26  Maurice 
meantime  had  collected  all  his  strength  at  the  vital  position 
of  Cadzand,  hoping  to  deal,  or  at  least  to  parry,  a  mortal 
blow. 

On   the   17th,  on   Cadzand   dyke,  between  two  redoubts, 
Spinola  again  met  Lewis  William,  who  had  been 
transferred  to  that  important  position.      A  severe 
struggle  ensued.     The  Spaniards  were  in  superior  force,  and 
Lewis  William,  commanding  the  advance  only  of  the  States 
troops,  was  hard  pressed.     Moving  always  in  the  thickest  of 
the  fight,  he  would  probably  have  that  day  laid  down  his  life, 
as  so  many  of  his  race  had  done  before  in  the  cause  of  the 
republic,  had  not  Colonel  van  Dorp  come  to  his  rescue,  and 
so  laid  about  him  with  a  great  broad  sword,  that  the  dyke  was 

26  Fleming,  593,  594.    Bentivoglio,  uU  sup.    Meteren,  495,    Grotius,  xii 
640,  641. 


212  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLII1 

kept  until  Maurice  arrived  with  Eytzinga's  Frisian  regiment 
and  other  reserves.  Van  Dorp  then  fell  covered  with  wounds. 
Here  was  the  decisive  combat.  The  two  command  ers-in- 
chief  met  face  to  face  for  the  first  time,  and  could  Spinola 
have  gained  the  position  of  Cadzand  the  fate  of  Maurice 
must  have  been  sealed.  But  all  his  efforts  were  vain.  The 
stadholder,  by  coolness  and  promptness,  saved  the  day,  and 
inflicted  a  bloody  repulse  upon  the  Catholics.  Spinola  had 
displayed  excellent  generalship,  but  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  young  volunteer  should  have  failed  upon  his  first  great 
field  day  to  defeat  Maurice  of  Nassau  and  his  cousin  Lewis 
William.  He  withdrew  discomfited  at  last,  leaving  several 
hundred  dead  upon  the  field,  definitely  renouncing  all  hope 
of  relieving  Sluys,  and  retiring  by  way  of  Dam  to  his  camp 
before  Ostend.27  Next  day  the  town  capitulated.28 
The  garrison  were  allowed  to  depart  with  the 
honours  of  war,  and  the  same  terms  were  accorded  to  the 
inhabitants,  both  in  secular  and  religious  matters,  as  were 
usual  when  Maurice  re-occupied  any  portion  of  the  republic. 
Between  three  and  four  thousand  creatures,  looking  rather 
like  ghosts  from  the  churchyards  than  living  soldiers, 
marched  out,  with  drums  beating,  colours  displayed,  matches 
lighted,  and  bullet  in  mouth.  Sixty  of  them  fell  dead29 
before  the  dismal  procession  had  passed  out  of  the  gates. 
Besides  these  troops  were  nearly  fifteen  hundred  galley- 
slaves,  even  more  like  shadows  than  the  rest,  as  they  had 
been  regularly  sent  forth  during  the  latter  days  of  the 
siege  to  browse  upon  soutenelle  in  the  submerged  meadows, 
or  to  drown  or  starve  if  unable  to  find  a  sufficient  supply 
of  that  weed.  These  unfortunate  victims  of  Mahometan 
and  Christian  tyranny  were  nearly  all  Turks,  and  by  the 
care  of  the  Dutch  Government  were  sent  back  by  sea  to 
their  homes.30  A  few  of  them  entered  the  service  of  the 
States. 

The  evacuation  of  Sluys  by  Governor  Serrano  and  his 

«7  Fleming,  594,  595.    Bentivoglio,  Meteren,  Grotius,  ubi  #up. 
*  Ibid.  2»  Bentivoglio.  »  Meteren,  495. 


1604.  CAPITULATION  OP  THE  TOWN.  213 

garrison  was  upon  the  20th  August.  Next  day  the  stad- 
holder  took  possession,  bestowing  the  nominal  government 
of  the  place  upon  his  brother  Frederic  Henry.  The  atmos 
phere,  naturally  enough,  was  pestiferous,  and  young  Count 
Lewis  Gunther  of  Nassau,  who  had  so  brilliantly  led  the 
cavalry  on  the  famous  day  of  Nieuport,  died  of  fever  soon 
after  entering  the  town,31  infinitely  regretted  by  every  one 
who  wished  well  to  the  republic. 

Thus  an  important  portion  of  Zeeland  was  restored  to  its 
natural  owners.  A  seaport  which  in  those  days  was  an  ex 
cellent  one,  and  more  than  a  compensation  for  the  isolated 
fishing  village  already  beleaguered  for  upwards  of  three 
years,  had  been  captured  in  three  months.  The  States- 
General  congratulated  their  stadholder  on  such  prompt 
and  efficient  work,  while  the  garrison  of  Ostend,  first 
learning  the  authentic  news  seven  days  afterwards,  although 
at  a  distance  of  only  fourteen  miles,  had  cause  to  37 
go  upon  their  knees  and  sing  praises  to  the  Most 
High. 

The  question  now  arose  as  to  the  relief  of  Ostend.  Maurice 
was  decidedly  opposed  to  any  such  scheme.32  He  had  got  a 
better  Ostend  in  Sluys,  and  he  saw  no  motive  for  spending 
money  and  blood  in  any  further  attempt  to  gain  possession  of 
a  ruin,  which,  even  if  conquered,  could  only  with  extreme 
difficulty  be  held.  The  States  were  of  a  diametrically 
opposite  opinion.  They  insisted  that  the  stadholder,  so  soon 
as  he  could  complete  his  preparations,  should  march  straight 
upon  Spinola's  works  and  break  up  the  siege,  even  at  the 
risk  of  a  general  action.33  They  were  willing  once  more  to 
take  the  terrible  chance  of  a  defeat  in  Flanders.  Maurice, 
with  a  heavy  heart,  bowed  to  their  decision,  showing  by 
his  conduct  the  very  spirit  of  a  republican  soldier,  obeying 
the  civil  magistrate,  even  when  that  obedience  was  like  to 
bring  disaster  upon  the  commonwealth.  But  much  was  to  be 
done  before  he  could  undertake  this  new  adventure. 

81  Meteren,  495.    Fleming,  597.      32  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  and  notes.      °  Ibid 

VOL.  II— 7* 


214  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLII1. 

Meantime  the  garrison  in  Ostend  were  at  their  last  gasp. 
On  being  asked  by  the  States-General  whether  it  was  possible 
to  hold  out  for  twenty  days  longer,  Marquette  called  a 
council  of  officers,  who  decided  that  they  would  do  their  best, 
but  that  it  was  impossible  to  fix  a  day  or  hour  when  resistance 
must  cease.  Obviously,  however,  the  siege  was  in  its  extreme 
old  age.  The  inevitable  end  was  approaching. 

Before  the  middle  of  September  the  enemy  was  thoroughly 
established  in  possession  of  the  new  Hell's  Mouth, 
the  new  Porcupine,  and  all  the  other  bastions  of 
the  new  entrenchment.  On  the  13th  of  that  month  the  last 
supreme  eifort  was  made,  and  the  Sand  Hill,  that  all-important 
redoubt,  which  during  these  three  dismal  years  had  triumph 
antly  resisted  every  assault,  was  at  last  carried  by  storm.34 
The  enemy  had  now  gained  possession  of  the  whole  town 
except  Little  Troy.  The  new  harbour  would  be  theirs  in  a 
few  hours,  and  as  for  Troy  itself,  those  hastily  and  flimsily 
constructed  ramparts  were  not  likely  to  justify  the  vaunts 
uttered  when  they  were  thrown  up  nor  to  hold  out  many 
minutes  before  the  whole  artillery  of  Spinola.  Plainly  on 
this  last  morsel  of  the  fatal  sandbank  the  word  surrender 
must  be  spoken,  unless  the  advancing  trumpets  of  Maurice 
should  now  be  heard.  But  there  was  no  such  welcome  sound 
in  the  air.  The  weather  was  so  persistently  rainy  and  stormy 
that  the  roads  became  impassable,  and  Maurice,  although 
ready  and  intending  to  march  towards  Spinola  to  offer  him 
battle,  was  unable  for  some  days  to  move.35  Meantime  a 
council,  summoned  by  Marquette,  of  all  the  officers,  decided 
that  Ostend  must  be  abandoned  now  that  Ostend  had  ceased 
to  exist. 

On  the  20th  September  the  Accord  was  signed  with 
Spinola.  The  garrison  were  to  march  out  with  their  arms. 
They  were  to  carry  off  four  cannon  but  no  powder.  All 
clerical  persons  were  to  leave  the  place,  with  their  goods  and 
chattels.  All  prisoners  taken  on  both  sides  during  the  siege 

34  Fleming,  574.    Bentivoglio,  iii.  530.    Metefen,  497™,  498. 
M  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  461,  note. 


1004.  ABANDONMENT   OF  OSTEND.  215 

were  to  be  released.  Burghers,  sutlers,  and  others,  to  go 
whither  they  would,  undisturbed.36  And  thus  the 
archdukes,  after  three  years  and  seventy-seven  days 
of  siege,  obtained  their  prize.  Three  thousand  men,  in  good 
health,  marched  out  of  little  Troy  with  the  honours  of  war. 
The  officers  were  entertained  by  Spinola  and  his  comrades 
at  a  magnificent  banquet,  in  recognition  of  the  unexampled 
heroism  with  which  the  town  had  been  defended.87  Subse 
quently  the  whole  force  marched  to  the  headquarters  of  the 
States'  army  in  and  about  Sluys.  They  were  received  by 
Prince  Maurice,  who  stood  bareheaded  and  surrounded  by  his 
most  distinguished  officers,  to  greet  them  and  to  shake  them 
warmly  by  the  hand.38  Surely  no  defeated  garrison  ever 
deserved  more  respect  from  friend  or  foe. 

The  Archduke  Albert  and  the  Infanta  Isabella  entered  the 
place  in  triumph,  if  triumph  it  could  be  called.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  imagine  a  more  desolate  scene.  The  artillery  of 
the  first  years  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  not  the  terrible 
enginry  of  destruction  that  it  has  become  in  the  last  third  of 
the  nineteenth,  but  a  cannonade,  continued  so  steadily  and  so 
long,  had  done  its  work.  There  were  no  churches,  no  houses, 
no  redoubts,  no  bastions,  no  walls,  nothing  but  a  vague  and 
confused  mass  of  ruin.  Spinola  conducted  his  imperial  guests 
along  the  edge  of  extinct  volcanoes,  amid  upturned  ceme 
teries,  through  quagmires  which  once  were  moats,  over  huge 
mounds  of  sand,  and  vast  shapeless  masses  of  bricks  and 
masonry,  which  had  been  forts.  He  endeavoured  to  point  out 
places  where  mines  had  been  exploded,  where  ravelins  had 
been  stormed,  where  the  assailants  had  been  successful,  and 
where  they  had  been  bloodily  repulsed.  But  it  was  all 
loathsome,  hideous  rubbish.  There  were  no  human  habita 
tions,  no  hovels,  no  casemates.  The  inhabitants  had  burrowed 
at  last  in  the  earth,  like  the  dumb  creatures  of  the  swamps 
and  forests.  In  every  direction  the  dykes  had  burst,  and  the 
sullen  wash  of  the  liberated  waves,  bearing  hither  and  thither 

86  Accord,  in  Fleming,  Haestens,  Meteren,  Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup. 
H  Yft»  der  Kemp,  ii,  1U,    Meteren,  ubi  sup,        &  Meteyen,  ubi  wp, 


216  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIII. 

the  floating  wreck  of  fascines  and  machinery,  of  planks  and 
building  materials,  sounded  far  and  wide  over  wliat  should 
have   been   dry  land.      The    great    ship   channel,   with   the 
unconquered  Half-moon  upon  one  side  and  the  incomplete 
batteries  and  platforms  of  Bucquoy  on  the  other,  still  de 
fiantly  opened  its  passage  to  the  sea,  and  the  retiring  fleets  of 
the  garrison  were  white  in  the  offing.     All  around  was  the 
grey  expanse  of  stormy  ocean,  without  a  cape  or  a  headland 
to  break  its  monotony,  as  the  surges  rolled  mournfully 'in 
upon  a  desolation  more  dreary  than  their  own.     The  atmo 
sphere  was  mirky  and    surcharged  with   rain,  for  the  wild 
equinoctial  storm  which  had  held  Maurice  spell-bound  had 
been  raging  over  land  and  sea  for  many  days.     At  every  step 
the  unburied  skulls  of  brave  soldiers  who  had  died  in  the 
cause  of  freedom  grinned   their  welcome  to  the  conquerors. 
Isabella  wept  at  the  sight.99    She  had  cause  to  weep.     Upon 
that  miserable   sandbank  more   than   a   hundred    thousand 
men  had  laid  down  their  lives40  by  her  decree,  in  order  that 
she  and  her  husband  might  at  last  take  possession  of  a  most 
barren  prize.      This  insignificant  fragment  of  a  sovereignty 
which  her  wicked  old   father  had  presented   to  her  on  his 
deathbed — a  sovereignty  which  he  had  no  more  moral  right 
or  actual  power  to  confer  than  if  it  had  been  in  the  planet 
Saturn- — had  at  last  been  appropriated  at  the  cost  of  all  this 
misery.     It  was  of  no  great  value,  although  its  acquisition 
had   caused   the   expenditure  of  at  least  eight  millions  of 
florins,  divided  in  nearly  equal  proportions  between  the  two 
belligerents.      It  was   in   vain   that  great  immunities   were 
offered  to  those  who  would  remain,  or  who  would  consent  to 


39  Gallucci,  ii.  485. 

40  The  numbers  of  those  who  were 
killed  or  who  died  of  disease  in  both 
armies  during  this  memorable  siege, 
have  been  placed  as  high  as  one  hun 
dred  and  forty  thousand.     (Gallucci, 
ubi  sup.}    Meteren,  498,  says  that  on 


give),  and  the  amount  was  72,124. 
Another  Spanish  authority,  Juan 
Ballono,  puts  the  number  of  the  be 
siegers  who  perished  in  the  last  year  of 
the  siege  at  sixty  thousand — of  course 
a  ridiculous  exaggeration.  Such  pre 
posterous  statistics  show  the  impossi- 


the  body  of  a  Spanish  officer,  who  fell  [  bility   of   making    anything    like    a 

*«     ******    r\-P    -fVn^     i  r\  vni-mot»a  Vklo     a  aaa  11  It  a        nm*ir*£i/*i:  fhatima+o          fYf'  -f  Vin  Tn^ai^r*/^!    -fl^^ 


in  one  of  the  innumerable  assaults, 
was  found  a  list  of  all  the  officers  and 
privates  killed  in  the  Catholic  army 
up  to  that  date  (which  he  does  not 


correct  estimate.  Of  the  besieged  the 
loss  is  supposed  to  have  been  as  heavy 
as  that  of  their  antagonists,  but  no 
registers  have  been  preserved. 


1604.  TERMINATION  OF  THE  SIEGE.  217 

settle  in  the  foul  Golgotha.  The  original  population  left  the 
place  in  mass.  No  human  creatures  were  left  save  the  wife 
of  a  freebooter  and  her  paramour,  a  journeyman  blacksmith.41 
This  unsavoury  couple,  to  whom  entrance  into  the  purer 
atmosphere  of  Zeeland  was  denied,  thenceforth  shared  with 
the  carrion  crows  the  amenities  of  Ostend. 

41  Fleming,  580. 


218  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL1V. 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

Equation  between  the  contending  powers  —  Treaty  of  peace  between  King 
James  and  the  archdukes  and  the  King  of  Spain  —  Position  of  the  Pro 
vinces —  States  envoy  in  England  to  be  styled  ambassador  —  Protest  of 
the  Spanish  ambassador  —  Effect  of  James's  peace-treaty  on  the  people  of 
England  —  Public  rejoicings  for  the  victory  at  Sluys —  Spinola  appointed 
commander-in-chief  of  the  Spanish  forces  —  Preparations  for  a  campaign 
against  the  States  —  Seizure  of  Dutch  cruisers  —  International  discord  — 
Destruction  of  Sarmiento's  fleet  by  Admiral  Haultain — Projected  enter 
prise  against  Antwerp  —  Descent  of  Spinola  on  the  Netherland  frontier  — 
Oldenzaal  and  Lingen  taken  —  Movements  of  Prince  Maurice  —  En 
counter  of  the  two  armies  —  Panic  of  the  Netherlanders  —  Consequent  loss 
and  disgrace  —  Wachtendonk  and  Cracow  taken  by  Spinola  —  Spinola's 
reception  in  Spain  —  Effect  of  his  victories —  Results  of  the  struggle  be 
tween  Freedom  and  Absolutism  —  Affairs  in  the  East  —  Amboyna  taken 
by  Van  der  Hagen  —  Contest  for  possession  of  the  Clove  Islands  — Com 
mercial  treaty  between  the  States  and  the  King  of  Ternate  —  Hostilities 
between  the  Kings  of  Ternate  and  Tydor  —  Expulsion  of  the  Portuguese 
from  the  Moluccas  —  Du  Terrail's  attempted  assault  on  Bergen-op-Zoom  — 
Attack  on  the  Dunkirk  pirate  fleet  —  Practice  of  executing  prisoners  cap 
tured  at  sea. 

I  HAVE  invited  the  reader's  attention  to  the  details  of  this 
famous  siege  because  it  was  not  an  episode,  but  almost  the 
sum  total,  of  the  great  war  during  the  period  occupied  by  its 
events.  The  equation  between  the  contending  forces  in 
dicated  the  necessity  of  peace.  That  equation  seemed  for 
the  time  to  have  established  itself  over  all  Europe.  France 
had  long  since  withdrawn  from  the  actual  strife,  and  kept  its 
idle  thunders  in  a  concealed  although  ever  threatening  hand. 
In  the  East  the  Pacha  of  Buda  had  become  Pacha  of  Pest.1 
Even  Gran  was  soon  to  fall  before  the  Turk,  whose  ad 
vancing  horse-tails  might  thus  almost  be  descried  from  the 
walls  of  Vienna.2  Stephen  Botschkay  meantime  had  made 
himself  master  of  Transylvania,  concluded  peace  with  Ahmet, 
1  Meteren,  502™.  8  Ibid. 


1604.  KING   JAMES'S  TREATY  WITH  SPAIN.  219 

and  laughed  at  the  Emperor  Kudolph  for  denouncing  him 
as  a  rebel.3 

Between  Spain  and  England  a  far  different  result  had  been 
reached  than  the  one  foreshadowed  in  the  portentous  collo 
quies  between  King  James  and  Maximilian  de  Bethune, 
Those  conferences  have  been  purposely  described  with  some 
minuteness,  in  order  that  the  difference  often  existing 
between  vast  projects  and  diametrically  opposed  and  very 
insignificant  conclusions  might  once  more  be  exhibited. 

In  the  summer  of  1603  it  had  been  firmly  but  mysteriously 
arranged  between  the  monarchs  of  France  and  Great  Britain 
that  the  House  of  Austria  should  be  crushed,  its  territories 
parcelled  out  at  the  discretion  of  those  two  potentates,  the 
imperial  crown  taken  from  the  Habsburgs,  the  Spaniards 
driven  out  of  the  Netherlands,  an  alliance  offensive  and 
defensive  made  with  the  Dutch  republic,  while  the  East  and 
West  Indies  were  to  be  wrested  by  main  force  of  the  allies, 
from  Spain,  whose  subjects  were  thenceforth  to  be  for  ever 
excluded  from  those  lucrative  regions.  As  for  the  Jesuits, 
who  were  to  James  as  loathsome  as  were  the  Puritans  to 
Elizabeth,  the  British  sovereign  had  implored  the  ambas 
sador  of  his  royal  brother,  almost  with  tears,  never  to  allow 
that  pestilential  brood  to  regain  an  entrance  into  his 
dominions.4 

In  the  summer  of  1604  King  James  made  a  treaty  of  peace 
and  amity  with  the  archdukes  and  with  the  monarch  of  Spain, 
thus  extending  his  friendly  relations  with  the  doomed  house 
of  Austria.  The  republic  of  the  Netherlands  was  left  to  fight 
her  battles  alone  ;  her  imaginary  allies  looking  down  upon 
her  struggle  with  benevolent  indifference.  As  for  the  Indies, 
not  a  syllable  of  allusion  in  the  treaty  was  permitted  by  Spain 
to  that  sacred  subject ;  the  ambassador  informing  the  British 
Government  that  he  gave  them  access  to  twelve  kingdoms 
and  two  seas,  while  Spain  acquired  by  the  treaty  access  only 
to  two  kingdoms  and  one  sea.5  The  new  world,  however, 
east  or  west,  from  the  Antilles  to  the  Moluccas,  was  the  pri- 
8  Meteren,  502™.  4  Sully,  v.  18,  4  Meteren,  500. 


220  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV 

vate  and  indefeasible  property  of  his  Catholic  Majesty.  On 
religious  matters,  it  was  agreed  that  English  residents  in 
Spain  should  not  be  compelled  to  go  to  mass,  but  that  they 
should  kneel  in  the  street  to  the  Host  unless  they  could  get 
out  of  the  way.6  In  regard  to  the  Netherlands,  it  was  agreed 
by  the  two  contracting  powers  that  one  should  never  assist 
the  rebels  or  enemies  of  the  other.  With  regard  to  the  cities 
and  fortresses  of  Brill,  Flushing,  Rammekens,  and  other 
cautionary  places,  where  English  garrisons  were  maintained, 
and  which  King  James  was  bound  according  to  the  contracts 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  never  to  restore  except  to  those  who  had 
pledged  them  to  the  English  crown — the  king  would  uphold 
those  contracts.  He  would,  however,  endeavour  to  make  an 
arrangement  with  the  States  by  which  they  should  agree 
within  a  certain  period  to  make  their  peace  with  Spain. 
Should  they  refuse  or  fail,  he  would  then  consider  himself 
liberated  from  these  previous  engagements  and  free  to  act 
concerning  those  cities  in  an  honourable  and  reasonable 
manner,  as  became  a  friendly  king.7  Meantime  the  garrisons 
should  not  in  any  way  assist  the  Hollanders  in  their  hostilities 
with  Spain.8  English  subjects  were  forbidden  to  carry  into 
Spain  or  the  obedient  Netherlands  any  property  or  merchan 
dize  belonging  to  the  Hollanders,9  or  to  make  use  of  Dutch 
vessels  in  their  trade  with  Spain.10  Both  parties  agreed  to 
do  their  best  to  bring  about  a  pacification  in  the  Nether 
lands. 

No  irony  certainly  could  be  more  exquisite  that  this  last- 
named  article.  This  was  the  end  of  that  magnificent  con 
ception,  the  great  Anglo-French  League  against  the  house  of 
Austria.  King  James  would  combine  his  efforts  with  King 
Philip  to  pacify  the  Netherlands.  The  wolf  and  the  watch 
dog  would  unite  to  bring  back  the  erring  flock  to  the  fold. 
Meantime  James  would  keep  the  cautionary  towns  in  his 
clutches,  not  permitting  their  garrisons  or  any  of  his  subjects 
to  assist  the  rebels  on  sea  or  shore.  As  for  the  Jesuits,  their 

6  Treaty  in  Meteren,  libi  sup.    Compare  Grotius,  xiii.  647,  648. 

7  Article  vii.  of  Treaty.     8  Article  viii.     9  Article  xii     10  Article  xviii. 


1604. 


STATE  OF  THE  PROVINCES. 


221 


triumphant  re-appearance  in  France,  and  the  demolition  of 
the  pyramid  raised  to  theii  dishonour  on  the  site  of  the  house 
where  John  Castel,  who  had  stabbed  Henry  IV.,  had  resided, 
were  events  about  to  mark  the  opening  year.11  Plainly  enough 
Secretary  Cecil  had  out-generalled  the  French  party. 

The  secret  treaty  of  Hampton  Court,  the  result  of  the 
efforts  of  Kosny  and  Olden- Barneveld  in  July  of  the  previous 
year,  was  not  likely  to  be  of  much  service  in  protecting  the 
republic.  James  meant  to  let  the  dead  treaties  bury  their 
dead,  to  live  in  peace  with  all  the  world,  and  to  marry  his 
sons  and  daughters  to  Spanish  Infantes  and  Infantas.  Mean 
time,  although  he  had  sheathed  the  sword  which  Elizabeth 
had  drawn  against  the  common  enemy,  and  had  no  idea  of 
fighting  or  spending  money  for  the  States,  he  was  willing  that 
their  diplomatic  agent  should  be  called  ambassador.  The 
faithful  and  much  experienced  Noel  de  Caron  coveted  that 
distinction,  and  moved  thereby  the  spleen  of  Henry's  envoy 
at  the  Hague,  Buzanval,  who  probably  would  not  have 
objected  to  the  title  himself.  "  'Twill  be  a  folly,"  he  said, 
"  for  liim  to  present  himself  on  the  pavement  as  a  prancing 
steed,  and  then  be  treated  like  a  poor  hack.  He  has  been 
too  long  employed  to  put  himself  in  such  a  plight.  But 
there  are  lunatics  everywhere  and  of  all  ages."  12 

Never  had  the  Advocate  seemed  so  much  discouraged. 
Ostend  had  fallen,  and  the  defection  of  the  British  sovereign 
was  an  off-set  for  the  conquest  of  Sluys.  He  was  more  urgent 
with  the  French  Government  for  assistance  than  he  had  ever 
been  before.  "  A  million  florins  a  year  from  France,"  he 
said  "joined  to  two  millions  raised  in  the  provinces,  would 
enable  them  to  carry  on  the  war.  The  ship  was  in  good 
condition,"  he  added,  "  and  fit  for  a  long  navigation  without 
danger  of  shipwreck  if  there  were  only  biscuit  enough  on 
board.13  Otherwise  she  was  lost.  Before  that  time  came  he 
should  quit  the  helm  which  he  had  been  holding  the  more 


1  Meteren,  502. 

19  Buzanval  to  Villeroy,  in  Deventer, 
iii.  1-9.  At  the  same  epoch  the  French 
king  asked  Aerssens  if  he  too  was  to 


have  the  rank  of  ambassador.  That 
diplomatist  replied  that  he  hoped  not, 
unless  his  salary  was  to  be  raised  at 
the  same  time.— Ibid.  p.  24.  13  Ibid. 


222  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS         CHAP.  XLIV, 

resolutely  since  the  peace  of  Vervins  because  the  king  had 
told  him,  when  concluding  it,  that  if  three  years'  respite 
should  he  given  him  he  would  enter  into  the  game  afresh, 
and  take  again  upon  his  shoulders  the  hurthen  which  inevit 
able  necessity  had  made  him  throw  down.  But/'  added 
Olden- Barneveld;  bitterly,  "  there  is  little  hope  of  it  now, 
after  his  neglect  of  the  many  admirable  occasions  during  the 
siege  of  Ostend." 14 

So  soon  as  the  Spanish  ambassador  learned  that  Caron  was 
to  be  accepted  into  the  same  diplomatic  rank  as  his  own,  he 
made  an  infinite  disturbance,  protested  most  loudly  and  pas 
sionately  to  the  king  at  the  indignity  done  to  his  master 
by  this  concession  to  the  representative  of  a  crew  of  traitors 
and  rebels,  and  demanded  in  the  name  of  the  treaty  just  con 
cluded  that  Caron  should  be  excluded  in  such  capacity  from 
all  access  to  court.15 

As  James  was  nearly  forty  years  of  age,  as  the  Hollanders 
had  been  rebels  ever  since  he  was  born,  and  as  the  King  of 
Spain  had  exercised  no  sovereignty  over  them  within  his 
memory,  this  was  naturally  asking  too  much  of  him  in  the 
name  of  his  new-born  alliance  with  Spain.  So  he  assumed 
a  position  of  great  dignity,  notwithstanding  the  Constable's 
clamour,  and  declared  his  purpose  to  give  audience  to  the 
agents  of  the  States  by  whatever  title  they  presented  them 
selves  before  him.  In  so  doing  he  followed  the  example,  he 
said,  of  others  who  (a  strange  admission  on  his  part)  were 
as  wise  as  himself.  It  was  not  for  him  to  censure  the  crimes 
and  faults  of  the  States,  if  such  they  had  committed.  He 
had  not  been  the  cause  of  their  revolt  from  Spanish  authority, 
and  it  was  quite  sufficient  that  he  had  stipulated  to  maintain 
neutrality  between  the  two  belligerents.16  And  with  this  the 
ambassador  of  his  Catholic  Majesty,  having  obtained  the  sub 
stance  of  a  very  advantageous  treaty,  was  fain  to  abandon 
opposition  to  the  shadowy  title  by  which  James  sought  to 
indemnify  the  republic  for  his  perfidy.17 

14  Meteren,  502.  I      17  At  the  same  time  the  republican 

16  Ibid.  501.  "  Ibid.          I  agent;  although  recognized  ae  ambas- 


1604. 


UNPOPULARITY  OF  JAMES'S  TREATY. 


223 


The  treaty  of  peace  with  Spain  gave  no  pleasure  to  the 
English  public.  There  was  immense  enthusiasm  in  London 
at  the  almost  simultaneous  fall  of  Sluys,  but  it  was  impos 
sible  for  the  court  to  bring  about  a  popular  demonstration  of 
sympathy  with  the  abandonment  of  the  old  ally  and  the 
new-born  affection  for  the  ancient  enemy.  "I  can  assure 
your  mightinesses/'  wrote  Caron,  "  that  no  promulgation  was 
ever  received  in  London  with  more  coolness,  yes — with  more 


sador,  received  but  slender  encourage 
ment  in  his  interviews  with  the  British 
sovereign.  "  When  I  tell  those  on  the 
other  side,"  said  James, "  that  you  are 
not  ready  to  treat  with  them,  they  will 
say  that  all  wars  must  sooner  or  later 
come  to  an  end.  What  reply  shall  I 
make  to  that  ?" 

"  Say  that  the  king  has  long  ago 
forfeited  all  right  to  these  provinces," 
answered  Caron ;  "that  the  sovereignty 
according  to  law  has  fallen  into  the 
bosom  of  my  lords  the  States  ;  that  the 
Spaniard,  having  usurped  so  many 
other  countries  in  the  world,  might 
leave  us  this  little  bit  for  the  sake  of 
living  in  peace." 

James  replied  that  kings  never 
willingly  gave  up  their  provinces. 
"  And  the  Netherlands  are  no  longer 
the  king's  to  give  up,"  returned  the 
ambassador.  His  majesty  expressed 
his  intention,  however,  to  do  nothing 
mire  in  the  matter.  He  should  main 
tain  strict  neutrality.  At  the  same 
time,  with  amusing  inconsistency,  he 
warmly  recognised  the  identity  of 
the  Dutch  cause  with  his  own.  "  In 
your  preservation  lies  my  own  interest. 
Your  ruin  would  be  my  great  loss. 
Rather  than  it  should  go  so  far  I  will 
venture  my  own  person  and  all  that 
God  has  given  me  in  this  world,  but  I 
trust  that  God  will  never  let  it  come 
so  far  as  this.  As  to  the  assistance 
you  ask  of  me,  God  is  my  witness  if  it 
be  not  my  wish  that  I  were  able  to 
grant  it,  but  I  have  told  you  many 
times  that  I  was  principally  moved  to 
make  peace  by  my  necessities." 

This  statement  of  the  king's  finan 
cial  plight  might  be  true  enough.  It 
is  certain  that  in  order  to  obtain  the 
means  to  make  decent  provision  for 
tUe  household  at  his  accession  it  had 


been  necessary  to  send  jewelry  and 
other  valuable  effects  to  Amsterdam 
as  a  pledge  for  a  secret  loan  of 
25,000£.  But  there  were  graver  and 
far  more  dangerous  causes  at  work  in 
the  English  court  to  affect  a  pacifica 
tion  and  even  an  alliance  with  Spain, 
than  a  temporary  financial  embarrass 
ment. 

It  could  also  scarcely  console  the 
States'  envoy  to  be  told  that  in  case  of 
uttermost  need  the  king  meant  to  lay 
down  his  life  for  the  republic.  The 
spectacle  of  James  leading  a  forlorn 
hope  against  Spain  was  not  an  in 
spiring  one,  especially  as  the  martial 
sovereign  of  France  had  turned  his 
face  away  from  his  old  friends.  "  Had 
the  Spaniard  given  me  as  much  cause 
of  quarrel  as  he  has  to  the  most  Chris 
tian  king,"  said  James,  "  I  should 
certainly  have  broken  with  him.  Not 
only  I  should  have  done  my  best  to 
help  you,  but  I  should  have  plunged 
into  the  fight  at  the  risk  of  life  and 
property." 

These  were  brave  words.  The  very 
near  future  was,  however,  to  show 
whether  the  British  king  would  feel 
the  outrages  of  Spain  against  himself 
as  deeply  as  he  now  resented  the  in 
juries  of  the  same  power  to  his  brother 
Henry.  It  was  soon  obvious  enough 
that  the  most  to  be  hoped  of  England 
was  that  she  would  not  interfere  to 
prevent  such  assistance  as  France 
might  be  willing  to  grant  to  the  re 
public,  James  becoming  more  and 
more  besotted  with  the  idea  of  an 
alliance  with  Spain.  A  few  months 
later  Rosny  told  Aerssens  that  the 
King  of  Spain  found  quite  as  much 
favour  at  the  English  court  as  he  did 
with  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  See,  Pfr 
renter,  in.  JO-H,  15,  4Q, 


224  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV 

sadness.  No  mortal  has  shown  the  least  satisfaction  in  words 
or  deeds,  but,  on  the  contrary,  people  have  cried  out  openly, 
'God  save  our  good  neighbours  the  States  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland,  and  grant  them  victory  !  '  On  Sunday,  almost  all 
the  preachers  gave  thanks  from  their  pulpits  for  the  victory 
which  their  good  neighbours  had  gained  at  Sluys,  but  would 
not  say  a  word  about  the  peace.  The  people  were  admonished 
to  make  bonfires,  but  you  may  be  very  sure  not  a  bonfire  was  to 
be  seen.  But,  in  honour  of  the  victory,  all  the  vessels  in  St. 
Catharine's  Docks  fired  salutes  at  which  the  Spaniards  were 
like  to  burst  with  spite.  The  English  clap  their  hands  and 
throw  their  caps  in  the  air  when  they  hear  anything  pub 
lished  favourable  to  us,  but,  it  must  be  confessed,  they  are 
now  taking  very  dismal  views  of  affairs.  Vox  populi  vox 


The  rejoicing  in  Paris  was  scarcely  less  enthusiastic  or 
apparently  less  sincere  than  in  London.  "  The  news  of  the 
surrender  of  Sluys,"  wrote  Aerssens,  "  is  received  with  so  much 
joy  by  small  and  great  that  one  would  have  said  it  was  their 
own  exploit.  His  Majesty  has  made  such  demonstrations  in 
his  actions  and  discourse  that  he  has  not  only  been  advised  by 
his  council  to  dissemble  in  the  matter,  but  has  undergone 
reproaches  from  the  pope's  nuncius  of  having  made  a  league 
with  your  Mightinesses  to  the  prejudice  of  the  King  of  Spain. 
His  Majesty  wishes  your  Mightinesses  prosperity  with  all  his 
heart,  yea  so  that  he  would  rather  lose  his  right  arm  than  see 
your  Mightinesses  in  danger.  Be  assured  that  he  means 
roundly,  and  we  should  pray  God  for  his  long  life  ;  for  I 
don't  see  that  we  can  expect  anything  from  these  regions 
after  his  death."19 

It  was  ere  long  to  be  seen,  however,  roundly  as  the  king 
meant  it,  that  the  republic  was  to  come  into  grave  peril 
without  causing  him  to  lose  his  right  arm,  or  even  to  wag  his 
finger,  save  in  reproach  of  their  Mightinesses. 

The  republic,  being  thus  left  to  fight  its  battles  alone, 
girded  its  loins  anew  for  the  conflict.  During  the  remainder 

11  Van  der  Kemp,  ii,  457.  19  Ibid.  453. 


1605.  RECEPTION  OF  SPINOLA  IN  PARIS.  225 

of  the  year  1604,  however,  there  were  no  military  operations 
of  consequence.  Both  belligerents  needed  a  brief  repose. 
The  siege  of  Ostend  had  not  been  a  siege.  It  was  a  long 
pitched  battle  between  the  new  system  and  the  old,  between 
absolutism  and  the  spirit  of  religious,  political,  and  mercantile 
freedom.  Absolutism  had  gained  the  lists  on  which  the 
long  duel  had  been  fought,  but  the  republic  had  meantime 
exchanged  that  war-blasted  spot  for  a  valuable  and  commo 
dious  position.  It  was  certainly  an  advantage,  as  hostilities 
were  necessarily  to  have  continued  somewhere  during  all 
that  period,  that  all  the  bloodshed  and  desolation  had  been 
concentrated  upon  one  insignificant  locality,  and  one  more 
contiguous  to  the  enemy's  possessions  than  to  those  of  the 
united  States.  It  was  very  doubtful,  however,  whether  all 
that  money  and  blood  might  not  have  been  expended  in 
some  other  manner  more  beneficial  to  the  cause  of  the  arch 
dukes.  At  least  it  could  hardly  be  maintained  that  they 
took  anything  by  the  capitulation  of  Ostend  but  the  most 
barren  and  worthless  of  trophies.  Eleven  old  guns,  partly 
broken,  and  a  small  quantity  of  ammunition,  were  all  the 
spoils  of  war  found  in  the  city  after  its  surrender. 

The  Marquis  Spinola  went  to  Spain.  On  passing  through 
Paris  he  was  received  with  immense  enthusiasm  by  Henry  IV., 
whose  friendship  for  the  States,  and  whose  desperate  designs 
against  the  house  of  Austria,  did  not  prevent  him  from  warmly 
congratulating  the  great  Spanish  general  on  his  victory.  It 
was  a  victory,  said  Henry,  which  he  could  himself  have  never 
achieved,  and,  in  recognition  of  so  great  a  triumph,  he  pre 
sented  Spinola  with  a  beautiful  Thracian  horse,  valued  at 
twelve  hundred  ducats.20  Arriving  in  Spain,  the  conqueror 
found  himself  at  once  the  object  of  the  open  applause  and  the 
scarcely  concealed  hatred  of  the  courtiers  and  politicians.  He 
ardently  desired  to  receive  as  his  guerdon  the  rank  of  grandee 
of  Spain.  He  met  with  a  refusal.21  To  keep  his  hat  on  his 
head  in  presence  of  the  sovereign  was  the  highest  possible 
reward.  Should  that  be  bestowed  upon  him  now,  urged 

20  Gallucci,  ii.  194.  S1  Ibid.  200. 

VOL.  IV. — Q 


226  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

Lerma,  what  possible  recompense  could  be  imagined  for  the 
great  services  which  all  felt  confident  that  he  was  about  to 
render  in  the  future  ?  He  must  continue  to  remove  his  hat 
in  the  monarch's  company.  Meantime,  if  he  wished  the  title 
of  prince,  with  considerable  revenues  attached  to  his  princi 
pality,  this  was  at  his  disposal.22  It  must  be  confessed  that 
in  a  monarchy  where  the  sentiment  of  honour  was  supposed 
to  be  the  foundation  of  the  whole  structure  there  is  some 
thing  chivalrous  and  stimulating  to  the  imagination  in  this 
preference  by  the  great  general  of  a  shadowy  but  rare  dis 
tinction  to  more  substantial '  acquisitions.  Nevertheless,  as 
the  grandeeship  was  refused,  it  is  not  recorded  that  he  was 
displeased  with  the  principality.  Meantime  there  was  a 
very  busy  intrigue  to  deprive  him  of  the  command-in-chief 
of  the  Catholic  forces  in  Flanders,  and  one  so  nearly  suc 
cessful  that  Mexia,  governor  of  Antwerp  citadel,  was  actually 
appointed  in  Spinola's  stead.  It  was  only  after  long  and 
anxious  conferences  at  Yalladolid  with  the  king  and  the 
Duke  of  Lerma,  and  after  repeated  statements  in  letters  from 
the  archdukes  that  all  their  hopes  of  victory  depended  on 
retaining  the  Genoese  commander-in-chief,  that  the  matter 
was  finally  arranged.  Mexia  received  an  annual  pension  of 
eight  thousand  ducats,  and  to  Spinola  was  assigned  five 
hundred  ducats  monthly,  as  commander-in-chief  under  the 
archduke,  with  an  equal  salary  as  agent  for  the  king's  affairs 
in  Flanders.23 

Early  in  the  spring  he  returned  to  Brussels,  having  made 
fresh  preparations  for  the  new  campaign  in  which  he  was  to 
measure  himself  before  the  world  against  Maurice  of  Nassau. 

Spinola  had  removed  the  thorn  from  the  Belgic  lion's 
foot  :  "  Ostendee  erasit  fatalis  Spinola  spinam."24  And 
although  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  relief  was  as  thorough 
as  had  been  hoped,  yet  a  freedom  of  movement  had  unques 
tionably  been  gained.  There  was  now  at  least  what  for  a 
long  time  had  not  existed,  a  possibility  for  imagining  some 
new  and  perhaps  more  effective  course  of  campaigning.  The 

**  Galucci,  ii.  194-202.  !3  Ibid.  24  Ibid.  182. 


1605.  RECRUITING  OF  SPINOLA'S  ARMY.  227 

young  Genoese  commander-in-chief  returned  from  Spain 
early  in  May,  with  the  Golden  Fleece  around  his  neck,  and 
with  full  powers  from  the  Catholic  king  to  lay  out  his  work, 
subject  only  to  the  approbation  of  the  archduke.  It  was  not 
probable  that  Albert,  who  now  thoroughly  admired  and 
leaned  upon  the  man  of  whom  he  had  for  a  time  been  dis 
posed  to  be  jealous,  would  interfere  with  his  liberty  of  action. 
There  had  also  been — thanks  to  Spinola's  influence  with  the 
cabinet  at  Madrid  and  the  merchants  of  Genoa — much  more 
energy  in  recruiting  and  in  providing  the  necessary  sinews 
of  war.  Moreover  it  had  been  resolved  to  make  the  ex 
periment  of  sending  some  of  the  new  levies  by  sea,  instead 
of  subjecting  them  all  to  the  long  and  painful  overland 
march  through  Spain,  Italy,  and  •  Germany.25  A  terzo  of 
infantry  was  on  its  way  from  Naples,  and  two  more  were 
expected  from  Milan,  biit  it  was  decided  that  the  Spanish 
troops  should  be  embarked  on  board  a  fleet  of  transports, 
mainly  German  and  English,  and  thus  carried  to  the  shores 
of  the  obedient  Netherlands.26 

The  States-General  got  wind  of  these  intentions,  and  set 
Vice- Admiral  Haultain  upon  the  watch  to  defeat  the  scheme. 
That  well-seasoned  mariner  accordingly,  with  a  sufficient 
fleet  of  war-galleots,  cruised  thenceforth  with  great  assiduity 
in  the  chops  of  the  channel.  Already  the  late  treaty 
between  Spain  and  England  had  borne  fruits  of  bitterness 
to  the  republic.  The  Spanish  policy  had  for  the  time 
completely  triumphed  in  the  council  of  James.  It  was  not 
surprising  therefore  that  the  partisans  of  that  policy  should 
occasionally  indulge  in  manifestations  of  malevolence  towards 
the  upstart  little  commonwealth  which  had  presumed  to 
enter  into  commercial  rivalry  with  the  British  realm,  and 
to  assert  a  place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  An 
order  had  just  been  issued  by  the  English  Government 
that  none  of  its  subjects  should  engage  in  the  naval  service 
of  any  foreign  power.  This  decree  was  a  kind  of  corollary 
to  the  Spanish  treaty,  was  levelled  directly  against  the 

56  Grotius,  xiv.  658,  659.     Meteren,  519™.  26  Ibid. 


228  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

Hollanders,  and  became  the  pretext  of  intolerable  arrogance, 
both  towards  their  merchantmen  and  their  lesser  war- 
vessels.  Admiral  Monson,  an  especial  partisan  of  Spain,  was 
indefatigable  in  exercising  the  right  he  claimed  of  visiting 
foreign  vessels  off  the  English  coast,  in  search  of  English 
sailors  violating  the  proclamation  of  neutrality.  On  repeated 
occasions  prizes  taken  by  Dutch  cruisers  from  the  Spaniards, 
and  making  their  way  with  small  prize  crews  to  the  ports  of 
the  republic,  were  overhauled,  visited,  and  seized  by  the 
English  admiral,  who  brought  the  vessels  into  the  harbours  of 
his  own  country,  liberated  the  crews,  and  handed  ships  and 
cargoes  over  to  the  Spanish  ambassador.27  Thus  prizes  fairly 
gained  by  nautical  skill  and  hard  fighting,  off  Spain,  Portugal, 
Brazil,  or  even  more  distant  parts  of  the  world,  were  confis 
cated  almost  in  sight  of  port,  in  utter  disregard  of  public  law 
or  international  decency.  The  States-General  remonstrated 
with  bitterness.  Their  remonstrances  were  answered  by 
copious  arguments,  proving,  of  course,  to  the  entire  satisfac 
tion  of  the  party  who  had  done  the  wrong,  that  no  practice 
could  be  more  completely  in  harmony  with  reason  and  justice. 
Meantime  the  Spanish  ambassador  sold  the  prizes,  and  appro 
priated  the  proceeds  towards  carrying  on  the  war  against 
the  republic  ;  the  Dutch  sailors,  thus  set  ashore  against  their 
will  and  against  law  on  the  neutral  coast  of  England,  being 
left  to  get  home  as  they  could,  or  to  starve  if  they  could  do 
no  better.  As  for  the  States,  they  had  the  legal  arguments 
of  their  late  ally  to  console  them  for  the  loss  of  their  ships. 

Simultaneously  with  these  events  considerable  levies  of 
troops  were  made  in  England  by  the  archduke,  in  spite  of  all 
the  efforts  of  the  Dutch  ambassador  to  prevent  this  one-sided 
neutrality,28  while  at  the  other  ends  of  the  world  mercantile 
jealousy  in  both  the  Indies  was  fast  combining  with  other 
causes  already  rife  to  increase  the  international  discord.  Out 
of  all  this  fuel  it  was  fated  that  a  blaze  of  hatred  between  the 
two  leading  powers  of  the  new  era,  the  United  Kingdom  and 
the  United  "Republic,  should  one  day  burst  forth,  which  was 
*7  Grotius,  xiv.  658,  659.  Meteren,  518™.  M  Ibid.  518. 


1605.  DESTRUCTION  OF  SARMIENTO'S  FLEET.  229 

to  be  fanned  by  passion,  prejudice,  and  a  mistaken  sentiment 
of  patriotism  and  self-interest  on  both  sides,  and  which  not 
all  the  bloodshed  of  more  than  one  fierce  war  could  quench. 
The  traces  of  this  savage  sentiment  are  burnt  deeply  into 
the  literature,  language,  and  traditions  of  both  countries,  and 
it  is  strange  enough  that  the  epoch  at  which  chronic 
wrangling  and  international  coolness  changed  into  furious 
antipathy  between  the  two  great  Protestant  powers  of 
Europe — for  great  they  already  both  were,  despite  the  paucity 
of  their  population  and  resources,  as  compared  with  nations 
which  were  less  influenced  by  the  spirit  of  the  age  or  had 
less  aptness  in  obeying  its  impulse — should  be  dated  from  the 
famous  year  of  Guy  Fawkes. 

Meantime  the  Spanish  troops,  embarked  in  eight  merchant 
ships  and  a  few  pinnaces,  were  slowly  approaching  their 
destination.  They  had  been  instructed,  in  case  they  found  it 
impracticable  to  enter  a  Flemish  port,  to  make  for  the  hospi 
table  shores  of  England,  the  Spanish  ambassador  and  those 
whom  he  had  bribed  at  the  court  of  James  having  already 
provided  for  their  protection.29  Off  Dover  Admiral  Haultain 
got  sight  of  Sarmiento's  little  fleet.  He  made  short  work 
with  it.  Faithfully  carrying  out  the  strenuous  orders  of  the 
States-General,  he  captured  some  of  the  ships,  burned  one, 
FJid  ran  others  aground  after  a  very  brief  resistance.  Some  of 
the  soldiers  and  crews  were  picked  up  by  English  vessels  cruis 
ing  in  the  neighbourhood  and  narrowly  watching  the  conflict. 
A  few  stragglers  escaped  by  swimming,  but  by  far  the  greater 
proportion  of  the  newly-arrived  troops  were  taken  prisoners, 
tied  together  two  and  two,  and  then,  at  a  given  signal  from 
the  admiral's  ship,  tossed  into  the  sea.30 

Not  Peter  Titelmann,  nor  Julian  Romero,  nor  the  Duke  of 
Alva  himself,  ever  manifested  greater  alacrity  in  wholesale 
murder  than  was  shown  by  this  admiral  of  the  young 


29  "  Quorum  omnium  curam  Petrus 
Cubiara  acceperat  hoc  inter  csetera 
mandato  ut  si  Flandria  negaretur 
vitato  Gallise  litore  Britanniae  oram 
adiret  tutum  ibi  hospitium  ope  legati 


Hispanici  et  quos  ille  Britannorum 
donis  emerat  liabiturus." — Grot.  xiv. 
658. 

80  Ibid.     Meteren,  uU  sup.    Wage' 
naar,  ix.  186. 


230  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV 

republic  in  fulfilling  the  savage  decrees  of  the  States- 
General.31 

Thus  at  least  one-half  of  the  legion  perished.  The  pursuit 
of  the  ships  was  continued  within  English  waters,  when  the 
guns  of  Dover  Castle  opened  vigorously  upon  the  recent 
allies  of  England,  in  order  to  protect  her  newly-found 
friends  in  their  sore  distress.  Doubtless  in  the  fervour  of 
the  work  the  Dutch  admiral  had  violated  the  neutral  coast 
of  England,  so  that  the  cannonade  from  the  castle  was 
technically  justified.  It  was  however  a  biting  satire  upon 
the  proposed  Protestant  league  against  Spain  and  universal 
monarchy  in  behalf  of  the  Dutch  republic,  that  England 
was  already  doing  her  best  to  save  a  Spanish  legion  and  to 
sink  a  Dutch  fleet.  The  infraction  of  English  sovereignty 
was  unquestionable  if  judged  by  the  more  scrupulous  theory 
of  modern  days,  but  it  was  well  remarked  by  the  States^ 
General,  in  answer  to  the  remonstrances  of  James's  Govern 
ment,  that  the  Dutch  admiral,  knowing  that  the  pirates  of 
Dunkirk  roamed  at  will  through  English  waters  in  search  of 
their  prey,  might  have  hoped  for  some  indulgence  of  a  similar 
character  to  the  ships  of  the  republic.32 

Thus  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  legion  perished.  The 
soldiers  who  escaped  to  the  English  coast  passed  the  winter 
miserably  in  huts,  which  they  were  allowed  to  construct  on  the 
sands,  but  nearly  all,  including  the  lieutenant-colonel  com 
manding,  Pedro  Cubiera,  died  of  famine  or.  of  wounds.  A 
few  small  vessels  of  the  expedition  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
Flemish  coast,  and  landing  a  slight  portion  of  the  terzo.33 


the  seventeenth  century,  was  not  re 
buked  by  the  most  gentle  and  enlight 
ened  spirits  of  the  uge. 

This  whole  story  is  minutely  related 
by  the  illustrious  Hugo  Grotius,  with 
out  a  syllable  of  censure.  Hist.  xiv. 
657,  658.  32  Ibid.  659. 

33  Grotius,  Meteren,  ubi  sup.  Wage- 
naar,  ix.  184-187.  Winwood,  ii.  82  ; 

captured  not  in  war-vessels  but  in  j  who  was  informed  by  Lord  Salisbury 
mercantile  and  neutral  transports,  was  j  that  more  than  one  hundred  men  in 
a  barbarity  which  seems  incredible  j  the  Dutch  fleet  were  killed  by  the 
to  us,  but  which,  in  the  beginning  of  Dover  cannon. 


31  Certainly  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  world  makes  some  little  pro 
gress  in  civilization.  To  exterminate 
unorganized  and  irresponsible  bands 
of  brigands  disgracing  the  name  of 
soldiers,  may  still  be  inevitable  in 
the  interest  of  humanity,  but  that 
regular  troops  should  be  destroyed 
in  cold  blood,  because  embarked  and 


1605.  GROWTH  OF  BUTCH  COMMERCE.  231 

The  campaign  of  1605  opened  but  languidly.  The  strain 
upon  the  resources  of  the  Netherlands,  thus  unaided,  was 
becoming  severe",  although  there  is  no  doubt  that,  as  the 
India  traffic  slowly  developed  itself,  the"  productive  force  of 
the  commonwealth  visibly  increased,  while  the  thrifty  habits 
of  its  citizens,  and  their  comparative  abstinence  from  unpro 
ductive  consumption,  still  enabled  it  to  bear  the  tremendous 
burthen  of  the  war.  A  new  branch  of  domestic  industry 
had  grown  out  of  the  India  trade,  great  quantities  of  raw 
silk  being  now  annually  imported  from  the  East  into 
Holland,  to  be  wrought  into  brocades,  tapestries,  damasks, 
velvets,  satins,  and  other  luxurious  fabrics  for  European 
consumption.34  It  is  a  curious  phenomenon  in  the  history  of 
industry  that  while  at  this  epoch  Holland  was  the  chief  seat 
of  silk  manufactures,  the  great  financier  of  Henry  IV.  was 
congratulating  his  sovereign  and  himself  that  natural  causes 
had  for  ever  prevented  the  culture  or  manufacture  of  silk  in 
France.'5  If  such  an  industry  were  possible,  he  was  sure  that 
the  decline  of  martial  spirit  in  France  and  an  eternal  dearth 
of  good  French  soldiers  would  be  inevitable,  and  he  even 
urged  that  the  importation  of  such  luxurious  fabrics  should  be 
sternly  prohibited,  in  order  to  preserve  the  moral  health  of 
the  people.96  The  practical  Hollanders  were  more  inclined 
to  leave  silk  farthingales  and  brocaded  petticoats  to  be  dealt 
with  by  thunderers  from  the  pulpit  or  indignant  fathers  of 
families.  Meantime  the  States-General  felt  instinctively  that 
the  little  commonwealth  grew  richer,  the  more  useful  or 
agreeable  things  its  burghers  could  call  into  existence  out  of 
nothingness,  to  be  exchanged  for  the  powder  and  bullets, 
timber  and  cordage,  requisite  for  its  eternal  fight  with 
universal  monarchy,  and  that  the  richer  the  burghers  grew 
the  more  capable  they  were  of  paying  their  taxes.  It  was 
not  the  fault  of  the  States  that  the  insane  ambition  of  Spain 
and  the  archdukes  compelled  them  to  exhaust  themselves 
annually  by  the  most  unproductive  consumption  that  man  is 
ever  likely  to  devise,  that  of  scientifically  slaughtering  his 

34  Meteren,  536.  35  Sully,  v.  77-79,  wqq.  3«  Ibid* 


232  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

brethren,  because  to  practise  economy  in  that  regard  would  be 
to  cease  to  exist,  or  to  accept  the  most  intolerable  form  of 
slavery. 

The  forces  put  into  the  field  in  the  spring  of  1605  were 
but  meagre.  There  was  also,  as  usual,  much  difference  of 
opinion  between  Maurice  and  Barneveld  as  to  the  most 
judicious  manner  of  employing  them,  and  as  usual  the  docile 
stadholder  submitted  his  better  judgment  to  the  States.37  It 
can  hardly  be  too  much  insisted  upon  that  the  high-born 
Maurice  always  deported  himself  in  fact,  and  as  it  were  un 
consciously,  as  the  citizen  soldier  of  a  little  republic,  even  while 
personally  invested  with  many  of  the  attributes  of  exalted 
rank,  and  even  while  regarded  by  many  of  his  leading 
fellow-citizens  as  the  legitimate  and  predestined  sovereign  of 
the  newly-born  state. 

Early  in  the  spring  a  great  enterprise  against  Antwerp  was 
projected.  It  failed  utterly.  Maurice,  at  Bergen-op-Zoom, 
despatched  seven  thousand  troops  up  the  Scheld,  under 
command  of  Ernest  Casimir.  The  flotilla  was  a  long  time 
getting  under  weigh,  and  instead  of  effecting  a  surprise,  the 
army,  on  reaching  the  walls  of  Antwerp,  found  the  burghers 
and  garrison  not  in  the  least  astonished,  but  on  the  contrary 
entirely  prepared.  Ernest  returned  after  a  few  insignificant 
skirmishes,  having  accomplished  nothing.38 

Maurice  next  spent  a  few  days  in  reducing  the  castle  of 
Wouda,  not  far  from  Bergen,  and  then,  transporting  his  army 
once  more  to  the  isle  of  Cadzand,  he  established  his  head 
quarters  at  Watervliet,  near  Yeendyke.  Spinola  followed 
him,  having  thrown  a  bridge  across  the  Scheld.  Maurice  was 
disposed  to  reduce  a  fort,  well  called  Patience,39  lying  over 
against  the  isle  of  Walcheren.  Spinola  took  up  a  position  by 
which  he  defended  the  place  as  with  an  impenetrable  buckler. 
A  game  of  skill  now  began  between  these  two  adepts  in  the 
art  of  war,  for  already  the  volunteer  had  taken  rank  among 
the  highest  professors  of  the  new  school.  It  was  the  object 

11  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  113. 

88  Ibid.  113, 114   Grotius,  xiv.  656,  657.   Meteren,  518.        39  Grot,  ubi  sup. 


1605.  MOVEMENTS  OF    SPINOLA.  233 

of  Maurice,  who  knew  himself  on  the  whole  outnumbered,  to 
divine  his  adversary's  intentions.  Spinola  was  supposed  to 
be  aiming  at  Sluys,  at  Grave,  at  Bergen-op-Zoom,  possibly 
even  at  some  more  remote  city,  like  Rheinberg,  while 
rumours  as  to  his  designs,  flying  directly  from  his  camp, 
were  as  thick  as  birds  in  the  air.  They  were  let  loose  on 
purpose  by  the  artful  Genoese,  who  all  the  time  had  a 
distinct  and  definite  plan  which  was  not  yet  suspected. 
The  dilatoriness  of  the  campaign  was  exasperating.  It 
might  be  thought  that  the  war  was  to  last  another  half 
century,  from  the  excessive  inertness  of  both  parties.  The 
armies  had  all  gone  into  winter  quarters  in  the  previous 
November,  Spinola  had  spent  nearly  six  months  in  Spain, 
midsummer  had  come  and  gone,  and  still  Maurice  was  at 
Watervliet,  guessing  at  his  adversary's  first  move.  On  the 
whole,  he  had  inclined  to  suspect  a  design  upon  Rhein- 
berg,  and  had  accordingly  sent  his  brother  Henry  with  a 
detachment  to  strengthen  the  garrison  of  that  place.  On 
the  1st  of  August  however  he  learned  that  Spinola  had 
crossed  the  Meuse  and  the  Rhine,  with  ten  thousand  foot  and 
three  thousand  horse,  and  that  leaving  Count  Bucquoy  with 
six  thousand  foot  and  one  thousand  five  hundred  horse  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Rhine,  to  guard  a  couple  of  redoubts 
which  had  been  constructed  for  a  basis  at  Kaiserswerth,  he 
was  marching  with  all  possible  despatch  towards  Friesland 
and  Groningen.40 

The   Catholic    general    had    concealed    his    design    in    a 
masterly  manner.     He  had  detained  Maurice  in  the 
isle   of    Cadzand,   the   States   still    dreaming   of  a 
victorious  invasion  on  their  part  of  obedient  Flanders,  and 
the  stadholder  hesitating   to   quit  his   position   of  inactive 
observation,  lest  the  moment  his  back  was  turned  the  rapid 
Spinola  might  whirl  down  upon  Sluys,  that  most  precious 
and  skilfully  acquired  possession  of  the  republic,  when  lo  ! 
his  formidable  antagonist  was  marching  in  force  upon  what 

40  Bentivoglio,  iii.  583,  534.   Meteren,  521,  522.    Grotius,  xiv.  660,  661.  Van 
der  Kemp,  ii.  114,  115,  and  notes. 


234  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

the   prince   well  knew  to  be  her  most  important  and  least 
guarded  frontier. 

On  the  8th  August  the  Catholic  general  was  before  Olden- 
zaal,  which  he  took  in  three  days,  and  then  ad 
vanced  to  Lingen.  Should  that  place  fall — and  the 
city  was  known  to  be  most  inadequately  garrisoned  and 
supplied — it  would  be  easy  for  the  foe  to  reduce  Coeworden 
and  so  seize  the  famous  pass  over  the  Bourtanger  Morass, 
march  straight  to  Embden— then  in  a  state  of  municipal 
revolution  on  account  of  the  chronic  feuds  between  its  counts 
and  the  population,  and  therefore  an  easy  prey — after  which 
all  Friesland  and  Groningen  would  be  at  his  mercy,  and  his 
road  open  to  Holland  and  Utrecht ;  in  short,  into  the  very 
bowels  of  the  republic. 

On  the  4th  August  Maurice  broke  up  his  camp  in  Flanders, 
and  leaving  five  thousand  men  under  Colonel  Van  der  Noot, 
to  guard  the  positions  there,  advanced  rapidly  to  Deventer, 
with  the  intention  of  saving  Lingen.  It  was  too  late.  That 
very  important  place  had  been  culpably  neglected.  The 
garrison  consisted  of  but  one  cannoneer,  and  he  had  but  one 
arm.41  A  burgher  guard,  numbering  about  three  hundred, 
made  such  resistance  as  they  could,  and  the  one-armed 
warrior  fired  a  shot  or  two  from  a  rusty  old  demi-cannon. 
Such  opposition  to  the  accomplished  Italian  was  naturally 
not  very  effective.  On  the  18th  August  the  place  capitu 
lated.42  Maurice,  arriving  at  Peventer,  and  being  now 
strengthened  by  his  cousin  Lewis  William  with 
such  garrison  troops  as  could  be  collected,  learned 
the  mortifying  news  with  sentiments  almost  akin  to  despair. 
It  was  now  to  be  a  race  for  Coeworden,  and  the  fleet-footed 
Spinola  was  a  day's  march  at  least  in  advance  of  his  com 
petitor.  The  key  to  the  fatal  morass  would  soon  be  in  his 
hands.  To  the  inexpressible  joy  of  the  stadholder,  the 
Genoese  seemed  suddenly  struck  with  blindness.  The  prize 
was  almost  in  his  hands  and  he  threw  away  all  his  advan- 

41  Meteren,  ubi  sup. 

&  Eentivoglio,  Grotius,  Meteren,  Van  der  Kemp,  ubi  wp. 


1605.  ATTACK  ON  THE  SPANISH  ARMY.  235 

tages.  Instead  of  darting  at  once  upon  Coeworden  he  paused 
for  nearly  a  month,  during  which  period  he  seemed 
intoxicated  with  a  success  so  rapidly  achieved,  and 
especially  with  his  adroitness  in  outwitting  the  great  stad- 
holder.43  On  the  14th  September  he  made  a  retrograde 
movement  towards  the  Rhine,  leaving  two  thousand  five 
hundred  men  in  Lingen.  Maurice,  giving  profound  thanks 
to  God  for  his  enemy's  infatuation,  passed  by  Lingen,  and 
having  now,  with  his  cousin's  reinforcements,  a  force  of  nine 
thousand  foot  and  three  thousand  horse,  threw  himself  into 
Coeworden,  strengthened  and  garrisoned  that  vital  fortress 
which  Spinola  would  perhaps  have  taken  as  easily  as  he  had 
done  Lingen,  made  all  the  neighbouring  positions 
secure,  and  then  fell  back  towards  Wesel  on  the 
Rhine,  in  order  to  watch  his  antagonist.44  Spinola  had 
established  his  headquarters  at  Ruhrort,  a  place  where  the 
river  Ruhr  empties  iato  the  Rhine.  He  had  yielded  to  the 
remonstrances  of  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  to  whom 
Kaiserwerth  belonged,  and  had  abandoned  the  forts  which 
Bucquoy,  under  his  directions,  had  constructed  at  that 
place.45 

The  two  armies  now  gazed  at  each  other,  at  a  respectful 
distance,  for  a  fortnight  longer,  neither  commander  apparently 
having  any  very  definite  purpose.  At  last,  Maurice  having 
well  reconnoitred  his  enemy,  perceived  a  weak  point  in  his 
extended  lines.  A  considerable  force  of  Italian  cavalry,  with 
uome  infantry,  was  stationed  at  the  village  of  Mulheim,  on 
the  Ruhr,  and  apparently  out  of  convenient  supporting 
distance  from  Spinola's  main  army.  The  stadholder  deter 
mined  to  deliver  a  sudden  blow  upon  this  tender  spot,  break 
through  the  lines,  and  bring  on  a  general  action  by  surprise. 
Assembling  his  well-seasoned  and  veteran  troopers  in  force, 
he  divided  them  into  two  formidable  bands,  one  under  the 
charge  of  his  young  brother  Frederic  Henry,  the  other  under 
that  most  brilliant  of  cavalry  officers,  Marcellus  Bax,  hero  of 
Turnhout  and  many  another  well-fought  field. 
"  Meteren.  Van  der  Kemp.  44  Authorities  cited  45  Bentivoglo,  iii.  536, 


236  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XLIV. 

The  river  Ruhr  was  a  wide  but  desultory  stream,  easily 
fordable  in  many  places.  On  the  opposite  bank  to  Mulheim 
was  the  Castle  of  Broek,  and  some  hills  of  considerable  eleva 
tion.  Bax  was  ordered  to  cross  the  river  and  seize  the  castle 
and  the  heights,  Count  Henry  to  attack  the  enemy's  camp 
in  front,  while  Maurice  himself,  following  rapidly  with  the 
advance  of  infantry  and  wagons,  was  to  sustain  the  assault. 

Marcellus  Bax,  rapid  and  dashing  as  usual,  crossed  the 
Ruhr,  captured  Broek  Castle  with  ease,  and  stood 
ready  to  prevent  the  retreat  of  the  Spaniards. 
Taken  by  surprise  in  front,  they  would  naturally  seek  refuge 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  That  stream  was  not  difficult 
for  infantry,  but  as  the  banks  were  steep,  cavalry  could  not 
easily  extricate  themselves  from  the  water,  except  at  certain 
prepared  landings.  Bax  waited  however  for  some  time  in  vain 
for  the  flying  Spaniards.  It  was  not  destined  that  the  stad- 
holder  should  effect  many  surprises  that  year.  The  troopers 
under  Frederic  Henry  had  made  their  approaches  through  an 
intricate  path,  often  missing  their  way,  and  in  far  more 
leisurely  fashion  than  was  intended,  so  that  outlying  scouts 
had  brought  in  information  of  the  coming  attack.  As  Count 
Henry  approached  the  village,  Trivulzio's  cavalry  was  found 
drawn  up  in  battle  array,  formidable  in  numbers,  and  most 
fully  prepared  for  their  visitors  from  Wesel.  The  party 
most  astonished  was  that  which  came  to  surprise.  In  an 
instant  one  of  those  uncontrollable  panics  broke  out  to  which 
even  veterans  are  as  subject  as  to  dysentery  or  scurvy.  The 
best  cavalry  of  Maurice's  army  turned  their  backs  at  the  very 
sight  of  the  foe,  and  galloped  off  much  faster  than  they  had 
come. 

Meantime,  Marcellus  Bax  was  assaulted,  not  only  by  his 
late  handful  of  antagonists,  who  had  now  rallied,  but  by  troops 
from  Mulheim,  who  began  to  wade  across  the  stream.  At 
that  moment  he  was  cheered  by  the  sight  of  Count  Henry 
coming  on  with  a  very  few  of  his  troopers  who  had  stood  to 
their  colours.  A  simultaneous  charge  from  both  banks 
at  the  enemy  floundering  in  the  river  was  attempted.  It 


1605.  PANIC  AMONG  MAURICE'S  TROOPS.  237 

might  have  been  brilliantly  successful,  but  the  panic  had 
crossed  the  river  faster  than  the  Spaniards  could  do,  and 
the  whole  splendid  picked  cavalry  force  of  the  republic, 
commanded  by  the  youngest  son  of  William  the  Silent,  and 
by  the  favourite  cavalry  commander  of  her  armies,  was,  after 
a  hot  but  brief  action,  in  disgraceful  and  unreasonable  flight. 
The  stadholder  reached  the  bank  of  that  fatal  stream  only  to 
witness  this  maddening  spectacle,  instead  of  the  swift  and 
brilliant  triumph  which  he  was  justified  in  expecting.  He 
did  his  best  to  stem  the  retreating  tide.  He  called  upon  the 
veterans,  by  the  memory  of  Turnhout  and  Nieuport,  and 
so  many  other  victories,  to  pause  and  redeem  their  name 
before  it  was  too  late.  He  taunted  them  with  their  frequent 
demands  to  be  led  to  battle,  and  their  expressed  impatience 
at  enforced  idleness.  He  denounced  them  as  valiant  only 
for  plundering  defenceless  peasants,  and  as  cowards  against 
armed  men  ;  as  trusting  more  to  their  horses'  heels  than  to 
their  own  right  hands.  He  invoked  curses  upon  them  for 
deserting  his  young  brother,  who,  conspicuous  among  them 
by  his  gilded  armour,  the  orange-plumes  upon  his  casque,  and 
the  bright  orange-scarf  across  his  shoulders,  was  now  sorely 
pressed  in  the  struggling  throng.46 

It  was  all  in  vain.  Could  Maurice  have  thrown  himself 
into  the  field,  he  might,  as  in  the  crisis  of  the  republic's  fate 
at  Nieuport,  have  once  more  converted  ruin  into  victory  by 
the  magic  of  his  presence.  But  the  river  was  between  him 
and  the  battle,  and  he  was  an  enforced  spectator  of  his 
country's  disgrace. 

For  a  few  brief  moments  his  demeanour,  his  taunts,  and  his 
supplications  had  checked  the  flight  of  his  troops. 

A  stand  was  made  by  a  portion  of  the  cavalry  and  a  few 
detached    but    fierce    combats   took  place.      Count 
Frederic  Henry  was  in  imminent  danger.     Leading 
a  mere  handful  of  his  immediate  retainers,  he  threw  himself 
into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  with  the  characteristic  audacity 
of  his  house.     A  Spanish  trooper  aimed  his  carbine  full  at  bis 
46  Grotius,  xiv.  671, 


238  THE    UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV 

face.  It  missed  fire,  and  Henry,  having  emptied  his  own 
pistol,  was  seized  hy  the  floating  scarf  upon  his  breast  by  more 
than  one  enemy.  There  was  a  brief  struggle,  and  death  or 
capture  seemed  certain ;  when  an  unknown  hand  laid  his 
nearest  antagonist  low,  and  enabled  him  to  escape  from  over 
powering  numbers.47  The  soldier,  whose  devotion  thus  saved 
the  career  of  the  youngest  Orange-Nassau  destined  to  be  so 
long  and  so  brilliant,  from  being  cut  off  so  prematurely,  was 
never  again  heard  of,48  and  doubtless  perished  in  the  fray. 

Meantime  the  brief  sparkle  of  valour  on  the  part  of  the 
States'  troops  had  already  vanished.  The  adroit  Spinola, 
hurrying  personally  to  the  front,  had  caused  such  a  clangoi 
from  all  the  drums  and  trumpets  in  Broek  and  its  neighbour 
hood  to  be  made  as  to  persuade  the  restive  cavalry  that  the 
whole  force  of  the  enemy  was  already  upon  them.  The  day 
was  obviously  lost,  and  Maurice,  with  a  heavy  heart,  now  him 
self  gave  the  signal  to  retreat.  Drawing  up  the  greater  part 
of  his  infantry  in  solid  mass  upon  the  banks  to  protect  the 
passage,  he  sent  a  force  to  the  opposite  side,  Horace  Vere 
being  the  first  to  wade  the  stream.  All  that  was  then  possible 
to  do  was  accomplished,  and  the  panic  flight  converted  into 
orderly  retreat,  but  it  was  a  day  of  disaster  and  disgrace  for 
the  republic.49 

About  five  hundred  of  the  best  States'  cavalry  were  left 
dead  on  the  field,  but  the  stain  upon  his  almost  unsullied  flag 
was  more  cutting  to  the  stadholder's  heart  than  the  death  of 
his  veterans.  The  material  results  were  in  truth  almost  even. 
The  famous  cavalry  general,  Count  Trivulzio,  with  at  least 
three  hundred  Spaniards,  fell  in  the  combat,50  but  the  glory  of 
having  defeated  the  best  cavalry  of  Europe  in  a  stricken  field 
and  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  stadholder  would  have  been 
sufficient  compensation  to  Spinola  for  much  greater  losses. 

Maurice  withdrew  towards  Wesel,  sullen  but  not  despond 
ing.  His  forces  were  meagre,  and  although  he  had  been  out- 

47  Grotius,  xiv.  671.     Meteren,  523™.  «  Grotius,  ubi  sup. 

49  Ibid.  xiv.  669-672.  Meteren,  523  and  ™.  Bentivoglio,  iii.  537.  Van  der 
Kemp,  ii.  116,  510,  511.  eo  Ibid> 


1605.  RESULTS  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN.  239 

generalled,  out-marched,  and  defeated  in  the  open  field,  at 
least  the  Genoese  had  not  planted  the  blow  which  he  had 
meditated  in  the  very  heart  of  the  republic. 

Autumn  was  now  far  advanced,  and  dripping  with  rain. 
The  roads  and  fields  were  fast  becoming  impassable  sloughs, 
and  no  further  large   operations  could  be  expected  in  this 
campaign.     Yet   the   stadholder's  cup  was  not  full,  and  he 
was  destined  to  witness  two  more  triumphs  of  his  rival,  now 
fast  becoming  famous,  before   this  year  of  disasters  should 
close.     On  the  27th  October,  Spinola  took  the  city    37  Oct. 
of  Wachtendonk,  after  ten  days'  siege,  and  on  the     5  Nov> 
5th  of  November  the  strong  place  of  Cracow.51 

Maurice  was  forced  to  see  these  positions  captured  almost 
under  his  eyes,  being  now  quite  powerless  to  afford  relief. 
His  troops  had  dwindled  by  sickness  and  necessary  detach 
ments  for  garrison^work  to  a  comparatively  insignificant  force, 
and  very  soon  afterwards  both  armies  went  into  winter 
quarters.52 

The  States  were  excessively  disappointed  at  the  results  of 
the  year's  work,  and  deep  if  not  loud  were  the  reproaches  cast 
upon  the  stadholder.  Certainly  his  military  reputation  had  not 
been  augmented  by  this  campaign.  He  had  lost  many  places, 
and  had  not  gained  an  inch  of  ground  anywhere.  Already 
the  lustre  of  Sluys,  of  Nieuport,  and  Turnhout  were  growing 
dim,  for  Maurice  had  so  accustomed  the  republic  to  victories 
that  his  own  past  triumphs  seemed  now  his  greatest  enemies. 
Moreover  he  had  founded  a  school  out  of  which  apt  pupils 
had  already  graduated,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  Genoese 
volunteer  had  rapidly  profited  by  his  teachings  as  only  a  man 
endowed  with  exquisite  military  genius  could  have  done. 

Yet,  after  all,  it  seems  certain  that,  with  the  stadholder's 
limited  means,  and  with  the  awful  consequences  to  the  country 
of  a  total  defeat  in  the  open  field,  the  Fabian  tactics,  which 
he  had  now  deliberately  adopted,  were  the  most  reasonable. 
The  invader  of  foreign  domains,  the  suppressor  of  great 

61  Meteren,  523™.  Bentivoglio,  iii.  536.  Grot.  xiv.  673.  Van  der  Kemp, 
ii.  H7.  «  Ibid. 


240  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

revolts,  can  indulge  in  the  expensive  luxury  of  procrastination 
only  at  imminent  peril.  For  the  defence,  it  is  always  possible 
to  conquer  by  delay,  and  it  was  perfectly  understood  between 
Spinola  and  his  ablest  advisers  at  the  Spanish  court K  that 
the  blows  must  be  struck  thick  and  fast,  and  at  the  most 
vulnerable  places,  or  that  the  victory  would  be  lost. 

Time  was  the  ally  not  of  the  Spanish  invaders,  who  came 
from  afar,  but  of  the  Dutch  burghers,  who  remained  at  home. 
"Jam  aut  Nunquam,"54  was  the  motto  upon  the  Italian's 
banners. 

In  proportion  to  the  depression  in  the  republic  at  the  re 
sults  of  this  year's  campaigning  was  the  elation  at  the  Spanish 
court.  Bad  news  and  false  news  had  preceded  the  authentic 
intelligence  of  Spinola's  victories.  The  English  envoy  had 
received  unquestionable  information  that  the  Catholic  general 
had  sustained  an  overwhelming  defeat  at  the  close  of  the 
campaign,  with  a  loss  of  three  thousand  five  hundred  men.55 
The  tale  was  implicitly  believed  by  king  and  cabinet,  so  that 
when,  very  soon  afterwards,  the  couriers  arrived  bringing 
official  accounts  of  the  victory  gained  over  the  veteran  cavalry 
of  the  States  in  the  very  presence  of  the  stadholder,  followed 
by  the  crowning  triumph  of  Wachtendonk,  the  demonstrations 
of  joy  were  all  the  more  vivacious  in  consequence  of  the  pre 
vious  gloom.56  Spinola  himself  followed  hard  upon  the  latest 
messengers,  and  was  received  with  ovations.57  Never,  since 
the  days  of  Alexander  Farnese,  had  a  general  at  the  Spanish 
court  been  more  cordially  caressed  or  hated.  Had  Philip  the 
Prudent  been  still  upon  the  throne,  he  would  have  felt  it  his 
duty  to  make  immediate  arrangements  for  poisoning  him. 
Certainly  his  plans  and  his  popularity  would  have  been  under 
mined  in  the  most  artistic  manner. 

But  Philip  III.,  more  dangerous  to  rabbits  than  to  generals, 
left  the  Genoese  to  settle  the  plans  of  his  next  campaign  with 
Lerma  and  his  parasites. 

\    The  subtle  Spinola,  having,  in  his  despatches,  ascribed  the 

chief  merit  of  the  victories  to  Louis  Velasco,  a  Spaniard,  while 

«  Grot.  xiv.  660.       M  Ibid.       65  Gallucci,  ii.  253,  seqq.       66  Ibid.      «  Ibid. 


1005.  TRIUMPHS  OF  SP1NOLA.  241 

his  own  original  conception  of  transferring  the  war  to  Fries- 
land  was  attributed  by  him  with  magnificent  effrontery  to 
Lerma  and  to  the  king58 — who  were  probably  quite  ignorant 
of  the  existence  of  that  remote  province — succeeded  in  main 
taining  his  favourable  position  at  court,  and  was  allowed,  by 
what  was  called  the  war-council,  to  manage  matters  nearly 
at  his  pleasure. 

It  is  difficult  however  to  understand  how  so  much  clamour 
should  have  been  made  over  such  paltry  triumphs.  All 
Europe  rang  with  a  cavalry  fight  in  which  less  than  a 
thousand  saddles  on  both  sides  had  been  emptied,  leading  to 
no  result,  and  with  the  capture  of  a  couple  of  insignificant 
towns,  of  which  not  one  man  in  a  thousand  had  ever  heard. 

Spinola  had  doubtless  shown  genius  of  a  subtle  and  inventive 
order,  and  his  fortunate  audacity  in  measuring  himself,  while 
a  mere  apprentice,  against  the  first  military  leader  living  had 
been  crowned  with  wonderful  success.  He  had  nailed  the  stad- 
holder  fast  to  the  island  of  Cadzand,  while  he  was  perfecting 
his  arrangements  and  building  boats  on  the  Rhine ;  he  had 
propounded  riddles  which  Maurice  had  spent  three  of  the  best 
campaigning  months  in  idle  efforts  to  guess,  and  when  he 
at  last  moved,  he  had  swept  to  his  mark  with  the  swiftness 
and  precision  of  a  bird  of  prey.  Yet  the  greatest  of  all 
qualities  in  a  military  commander,  that  of  deriving  substantial 
fruits  from  victory  instead  of  barren  trophies,  he  had  not 
manifested.  If  it  had  been  a  great  stroke  of  art  to  seize 
Lingen  before  Maurice  could  reach  Deventer,  it  was  an 
enormous  blunder,  worthy  of  a  journeyman  soldier,  to  fail  to 
seize  the  Bourtange  marshes,  and  drive  his  sword  into  the 
very  vitals  of  the  republic,  thus  placed  at  his  mercy. 

Meantime,  while  there  had  been  all  these  rejoicings  and 
tribulations  at  the  great  doings  on  the  Rhine  and  the  short 
coming  in  Friesland,  the  real  operations  of  the  war  had  been 
at  the  antipodes. 

It  is  not  a  very  unusual  phenomenon  in  history  that  the 
events,  upon  whose  daily  development  the  contemporary 

58  Gallucci,  ii.  253,  seqq. 
VOL.  IV. — R 


242  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

world  hangs  with  most  palpitating  interest,  are  far  inferior  in 
permanent  influence  upon  the  general  movement  of  humanity 
to  a  series  of  distant  and  apparently  commonplace  transac 
tions. 

Empires  are  built  up  or  undermined  by  the  ceaseless 
industry  of  obscure  multitudes  often  slightly  observed,  or 
but  dimly  comprehended. 

Battles  and  sieges,  dreadful  marches,  eloquent  debates, 
intricate  diplomacy — from  time  to  time  but  only  perhaps  at 
rare  intervals — have  decided  or  modified  the  destiny  of  na 
tions,  while  very  often  the  clash  of  arms,  the  din  of  rhetoric, 
the  whiz  of  political  spindles,  produce  nothing  valuable  for 
human  consumption,  and  made  the  world  no  richer. 

If  the  age  of  heroic  and  religious  passion  was  rapidly 
fading  away  before  the  gradual  uprising  of  a  politico-mercan 
tile  civilization — as  it  certainly  was — the  most  vital  events, 
those  in  which  the  fate  of  coming  generations  was  most 
deeply  involved,  were  those  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  com 
mercial  enterprise. 

Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  there  is  often  a  genial  and  poetic 
essence  even  among  things  practical  or  of  almost  vulgar 
exterior.  In  those  early  expeditions  of  the  Hollanders  to 
the  flaming  lands  of  the  equator  there  is  a  rhythm  and 
romance  of  historical  movement  not  less  significant  than  in 
their  unexampled  defence  of  fatherland  and  of  the  world's 
liberty  against  the  great  despotism  of  the  age. 

Universal  monarchy  was  baffled  by  the  little  republic,  not 
within  its  own  populous  cities  only,  or  upon  its  own  barren 
sands.  The  long  combat  between  Freedom  and  Absolutism 
had  now  become  as  wide  as  the  world.  The  greatest 
European  states  had  been  dragged  by  the  iron  chain  of  ne 
cessity  into  a  conflict  from  which  they  often  struggled  to 
escape,  and  on  every  ocean,  and  on  almost  every  foot  of  soil,, 
where  the  footsteps  of  mankind  had  as  yet  been  imprinted, 
the  fierce  encounters  were  every  day  renewed.  In  the  east 
and  the  west,  throughout  that  great  vague  new  world,  of  which 
geographers,  jiad  hardly  yet  made  a  sketch,  which  comprised 


1605.  ADVANCE  OF  HUMAN  LIBEttTY.  243 

both  the  Americas  and  something  called  the  East  Indies,  and 
which  Spain  claimed  as  her  private  property,  those  humbly 
born  and  energetic  adventurers  were  rapidly  creating  a  sym 
metrical  system  out  of  most  dismal  chaos. 

The  King  of  Spain  warned  all  nations  from  trespassing 
upon  those  outlying  possessions. 

His  edicts  had  not  however  prevented  the  English  in 
moderate  numbers,  and  the  Hollanders  in  steadily  increasing 
swarms,  from  enlarging  and  making  profitable  use  of  these 
new  domains  of  the  world's  commerce. 

The  days  were  coming  when  the  People  was  to  have  more 
to  say  than  the  pope  in  regard  to  the  disposition  and  arrange 
ments  of  certain  large  districts  of  this  planet.  While  the 
world-empire,  which  still  excited  so  much  dismay,  was  yield 
ing  to  constant  corrosion,  another  empire,  created  by  well- 
directed  toil  and  unflinching  courage,  was  steadily  rising  out 
of  the  depths.  It  has  often  been  thought  amazing  that  the 
little  republic  should  so  long  and  so  triumphantly  withstand 
the  enormous  forces  brought  forward  for  her  destruction.  It 
was  not,  however,  so  very  surprising.  Foremost  among  na 
tions,  and  in  advance  of  the  age,  the  republic  had  found  the 
strength  which  comes  from  the  spirit  of  association.  On  a 
wider  scale  than  ever  before  known,  large  masses  of  men, 
with  their  pecuniary  means,  had  been  intelligently  banded 
together  to  advance  material  interests.  When  it  is  remem 
bered  that,  in  addition  to  this  force,  the  whole  commonwealth 
was  inspired  by  the  divine  influence  of  liberty,  her  power  will 
no  longer  seem  so  wonderful. 

A  sinister  event  in  the  Isle  of  Ceylon  had  opened  the  series 
of  transactions  in  the  East,  and  had  cast  a  gloom  over  the 
public  sentiment  at  home.  The  enterprising  voyager,  Sebald 
de  Weerdt,  one  of  the  famous  brotherhood  of  the  Invincible 
Lion  which  had  wintered  in  the  straits  of  Magellan,59  had 
been  murdered  through  the  treachery  of  the  King  of  Candy. 
His  countrymen  had  not  taken  vengeance  on  his  assassins. 
They  were  perhaps  too  fearful  of  losing  their  growing  trade 
••  Vol.  iii.  page  579  of  this  History. 


244 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLIV 


in  those  lucrative  regions  to  take  a  becoming  stand  in  that 
emergency.  They  were  also  not  as  yet  sufficiently  powerful 
there.60 

The  East  India  Company  had  sent  out  in  May  of  this  year 
its  third  fleet  of  eleven  large  ships,  besides  some  smaller 
vessels,  under  the  general  superintendence  of  Matelieif  de 
Jonghe,  one  of  the  directors.  The  investments  for  the  voyage 
amounted  to  more  than  nineteen  hundred  thousand  florins.61 

Meantime  the  preceding  adventurers  under  Stephen  van 
der  Hagen,  who  had  sailed  at  the  end  of  1603,  had  been 
doing  much  thorough  work.62  A  firm  league  had  been  made 
with  one  of  the  chief  potentates  of  Malabar,  enabling  them  to 
build  forts  and  establish  colonies  in  perpetual  menace  of  Goa, 
the  great  oriental  capital  of  the  Portuguese.  The  return  of  the 
ambassadors  sent  out  from  Astgen  to  Holland  had  filled  not 
only  the  island  of  Sumatra  but  the  Moluccas,  and  all  the 
adjacent  regions,  with  praises  of  the  power,  wealth,  and  high 
civilization  of  that  distant  republic  so  long  depicted  by  rivals 
as  a  nest  of  uncouth  and  sanguinary  savages.63  The  fleet  now 
proceeded  to  Amboyna,  a  stronghold  of  the  Spanish-Portu 
guese,  and  the  seat  of  a  most  lucrative  trade. 

On  the  arrival  of  those  foreign  well-armed  ships  under  the 
guns  of  the  fortress,  the  governor  sent  to  demand,  with 
Castilian  arrogance,  who  the  intruders  were,  and  by  whose 
authority  and  with  what  intent  they  presumed  to  show  them 
selves  in  those  waters.  The  reply  was  that  they  came  in  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  their  High  Mightinesses  the 
States-General,  and  their  stadholder  the  Prince  of  Orange  ; 
that  they  were  sworn  enemies  of  the  King  of  Spain  and  all 
his  subjects,  and  that  as  to  their  intent,  this  would  soon  be  made 
apparent.64  Whereupon,  without  much  more  ado,  they  began 
a  bombardment  of  the  fort,  which  mounted  thirty-six  guns. 
The  governor,  as  often  happened  in  those  regions,  being  less 
valiant  against  determined  European  foes  than  towards  the 


60  Wagenaar,    ix.    197.      Meteren, 
books  xxvi.  xxviii. 

81  Wagenaar,  Meteren,  loc.  dt 


62  Wagenaar,  ix.  198 

63  Ibid.     Grotius,  xv.  700,  seqq. 

64  Grotius,  xv.  702. 


1605.  EXPEDITION  TO  THE  CLOVE  ISLANDS.  245 

feebler  oriental  races  on  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
trample,  succumbed  with  hardly  an  effort  at  resistance.65 
The  castle  and  town  and  whole  island  were  surrendered  to 
the  fleet,  and  thenceforth  became  virtually  a  colony  of  the 
republic  with  which,  nominally,  treaties  of  alliance  and 
defence  were  negotiated.  Thence  the  fleet,  after  due  posses- 
session  had  been  taken  of  these  new  domains,  sailed  partly  to 
Banda  and  partly  to  two  small  but  most  important  islands  of 
the  Moluccas.66 

In  that  multitude  of  islands  which  make  up  the  Eastern 
Archipelago  there  were  but  five  at  that  period  where  grew 
the  clove — Ternate,  Tydor,  Motiel,  Makian,  and  Bacia.67 

Pepper  and  ginger,  even  nutmegs,  cassia,  and  mace,  were 
but  vulgar  drugs,  precious  as  they  were  already  to  the  world 
and  the  world's  commerce,  compared  with  this  most  magnifi 
cent  spice. 

It  is  wonderful  to  reflect  upon  the  strange  composition  of 
man.  The  world  had  lived  in  former  ages  very  comfortably 
without  cloves.  But  by  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century  that  odoriferous  pistil  had  been  the  cause  of  so  many 
pitched  battles  and  obstinate  wars,  of  so  much  vituperation, 
negotiation,  and  intriguing,  that  the  world's  destiny  seemed 
to  have  almost  become  dependent  upon  the  growth  of  a 
particular  gillyflower.  Out  of  its  sweetness  had  grown  such 
bitterness  among  great  nations  as  not  torrents  of  blood  could 
wash  away.  A  commonplace  condiment  enough  it  seems  to 
us  now,  easily  to  be  dispensed  with,  and  not  worth  purchasing 
at  a  thousand  human  lives  or  so  the  cargo,  but  it  was  once  the 
great  prize  to  be  struggled  for  by  civilized  nations.  From 
that  fervid  earth,  warmed  from  within  by  volcanic  heat,  and 
basking  ever  beneath  the  equatorial  sun,  arose  vapours  as 
deadly  to  human  life  as  the  fruits  were  exciting  and  delicious 
to  human  senses.  Yet  the  atmosphere  of  pestiferous  fragrance 
had  attracted  rather  than  repelled.  The  poisonous  delights 
of  the  climate,  added  to  the  perpetual  and  various  warfare  for 

«  Grotius,  xv.  702.    Wagenaar,  ix.  197, 198. 

w  Ibid.    Meteren,  537.  «7  GrotiuB,  ttbi  *up. 

VOL.  II— 8* 


THE  TOITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

its  productions,  spread  a  strange  fascination  around  those  fatal 
isles. 

Especially  Ternate  and  Tydor  were  objects  of  unending 
strife.  Chinese,  Malays,  Persians,  Arabs,  had  struggled  cen 
turies  long  for  their  possession  ;  those  races  successively  oT 
simultaneously  ruling  these  and  adjacent  portions  of  the 
Archipelago.  The  great  geographical  discoveries  at  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century  had  however  changed  the  aspect 
of  India  and  of  the  world.  The  Portuguese  adventurers  found 
two  rival  kings  in  the  two  precious  islands,  and  by  ingeni 
ously  protecting  one  of  these  potentates  and  poisoning  the 
other,  soon  made  themselves  masters  of  the  field.  The  clove 
trade  was  now  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  strangers  from 
the  antipodes.  Goa  became  the  great  mart  of  the  lucrative 
traffic,  and  thither  came  Chinese,  Arabs,  Moors,  and  other 
oriental  traders  to  be  supplied  from  the  Portuguese  monopoly. 
Two-thirds  of  the  spices  however  found  their  way  directly  to 
Europe. 

Naturally  enough,  the  Spaniards  soon  penetrated  into 
these  seas,  and  claimed  their  portion  of  the  spice  trade. 
They  insisted  that  the  coveted  islands  were  included  in  their 
portion  of  the  great  Borgian  grant.  As  there  had  hardly  yet 
been  time  to  make  a  trigonometrical  survey  of  an  unknown 
world,  so  generously  divided  by  the  pope,  there  was  no  way 
of  settling  disputed  boundary  questions  save  by  apostolic 
blows.  These  were  exchanged  with  much  earnestness,  year 
after  year,  between  Spaniards,  Portuguese,  and  all  who  came 
in  their  way.  Especially  the  unfortunate  natives,  and  their 
kings  most  of  all,  came  in  for  a  full  share.  At  last  Charles 
V.  sold  out  his  share  of  the  spice  islands  to  his  Portu 
guese  rival  and  co-proprietor,  for  three  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  ducats.68  The  emperor's  very  active  pursuits  caused 
him  to  require  ready  money  more  than  cloves.  Yet  John 
III.  had  made  an  excellent  bargain,  and  the  monopoly 
thenceforth  brought  him  in  at  least  two  hundred  thousand 
ducats  annually.  Goa  became  more  flourishing,  the  natives 
68  Grotius,  xv.  704. 


1605.         NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  THE  KING  OF  TERNATE.          247 

more  wretched,  the  Portuguese  more  detested  than  ever. 
Occasionally  one  of  the  royal  line  of  victims  would  consent 
to  put  a  diadem  upon  his  head,  but  the  coronation  was  usually 
the  prelude  to  a  dungeon  or  death.  The  treaties  of  alliance, 
which  these  unlucky  potentates  had  formed  with  their  power 
ful  invaders,  were,  as  so  often  is  the  case,  mere  deeds  to 
convey  themselves  and  their  subjects  into  slavery. 

Spain  and  Portugal  becoming  one,  the  slender  weapon  of 
defence  which  these  weak  but  subtle  Orientals  sometimes 
employed  with  success — the  international  and  commercial 
jealousy  between  their  two  oppressors— was  taken  away.  It 
was  therefore  with  joy  that  Zaida,  who  sat  on  the  throne  of 
Ternate  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  saw  the  sails  of  a 
Dutch  fleet  arriving  in  his  harbours.69  Very  soon  negotia 
tions  were  opened,  and  the  distant  republic  undertook  to  pro 
tect  the  Mahometan  king  against  his  Catholic  master.  The 
new  friendship  was  founded  upon  trade  monopoly,  of  course, 
but  at  that  period  at  least  the  islanders  were  treated  with 
justice  and  humanity  by  their  republican  allies.  The  Dutch 
undertook  to  liberate  their  friends  from  bondage,  while  the 
King  of  Ternate,  panting  under  Portuguese  oppression,  swore 
to  have  no  traffic,  no  dealings  of  any  kind,  with  any  other 
nation  than  Holland  ;  not  even  with  the  English.  The 
Dutch,  they  declared,  were  the  liberators  of  themselves,  of 
their  friends,  and  of  the  seas.70 

The  international  hatred,  already  germinating  between  Eng 
land  and  Holland,  shot  forth  in  these  flaming  regions  like  a 
tropical  plant.  It  was  carefully  nurtured  and  tended  by  both 
peoples.  Freedom  of  commerce,  freedom  of  the  seas,  meant 
that  none  but  the  Dutch  East  India  Company — so  soon  as  the 
Portuguese  and  Spaniards  were  driven  out — should  trade  in 
cloves  and  nutmegs.  Decrees  to  that  effect  were  soon  issued, 
under  very  heavy  penalties,  by  the  States-General  to  the  citizens 
of  the  republic  and  to  the  world  at  large.71  It  was  natural  there 
fore  that  the  English  traders  should  hail  the  appearance  of  the 

69  Grotius,  xv.  706. 

™  "  Batavos  vere  socjos  &c  suos  marisquQ  liberatores  voc&iis,"~~Jbi<i    71  Ibid, 


248 


THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLIV 


Dutch  fleets  with  much  less  enthusiasm  than  was  shown  by 
the  King  of  Ternate. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  King  of  Tydor,  persisting  in  his 
oriental  hatred  towards  the  rival  potentate  in  the  other  island, 
allowed  the  Portuguese  to  build  additional  citadels,  and  gene 
rally  to  strengthen  their  positions  within  his  dominions.  Thus 
when  Cornelius  Sebastian,  with  his  division  of  Ver  Hagen's 
fleet,  arrived  in  the  Moluccas  in  the  summer  of  1605,  he  found 
plenty  of  work  prepared  for  him.  The  peace  recently  con 
cluded  by  James  with  Philip  and  the  archdukes  placed  Eng 
land  in  a  position  of  neutrality  in  the  war  now  waging  in  the 
clove  islands  between  Spain  and  the  republic's  East  India  Com 
pany.  The  English  in  those  regions  were  not  slow  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  advantage.  The  Portuguese  of  Tydor  re 
ceived  from  neutral  sympathy  a  copious  supply  of  powder  and 
of  pamphlets.  The  one  explosive  material  enabled  them  to 
make  a  more  effective  defence  of  their  citadel  against  the 
Dutch  fleet ;  the  other  revealed  to  the  Portuguese  and  their 
Mussulman  allies  that  "the  Netherlanders  could  not  exist 
without  English  protection,  that  they  were  the  scum  of  nations, 
and  that  if  they  should  get  possession  of  this  clove  monopoly, 
their  insolence  would  become  intolerable."72  Samples  of  polite 
literature  such  as  these,  printed  but  not  published,  flew  about 
in  volleys.  It  was  an  age  of  pamphleteering,  and  neither  the 
English  nor  the  Dutch  were  behind  their  contemporaries  in 
the  science  of  attack  and  self-defence.  Nevertheless  Cornelius 
Sebastian  was  not  deterred  by  paper  pellets,  nor  by  the  guns 
of  the  citadel,  from  carrying  out  his  purpose.  It  was  arranged 
with  King  Zaida  that  the  islanders  of  Ternate  should  make 
a  demonstration  against  Tydor,  being  set  across  the  strait 
in  Dutch  vessels.  Sebastian,  however,  having  little  faith  in 
oriental  tenacity,  entrusted  the  real  work  of  storming  the 
fortress  to  his  own  soldiers  and  sailors.  On  a  fine  morning  in 


14  "  Schrijvende  seer  verachtelijk 
ende  schimpelijk  vande  Nederlanders 
als  ofte  sy  sender  haer  niet  konden 
bestaen  ende  diergelijcke  meer,  die 
noemede  Let  schuym  van  Natien  die 


welcke  soodiesen  handel  alleen  handel 
hadden  haer  vermetelheit  souden 
onlydelijk  wesen,"  &c.  —  Depositions 
made  by  the  Netherlanders.  Meteren, 
535™. 


1605. 


STORMING  AND   SURRENDER  OF   TYDOR. 


249 


May  the  assault  was  delivered  in  magnificent  style.  The 
resistance  was  obstinate  ;  many  of  the  assailants  fell,  and 
Captain  Mol,73  whom  we  have  once  before  seen  as  master  of 
the  Tiger,  sinking  the  galleys  of  Frederic  Spinola  off  the 
Gat  of  Sluys,  found  himself  at  the  head  of  only  seven  men 
within  the  interior  defences  of  the  citadel.  A  Spanish  soldier, 
Torre  by  name,  rushed  upon  him  with  a  spear.  Avoiding  the 
blow,  Mol  grappled  with  his  antagonist,  and  both  rolled  to 
the  ground.  A  fortunate  carbine-shot  from  one  of  the  Dutch 
captain's  comrades  went  through  the  Spaniard's  head.74 
Meantime  the  little  band,  so  insignificant  in  numbers,  was 
driven  out  of  the  citadel.  Mol  fell  to  the  ground  with  a 
shattered  leg,  and  reproached  his  companions,  who  sought  to 
remove  him,  for  neglecting  their  work  in  order  to  save  his 
life.  Let  them  take  the  fort,  he  implored  them,  and  when 
that  was  done  they  might  find  leisure  to  pick  him  up  if  they 
chose.75  While  he  was  speaking  the  principal  tower  of  the 
fortress  blew  up,  and  sixty  of  the  garrison  were  launched  into 
the  air.76  A  well-directed  shot  had  set  fire  to  the  magazine. 
The  assault  was  renewed  with  fresh  numbers,  and  the  Dutch 
were  soon  masters  of  the  place.  Never  was  a  stronghold 
more  audaciously  or  more  successfully  stormed.  The  garrison 
surrendered.  The  women  and  children,  fearing  to  be  at  the 
mercy  of  those  who  had  been  depicted  to  them  as  cannibals, 
had  already  made  their  escape,  and  were  scrambling  like 
squirrels  among  the  volcanic  cliffs.  Famine  soon  compelled 
them  to  come  down,  however,  when  they  experienced  suffi 
ciently  kind  treatment,  but  were  all  deported  in  Dutch 
vessels  to  the  Philippine  islands.77  The  conquerors  not  only 
spared  the  life  of  the  King  of  Tydor,  but  permitted  him  to 
retain  his  crown.  At  his  request  the  citadel  was  razed 
to  the  ground.  It  would  have  been  better  perhaps  to  let  it 
stand,  and  it  was  possible  that  in  the  heart  of  the  vanquished 
potentate  some  vengeance  was  lurking  which  might  bear  evil 


73  I  suppose  at  least  this  Captain 
Mol  to  have  been  identical  with  the 
gallant  seaman  who  commanded  the 


Tiger  in  that  action. 
14  Grotius,  xv.  706,  707.         n  Ibid. 
7«  Ibid.  "  Ibid. 


250  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP   XLIV. 

fruit  at  a  later  day.  Meantime  the  Portuguese  were  driven 
entirely  out  of  the  Moluccas,  save  the  island  of  Timos,  where 
they  still  retained  a  not  very  important  citadel.78 

The  East  India  Company  was  now  in  possession  of  the 
whole  field.  The  Moluccas  and  the  clove  trade  were  its  own, 
and  the  Dutch  republic  had  made  manifest  to  the  world  that 
more  potent  instruments  had  now  been  devised  for  parcelling 
out  the  new  world  than  papal  decrees,  although  signed  by 
the  immaculate  hand  of  a  Borgia. 

During  the  main  operations  already  sketched  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  during  those  vastly  more  important  oriental 
movements  to  which  the  reader's  attention  has  just  been 
called,  a  detached  event  or  two  deserves  notice. 

Twice  during  the  summer  campaign  of  this  year  Du 
Terrail,  an  enterprising  French  refugee  in  the  service  of  the 
archdukes,  had  attempted  to  surprise  the  important 
city  of  Bergen-op-Zoom.  On  the  21st  August  the 
intended  assault  had  been  discovered  in  time  to  prevent  any 
very  serious  conflict  on  either  side.  On  the  20th 
September  the  experiment  was  renewed  at  an  hour 
after  midnight.  Du  Terrail,  having  arranged  the  attack  at 
three  different  points,  had  succeeded  in  forcing  his  way  across 
the  moat  and  through  one  of  the  gates.  The  trumpets  of  the 
foremost  Spaniards  already  sounded  in  the  streets.  It  was 
pouring  with  rain  ;  the  town  was  pitch  dark.  But  the  ener 
getic  Paul  Bax  was  governor  of  the  place,  a  man  who  was 
awake  at  any  hour  of  the  twenty-four,  and  who  could  see  in 
the  darkest  night.  He  had  already  informed  himself  of  the 
enemy's  project,  and  had  strengthened  his  garrison  by  a  large 
intermixture  of  the  most  trustworthy  burgher  guards,  so  that 
the  advance  of  Du  Terrail  at  the  southern  gate  was  already 
confronted  by  a  determined  band.  A  fierce  battle  began  in 
the  darkness.  Meantime  Paul  Bax,  galloping  through  the 
city,  had  aroused  the  whole  population  for  the  defence.  At 
the  Steinberg  gate,  where  the  chief  assault  had  been  pre- 

w  Grotius,  iv.  700-708.      Compare  Meteren,  535-637.     Wagenaar,  ix.  196- 
198.    Van  der  Hagen  Reise,  92,  94,  95. 


1005.  ATTACK  ON  BERGEN-OP-ZOOM.  251 

pared,  Bax  had  caused  great  fires  of  straw  and  pitch  barrels 
to  be  lighted,  so  that  the  invaders,  instead  of  finding,  as  they 
expected,  a  profound  gloom  through  the  streets,  saw  them 
selves  approaching  a  brilliantly  illuminated  city,  fully  pre 
pared  to  give  their  uninvited  guests  a  warm  reception.  The 
garrison,  the  townspeople,  even  the  women,  thronged  to  the 
ramparts,  saluting  the  Spaniards  with  a  rain  of  bullets,  paving- 
stones,  and  pitch  hoops,  and  with  a  storm  of  gibes  and 
taunts.  They  were  asked  why  they  allowed  their  cardinal 
thus  to  send  them  to  the  cattle  market,  and  whether  Our 
Lady  of  Hall,  to  whom  Isabella  was  so  fond  of  making 
pilgrimages,  did  not  live  rather  too  far  off  to  be  of  much  use 
just  then  to  her  or  to  them.79  Catholics  and  Protestants  all 
stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  that  night  to  defend  their  firesides 
against  the  foreign  foe,  while  mothers  laid  their  sleeping 
children  on  the  ground  that  they  might  fill  their  cradles  with 
powder  and  ball,  which  they  industriously  brought  to  the 
soldiers.  The  less  energetic  women  fell  upon  their  knees  in 
the  street,  and  prayed  aloud  through  the  anxious  night.  The 
attack  was  splendidly  repulsed.  As  morning  dawned  the 
enemy  withdrew,  leaving  one  hundred  dead  outside  the  walls 
or  in  the  town,  and  carrying  off  thirty-eight  wagon  loads  of 
wounded.80  Du  Terrail  made  no  further  attempts  that 
summer,  although  the  list  of  his  surprises  was  not  yet  full. 
He  was  a  good  engineer,  and  a  daring  partisan  officer.  He 
was  also  inspired  by  an  especial  animosity  to  the  States- 
General,  who  had  refused  the  offer  of  his  services  before  he 
made  application  to  the  archdukes.81 

At  sea  there  was  no  very  important  movement  in  European 
waters,  save  that  Lambert  Heinrichzoon,  commonly  called 
Pretty  Lambert,82  a  Rotterdam  skipper,  whom  we  have  seen 
doing  good  service  in  the  sea-fights  with  Frederic  Spinola, 
captured  the  admiral  of  the  Dunkirk  pirate  fleet,  Adrian 
Dirkzoon.  It  was  a  desperate  fight.  Pretty  Lambert, 
sustained  at  a  distance  by  Eear-Admiral  Gerbrantzon,  laid 

79  Grotius,  xv.  667,  669.     Meteren,  522,  523.     Wagenaar,  ix.  191, 192. 

"  Ibid.        81  Grotius,  ubi  sup.        82  "  Mooi  Lambert." — Wagenaar,  ix,  196, 


252  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIV. 

himself  yard-arm  to  yard-arm  alongside  the  pirate  vessel, 
boarded  her,  and  after  beating  down  all  resistance  made 
prisoners  such  of  the  crew  as  remained  alive,  and  carried 
them  into  Eotterdam.  Next  day  they  were  hanged,  to  the 
number  of  sixty.  A  small  number  were  pardoned  on  account 
of  their  youth,  and  a  few  individuals  who  effected  their 
escape  when  led  to  the  gallows,  were  not  pursued.83  The  fact 
that  the  townspeople  almost  connived  at  the  escape  of  these 
desperadoes  showed  that  there  had  been  a  surfeit  of  hangings 
in  Kotterdam.  It  is  moreover  not  easy  to  distinguish  with 
exactness  the  lines  which  in  those  days  separated  regular  sea 
belligerents,  privateers,  and  pirates  from  each  other.  It  had 
been  laid  down  by  the  archdukes  that  there  was  no  military 
law  at  sea,  and  that  sick  soldiers  captured  on  the  water 
should  be  hanged.  Accordingly  they  were  hanged.84  Admiral 
Fazardo,  of  the  Spanish  royal  navy,  not  only  captured  all  the 
enemy's  merchant  vessels  which  came  in  his  way,  but  hanged, 
drowned,  and  burned  alive  every  man  found  on  board.85 
Admiral  Haul  tain,  of  the  republican  navy,  had  just  been 
occupied  in  drowning  a  whole  regiment  of  Spanish  soldiers, 
captured  in  English  and  German  transports.  The  complaints 
brought  against  the  English  cruisers  by  the  Hollanders  for 
capturing  and  confiscating  their  vessels,  and  hanging,  maim 
ing,  and  torturing  their  crews— not  only  when  England  was 
neutral,  but  even  when  she  was  the  ally  of  the  republic — had 
been  a  standing  topic  for  diplomatic  discussion,  and  almost 
a  standing  joke.  Why,  therefore,  these  Dunkirk  sea-rovers 
should  not  on  the  same  principle  be  allowed  to  rush  forth 
from  their  very  convenient  den  to  plunder  friend  and  foe, 
burn  ships,  and  butcher  the  sailors  at  pleasure,  seems  difficult 
to  understand.  To  expect  from  the  inhabitants  of  this 
robbers'  cave — this  "church  on  the  downs" — a  code  of  mari 
time  law  so  much  purer  and  sterner  than  the  system  adopted 
by  the  English,  the  Spaniards,  and  the  Dutch,  was  hardly 
reasonable.  Certainly  the  Dunkirkers,  who  were  mainly 

83  Wagenaar,  ubi  sup.    Meteren,  524T0.  84  Vide  supra,  p.  125. 

»aut?e  raersi,  suspensi,  exueti,"— Gfrotius,  xv,  660, 


1605.  THE  PIRATES  OF  DUNKIRK.  253 

Netherlander — rebels  to  the  republic  and  partisans  of  the 
Spanish  crown — did  their  best  to  destroy  the  herring  fishery 
and  to  cut  the  throats  of  the  fishermen,  but  perhaps  they 
received  the  halter  more  often  than  other  mariners  who  had 
quite  as  thoroughly  deserved  it.  And  this  at  last  appeared 
the  prevailing  opinion  in  Rotterdam. 


254  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLV 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

Preparations  for  the  campaign  of  1606 — Diminution  of  Maurice's  popularity- 
Quarrel  between  the  pope  and  the  Venetian  republic — Surprise  of  Sluys 
by  Du  Terrail  —  Dilatoriness  of  the  republic's  operations  —  Movements  of 
Spinola  —  Influence  of  the  weather  on  the  military  transactions  of  the 
year  —  Endeavours  of  Spinola  to  obtain  possession  of  the  Waal  and  Yssel 
—  Surrender  of  Lochem  to  Spinola  —  Siege  of  Groll  —  Siege  and  loss  of 
Bheinberg  —  Mutiny  in  the  Catholic  army  —  Recovery  of  Lochem  by 
Maurice  —  Attempted  recovery  of  Groll  —  Sudden  appearance  of  the 
enemy  —  Withdrawal  of  the  besieging  army  —  Close  of  the  campaign  — 
End  of  the  war  of  independence — Motives  of  the  Prince  in  his  actions 
before  Groll  —  Cruise  of  Admiral  Haultain  to  the  coast  of  Spain  and 
Portugal — His  encounter  with  the  war-ships  of  Fazardo  —  Courageous 
conduct  of  the  vice-admiral  —  Deaths  of  Justus  Lipsius,  Hohenlo,  and 
Count  John  of  Nassau. 

AFTER  the  close  of  the  campaign  of  1605  Spinola  had  gone 
once  more  to  Spain.  On  his  passage  through  Paris  he  had 
again  been  received  with  distinguished  favour  by  that  warm 
ally  of  the  Dutch  republic,  Henry  IV.,  and  on  being  ques- 
,  tioned  by  that  monarch  as  to  his  plans  for  the  next  campaign 
had  replied  that  he  intended  once  more  to  cross  the  Rhine, 
and  invade  Friesland.  Henry,  convinced  that  the  Genoese 
would  of  course  not  tell  him  the  truth  on  such  an  occasion, 
wrote  accordingly  to  the  States-General  that  they  might 
feel  safe  as  to  their  eastern  frontier.  Whatever  else  might 
happen,  Friesland  and  the  regions  adjacent  would  be  safe 
next  year  from  attack.1  The  immediate  future  was  to  show 
whether  the  subtle  Italian  had  not  compassed  as  neat  a 
deception  by  telling  the  truth  as  coarser  politicians  could 
do  by  falsehood. 

Spinola  found  the  royal  finances  in  most  dismal  condition, 
Three  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  month2  were  the  least 
estimate  of  the  necessary  expenses  for  carrying  on  the 

1  Gaflucci,  256,  257.  *  Bentivogho,  538.    Grotius.  xv.  714. 


1605.  ILLNESS  OF  SPINOLA.  255 

Netherland  war,  a  sum  which  could  not  possibly  be  spared 
by  Lerma,  Uceda,  the  Marquis  of  the  Seven  Churches, 
and  other  financiers  then  industriously  occupied  in  draining 
dry  the  exchequer  for  their  own  uses.  Once  more  the 
general  aided  his  sovereign  with  purse  and  credit,  as  well  as 
with  his  sword.  Once  more  the  exchange  at  Genoa  was 
glutted  with  the  acceptances  of  Marquis  Spinola.8  Here  at 
least  was  a  man  of  a  nature  not  quite  so  depraved  as  that  of 
the  parasites  bred  out  of  the  corruption  of  a  noble  but  dying 
commonwealth,  and  doubtless  it  was  with  gentle  contempt 
that  the  great  favourite  and  his  friends  looked  at  the 
military  and  financial  enthusiasm  of  the  volunteer.  It  was 
so  much  more  sagacious  to  make  a  princely  fortune  than 
to  sacrifice  one  already  inherited,  in  the  service  oi  one's 
country. 

Spinola  being  thus  ready  not  only  to  fight  but  to  help  to 
pay  for  the  fighting,  found  his  plans  of  campaigns  received 
with  great  benignity  by  the  king  and  his  ministers.  Mean 
time  there  was  much  delay.  The  enormous  labours  thus 
devolved  upon  one  pair  of  shoulders  by  the  do-nothing  king 
and  a  mayor  of  the  palace  whose  soul  was  absorbed  by  his 
own  private  robberies,  were  almost  too  much  for  human 
strength.  On  his  return  to  the  Netherlands  Spinola  fell 
dangerously  ill  in  Genoa.4 

Meantime,  during  his  absence  and  the  enforced  idleness  of 
the  Catholic  armies,  there  was  an  opportunity  for  the  re 
publicans  to  act  with  promptness  and  vigour.  They  displayed 
neither  quality.  Never  had  there  been  so  much  sluggishness 
as  in  the  preparations  for  the  campaign  of  1606.  The 
States'  exchequer  was  lower  than  it  had  been  for  years.  The 
republic  was  without  friends.  Left  to  fight  their  battle  for 
national  existence  alone,  the  Hollanders  found  themselves 
perpetually  subjected  to  hostile  censure  from  their  late  allies, 
and  to  friendly  advice  still  more  intolerable.  There  were 
many  brave  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen  sharing  in  the 
iatigues  of  the  Dutch  war  of  independence,  but  the  govern- 
»  Grot.  xv.  680.  Compare  Gallucci,  lib.  xviii.-xx,  4  Gallucci,  fc.  257,  seqq. 


256  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLV. 

ments  of  Henry  and  of  James  were  as  protective,  as  severely 
virtuous,  as  offensive,  and,  in  their  secret  intrigues  with  the 
other  belligerent,  as  mischievous  as  it  was  possible  for  the 
best-intentioned  neutrals  to  be. 

The  fame  and  the  popularity  of  the  stadholder  had  been 
diminished  by  the  results  of  the  past  campaign.  The  States- 
Greneral  were  disappointed,  dissatisfied,  and  inclined  to  censure 
very  unreasonably  the  public  servant  who  had  always  obeyed 
their  decrees  with  docility.  While  Henry  IV.  was  rapidly 
transferring  his  admiration  from  Maurice  to  Spinola,  the 
disagreements  at  home  between  the  Advocate  and  the  Stad 
holder  were  becoming  portentous. 

There  was  a  want  of  means  and  of  soldiers  for  the  new 
campaign.  Certain  causes  were  operating  in  Europe  to  the 
disadvantage  of  both  belligerents.  In  the  south,  Venice  had 
almost  drawn  her  sword  against  the  pope  in  her  settled 
resolution  to  put  down  the  Jesuits  and  to  clip  the  wings  of 
the  church  party,  before,  with  bequests  and  donations,  votive 
churches  and  magnificent  monasteries,  four-fifths  of  the 
domains  of  the  republic  should  fall  into  mortmain,  as  was 
already  the  case  in  Brabant.5 

Naturally  there  was  a  contest  between  the  ex-Huguenot, 
now  eldest  son  of  the  Church,  and  the  most  Catholic  king, 
as  to  who  should  soonest  defend  the  pope.  Henry  offered 
thorough  protection  to  his  Holiness,  but  only  under  condition 
that  he  should  have  a  monopoly  of  that  protection.6  He 
lifted  his  sword,  but  meantime  it  was  doubtful  whether  the 
blow  was  to  descend  upon  Venice  or  upon  Spain.  The 
Spanish  levies,  on  their  way  to  the  Netherlands,  were  de 
tained  in  Italy  by  this  new  exigency.  The  States-General 
offered  the  sister  republic  their  maritime  assistance,  and 
notwithstanding  their  own  immense  difficulties,  stood  ready 


5  Meteren,  536.  I  manus  respicere  deberent :  sin  Pon 

6  "  Nee  dissimulabat  Hispanus  Pon- !  tifex  Hispanum  prolatandae  domina- 
tifici  se  auxilio  futurum,  quo  Gallus   tionis   avidum   sibi   assumeret  haud 
oomperto    significant    Romam,    ita    immeritosuspectumidsibivelcoactum 
meritos  majores  suos  ut  ecclesise  peri-   contrariis  in  partibus  fore." — Grotius, 
cula  non  alias  magis  quam  Francicas   xv.  713.    Compare  Meteren,  546V0. 


1606.  ATTACK  ON  SLUYS.  257 

to  send  a  fleet  to  the  Mediterranean.  The  offer  was  grate 
fully  declined,  and  the  quarrel  with  the  pope  arranged, 
but  the  incident  laid  the  foundation  of  a  lasting  friendship 
between  the  only  two  important  republics  then  existing.7  The 
issue  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  at  the  close  of  the  preceding 
year,  had  confirmed  James  in  his  distaste  for  Jesuits,  and  had 
effected  that  which  all  the  eloquence  of  the  States- General 
and  their  ambassador  had  failed  to  accomplish,  the  prohibi 
tion  of  Spanish  enlistments  in  his  kingdom.  Guido  Fawkes 
had  served  under  the  archduke  in  Flanders. 

Here  then  were  delays  additional  to  that  caused  by 
Spinola's8  illness.  On  the  other  hand,  the  levies  of  the 
republic  were  for  a  season  paralysed  by  the  altercation,  soon 
afterwards  adjusted,  between  Henry  IV.  and  the  Duke  of 
Bouillon,  brother-in-law  of  the  stadholder  and  of  the  Palatine, 
and  by  the  petty  war  between  the  Duke  and  Hanseatic 
city  of  Brunswick,  in  which  Ernest  of  Nassau  was  for  a  time 
employed.9 

During  this  period  of  almost  suspended  animation  the  war 
gave  no  signs  of  life,  except  in  a  few  spasmodic  efforts  on  the 
part  of  the  irrepressible  Du  Terrail.  Early  in  the  spring,  not 
satisfied  with  his  double  and  disastrous  repulse  before  Bergen- 
op-Zoom,  that  partisan  now  determined  to  surprise  Sluys. 
That  an  attack  was  impending  became  known  to  the 
governor  of  that  city,  the  experienced  Colonel  Van  der  Noot. 
Not  dreaming,  however,  that  any  mortal — even  the  most 
audacious  of  Frenchmen  and  adventurers — would  ever  think 
of  carrying  a  city  like  Sluys  by  surprise,  defended  as  it  was 
by  a  splendid  citadel  and  by  a  whole  chain  of  forts  and  water- 
batteries,  and  capable  of  withstanding  three  months  long,  as 
it  had  so  recently  done,  a  siege  in  form  by  the  acknowledged 
master  of  the  beleaguering  science,  the  methodical  governor 
went  calmly  to  bed  one  fine  night  in  June.  His  slumbers 
were  disturbed  before  morning  by  the  sound  of  trumpets 
Hounding  Spanish  melodies  in  the  streets,  and  by  a  great 

7  Grotius,  xv.  684     Wagenaar,  ix.  206.     Meteren,  536. 

8  Meteren,  526.  9  Wagenaar,  ix.  199-203. 

VOL.  IV. — S 


258  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLV 

uproar  and  shouting.  Springing  out  of  bed,  he  rushed  half- 
dressed  to  the  rescue.  Less  vigilant  than  Paul  Bax  had  been 
the  year  before  in  Bergen,  he  found  that  Du  Terrail  had 
really  eifected  a  surprise.  At  the  head  of  twelve  hundred 
Walloons  and  Irishmen,  that  enterprising  officer  had  waded 
through  the  drowned  land  of  Cadzand,  with  the  promised 
support  of  a  body  of  infantry  under  Frederic  Van  den  Berg, 
from  Damm,  had  stolen  noiselessly  by  the  forts  of  that  island 
unchallenged  and  unseen,  had  effected  with  petards  a  small 
breach  through  the  western  gate  of  the  city,  and  with  a 
large  number  of  his  followers,  creeping  two  and  two  through 
the  gap,  had  found  himself  for  a  time  master  of  Sluys.10 

The  profound  silence  of  the  place  had  however  somewhat 
discouraged  the  intruders.  The  whole  population  were  as 
sound  asleep  as  was  the  excellent  commandant,  but  the  still 
ness  in  the  deserted  streets  suggested  an  ambush,  and  they 
moved  stealthily  forward,  feeling  their  way  with  caution 
towards  the  centre  of  the  town. 

It  so  happened,  moreover,  that  the  sacristan  had  forgotten 
to  wind  up  the  great  town  clock.  The  agreement  with  the 
party  first  entering  and  making  their  way  to  the  opposite 
end  of  the  city,  had  been  that  at  the  striking  of  a  certain 
hour  after  midnight  they  should  attack  simultaneously  and 
with  a  great  outcry  all  the  guardhouses,  so  that  the  garrison 
might  be  simultaneously  butchered.  The  clock  never  struck, 
the  signal  was  never  given,  and  Du  Terrail  and  his  imme 
diate  comrades  remained  near  the  western  gate,  suspicious 
and  much  perplexed.  The  delay  was  fatal.  The  guard, 
the  whole  garrison,  and  the  townspeople  flew  to  arms,  and 
half-naked,  but  equipped  with  pike  and  musket,  and  led  on 
by  Van  der  Noot  in  person,  fell  upon  the  intruders.  A  panic 
took  the  place  of  previous  audacity  in  the  breasts  of  Du 
TerraiFs  followers.  Thinking  only  of  escape,  they  found  the 
gap  by  which  they  had  crept  into  the  town  much  less  conve 
nient  as  a  means  of  egress  in  the  face  of  an  infuriated 
multitude.  Five  hundred  of  them  were  put  to  death  in  a 

10  tfrotius,  xv.  687,  seqq.     Wagenaar,  ix.  207,  seqq. 


1606. 


SLAUGHTER  OF  THE  INTRUDERS. 


259 


very  few  minutes.     Almost  as  many  were  drowned  or  suffo 
cated  in  the  marshes,  as  they  attempted  to  return  by  the 
road  over  which  they  had  come.     A  few  stragglers          I60g 
of  the  fifteen  hundred  were  all  that  were  left  to  tell 
the  tale.11 

It  would  seem  scarcely  worth  while  to  chronicle  such 
trivial  incidents  in  this  great  war — the  all-absorbing  drama 
of  Christendom — were  it  not  that  they  were  for  the  moment 
the  whole  war.  It  might  be  thought  that  hostilities  were 
approaching  their  natural  termination,  and  that  the  war  was 
dying  of  extreme  old  age,  when  the  Quixotic  pranks  of  a 
Du  Terrail  occupied  so  large  a  part  of  European  attention. 
The  winter  had  passed,  another  spring  had  come  and  gone, 
and  Maurice  had  in  vain  attempted  to  obtain  sufficient  means 
from  the  States  to  take  the  field  in  force.  Henry,  looking  on 
from  the  outside,  was  becoming  more  and  more  exasperated 
with  the  dilatoriness  which  prevented  the  republic  from 
profiting  by  the  golden  moments  of  Spinola's  enforced  ab 
sence.12  Yet  the  best  that  could  be  done  seemed  to  be  to  take 
measures  for  defensive  operations. 

Spinola  never  reached  Brussels  until  the  beginning  of 
June,  yet,  during  all  the  good  campaigning  weather  which 
had  been  fleeting  away,  not  a  blow  had  been  struck,  nor  a 
wholesome  counsel  taken  by  the  stadholder  or  the  States.  It 
was  midsummer  before  the  armies  were  in  the  field.  The 
plans  of  the  Catholic  general  however  then  rapidly  developed 
themselves.  Having  assembled  as  large  a  force  as  had  ever 
been  under  his  command,  he  now  divided  it  into  two  nearly 
equal  portions.  Bucquoy,  with  ten  thousand  foot,  twelve 
hundred  cavalry,  and  twelve  guns,  arrived  on  the  18th  July 
at  Mook,  on  the  Meuse.  Spinola,  with  eleven  thousand 
infantry,  two  thousand  horse,  and  eight  guns,  crossed  the 
Rhine  at  the  old  redoubts  of  Euhrort,  and  on  the  same 
18th  July  took  position  at  Goor,  in  Overyssel.13  The  first 


11  Wagenaar,  ix.  207,  seqq. 
2  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  117,  520. 
13  For  the  campaign  of  1606  com 
pare  Grotius,  xv.  689-699.     Meteren, 


537-543.  Bentivoglio,  539-546.  Van 
der  Kemp,  ii.  117-120,  and  notes. 
Wagenaar,  ix  209-220. 


260  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLV 

plan  of  the  commander-in-chief  was  to  retrace  exactly  his 
campaign  of  the  previous  year,  even  as  he  had  with  so  much 
frankness  stated  to  Henry.  But  the  republic,  although 
deserted  by  her  former  friends,  and  looked  upon  askance  by 
the  monarch  of  Britain,  and  by  the  most  Christian  king,  had 
this  year  a  most  efficient  ally  in  the  weather.  Jupiter 
Pluvius  had  descended  from  on  high  to  the  rescue  of  the 
struggling  commonwealth,  and  his  decrees  were  omnipotent 
as  to  the  course  of  the  campaign.  The  seasons  that  year 
seemed  all  fused  into  one.  It  was  difficult  to  tell  on  mid 
summer  day  whether  it  were  midwinter,  spring,  or  autumn.14 
The  rain  came  down  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  as  if  the 
contending  armies  and  the  very  country  which  was  to  be 
invaded  and  defended  were  to  be  all  washed  out  of  existence 
together.15  Friesland  resolved  itself  into  a  vast  quagmire  ; 
the  roads  became  fluid,  the  rivers  lakes.  Spinola  turned  his 
face  from  the  east,  and  proceeded  to  carry  out  a  second  plan 
which  he  had  long  meditated,  and  even  a  more  effective  one, 
in  the  west. 

The  Waal  and  the  Yssel  formed  two  sides  of  a  great  quadri 
lateral,  and  furnished  for  the  natural  fortress,  thus  enclosed, 
two  vast  and  admirable  moats.  Within  lay  Good-meadow 
and  Foul-meadow — Bet-uwe  and  Vel-uw\j — one,  the  ancient 
Batavian  island  which  from  time  immemorial  had  given  its 
name  to  the  commonwealth,  the  other,  the  once  dismal 
swamp  which  toil  and  intelligence  had  in  the  course  of  cen 
turies  transformed  into  the  wealthy  and  flowery  land  of 
Gueldres. 

Beyond,  but  in  immediate  proximity,  lay  the  ancient  epi 
scopal  city  and  province  of  Utrecht,  over  which  lay  the  road 
to  the  adjacent  Holland  and  Zeeland.  The  very  heart  of  the 
republic  would  be  laid  bare  to  the  conqueror's  sword  if  he 
could  once  force  the  passage,  and  obtain  the  control  of  these 
two  protecting  streams.  With  Utrecht  as  his  base,  and  all 
Brabant  and  Flanders  —  obedient  provinces — at  his  back, 
Spinola  might  accomplish  more  in  one  season  than  Alva, 
M  Bentivoglio,  ubi  sup  -6  Bejitivoglio,  Qrotius,  Meteren,  ubi  sup 


1606.  DESIGNS  OF  SPINOLA.  261 

Don  John,  and  Alexander  Farnese  had  compassed  in  forty 
years,  and  destroy  at  a  blow  what  was  still  called  the  Nether- 
land  rebellion.  The  passage  of  the  rivers  once  effected,  the 
two  enveloping  wings  would  fold  themselves  together,  and  the 
conquest  would  be  made. 

Thus  reasoned  the  brilliant  young  general,  and  his  projects, 
although  far-reaching,  did  not  seem  wild.  The  first  steps 
were,  however,  the  most  important  as  well  as  the  most  diffi 
cult,  and  he  had  to  reckon  with  a  wary  and  experienced 
antagonist.  Maurice  had  at  last  collected  and  reviewed  at 
Arnhem  an  army  of  nearly  fifteen  thousand  men,  and  was 
now  watching  closely  from  Doesburg  and  Deventer  every 
movement  of  the  foe. 

Having  been  forced  to  a  defensive  campaign,  in  which  he 
was  not  likely  at  best  to  gain  many  additional  laurels,  he  was 
the  more  determined  to  lay  down  his  own  life,  and  sacrifice 
every  man  he  could  bring  into  the  field,  before  Spinola  should 
march  into  the  cherished  domains  of  Utrecht  and  Holland. 
Meantime  the  rain,  which  had  already  exerted  so  much 
influence  on  the  military  movements  of  the  year,  still  main 
tained  the  supremacy  over  human  plans.  The  Yssel  and  the 
Waal,  always  deep,  broad,  sluggish,  but  dangerous  rivers — 
the  Ehine  in  its  old  age — were  swollen  into  enormous  propor 
tions,  their  currents  flowing  for  the  time  with  the  vigour  of 
their  far  away  youth. 

Maurice  had  confided  the  defence  of  the  Waal  to  Warner 
Du  Bois,  under  whose  orders  he  placed  a  force  of  about  seven 
thousand  men,  and  whose  business  it  was  to  prevent  Bucquoy's 
passage.  His  own  task  was  to  baffle  Spinola.16 

Bucquoy's  ambition  was  to  cross  the  Waal  at  a  point  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  fork  of  that  stream  with  the  true 
Rhine,  seize  the  important  city  of  Nymegen,  and  then  give 
the  hand  to  Spinola,  so  soon  as  he  should  be  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Yssel.  At  the  village  of  Spardorp  or  Kekerdom,  he 
employed  Pompeio  Giustiniani  to  make  a  desperate  effort, 
having  secured  a  large  number  of  barges  in  which  he  em- 

J«  Meteren,  Bentivoglio,  Grotius,  Wagenaar,  Van  der  Kemp,  uU  sup. 


262  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLY 

barked  his  troops.  As  the  boatmen  neared  the  opposite  bank, 
however,  they  perceived  that  Warner  Du  Bois  had  made 
effective  preparations  for  their  reception.  They  lost  heart, 
and  on  pretence  that  the  current  of  the  river  was  too  rapid 
to  allow  them  to  reach  the  point  proposed  for  their  landing, 
gradually  dropped  down  the  stream,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
remonstrances  of  the  commanders,  pushed  their  way  back  to 
the  shore  which  they  had  left.  From  that  time  forth,  the 
States7  troops,  in  efficient  numbers,  fringed  the  inner  side  of 
the  Waal,  along  the  whole  length  of  the  Batavian  island, 
while  armed  vessels  of  the  republic  patrolled  the  stream 
itself.  In  vain  Count  Bucquoy  watched  an  opportunity, 
either  by  surprise  or  by  main  strength,  to  effect  a  crossing. 
The  Waal  remained  as  impassable  as  if  it  were  a  dividing 
ocean.17 

On  the  other  side  of  the  quadrilateral,  Maurice's  disposi 
tions  were  as  effective  as  those  of  his  lieutenant  on  the  Waal. 
The  left  shore  of  the  Yssel,  along  its  whole  length,  from 
Arnhem  and  Doesburg  quite  up  to  Zwoll  and  Campen,  where 
the  river  empties  itself  into  the  Zuyder  Zee,  was  now  sprin 
kled  thickly  with  forts,  hastily  thrown  up,  but  strong  enough 
to  serve  the  temporary  purpose  of  the  stadholder.  In  vain 
the  fleet-footed  and  audacious  Spinola  moved  stealthily  or 
fiercely  to  and  fro,  from  one  point  to  another,  seeking  an 
opening  through  which  to  creep,  or  a  weak  spot  where  he 
might  dash  himself  against  the  chain.  The  whole  line  was 
securely  guarded.  The  swollen  river,  the  redoubts,  and  the 
musketeers  of  Maurice,  protected  the  heart  of  the  republic 
from  the  impending  danger. 

Wearied  of  this  fruitless  pacing  up  and  down,  Spinola, 
while  apparently  intending  an  assault  upon  Deventer,  and 
thus  attracting  his  adversary's  attention  to  that  important  city, 
suddenly  swerved  to  the  right,  and  came  down  upon  Lochem. 

The  little  town,  with  its  very  slender  garrison,  surren- 
23  July.  J  ? 

dered  at  once.     It  was  not  a  great  conquest,  but  it 

might  possibly  be  of  use  in  the  campaign.    It  was  taken  before 

17  Authorities  last  cited. 


1606.  SIEGE  OF  GROLL  AND  RHEINBERG.  263 

the  stadholder  could  move  a  step  to  its  assistance,  even  had 
he  deemed  it  prudent  to  leave  Yssel-side  for  an  hour.  The 
summer  was  passing  away,  the  rain  was  still  descending,  and 
it  was  the  1st  of  August  before  Spinola  left  Lochem.  He 
then  made  a  rapid  movement  to  the  north,  between  Zwoll 
and  Hasselt,  endeavouring  to  cross  the  Blackwater,  and 
seize  Geelmuyden,  on  the  Zuyder  Zee.  Had  he  succeeded, 
he  might  have  turned  Maurice's  position.  But  the  works  in 
that  direction  had  been  entrusted  to  an  experienced  cam 
paigner,  Warmelo,  sheriff  of  Zalant,  who  received  the  impe 
tuous  Spinola  and  his  lieutenant,  Count  Solre,  so  warmly,  that 
they  reeled  backwards  at  last,  after  repeated  assaults 
and  great  loss  of  men,  and  never  more  attempted  to 
cross  the  Yssel.18 

Obviously,  the  campaign  had  failed.  Utrecht  and  Holland 
were  as  far  out  of  the  Catholic  general's  reach  as  the  stars  in 
the  sky,  but  at  least,  with  his  large  armies,  he  could  earn  a 
few  trophies,  barren  or  productive,  as  it  might  prove,  before 
winter,  uniting  with  the  deluge,  should  drive  him  from  the 
field. 

On  the  3rd  August,  he  laid  siege  to  Groll  (or  Groenlo), 
a  fortified   town   of   secondary  importance   in   the 
country  of  Zutphen,  and,  squandering  his  men  with 
much   recklessness,  in  his   determination  not  to  be  baffled, 
reduced  the  place  in  eleven  days.    Here  he  paused  for  a  breath 
ing  spell,  and  then,  renouncing  all  his  schemes  upon  the  inner 
defences  of  the  republic,  withdrew  once  more  to  the 
Rhine  and  laid  siege  to  Rheinberg.19 

This  frontier  place  had  been  tossed  to  and  fro  so  often 
between  the  contending  parties  in  the  perpetual  warfare,  that 
its  inhabitants  must  have  learned  to  consider  themselves 
rather  as  a  convenient  circulating  medium  for  military 
operations  than  as  burghers  who  had  any  part  in  the  ordinary 
business  of  life.  It  had  old-fashioned  defences  of  stone, 
which,  during  the  recent  occupation  by  the  States,  had  been 
much  improved,  and  had  been  strengthened  with  earthworks. 
18  Ibid.  19  Ibid. 


264  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLV. 

Before  it  was  besieged,  Maurice  sent  his  brother  Frederic 
Henry,  with  some  picked  companies,  into  the  place,  so  that 
the  garrison  amounted  to  three  thousand  effective  men. 

The  Prince  de  Soubise,  brother  of  the  Due  de  Eohan,  and 
other  French  volunteers  of  quality,  also  threw  themselves  into 
the  place,  in  order  to  take  lessons  in  the  latest  methods  of 
attack  and  defence.20  It  was  now  admitted  that  no  more 
accomplished  pupil  of  the  stadholder  in  the  beleaguering  art 
had  appeared  in  Europe  than  his  present  formidable  adver 
sary.  On  this  occasion,  however,  there  was  no  great  display 
of  science.  Maurice  obstinately  refused  to  move  to  the  relief 
of  the  place,  despite  all  the  efforts  of  a  deputation  of  the 
States-General  who  visited  his  camp  in  September, 
urging  him  strenuously  to  take  the  chances  of  a 
stricken  field.21 

Nothing  could  induce  the  stadholder,  who  held  an  observing 
position  at  Wesel,  with  his  back  against  the  precious  watery 
quadrilateral,  to  risk  the  defence  of  those  most  vital  lines  of 
the  Yssel  and  the  Waal.  While  attempting  to  save  Khein- 
berg,  he  felt  it  possible  that  he  might  lose  Nymegen,  or  even 
Utrecht.  The  swift  but  wily  Genoese  was  not  to  be  trifled 
with  or  lost  sight  of  an  instant.  The  road  to  Holland  might 
still  be  opened,  and  the  destiny  of  the  republic  might  hang 
on  the  consequences  of  a  single  false  move.  That  destiny, 
under  God,  was  in  his  hands  alone,  and  no  chance  of  winning 
laurels,  even  from  his  greatest  rival's  head,  could  induce  him 
to  shrink  from  the  path  of  duty,  however  obscure  it  might 
seem.  There  were  a  few  brilliant  assaults  and  sorties,  as  in 
all  sieges,  the  French  volunteers  especially  distinguishing 

1  themselves  ;   but  the  place  fell  at  the  end  of  forty 

i    2  Oct 

days.     The  garrison  marched  out  with  the  honours 

of  war.  In  the  modern  practice,  armies  were  rarely  captured 
in  strongholds,  nor  were  the  defenders,  together  with  the 
population,  butchered. 

The  loss,  after  a  six  weeks'  siege,  of  Eheinberg,  which  six 
years  before,  with  far  inferior  fortifications,  had  held  out  a 

80  Wagenaar,  ix.  214,  215.  n  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  120. 


1606*.  MONETARY  CRISIS  AT  GENOA.  265 

much  longer  time  against  the  States,  was  felt  as  a  bitter  dis 
appointment  throughout  the  republic.  Frederic  Henry,  on 
leaving  the  place,  made  a  feeble  and  unsuccessful  demonstra 
tion  against  Venlo,  by  which  the  general  dissatisfaction  was 
not  diminished.  Soon  afterwards,  the  war  became  more  lan 
guid  than  ever.  News  arrived  of  a  great  crisis  on  the  Genoa 
exchange.  A  multitude  of  merchants,  involved  in  pecuniary 
transactions  with  Spinola,  fell  with  one  tremendous  crash. 
The  funds  of  the  Catholic  commander-in-chief  were  already 
exhausted,  his  acceptances  could  no  longer  be  negotiated.22 
His  credit  was  becoming  almost  as  bad  as  the  king's  own.  The 
inevitable  consequence  of  the  want  of  cash  and  credit  followed. 
Mutiny,  for  the  first  time  in  Spinola's  administration,  raised 
its  head  once  more,  and  stalked  about  defiant.  Six  hundred 
veterans  marched  to  Breda,  and  offered  their  services  to  Jus- 
tinus  of  Nassau.  The  proposal  was  accepted.23  Other  bands 
established  their  quarters  in  different  places,  chose  their 
Elettos  and  lesser  officers,  and  enacted  the  scenes  which  have 
been  so  often  depicted  in  these  pages.  The  splendid  army  of 
Spinola  melted  like  April  snow.  By  the  last  week  of  October 
there  hardly  seemed  a  Catholic  army  in  the  field.  The 
commander-in-chief  had  scattered  such  companies  as  could 
still  be  relied  upon  in  the  villages  of  the  friendly  archiepi- 
scopate  of  Cologne,  and  had  obtained,  not  by  murders  and 
blackmail — according  to  the  recent  practice  of  the  Admiral  of 
Arragon,  at  whose  grim  name  the  whole  country-side  still 
shuddered — but  from  the  friendship  of  the  leading  inhabitants 
and  by  honest  loans,  a  sufficient  sum  to  put  bread  into  the 
mouths  of  the  troops  still  remaining  faithful  to  him.24 

The  opportunity  had  at  last  arrived  for  the  stadholder  to 
strike   a   blow  before   the   season  closed.      Bankruptcy  and 
mutiny  had  reduced  his  enemy  to  impotence  in  the  very  sea 
son  of  his  greatest  probable  success.     On  the  24th 
October  Maurice  came  before  Lochem,  which  he  re-    24  < 
captured  in  five  days.     Next  in  the  order  of  Spinola's  victo- 

82  Grotius,  xv.  696,  697. 

M  Grotius,  Bentivoglio,  Meteren,  Wagenaar,  ubi  sup.  84  Ibid. 


266  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLV. 

ries  was  Groll,  which  the  stadholder  at  once  besieged.  He 
had  almost  fifteen  thousand  infantry  and  three  thousand 
horse.25  A  career  of  brief  triumph  before  winter  should  close 
in  upon  those  dripping  fields,  seemed  now  assured.  But  the 
rain,  which  during  nearly  the  whole  campaign  had  been  his 
potent  ally,  had  of  late  been  playing  him  false.  The  swollen 
Yssel,  during  a  brief  period  of  dry  weather,  had  sunk  so  low 
in  certain  shallows  as  not  to  be  navigable  for  his  transports,26 
and  after  his  trains  of  artillery  and  munitions  had  been 
dragged  wearily  overland  as  far  as  Groll,  the  deluge  had 
returned  in  such  force,  that  physical  necessity  as  well  as  con 
siderations  of  humanity  compelled  him  to  defer  his  entrench 
ing  operations  until  the  weather  should  moderate.  As  there 
seemed  no  further  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  the  broken, 
mutinous,  and  dispersed  forces  of  the  enemy,  the  siege  opera 
tions  were  conducted  in  a  leisurely  manner.  What  was  the 
astonishment,  therefore,  among  the  soldiers,  when  a  rumour 
flew  about  the  camp  in  the-  early  days  of  November  that  the 
indomitable  Spinola  was  again  advancing  upon  them  I27  It 
was  perfectly  true.  With  extraordinary  perseverance  he  had 
gathered  up  six  or  seven  thousand  infantry  and  twelve  com 
panies  of  horse — all  the  remnants  of  the  splendid  armies  with 
which  he  had  taken  the  field  at  midsummer — and  was  now 
marching  to  the  relief  of  Groll,  besieged  as  it  was  by  a  force  at 
least  doubly  as  numerous  as  his  own.  It  was  represented  to 
the  stadholder,  however,  that  an  impassable  morass  lay  between 
him  and  the  enemy,28  and  that  there  would  therefore  be  time 
enough  to  complete  his  entrenchments  before  Spinola  could 
put  his  foolhardy  attempt  into  execution.  But  the  Catholic 
general,  marching  faster  than  rumour  itself,  had  crossed  the 
impracticable  swamp  almost  before  a  spadeful  of  earth  had 
been  turned  in  the  republican  camp.  His  advance  was  in 
sight  even  while  the  incredulous  were  sneering  at  the  ab 
surdity  of  his  supposed  project.  Informed  by  scouts  of  the 
weakest  point  in  the  stadholder's  extended  lines,  Spinola  was 

K  Grotius,  xv.  698.        S6  Letter  of  Prince  Maurice,  in  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  545. 
"Authorities  cited.  &  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  31. 


1606.  CLOSE  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN.  267 

directing  himself  thither  with  beautiful  precision.29  Maurice 
hastily  contracted  both  his  wings,  and  concentrated  himself 
in  the  village  of  Lebel.  At  last  the  moment  had  come  for 
a  decisive  struggle.  There  could  be  little  doubt  of  the  re 
sult.  All  the  advantage  was  with  the  republican  army.  The 
Catholics  had  arrived  in  front  of  the  enemy  fatigued  by 
forced  marches  through  quagmires,  in  horrible  weather,  over 
roads  deemed  impassable.  The  States'  troops  were  fresh, 
posted  on  ground  of  their  own  choosing,  and  partially  en 
trenched.  To  the  astonishment,  even  to  the  horror  of  the 
most  eager  portion  of  the  army,  the  stadholder  deliberately, 
and  despite  the  groans  of  his  soldiers,  refused  the  combat,  and 
gave  immediate  orders  for  raising  the  siege  and  abandoning 
the  field.30 

On  the   12th  of  November  he  broke  up  his   camp  and 
withdrew  to  a  village  called  Zelem.     On  the  same 
day  the  marquis,  having  relieved  the  city,  without 
paying  the  expected  price,  retired  in  another  direction,  and 
established  what  was   left  of  his   army  in   the  province  of 
Munster.     The  campaign  was  closed.31     And  thus  the  great 
war,  which  had  run  its  stormy  course  for  nearly  forty  years, 
dribbled  out  of  existence,  sinking  away  that  rainy  November 
in  the  dismal  fens  of  Zutphen.     The  long  struggle  for  in 
dependence  had  come,  almost  unperceived,  to  an  end. 

Peace  had  not  arrived,  but  the  work  of  the  armies  was  over 
for  many  a  long  year.  Freedom  and  independence  were 
secured.  A  deed  or  two,  never  to  be  forgotten  by  .Nether- 
land  hearts,  was  yet  to  be  done  on  the  ocean,  before  the  long 
and  intricate  negotiations  for  peace  should  begin,  and  the 
weary  people  permit  themselves  to  rejoice  ;  but  the  prize  was 
already  won. 

Meantime,  the  conduct  of  Prince  Maurice  in  these  last  days 
of  the  campaign  was  the  subject  of  biting  censure  by  friend 
and  foe.  The  military  fame  of  Spinola  throughout  Europe 
grew  apace,  and  the  fame  of  his  great  rival  seemed  to  shrink 
in  the  same  proportion. 

29  Grotius,  xv.  699.  "°  Authorities  cited.  81  Ibid. 


268  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLV 

Henry  of  France  was  especially  indignant  at  what  he  con 
sidered  the  shortcomings  of  the  republic  and  of  its  chief. 
Already,  before  the  close  of  the  summer,  the  agent  Aerssens 
had  written  from  Paris  that  his  Majesty  was  very  much  dis 
pleased  with  Spinola' s  prosperity,  ascribing  it  to  the  want  of 
good  councils  on  the  part  of  the  States'  Government  that  so 
fine  an  army  should  lie  idle  so  long,  without  making  an 
attempt  to  relieve  the  beleaguered  places,  so  that  Spinola  felt 
assured  of  taking  anything  as  soon  as  he  made  his  appearance, 
"Your  Mightinesses  cannot  believe,"  continued  the  agent, 
"  what  a  trophy  is  made  by  the  Spanish  ministers  out  of  these 
little  exploits,  and  they  have  so  much  address  at  this  court, 
that  if  such  things  continue  they  may  produce  still  greater 
results."32 

In  December  he  wrote  that  the  king  was  so  malcontent 
concerning  the  siege  of  Groll  as  to  make  it  impos 
sible  to  answer  him  with  arguments,  that  he  openly 
expressed  regret  at  not  having  employed  the  money  lent  to 
the  States  upon  strengthening  his  own  frontiers,  so  distrustful 
was  he  of  their  capacity  for  managing  affairs,  and  that  he 
mentioned  with  disgust  statements  received  from  his  ambas 
sador  at  Brussels  and  from  the  Due  de  Kohan,  to  the  effect 
that  Spinola  had  between  five  and  six  thousand  men  only  at 
the  relief  of  Groll,  against  twelve  thousand  in  the  stadholder's 
army.33 

The  motives  of  the  deeds  and  the  omissions  of  the  prince 
at  this  supreme  moment  must  be  pondered  with  great  caution. 
The  States-General  had  doubtless  been  inclined  for  vigorous 
movements,  and  Olden-Barneveld,  with  some  of  his  colleagues, 
had  visited  the  camp  late  in  September  to  urge  the  relief  of 
Kheinberg.  Maurice  was  in  daily  correspondence  with  the 
Government,  and  regularly  demanded  their  advice,  by  which, 
on  many  former  occasions,  he  had  bound  himself,  even  when 
it  was  in  conflict  with  his  own  better  judgment. 

But  throughout  this  campaign,  the  responsibility  was  en 
tirely,  almost  ostentatiously,  thrown  by  the  States-Genera] 
«  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  549.  «  Ibid.  550. 


1606.  CONDUCT  OF  THE   STADHOLDER.  269 

upon  their  commander-in-chief,  and,  as  already  indicated, 
their  preparations  in  the  spring  and  early  summer  had  been 
entirely  inadequate.  Should  he  lose  the  army  with  which  he 
had  so  quietly  hut  completely  checked  Spinola  in  all  his 
really  important  moves  during  the  summer  and  autumn,  he 
might  despair  of  putting  another  very  soon  into  the  field. 
That  his  force  in  that  November  week  before  Groll  was  nume 
rically  far  superior  to  the  enemy  is  certain,  but  he  had  lost 
confidence  in  his  cavalry  since  their  bad  behaviour  at  Mulheinj 
the  previous  year,  and  a  very  large  proportion  of  his  infantry 
was  on  the  sick-list  at  the  moment  of  Spinola's  approach. 
"  Lest  the  continual  bad  weather  should  entirely  consume  the 
army,"  he  said,  "  we  are  resolved,  within  a  day  or  two  after 
we  have  removed  the  sick  who  are  here  in  great  numbers,  to 
break  up,  unless  the  enemy  should  give  us  occasion  to  make 
some  attempt  upon  him."3* 

Maurice  was  the  servant  of  a  small  republic,  contending 
single-handed  against  an  empire  still  considered  the  most 
formidable  power  in  the  world.  His  cue  was  not  necessarily 
to  fight  on  all  occasions  ;  for  delay  often  fights  better  than  an 
army  against  a  foreign  invader.  When  a  battle  and  a  victory 
were  absolutely  necessary  we  have  seen  the  magnificent  calm 
ness  which  at  Nieuport  secured  triumph  under  the  shadow  of 
death.  Had  he  accepted  Spinola's  challenge  in  November,  he 
would  probably  have  defeated  him  and  have  taken  Groll.  He 
might  not,  however,  have  annihilated  his  adversary,  who,  even 
when  worsted,  would  perhaps  have  effected  his  escape.  The 
city  was  of  small  value  to  the  republic.  The  principal  advan 
tage  of  a  victory  would  have  been  increased  military  renown 
for  himself.  Viewed  in  this  light,  there  is  something  almost 
sublime  in  the  phlegmatic  and  perfectly  republican  composure 
with  which  he  disdained  laurels,  easily  enough,  as  it  would 
seem,  to  have  been  acquired,  and  denied  his  soldiers  the 
bloodshed  and  the  suffering  for  which  they  were  clamouring. 

And  yet,   after   thoroughly  weighing  and  measuring  all 
t«hese  circumstances,  it  is  natural  to  regret  that  he  did  not  on 
«•  better  01  9  November,  J6Q6,  in  Vap  der  Kemp,  ii.  53Q. 


270  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLV. 

that  occasion  rise  upon  Spinola  and  smite  him  to  the  earth. 
The  Lord  had  delivered  him  into  his  hands.  The  chances  of 
his  own  defeat  were  small,  its  prohahle  consequences,  should 
it  occur,  insignificant.  It  is  hardly  conceivable  that  he  could 
have  been  so  completely  overthrown  as  to  allow  the  Catholic 
commander  to  do  in  November  what  he  had  tried  all  summer 
in  vain  to  accomplish,  cross  the  Yssel  and  the  Waal,  with 
the  dregs  of  his  army,  and  invade  Holland  and  Zeeland  in 
midwinter,  over  the  prostrate  bodies  of  Maurice  and  all  his 
forces.  On  the  other  hand,  that  the  stadholder  would  have 
sent  the  enemy  reeling  back  to  his  bogs,  with  hardly  the 
semblance  of  an  army  at  his  heels,  was  almost  certain. 
The  effect  of  such  a  blow  upon  impending  negotiations,  and 
especially  upon  the  impressible  imagination  of  Henry  and  the 
pedantic  shrewdness  of  James,  would  have  been  very  valu 
able.  It  was  not  surprising  that  the  successful  soldier  who 
sat  on  the  French  throne,  and  who  had  been  ever  ready  to 
wager  life  and  crown  on  the  results  of  a  stricken  field,  should 
be  loud  in  his  expressions  of  disapprobation  and  disgust. 
Yet  no  man  knew  better  than  the  sagacious  Gascon  that 
fighting  to  win  a  crown,  and  to  save  a  republic,  were  two 
essentially  different  things. 

In  the  early  summer  of  this  year  Admiral  Haultain,  whom 
we  lately  saw  occupied  with  tossing  Sarmiento's  Spanish  legion 
into  the  sea  off  the  harbour  of  Dover,  had  been  despatched  to 
the  Spanish  coast  on  a  still  more  important  errand.  The  out 
ward  bound  Portuguese  merchantmen  and  the  home  return 
ing,  fleets  from  America,  which  had  been  absent  nearly  two 
years,  might  be  fallen  in  with  at  any  moment,  in  the  latitude 
of  36°-38°.  The  admiral,  having  received  orders,  there 
fore,  to  cruise  carefully  in  those  regions,  sailed  for  the  shores 
of  Portugal  with  a  squadron  of  twenty-four  war-ships.  His 
expedition  was  not  very  successful.  He  picked  up  a  prize  or 
two  here  and  there,  and  his  presence  on  the  coast  prevented 
the  merchant-fleet  from  sailing  out  of  Lisbon  for  the  East 
Indies,  the  merchandise  already  on  board  being  disembarked 
and  the  voyage  postponed  to  a  more  favourable  opportunity. 


1606.  CRUISE  OP  ADMIRAL  HAULTAIN.  271 

He  saw  nothing,  however,  of  the  long-expected  ships  from  the 
golden  West  Indies — as  Mexico,  Peru,  and  Brazil  were  then 
indiscriminately  called — and  after  parting  company  with  six 
of  his  own  ships,  which  were  dispersed  and  damaged  in  a  gale, 
and  himself  suffering  from  a  dearth  of  provisions,  he  was 
forced  to  return  without  much  gain  or  glory.35 

In  the  month  of  September  he  was  once  more  despatched 
on  the  same  service.  He  had  nineteen  war-galleots  of  the 
first  class,  and  two  yachts,  well  equipped  and  manned.36  Vice- 
admiral  of  the  fleet  was  Kegnier  Klaaszoon  (or  Nicholson),  of 
Amsterdam,  a  name  which  should  always  be  held  fresh  in 
remembrance,  not  only  by  mariners  and  Netherlanders,  but 
by  all  men  whose  pulses  can  beat  in  sympathy  with  practical 
heroism. 

The  admiral  coasted  deliberately  along  the  shores  of  Spain 
and  Portugal.  It  seemed  impossible  that  the  golden  fleets, 
which,  as  it  was  ascertained,  had  not  yet  arrived,  could  now 
escape  the  vigilance  of  the  Dutch  cruisers.  An  occasional 
merchant-ship  or  small  war-galley  was  met  from  time  to  time 
and  chased  into  the  harbours.  A  landing  was  here  and  there 
effected  and  a  few  villages  burned.  But  these  were  not  the 
prizes  nor  the  trophies  sought.  On  the  19th  Sep 
tember  a  storm  off  the  Portuguese  coast  scattered 
the  fleet ;  six  of  the  best  and  largest  ships  being  permanently 
lost  sight  of  and  separated  from  the  rest.  With  the  other 
thirteen  Haultain  now  cruised  off  Cape  St.  Vincent  directly 
across  the  ordinary  path  of  the  homeward-bound  treasure 
ships. 

On  the  6th   October  many  sails  were  descried  in  the  dis-> 
tance,  and  the  longing  eyes  of  the  Hollanders  were 
at  last  gratified  with  what  was  supposed  to  be  the 
great  West   India  commercial  squadrons.     The  delusion  was 
brief.     Instead  of  innocent  and  richly-freighted  merchantmen, 
the  new  comers   soon  proved  to  be  the  war-ships  of  Admiral 
Don  Luis    de   Fazardo,   eighteen  great  galleons  and    eight 

K  Grotius,  TV.  685.     Wagenaar,  221,  seqq. 

M  Meteren,  541.    Grotius,  xv.  699,  700.    Wagenaar,  ix  220-224. 


272  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLT. 

galleys  strong,  besides  lesser  vessels — the  most  formidable 
fleet  that  for  years  had  floated  in  those  waters.  There  had 
been  time  for  Admiral  Haultain  to  hold  but  a  very  brief  con 
sultation  with  his  chief  officers.  As  it  was  manifest  that  the 
Hollanders  were  enormously  over-matched,  it  was  decided  to 
manoeuvre  as  well  as  possible  for  the  weather-gage,  and  then 
to  fight  or  to  effect  an  escape,  as  might  seem  most  expedient 
after  fairly  testing  the  strength  of  the  enemy.  It  was  blowing 
a  fresh  gale,  and  the  Netherland  fleet  had  as  much  as  they 
could  stagger  with  under  close-reefed  topsails.37  The  war- 
galleys,  fit  only  for  fair  weather,  were  soon  forced  to  take 
refuge  under  the  lee  of  the  land,  but  the  eighteen  galleons, 
the  most  powerful  vessels  then  known  to  naval  architecture, 
were  bearing  directly  down,  full  before  the  wind,  upon  the 
Dutch  fleet.38 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Admiral  Haultain  hardly  dis 
played  as  much  energy  now  as  he  had  done  in  the  Straits  of 
Dover  against  the  unarmed  transports  the  year  before.  His 
ships  were  soon  scattered,  right  and  left,  and  the  manoeuvres 
for  the  weather-gage  resolved  themselves  into  a  general 
scramble  for  escape.39  Vice-Admiral  Klaaszoon  alone  held 
firm,  and  met  the  onset  of  the  first  comers  of  the  Spanish 
fleet.  A  fierce  combat,  yard-arm  to  yard-arm,  ensued. 
Klaaszoon's  mainmast  went  by  the  board,  but  Haultain,  with 
five  ships,  all  that  could  be  rallied,  coming  to  the  rescue,  the 
assailants  for  a  moment  withdrew.  Five  Dutch  vessels  of 
moderate  strength  were  now  in  action  against  the  eighteen 
great  galleons  of  Fazardo.  Certainly  it  was  not  an  even 
game,  but  it  might  have  been  played  with  more  heart  and 
better  skill.  There  was  but  a  half-hour  of  daylight  left  when 
Klaaszoon's  crippled  ship  was  again  attacked.40  This  time 
there  was  no  attempt  to  offer  him  assistance  ;  the  rest  of  the 
Dutch  fleet  crowding  all  the  sails  their  masts  would  bear, 
and  using  all  the  devices  of  their  superior  seamanship,  not  to 
harass  the  enemy,  but  to  steal  as  swiftly  as  possible  out  of 

37  Meteren,  ubi  sup.  I  ing  twenty-two  guns,  were  scattered 

88  Ibid.    It  is  true  that  two  or  three    among  the  galleons, 
tarracks  of  a  large  size  and  mount-  I      89  Ibid.  *°  Ibid, 


1606.  ENCOUNTER  WITH  SPANISH  WAR-SHIPS.  273 

his  way.  Honestly  confessing  that  they  dared  not  come  into 
the  fight,  they  bore  away  for  dear  life  in  every  direction.41 
Night  came  on,  and  the  last  that  the  fugitives  knew  of  the 
events  off  Cape  St.  Vincent  was  that  stout  Kegnier  Klaaszoon 
had  heen  seen  at  sunset  in  the  midst  of  the  Spanish  fleet ;  the 
sound  of  his  broadsides  saluting  their  ears  as  they  escaped. 

Left  to  himself,  alone  in  a  dismasted  ship,  the  vice-admiral 
never  thought  of  yielding  to  the  eighteen  Spanish  galleons. 
To  the  repeated  summons  of  Don  Luis  Fazardo  that  he  should 
surrender  he  remained  obstinately  deaf.  Knowing  that  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  escape,  and  fearing  that  he  might 
blow  up  his  vessel  rather  than  surrender,  the  enemy  made 
no  attempt  to  board.  Spanish  chivalry  was  hardly  more 
conspicuous  on  this  occasion  than  Dutch  valour,  as  illustrated 
by  Admiral  Haultain.  Two  whole  days  and  nights  Klaaszoon 
drifted  about  in  his  crippled  ship,  exchanging  broadsides  with 
his  antagonists,  and  with  his  colours  flying  on  the  stump  of 
his  mast.  The  fact  would  seem  incredible,  were  it  not 
attested  by  perfectly  trustworthy  contemporary  accounts.  At 
last  his  hour  seemed  to  have  come.  His  ship  was  sinking ,; 
a  final  demand  for  surrender,42  with  promise  of  quarter,  was 
made.  Out  of  his  whole  crew  but  sixty  remained  alive  ;  many 
of  them  badly  wounded. 

He  quietly  announced  to  his  officers  and  men  his  de 
cision  never  to  surrender,  in  which  all  concurred.  They 
knelt  together  upon  the  deck,  and  the  admiral  made  a  prayer 
in  which  all  fervently  joined.  With  his  own  hand  Klaaszoon 
then  lighted  the  powder  magazine,  and  the  ship  was  blown 
into  the  air.  Two  sailors,  all  that  were  left  alive,  were  picked 
out  of  the  sea  by  the  Spaniards  and  brought  on  board  one  of 
the  vessels  of  the  fleet.  Desperately  mutilated,  those  grim 
Dutchmen  lived  a  few  minutes  to  tell  the  tale,  and  then  died 
defiant  on  the  enemy's  deck.43 


41  "  Ende  daernade  bleef  den  vice- 
admirael  van  d'een  ende  van  d'ander 
verlaten  d'een  hem  excuseerende  of 
d'ander  maermeest  datse  de  Spaensche 
schepen  nict  dorsten  aendoen." — Me- 

VOL.  IV.— T 


teren,  541. 

42  Meteren,  ubi  sup.     Ibid.     Grot 
xv.  700.     Wagenaar,  ix.  223. 

43  "  Duo  semiusti  paulum  provixere 
ab  Hispanio    except!  cum    miraculo 


274  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLV. 

Yet  it  was  thought  that  a  republic,  which  could  produce 
men  like  Kegnier  Klaaszoon  and  his  comrades,  could  be  sub 
jected  again  to  despotism,  after  a  war  for  independence  of 
forty  years,  and  that  such  sailors  could  be  forbidden  to  sail 
the  eastern  and  western  seas.  No  epigrammatic  phrase 
has  been  preserved  of  this  simple  Regnier,  the  son  of 
Nicholas.  He  only  did  what  is  sometimes  talked  about  in 
phraseology  more  or  less  melo-dramatic,  and  did  it  in  a  very 
plain  way. 

Such  extreme  deeds  may  have  become  so  much  less  neces 
sary  in  the  world,  that  to  threaten  them  is  apt  to  seem 
fantastic.  Exactly  at  that  crisis  of  history,  however,  and 
especially  in  view  of  the  Dutch  admiral  commanding  having 
refused  a  combat  of  one  to  three,  the  speechless  self-devotion 
of  the  vice-admiral  was  better  than  three  years  of  eloquent 
arguments  and  a  ship-load  of  diplomatic  correspondence,  such 
as  were  already  impending  over  the  world. 

Admiral  Haultain  returned  with  all  his  ships  uninjured — 
the  six  missing  vessels  having  found  their  way  at  last  safely 
back  to  the  squadron — but  with  a  very  great  crack  to  his 
reputation.  It  was  urged  very  justly,  both  by  the  States- 
General  and  the  public,  that  if  one  ship  under  a  determined 
commander  could  fight  the  whole  Spanish  fleet  two  days  and 
nights,  and  sink  unconquered  at  last,  ten  ships  more  might 
have  put  the  enemy  to  flight,  or  at  least  have  saved  the  vice- 
admiral  from  destruction.44 

But  very  few  days  after  the  incidents  just  described,  the 
merchant  fleet  which,  instead  of  Don  Luis  Fazardo's  war- 
galleons,  Admiral  Haultain  had  so  longed  to  encounter,  ar 
rived  safely  at  San  Lucar.  It  was  the  most  splendid  treasure- 
fleet  that  had  ever  entered  a  Spanish  port,  and  the  Dutch 
admiral's  heart  might  well  have  danced  for  joy,  had  he 
chanced  to  come  a  little  later  on  the  track.  There  were  fifty 
ships,  under  charge  of  General  Alonzo  de  Ochares  Galindo 

spectantibus  horridos  vultus  vocesque  I  ubi  sup.    Meteren.    Wagenaar. 
in  ipsa  morte  coutumacjam,"— Grot.  |     44  Metereu,  Wagenaar,  uU  wp. 


1606.  DEATH  OF  COUNT  JOHN  OP  NASSAU  275 

and  General  Ganevaye.  They  had  on  board,  according  to 
the  registers,  1,914,176  dollars  worth  of  bullion  for  the  king, 
and  6,086,617  dollars  for  merchants,  or  8,000,000  dollars 
in  all,  besides  rich  cargoes  of  silk,  cochineal,  sarsaparilla, 
indigo,  Brazil  wood,  and  hides  ;  the  result  of  two  years  of 
pressure  upon  Peruvians,  Mexicans,  and  Brazilians.  Never 
had  Spanish  finances  been  at  so  low  an  ebb.  Never  was  so 
splendid  an  income  more  desirable.  The  king's  share  of  the 
cargo  was  enough  to  pay  half  the  arrearages  due  to  his 
mutinous  troops  ;  and  for  such  housekeeping  this  was  to  be 
in  funds.45 

There  were  no  further  exploits  on  land  or  sea  that  year. 
There  were,  however,  deaths  of  three  personages  often  men 
tioned  in  this  history.  The  learned  Justus  Lipsius  died  in 
Louvain,  a  good  editor  and  scholar,  and  as  sincere  a  Catholic 
at  last  as  he  had  been  alternately  a  bigoted  Calvinist  and  an 
earnest  Lutheran.  His  reputation  was  thought  to  have  suf 
fered  by  his  later  publications,46  but  the  world  at  large  was 
occupied  with  sterner  stuff  than  those  classic  productions,  and 
left  the  final  decision  to  posterity. 

A  man  of  a  different  mould,  the  turbulent,  high-born,  hard- 
fighting,  hard-drinking  Hohenlo,  died  also  this  year,  brother- 
in-law  and  military  guardian,  subsequently  rival  and  political 
and  personal  antagonist,  of  Prince  Maurice.  His  daring  deeds 
and  his  troublesome  and  mischievous  adventures  have  been 
recounted  in  these  pages.  His  name  will  be  always  prominent 
in  the  history  of  the  republic,  to  which  he  often  rendered 
splendid  service,  but  he  died,  as  he  had  lived,  a  glutton  and 
a  melancholy  sot.47 

The  third  remarkable  personage  who  passed  away  was  one 
whose  name  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  the  Netherlands 
have  a  history,  old  Count  John  of  Nassau,  only  surviving 
brother  of  William  the  Silent.48  He  had  been  ever  prominent 
and  deeply  interested  in  the  great  religious  and  political 

46  Meteren,  541*0.        46  Grotius,  xv.  709.        47  Jbid,  708.       «  Ibid. 


276  T &E  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XLV 

movements  of  upper  and  lower  Germany,  and  his  services  in 
the  foundation  of  the  Dutch  commonwealth  were  signal,  and 
ever  generously  acknowledged.  At  one  period,  as  will  be 
recollected,  he  was  stadholder  of  Gelderland,  and  he  was 
ever  ready  with  sword,  purse,  and  counsel  to  aid  in  the  great 
struggle  for  independence. 


1606.  aENEiUL,  DESIKE  POK  PEACE  277 


CHAPTER    XLVT. 

General  desire  for  peace  —  Political  aspect  of  Europe  —  Designs  of  the  kings 
of  England,  France,  and  Spain  concerning  the  United  Provinces  —  Matri 
monial  schemes  of  Spain  —  Conference  between  the  French  ministers  and 
the  Dutch  envoy  —  Confidential  revelations  —  Henry's  desire  to  annex  the 
Netherlands  to  France  — Discussion  of  the  subject  —  Artifice  of  Barneveld 
—  Impracticability  of  a  compromise  between  the  Provinces  and  Spain  — 
Formation  of  a  West  India  Company  —  Secret  mission  from  the  archdukes 
to  the  Hague  —  Reply  of  the  States-General  —  Return  of  the  archdukes' 
envoy  —  Arrangement  of  an  eight  months'  armistice. 

THE  general  tendency  towards  a  pacification  in  Europe  at 
the  close  of  the  year  could  hardly  be  mistaken.  The 
languor  of  fatigue,  rather  than  any  sincere  desire  for  peace 
seemed  to  make  negotiations  possible.  It  was  not  likely 
that  great  truths  would  yet  be  admitted,  or  that  ruling 
individuals  or  classes  would  recognise  the  rise  of  a  new  system 
out  of  the  rapidly  dissolving  elements  of  the  one  which  had 
done  its  work.  War  was  becoming  more  and  more  expensive, 
while  commerce,  as  the  world  slowly  expanded  itself,  and 
manifested  its  unsuspected  resources,  was  becoming  more  and 
more  lucrative.  It  was  not,  perhaps,  that  men  hated  each 
other  less,  but  that  they  had  for  a  time  exhausted  their 
power  and  their  love  for  slaughter.  Meanwhile  new  devices 
for  injuring  humanity  and  retarding  its  civilization  were  re 
vealing  themselves  out  of  that  very  intellectual  progress 
which  ennobled  the  new  era.  Although  war  might  still  be 
regarded  as  the  normal  condition  of  the  civilized  world,  it 
was  possible  for  the  chosen  ones  to  whom  the  earth  and  its 
fulness  belonged,  to  inflict  general  damage  otherwise  than  by 
perpetual  battles. 

In  the  east,  west,  north,  and  south  of  Europe  peace  was 
thrusting  itself  as  it  were  uncalled  for  and  unexpected  upon 
the  general  attention.  Charles  and  his  nephew  Sigismund; 

VOL.  II— 9* 


278  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVL 

and  the  false  Demetrius,  and  the  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits, 
had  provided  too  -much  work  for  Sweden,  Poland,  and 
Russia  to  leave  those  countries  much  leisure  for  mingling 
in  the  more  important  business  of  Europe  at  this  epoch, 
nor  have  their  affairs  much  direct  connection  with  this 
history.  Venice,  in  its  quarrels  with  the  Jesuits,  had  brought 
Spain,  France,  and  all  Italy  into  a  dead  lock,  out  of  which 
a  compromise  had  been  made  not  more  satisfactory  to  the 
various  parties  than  compromises  are  apt  to  prove.  The 
Dutch  republic  still  maintained  the  position  which  it  had 
assumed,  a  quarter  of  a  century  before,  of  actual  and  legal 
independence  ;  while  Spain,  on  the  other  hand,  still  striving 
after  universal  monarchy,  had  not,  of  course,  abated  one  jot 
of  its  pretensions  to  absolute  dominion  over  its  rebellious 
subjects  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  holy  Roman  and  the  sublime  Ottoman  empires  had 
also  drifted  into  temporary  peace  ;  the  exploits  of  the  Per 
sians  and  other  Asiatic  movements  having  given  Ahmed  more 
work  than  was  convenient  on  his  eastern  frontier,  while 
Stephen  Botshkay  had  so  completely  got  the  better  of 
Rudolph  in  Transylvania  as  to  make  repose  desirable.  So 
there  was  a  treaty  between  the  great  Turk  and  the  great 
Christian  on  the  basis  of  what  each  possessed ;  Stephen 
Botshkay  was  recognized  as  prince  of  Transylvania  with  part 
of  Hungary,  and,  when  taken  off  soon  afterwards  by  family 
poison,  he  recommended  on  his  death-bed  the  closest  union 
between  Hungary  and  Transylvania,  as  well  as  peace  with 
the  emperor,  so  long  as  it  might  be  compatible  with  the 
rights  of  the  Magyars.1 

France  and  England,  while  suspecting  each  other,  dreading 
each  other,  and  very  sincerely  hating  each  other,  were  drawn 
into  intimate  relations  by  their  common  detestation  of  Spain, 
with  which  power  both  had  now  formal  treaties  of  alliance 
and  friendship.  This  was  the  result  of  their  mighty  projects 
for  humbling  the  house  of  Austria  and  annihilating  its  power. 
England  hated  the  Netherlands  because  of  the  injuries  she 
1  Grotius.  xv.  712,  713.  Meteren,  543. 


1606.  POLITICAL  ASPECT  OF  EUROPE.  279 

had  done  them,  the  many  benefits  she  had  conferred  upon 
them,  and  more  than  all  on  account  of  the  daily  increasing 
commercial  rivalry  between  the  two  most  progressive  states 
in  Christendom,  the  two  powers  which,  comparatively  weak 
as  they  were  in  territory,  capital,  and  population,  were  most 
in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  age. 

The  Government  of  England  was  more  hostile  than  its 
people  to  the  United  Provinces.  James  never  spoke  of  the 
Netherlander  but  as  upstarts  and  rebels,  whose  success  ought 
to  be  looked  upon  with  horror  by  the  Lord's  anointed  every 
where.  He  could  not  shut  his  eyes  to  the  fact  that,  with  the 
republic  destroyed,  and  a  Spanish  sacerdotal  despotism  esta 
blished  in  Holland  and  Zeeland,  with  Jesuit  seminaries  in 
full  bloom  in  Amsterdam  and  the  Hague,  his  own  rebels 
in  Ireland  might  prove  more  troublesome  than  ever,  and 
gunpowder  plots  in  London  become  common  occurrences. 
The  Earl  of  Tyrone  at  that  very  moment  was  receiving  en 
thusiastic  hospitality  at  the  archduke's  court,  much  to  the 
disgust  of  the  presbyteriar  sovereign  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
who  nevertheless,  despite  his  cherished  theology,  was  pos 
sessed  with  an  unconquerable  craving  for  a  close  family 
alliance  with  the  most  Catholic  king.  His  ministers  were 
inclined  to  Spain,  and  the  British  Government  was  at  heart 
favourable  to  some  kind  of 'arrangement  by  which  the  Nether 
lands  might  be  reduced  to  the  authority  of  their  former 
master,  in  case  no  scheme  could  be  carried  into  effect  for 
acquiring  a  virtual  sovereignty  over  those  provinces  by  the 
British  crown.  Moreover,  and  most  of  all,  the  King  of 
France  being  supposed  to  contemplate  the  annexation  of  the 
Netherlands  to  his  own  dominions,  the  jealousy  excited  by 
such  ambition  made  it  even  possible  for  James's  Government 
to  tolerate  the  idea  of  Dutch  independence.  Thus  the  court 
and  cabinet  of  England  were  as  full  of  contradictory  hopes 
and  projects  as  a  madman's  brain. 

The  rivalry  between  the  courts  of  England  and  France  for 
the  Spanish  marriages,  and  by  means  of  them  to  obtain  ulti 
mately  the  sovereignty  of  all  the  Netherlands,  was  the  key 


280 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP  XLVl 


to  most  of  the  diplomacy  and  interpalatial  intrigue  of  the 
several  first  years  of  the  century.  The  negotiations  of  Corn- 
wallis  at  Madrid  were  almost  simultaneous  with  the  schemes 
of  Villeroy  and  Rosny  at  Paris. 

A  portion  of  the  English  Government,  so  soon  as  its  treaty 
with  Spain  had  been  signed,  seemed  secretly  determined  to 
do  as  much  injury  to  the  republic  as  might  lie  in  its  power. 
While  at  heart  convinced  that  the  preservation  of  the 
Netherlands  was  necessary  for  England's  safety,  it  was  diffi 
cult  for  James  and  the  greater  part  of  his  advisers  to  over 
come  their  repugnance  to  the  republic,  and  their  jealousy 
of  the  great  commercial  successes  which  the  republic  had 
achieved.2 

It  was  perfectly  plain  that  a  continuance  of  the  war  by 
England  and  the  Netherlands  united  would  have  very  soon 
ended  in  the  entire  humiliation  of  Spain.3  Now  that  peace 


2  "  For  my  own  particular,"  wrote 
Cornwallis,  "though  I  hold  the  pre 
servation  of  the  Low  Countries  most 
wholesome  and  necessary  for  the  king 
dom  of  Great  Britain,  yet  dare  I  not 
wish  their  strength  and  wealth  much 
increased  ;  it  being  better  to  endure  an 
advantage  in  a  monarchy  than  in  a 
people  of  their  condition." — Memorials 
of  affairs  of  State,  from  the  Papers  of 
Sir  Ralph  Winwood.     London,  1725. 
Vol.  II.  p.  76. 

"  Though  we  must  respect  the  Hol 
landers,"  wrote  the  Earl  of  North 
ampton,  "  (for  such  reasons  as  need  no 
dilatation  to  a  man  of  your  capacity), 
yet  we  resolve  to  mark  our  favours 
that  they  be  without  exception  to 
Spain."— Ibid.  pp.  92,  93. 

3  "The    King''  (of    Spain)    wrote 
Cornwallis,  "  being  now  freed  from  the 
distractions  he  was  wont  to  find  by 
the  encounters  of  the  English,  proceeds 
against  the  Hollanders  with  more  life 
and  hope.     If  this  peace  had  not  been 
concluded,  in  mine  own  understanding 
I  see  not  how  it  had  been  possible 
for  him  to  have  borne  out  the  infinite 
weight  of  charges  and  business  laid 
upon   him."      And  again,  "  England 
never  lost    such  an   opportunity  of 
winning  honour   and  wealth  as  by 
relinquishing  the  war  with  Spain .  The 


king  and  kingdom  were  reduced  to 
such  estate  as  they  could  not  in  all 
likelihood  have  endured  the  space  of 
two  years  more  ;  his  own  treasury  was 
exhausted,  his  rents  and  customs  su 
signed  for  the  most  part  for  money 
borrowed,  his  nobility  poor  and  much 
indebted,  his  merchants  wasted,  his 
people  of  the  country  in  all  extremity 
of  necessity,  his  devices  of  gaining  by 
the  increase  of  the  valuation  of  money 
and  other  such  of  that  nature  all 
played  over  ;  his  credit  in  borrowing, 
by  means  of  the  incertainty  of  his 
estate  during  the  war  with  Eng 
land,  much  decayed ;  the  subjects  of 
his  many  distracted  dominions  held 
in  obedience  by  force  and  fear,  not  by 
love  and  duty.  Himself  very  young, 
and  in  that  regard  with  this  people  in 
no  great  veneration,  and  the  less  for 
suffering  himself  to  be  wholly  governed 
by  a  man  (viz.  Duke  of  Lerma)  gene 
rally  hated  of  his  own  country.  If 
this  state,  standing  on  such  feeble 
foundations,  had  made  but  one  such 
stumble  as  his  father  did  in  the  time 
of  the  late  queen,  hardly  could  he 
have  recovered  without  a  fall ;  his 
nearest  and  last-gained  kingdoms  more 
hurting  this  nation  than  any  other, 
desiring  nothing  more  than  the  ruin  of 
it."- Ibid.  72,  75,  76. 


1606. 


MATRIMONIAL  SCHEMES  OF  SPAIN. 


283 


had  been  made,  however,  it  was  thought  possible  that  England 
might  make  a  bargain  with  her  late  enemy  for  destroying  the 
existence  and  dividing  the  territory  of  her  late  ally.  Accord 
ingly  the  Spanish  cabinet  lost  no  time  in  propounding,  undei 
seal  of  secrecy,  and  with  even  more  mystery  than  was  usually 
employed  by  the  most  Catholic  court,  a  scheme  for  the 
marriage  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  with  the  Infanta,  the  bridal 
pair,  when  arrived  at  proper  age,  to  be  endowed  with  all  the 
Netherlands,  both  obedient  and  republican,  in  full  sovereignty 
One  thing  was  necessary  to  the  carrying  out  of  this  excellent 
plot, — the  reduction  of  the  republic  into  her  ancient  sub 
jection  to  Spain  before  her  territory  could  be  transferred  to 
the  future  Princess  of  Wales.4 

It  was  proposed  by  the  Spanish  Government  that  England 
should  undertake  this  part  of  the  job,  and  that  King  James 
for  such  service  should  receive  an  annual  pension  of  one 
million  ducats  a  year.  It  was  also  stipulated  that  certain 
cities  in  the  republican  dominions  should  be  pledged  to  him 
as  security  for  the  regular  payment  of  that  stipend.5  Sir 
Charles  Cornwallis,  English  ambassador  in  Spain,  lent  a  most 
favourable  ear  to  these  proposals,  and  James  eagerly  sanc 
tioned  them  so  soon  as  they  were  secretly  imparted  to  that 
monarch.  "  The  king  here/'  said  Cornwallis,  "  hath  need  of 
the  King  of  Great  Britain's  arm.  Our  king  ....  hath 
good  occasion  to  use  the  help  of  the  King  of  Spain's  purse. 
The  assistance  of  England  to  help  this  nation  out  of  that 
quicksand  of  the  Low  Countries,  where  so  long  they  have 
struggled  to  tread  themselves  out,  and  by  proof  find  that 
they  sink  deeper  in,  will  be  a  sovereign  medicine  to  the 
malady  of  this  estate.  The  addition  of  a  million  of  ducats 
to  the  revenue  of  our  sovereign  will  be  a  good  help  to  his 
estate."6 

The  Spanish  Government  had  even  the  effrontery  to  offer 


4  The  important  facts  connected  with 
this  intrigue — except  such  as,  being 
too  delicate  to  be  committed  to  paper, 
were  entrusted  to  confidential  agents — 
may  be  found  in  Winwood's  Memo 


rials,  vol.  ii.  pp.  160-177.      Compare 
Van  Deventer,  iii.  74. 

5  See    in   particular  Winwood,  ii 
160,  161. 

6  Ibid.  177. 


282  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVI. 

the  English  envoy  a  reward  of  two  hundred  thousand  crowns 
if  the  negotiations  should  prove  successful.7  Care  was  to  be 
taken  however  that  Great  Britain,  by  this  accession  of  power, 
both  present  and  in  prospect,  should  not  grow  too  great, 
Spain  reserving  to  herself  certain  strongholds  and  maritime 
positions  in  the  Netherlands,  for  the  proper  security  of  her 
European  and  Indian  commerce.8 

It  was  thought  high  time  for  the  bloodshed  to  cease  in  the 
provinces  ;  and  as  England,  by  making  a  treaty  of  peace  with 
Spain  when  Spain  was  at  the  last  gasp,  had  come  to  the 
rescue  of  that  power,  it  was  logical  that  she  should  complete 
the  friendly  work  by  compelling  the  rebellious  provinces  to 
awake  from  their  dream  of  independence.  If  the  statesmen 
of  Holland  believed  in  the  possibility  of  that  independence, 
the  statesmen  of  England  knew  better.  If  the  turbulent 
little  republic  was  not  at  last  convinced  that  it  had  no  right 
to  create  so  much  turmoil  and  inconvenience  for  its  neigh 
bours  and  for  Christendom  in  general  in  order  to  maintain  its 
existence,  it  should  be  taught  its  duty  by  the  sovereigns  of 
Spain  and  Britain.9 

It  was  observed,  however,  that  the  more  greedily  James 
listened  day  after  day  to  the  marriage  propositions,  the  colder 
became  the  Spanish  cabinet  in  regard  to  that  point,  the  more 
disposed  to  postpone  those  nuptials  "to  God's  providence 
and  future  event."10 

The  high  hopes  founded  on  these  secret  stratagems  were 
suddenly  dashed  to  the  earth  before  the  end  of  the  year ; 
the  explosion  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  blowing  the  castles  in 
Spain  into  the  air. 

Of  course  the  Spanish  politicians  vied  with  each  other  in 


7  Winwood,  it.  215.     Cornwallis  re 
pelled  with  indignation  the  attempts  to 
bribe  him.     "  Would  they  give  me  for 
every  crown  a  million,  I  would  not  think 
upon  so  unfaithful  a  work/'  he  said. 

8  Ibid.  160 

"  Never  can  those  other  people 


reason  and  justice,  than  will  be  yielded 
unto  them.  If  their  purpose  be  to 
maintain  a  popular  liberty  with  the 
yearly  effusion  of  so  much  blood,  and 
the  infesting  of  all  Christendom  so  as 
a  few  particulars  may  continue  the 
means  of  their  authority,  and  enrich 


(viz.  of  the  United  Provinces)  take  a  themselves,  they  will  by  his  Majesty 

better  opportunity  to   compound  so  be  unmasked." — Sir  Charles  Cornwal* 

great  a  difference,  neither  can  they  lis  to  Earl  of  Salisbury.    Ibid.  174. 

require  more,  with  any  proportion  of  10  Ibid.  166. 


MATRIMONIAL  SCHEMES  OF  SPAIN.  283 

expressions  of  horror  and  indignation  at  the  Plot,  and  the 
wicked  contrivers  thereof,  and  suggested  to  Cornwallis  that 
the  King  of  France  was  probably  at  the  bottom  of  it.11 

They  declined  to  give  up  Owen  and  Baldwin,  however,  and 
meantime  the  negotiations  for  the  marriage  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales  and  the  Infanta,  the  million  ducats  of  yearly  pension 
for  the  needy  James,  and  the  reduction  of  the  Dutch  republic 
to  its  ancient  slavery  to  Spain  "  under  the  eye  and  arm  of 
Britain,"  faded  indefinitely  away.  Salisbury  indeed  was 
always  too  wise  to  believe  in  the  possibility  of  the  schemes 
with  which  James  and  some  of  his  other  counsellors  had 
been  so  much  infatuated. 

It  was  almost  dramatic  that  these  plottings  between  James 
and  the  Catholic  king  against  the  life  of  the  republic  should 
have  been  signally  and  almost  simultaneously  avenged  by 
the  conspiracy  of  Guido  Fawkes. 

On  the  other  hand,  Eosny  had  imparted  to  the  Dutch 
envoy  the  schemes  of  Henry  and  his  ministers  in  regard  to 
the  same  object,  early  in  1605.  "  Spain  is  more  tired  of  the 
war/'  said  he  to  Aerssens,  under  seal  of  absolute  secrecy, 
"  than  you  are  yourselves.  She  is  now  negotiating  for  a  mar 
riage  between  the  Dauphin  and  the  Infanta,  and  means  to 
give  her  the  United  Provinces,  as  at  present  constituted,  for 
a  marriage  portion.  Villeroy  and  Sillery  believe  the  plan 
feasible,  but  demand  all  the  Netherlands  together.  As  for 
me,  I  shall  have  faith  in  it  if  they  send  their  Infanta  hither 
at  once,  or  make  a  regular  cession  of  the  territory.  Do  you 
believe  that  my  lords  the  States  will  agree  to  the  proposi 
tion?"12 

It  would  be  certainly  difficult  to  match  in  history  the 
effrontery  of  such  a  question.  The  republican  envoy  was 
asked  point  blank  whether  his  country  would  resign  her 
dearly  gained  liberty  and  give  herself  as  a  dowry  for  Philip 
the  Second's  three-years-old  grand  daughter.  Aerssens  replied 
cautiously  that  he  had  never  heard  the  matter  discussed  in 
the  provinces.  It  had  always  been  thought  that  the  French 

11  Winwood,  ii.  173.  »  Deventer,  41. 


284  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVJ 

king  had  no  pretensions  to  their  territory,  but  had  ever  advo 
cated  their  independence.  He  hinted  that  such  a  proposition 
was  a  mere  apple  of  discord  thrown  between  two  good  allies 
by  Spain.  Kosny  admitted  the  envoy's  arguments,  and  said 
that  his  Majesty  would  do  nothing  without  the  consent  of  the 
Dutch  Government,  and  that  he  should  probably  be  himself 
sent  ere  long  to  the  Hague  to  see  if  he  could  not  obtain  some 
little  recognition  from  the  States.13 

Thus  it  was  confidentially  revealed  to  the  agent  of  the 
republic  that  her  candid  adviser  and  ally  was  hard  at  workj. 
in  conjunction  with  her  ancient  enemy,  to  destroy  her  inde 
pendence,  annex  her  territory,  and  appropriate  to  himself  all 
the  fruits  of  her  great  war,  her  commercial  achievements,  and 
her  vast  sacrifices  ;  while,  as  we  have  just  seen,  English 
politicians  at  the  same  moment  were  attempting  to  accom 
plish  the  same  feat  for  England's  supposed  advantage.  All 
that  was  wished  by  Henry  to  begin  with  was  a  little,  a  very 
little,  recognition  of  his  sovereignty.  "  You  will  do  well  to 
reflect  on  this  delicate  matter  in  time,"  wrote  Aerssens  to 
the  Advocate  ;  "  I  know  that  the  King  of  Spain  is  inclined 
to  make  this  offer,  and  that  they  are  mad  enough  in  this 
place  to  believe  the  thing  feasible.  For  me,  I  reject  all 
such  talk  until  they  have  got  the  Infanta — that  is  to  say, 
until  the  Greek  Kalends.  I  am  ashamed  that  they  should 
believe  it  here,  and  fearful  that  there  is  still  more  evil  con 
cealed  than  I  know  of." 14 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1606  the  French  Govern 
ment  became  still  more  eager  to  carry  out  their  plans  of 
alliance  and  absorption.  Aerssens,  who  loved  a  political  in 
trigue  better  than  became  a  republican  envoy,  was  perfectly 
aware  of  Henry's  schemes.  He  was  disposed  to  humour  them, 
in  order  to  make  sure  of  his  military  assistance,  but  with  the 
secret  intention  of  seeing  them  frustrated  by  the  determined 
opposition  of  the  States. 

The  French  ministers,  by  command  of  their  sovereign,  were 
disposed  to  deal  very  plainly.  They  informed  the  Dutcb 

"  Deventer,  42.  "  Ibid.  43 


1006.  HENRY'S  DESIGNS   UPON    THE  STATES. 

diplomatist,  with  very  little  circumlocution,  that  if  the  re 
public  wished  assistance  from  France  she  was  to  pay  a  heavy 
price  for  it.  Not  a  pound  of  flesh  only,  but  the  whole  body 
corporate,  was  to  be  surrendered  if  its  destruction  was  to  be 
averted  by  French  arms. 

"  You  know,"  said  Sillery,  "  that  princes  in  all  their  actions 
consider  their  interests,  and  his  Majesty  has  not  so  much 
affection  for  your  conservation  as  to  induce  him  to  resign  his 
peaceful  position.  Tell  me,  I  pray  you,  what  would  you  do 
for  his  Majesty  in  case  anything  should  be  done  for  you?  You 
were  lately  in  Holland.  Do  you  think  that  they  would  give 
themselves  to  the  king  if  he  assisted  them  ?  Do  you  not  be 
lieve  that  Prince  Maurice  has  designs  on  the  sovereignty,  and 
would  prevent  the  fulfilment  of  the  king's  hopes  ?  What  will 
you  do  for  us  in  return  for  our  assistance  ?  "  15 

Aerssens  was  somewhat  perplexed,  but  he  was  cunning  at 
fence.  "  We  will  do  all  we  can,"  said  he,  "  for  any  change  is 
more  supportable  than  the  yoke  of  Spain." 

"  What  can  you  do  then  ?  "  persisted  Sillery.  **  Give  us 
your  opinion  in  plain  French,  I  beg  of  you,  and  lay  aside  all 
passion  ;  for  we  have  both  the  same  object — your  preserva 
tion.  Besides  interest,  his  Majesty  has  affection  for  you. 
Let  him  only  see  some  advantage  for  himself  to  induce 
him  to  assist  you  more  powerfully.  Suppose  you  should 
give  us  what  you  have  and  what  you  may  acquire  in  Flan 
ders,  with  the  promise  to  treat  secretly  with  us  when  the 
time  comes.  Could  you  do  that  ?  " 16 

The  envoy  replied  that  this  would  be  tearing  the  common 
wealth  in  pieces.  If  places  were  given  away,  the  jealousy  of 
the  English  would  be  excited.  Certainly  it  would  be  no  light 
matter  to  surrender  Sluys,  the  fruit  of  Maurice's  skill  and 
energy,  the  splendidly  earned  equivalent  for  the  loss  of 
Ostend.  "  As  to  Sluys  and  other  places  in  Flanders,"  said 
Aerssens,  "  I  don't  know  if  towns  comprised  in  our  Union 
could  be  transferred  or  pledged  without  their  own  consent 
and  that  of  the  States.  Should  such  a  thing  get  wind  we 

>»  Aerssens  to  Olden-Barneveld,  7  Oct.  1606.  in  Deventer,  iii.  87-93.       '«  Ibid. 


286  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVl 

might  be  ruined.     Nevertheless  I  will  write  to  learn  what  his 
Majesty  may  hope." 

"The  people/7  returned  Sillery,  "need  know  nothing  of 
this  transfer  ;  for  it  might  be  made  secretly  by  Prince  Mau 
rice,  who  could  put  the  French  quietly  into  Sluys  and  other 
Flemish  places.  Meantime  you  had  best  make  a  journey  to 
Holland  to  arrange  matters  so  that  the  deputies.,  coming 
hither,  may  be  amply  instructed  in  regard  to  Sluys,  and  no 
time  be  lost.  His  Majesty  is  determined  to  help  you  if  you 
know  how  to  help  yourselves." 17 

The  two  men  then  separated,  Sillery  enjoining  it  upon  the 
envoy  to  see  the  king  next  morning,  "  in  order  to  explain  to 
his  Majesty>  as  he  had  just  been  doing  to  himself,  that  this 
sovereignty  could  not  be  transferred,  without  the  consent  of 
the  whole  people,  nor  the  people  be  consulted  in  secret." 

"  It  is  necessary  therefore  to  be  armed/'  continued  Henry's 
minister  very  significantly,  "  before  aspiring  to  the  sove 
reignty."  18 

Thus  there  was  a  faint  glimmer  of  appreciation  at  the 
French  court  of  the  meaning  of  popular  sovereignty.  It  did 
not  occur  to  the  minister  that  the  right  of  giving  consent 
was  to  be  respected.  The  little  obstacle  was  to  be  overcome 
by  stratagem  and  by  force.  Prince  Maurice  was  to  put 
French  garrisons  stealthily  into  Sluys  and  other  towns  con 
quered  by  the  republic  in  Flanders.  Then  the  magnanimous 
ally  was  to  rise  at  the  right  moment  and  overcome  all  resis 
tance  by  force  of  arms.  The  plot  was  a  good  one.  It  is 
passing  strange,  however,  that  the  character  of  the  Nassaus 
and  of  the  Dutch  nation  should  after  the  last  fifty  years  have 
been  still  so  misunderstood.  It  seemed  in  France  possible 
that  Maurice  would  thus  defile  his  honour  and  the  Nether- 
landers  barter  their  liberty,  by  accepting  a  new  tyrant  in 
place  of  the  one  so  long  ago  deposed. 

"This  is  the  marrow  of  our  conference,"  said  Aerssens  to  Bar- 
neveld,  reporting  the  interview,  "  and  you  may  thus  perceive 
whither  are  tending  the  designs  of  his  Majesty.  It  seems 

11  Aerssens  to  Olden-Barneveld,  ubi  imp.  1S  Ibid, 


1606.  HIS  DESIRE  TO  ANNEX  THEM  TO  FRANCE.  287 

that  they  are  aspiring  here  to  the  sovereignty,  and  all  my 
letters  have  asserted  the  contrary.  If  you  will  examine  a 
little  more  closely,  however,  you  will  find  that  there  is  no 
contradiction.  This  acquisition  would  be  desirable  for  France 
if  it  could  be  made  peacefully.  As  it  can  only  be  effected 
by  war  you  may  make  sure  that  it  will  not  be  attempted  ; 
for  the  great  maxim  and  basis  of  this  kingdom  is  to  preserve 
repose,  and  at  the  same  time  give  such  occupation  to  the 
King  of  Spain  that  his  means  shall  be  consumed  and  his  de 
signs  frustrated.  All  this  will  cease  if  we  make  peace. 

"  Thus  in  treating  with  the  king  we  must  observe  two  rules. 
The  first  is  that  we  can  maintain  ourselves  no  longer  unless 
powerfully  assisted,  and  that,  the  people  inclining  to  peace, 
we  shall  be  obliged  to  obey  the  people.  Secondly,  we  must 
let  no  difficulty  appear  as  to  the  desire  expressed  by  his 
Majesty  to  have  the  sovereignty  of  these  provinces.  We 
ought  to  let  him  hope  for  it,  but  to  make  him  understand 
that  by  ordinary  and  legitimate  means  he  cannot  aspire  to  it. 
We  will  make  him  think  that  we  have  an  equal  desire  with 
himself,  and  we  shall  thus  take  from  those  evil-disposed  coun 
sellors  the  power  to  injure  us  who  are  always  persuading  him 
that  he  is  only  making  us  great  for  ourselves,  and  thus  giving 
us  the  power  to  injure  him.  In  short,  the  king  can  hope 
nothing  from  us  overtly,  and  certainly  nothing  covertly.  By 
explaining  to  him  that  we  require  the  authorization  of  the 
people,  and  by  showing  ourselves,  prompt  to  grant  his  request, 
he  will  be  the  very  first  to  prevent  us  from  taking  any  steps, 
in  order  that  his  repose  may  not  be  disturbed.  I  know  that 
France  does  not  wish  to  go  to  war  with  Spain.  Let  us  then 
pretend  that  we  wish  to  be  under  the  dominion  of  France, 
and  that  we  will  lead  our  people  to  that  point  if  the  king 
desires  it,  but  that  it  cannot  be  done  secretly.  Believe 
me,  he  will  not  wish  it  on  such  conditions,  while  we  shall 
gain  much  by  this  course.  Would  to  God  that  we  could 
engage  France  in  war  with  Spain.  All  the  utility  would 
be  ours,  and  the  accidents  of  arms  would  so  press  them  to 
Spain,  Italy,  and  other  places,  tjiat  they  wouW  Jwe  little 


288  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XLVI. 

leisure  to  think  of  us.  Consider  all  this  and  conceal  it  from 
Buzanval."19 

Buzanval,  it  is  well  known,  was  the  French  envoy  at  the 
Hague,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  these  schemes  and 
paltry  falsehoods  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch  agent  were  as 
contemptible  as  any  of  the  plots  contrived  every  day  in  Paris 
or  Madrid.  Such  base  coin  as  this  was  still  circulating  in 
diplomacy  as  if  fresh  from  the  Machiavellian  mint ;  but  the 
republican  agent  ought  to  have  known  that  his  Government 
had  long  ago  refused  to  pass  it  current. 

Soon  afterwards  this  grave  matter  was  discussed  at  the 
Hague  between  Henry's  envoy  and  Barneveld.  It  was  a  very 
delicate  negotiation.  The  Advocate  wished  to  secure  the 
assistance  of  a  powerful  but  most  unscrupulous  ally,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  conceal  his  real  intention  to  frustrate  the 
French  design  upon  the  independence  of  the  republic. 

Disingenuous  and  artful  as  his  conduct  unquestionably  was, 
it  may  at  least  be  questioned  whether  in  that  age  of  deceit 
any  other  great  statesman  would  have  been  more  frank.  If 
the  comparatively  weak  commonwealth,  by  openly  and  scorn 
fully  refusing  all  the  insidious  and  selfish  propositions  of  the 
French  king,  had  incurred  that  monarch's  wrath,  it  would 
have  taken  a  noble  position  no  doubt,  but  it  would  have 
perhaps  been  utterly  destroyed.  The  Advocate  considered 
himself  justified  in  using  the  artifices  of  war  against  a 
subtle  and  dangerous  enemy,  who  wore  the  mask  of  a  friend. 
When  the  price  demanded  for  military  protection  was  the 
voluntary  abandonment  of  national  independence  in  favour 
of  the  protector,  the  man  who  guided  the  affairs  of  the  Neth 
erlands  did  not  hesitate  to  humour  and  to  outwit  the  king  who 
strove  to  subjugate  the  republic.  At  the  same  time — however 
one  may  be  disposed  to  censure  the  dissimulation  from  the 
standing-ground  of  a  lofty  morality — it  should  not  be  for 
gotten  that  Barneveld  never  hinted  at  any  possible  connivance 
on  his  part  with  an  infraction  of  the  laws.  Whatever  might 
be  the  result  of  time,  of  persuasion,  of  policy,  he  never  led 

lv  Aerssens  to  Olden-Barneveld,  utt  sup. 


1606.  BARNEVELD^  AND  THE  FRENCH  ENVOY.  289 

Henry  or  his  ministers  to  believe  that  the  people  of  the 
Netherlands  could  be  deprived  of  their  liberty  by  force 
or  fraud.  He  was  willing  to  play  a  political  game,  in 
which  he  felt  himself  inferior  to  no  man,  trusting  to  his 
own  skill  and  coolness  for  success.  If  the  tyrant  were 
defeated,  and  at  the  same  time  made  to  serve  the  cause  of 
the  free  commonwealth,  the  Advocate  believed  this  to  be  fair 
play. 

Knowing  himself  surrounded  by  gamblers  and  tricksters, 
he  probably  did  not  consider  himself  to  be  cheating  because  he 
did  not  play  his  cards  upon  the  table. 

So  when  Buzanval  informed  him  early  in  October  that  the 
possession  of  Sluys  and  other  Flemish  towns  would  not  be 
sufficient  for  the  king,  but  that  they  must  offer  the  sove 
reignty  on  even  more  favourable  conditions  than  had  once 
been  proposed  to  Henry  III.,  the  Advocate  told  him  roundly 
that  my  lords  the  States  were  not  likely  to  give  the  provinces 
to  any  man,  but  meant  to  maintain  their  freedom  and  their 
rights.20  The  envoy  replied  that  his  Majesty  would  be  able 
to  gain  more  favour  perhaps  with  the  common  people  of  the 
country. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  States  had  offered  the 
sovereignty  of  the  provinces  to  Henry  III.,  abjectly  and  as 
it  were  without  any  conditions  at  all,21  the  effrontery  of 
Henry  IV.  may  be  measured,  who  claimed  the  same  sove 
reignty,  after  twenty  years  of  republican  independence,  upon 
even  more  favourable  terms  than  those  which  his  predecessor 
had  rejected. 

Barneveld,  in  order  to  mitigate  the  effect  of  his  plump  re 
fusal  of  the  royal  overtures,  explained  to  Buzanval,  what 
Buzanval  very  well  knew,  that  the  times  had  now  changed  ; 
that  in  those  days,  immediately  after  the  death  of  William 
the  Silent,  despair  and  disorder  had  reigned  in  the  provinces, 
"  while  that  dainty  delicacy — liberty — had  not  so  long  been 
sweetly  tickling  the  appetites  of  the  people  ;  that  the  English 

ao  Memorandum  of  an  interview  with  Buzanval  by  Olden-Barneveld  Oct 
1606.     Deventer,  iii.  94,  95.  fl  Vol.  I.  of  this  work,  chaps,  ii.  and  iv. 

VOL.  IV. — U 


290  ME  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVl 

had  not  then  acquired  their  present  footing  in  the  country, 
nor  the  house  of  Nassau  the  age,  the  credit,  and  authority  to 
which  it  had  subsequently  attained.'722 

He  then  intimated — and  here  began  the  deception,  which 
certainly  did  not  deceive  Buzanval — that  if  things  were 
handled  in  the  right  way,  there  was  little  doubt  as  to  the 
king's  reaching  the  end  proposed,  but  that  all  depended  on 
good  management.  It  was  an  error,  he  said,  to  suppose  that 
in  one,  two,  or  three  months,  eight  provinces  and  their 
principal  members,  to  wit,  forty  good  cities  all  enjoying 
liberty  and  equality,  could  be  induced  to  accept  a  foreign 
sovereign. 

Such  language  was  very  like  irony,  and  probably  not  too 
subtle  to  escape  the  fine  perception  of  the  French  envoy. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done,  continued  the  Advocate,  is  to 
persuade  the  provinces  to  aid  the  king  with  all  their  means 
to  conquer  the  dis-umted  provinces — to  dispose  of  the  arch 
dukes,  in  short,  and  to  drive  the  Spaniards  from  the  soil — 
and  then,  little  by  little,  to  make  it  clear  that  there  could  be 
no  safety  for  the  States  except  in  reducing  the  whole  body  of 
the  Netherlands  under  the  authority  of  the  king.  Let  his 
Majesty  begin  by  conquering  and  annexing  to  his  crown  the 
provinces  nearest  him,  and  he  would  then  be  able  to  persuade 
the  others  to  a  reasonable  arrangement. 

Whether  the  Advocate's  general  reply  was  really  considered 
by  Buzanval  as  a  grave  sarcasm,  politely  veiled,  may  be  a 
question.  That  envoy,  however,  spoke  to  his  Government 
of  the  matter  as  surrounded  with  difficulties,  but  not  wholly 
desperate.  Barneveld  was,  he  said,  inclined  to  doubt  whether 
the  archdukes  would  be  able,  before  any  negotiations  were 
begun,  to  comply  with  the  demand  which  he  had  made  upon 
them  to  have  a  declaration  in  writing  that  the  United  Pro 
vinces  were  to  be  regarded  as  a  free  people  over  whom  they 
pretended  to  no  authority.  If  so,  the  French  king  would  at 
once  be  informed  of  the  fact.  Meantime  the  envoy  expressed 
the  safe  opinion  that,  if  Prince  Maurice  #nd  the  Advocate 

22  Buzanval,  in  Deventer,  iii.  95.  96. 


1606.  BUZANVAL'S   REPORT   TO  HIS  GOVERNMENT.  291 

together  should  take  the  matter  of  Henry's  sovereignty  in 
hand  with  zeal,  they  might  conduct  the  bark  to  the  desired 
haven.  Surely  this  was  an  l  if  *  with  much  virtue  in  it.  And 
notwithstanding  that  he  chose  to  represent  Barneveld  as  rich, 
tired,  at  the  end  of  his  Latin,  and  willing  enough  to  drop  his 
anchor  in  a  snug  harbour,  in  order  to  make  his  fortune  secure, 
it  was  obvious  enough  that  Buzanval  had  small  hope  at  heart' 
of  seeing  his  master's  purpose  accomplished.23 

As  to  Prince  Maurice,  the  envoy  did  not  even  affect  to 
believe  him  capable  of  being  made  use  of,  strenuous  as  the 
efforts  of  the  French  Government  in  that  direction  had  been. 
"  He  has  no  private  designs  that  I  can  find  out,"  said  Buzan 
val,  doing  full  justice  to  the  straightforward  and  sincere 
character  of  the  prince.  "  He  asks  no  change  for  himself  or 
lor  his  country."  The  envoy  added,  as  a  matter  of  private 
opinion  however,  that  if  an  alteration  were  to  be  made  in 
the  constitution  of  the  provinces,  Maurice  would  prefer  that 
it  should  be  made  in  favour  of  France  than  of  any  other 
Government. 

He  lost  no  opportunity,  moreover,  of  impressing  it  upon 
his  Government  that  if  the  sovereignty  were  to  be  secured 
for  France  at  all,  it  could  only  be  done  by  observing  great 
caution,  and  by  concealing  their  desire  to  swallow  the  republic 
of  which  they  were  professing  themselves  the  friends.  The 
jealousy  of  England  was  sure  to  be  awakened  if  France  ap 
peared  too  greedy  at  the  beginning.  On  the  other  hand, 
that  power  "might  be  the  more  easily  rocked  into  a  profound 
sleep  if  France  did  not  show  its  appetite  at  the  very  begin 
ning  of  the  banquet."24  That  the  policy  of  France  should  be 
steadily  but  stealthily  directed  towards  getting  possession  of 
as  many  strong  places  as  possible  in  the  Netherlands  had  long 
been  his  opinion.  "  Since  we  don't  mean  to  go  to  war,"  said 

2d  Btizanval,   in  Deventer,  iii.  95,   will  find  it  impossible  to  accept  it. 


See  also  the  letter  of  Aerssens  to 


Also  the  Memoir  of  Aerssens  of  6 


Olden  Barneveld,  14  November,  1606,  j  January,  1606.     Ibid.  99-103.    Groen 
in  which  he  again  urges  the  propriety   v.  Prinsterer,  Archives,  il  370-374. 
of  pretendingto  bestow  thesovereignty!      84  Authorities  last  cited, 
on  France  in  the  certainty  that  she  j 


292  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVL 

he  a  year  before  to  Villeroy,  "  let  us  at  least  follow  the  exam 
ple  of  the  English,  who  have  known  how  to  draw  a  profit  out 
of  the  necessities  of  this  state.  Why  should  we  not  demand, 
or  help  ourselves  to,  a  few  good  cities.  Sluys,  for  example, 
would  be  a  security  for  us,  and  of  great  advantage."  ^ 

Suspicion  was  rife  on  this  subject  at  the  court  of  Spain. 
Certainly  it  would  be  less  humiliating  to  the  Catholic  crown 
to  permit  the  independence  of  its  rebellious  subjects  than  to 
see  them  incorporated  into  the  realms  of  either  France  or 
England.  It  is  not  a  very  striking  indication  of  the  capacity 
of  great  rulers  to  look  far  into  the  future  that  both  France 
and  England  should  now  be  hankering  after  the  sovereignty 
of  those  very  provinces,  the  solemn  oiler  of  which  by  the 
provinces  themselves  both  France  and  England  had  peremp 
torily  and  almost  contemptuously  refused. 

In  Spain  itself  the  war  was  growing  very  wearisome. 
Three  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  month  could  no  longer  be 
relied  upon  from  the  royal  exchequer,  or  from  the  American 
voyages,  or  from  the  kite-flying  operations  of  the  merchant 
princes  on  the  Genoa  exchange. 

A  greet  fleet,  to  be  sure,  had  recently  arrived,  splendidly 
laden,  from  the  West  Indies,  as  already  stated.  Pagan  slaves, 
scourged  to  their  dreadful  work,  continued  to  supply  to  their 
Christian  taskmasters  the  hidden  treasures  of  the  New  World 
in  exchange  for  the  blessings  of  the  Evangel  as  thus  revealed; 
but  these  treasures  could  never  fill  the  perpetual  sieve  of  the 
Netherland  war,  rapidly  and  conscientiously  as  they  were 
poured  into  it,  year  after  year. 

The  want  of  funds  in  the  royal  exchequer  left  the  soldiers 
in  Flanders  unpaid,  and  as  an  inevitable  result  mutiny  ad 
mirably  organized  and  calmly  defiant  was  again  established 
throughout  the  obedient  provinces.  This  happened  regularly 
once  a  year,  so  that  it  seemed  almost  as  business-like  a  pro 
ceeding  for  an  Eletto  to  proclaim  mutiny  as  for  a  sovereign  to 
declare  martial  law.  Should  the  whole  army  mutiny  at  once, 
what  might  become  of  the  kingdom  of  Spain  ? 

25  Deventer,  III.  xiv. 


160(i.  THE  QUESTION  OF  PEACE.  293 

Moreover,  a  very  uneasy  feeling  was  prevalent  that,  as 
formerly,  the  Turks  had  crossed  the  Hellespont  into  Europe 
by  means  of  a  Genoese  alliance  and  Genoese  galleys,  so  now 
the  Moors  were  contemplating  the  reconquest  of  Granada,  and 
of  their  other  ancient  possessions  in  Spain,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Dutch  republic  and  her  powerful  fleets.26 

The  Dutch  cruisers  watched  so  carefully  on  the  track  of 
the  homeward-bound  argosies,  that  the  traffic  was  becoming 
more  dangerous  than  lucrative,  particularly  since  the  public 
law  established  by  Admiral  Fazardo,  that  it  was  competent 
for  naval  commanders  to  hang,  drown,  or  burn  the  crews  of 
the  enemy's  merchantmen. 

The  Portuguese  were  still  more  malcontent  than  the  Spa 
niards.  They  had  gained  little  by  the  absorption  of  their 
kingdom  by  Spain,  save  participation  in  the  war  against  the 
republic,  the  result  of  which  had  been  to  strip  them  almost 
entirely  of  the  conquests  ol  Vasco  de  Gama  and  his  successors, 
and  to  close  to  them  the  ports  of  the  Old  World  and  the  New. 

In  the  republic  there  was  a  party  for  peace,  no  doubt,  but 
peace  only  with  independence.  As  for  a  return  to  their  ori 
ginal  subjection  to  Spain  they  were  unanimously  ready  to 
accept  forty  years  more  of  warfare  rather  than  to  dream  of 
such  a  proposition.  There  were  many  who  deliberately  pre 
ferred  war  to  peace.  Bitter  experience  had  impressed  very 
deeply  on  the  Netherlander  the  great  precept  that  faith 
would  never  be  kept  with  heretics.27  The  present  generation 
had  therefore  been  taught  from  their  cradles  to  believe  that 
the  word  peace  in  Spanish  mouths  simply  meant  the  Holy 
Inquisition.  It  was  not  unnatural,  too,  perhaps,  that  a  people 
who  had  never  known  what  it  was  to  be  at  peace  might  feel, 
in  regard  to  that  blessing,  much  as  the  blind  or  the  deaf 
towards  colour  or  music  ;  as  something  useful  and  agreeable, 
no  doubt,  but  with  which  they  might  the  more  cheerfully 


56  Grotius,  xv.  715. 
17  "  The  Spaniard— who  hath  been 
accustomed  to  serve  himself  of  all  the 


the  memory  of  which  is  engraved  in  the 
marble  hearts  of  this  people  to  att  pos 
terity." —  Win  wood  to  LordCranborne, 


advantages  without  mercy  and  some-  ;  12  Sept  1604.     Memorials,  ii.  30. 
times  to  fail  of  treaties  and  contracts,  ' 


294  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL VI. 

dispense,  as  peculiar  circumstances  had  always  kept  them  in 
positive  ignorance  of  its  nature.  The  instinct  of  commercial 
greediness  made  the  merchants  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  and 
especially  those  of  Amsterdam,  dread  the  revival  of  Antwerp 
in  case  of  peace,  to  the  imagined  detriment  of  the  great 
trading  centres  of  the  republic.  It  was  felt  also  to  be  certain 
that  Spain,  in  case  of  negotiations,  would  lay  down  as  an 
indispensable  preliminary  the  abstinence  on  the  part  of  the 
Netherlander  from  all  intercourse  with  the  Indies,  East  or 
West ;  and  although  such  a  prohibition  would  be  received  by 
those  republicans  with  perfect  contempt,  yet  the  mere  discus 
sion  of  the  subject  moved  their  spleen.  They  had  already 
driven  the  Portuguese  out  of  a  large  portion  of  the  field  in 
the  east,  and  they  were  now  preparing  by  means  of  the  same 
machinery  to  dispute  the  monopoly  of  the  Spaniards  in  the 
west.  To  talk  of  excluding  such  a  people  as  this  from  inter 
course  with  any  portion  of  the  Old  World  or  the  New  was  the 
mumbling  of  dotage  ;  yet  nothing  could  be  more  certain  than 
that  such  would  be  the  pretensions  of  Spain. 

As  for  the  stadholder,  his  vocation  was  war,  his  greatness 
had  been  derived  from  war,  his  genius  had  never  turned  itself 
to  pacific  pursuits.  Should  a  peace  be  negotiated,  not  only 
would  his  occupation  be  gone,  but  he  might  even  find  himself 
hampered  for  means.  It  was  probable  that  his  large  salaries, 
as  captain  and  admiral-general  of  the  forces  of  the  republic, 
would  be  seriously  curtailed,  in  case  his  services  in  the  field 
were  no  longer  demanded,  while  such  secret  hopes  as  he 
might  entertain  of  acquiring  that  sovereign  power  which 
Barneveld  had  been  inclined  to  favour,  were  more  likely  to 
be  fulfilled  if  the  war  should  be  continued.  At  the  same  time, 
if  sovereignty  were  to  be  his  at  all,  he  was  distinctly  opposed 
to  such  limitations  of  his  authority  as  were  to  have  been  pro 
posed  by  the  States  to  his  father.  Kather  than  reign  on  those 
conditions,  he  avowed  that  he  would  throw  himself  head  fore 
most  from  the  great  tower  of  Hague  Castle. 

Moreover,  the  prince  was  smarting  under  the  consciousness 
of  having  lost  military  reputation,  however  undeservedly, 


1606 


THE  QUESTION  OF  PEACE. 


295 


in  the  latter  campaigns,  and  might  reasonably  hope  to  gain 
new  glory  in  the  immediate  future.  Thus,  while  his  great 
rival,  Marquis  Spinola,  whose  fame  had  grown  to  so  luxuriant 
a  height  in  so  brief  a  period,  had  many  reasons  to  dread  the 
results  of  future  campaigning,  Maurice  seemed  to  have  per 
sonally  much  to  lose  and  nothing  to  hope  for  in  peace. 
Spinola  was  over  head  and  ears  in  debt.  In  the  past  two 
years  he  had  spent  millions  of  florins  out  of  his  own  pocket.23 
His  magnificent  fortune  and  boundless  credit  were  seriously 
compromised.  He  had  found  it  an  easier  task  to  take  Ostend 
and  relieve  Grol  than  to,  bolster  up  the  finances  of  Spain. 
His  acceptances  were  becoming  as  much  a  drug  upon  the 
exchanges  of  Antwerp,  Genoa,  or  Augsburg,  as  those  of  the 
most  Catholic  king  or  their  Highnesses  the  archdukes.  Euin 
stared  him  in  the  face,  notwithstanding  the  deeds  with  which 
he  had  startled  the  world,  and  he  was  therefore  sincerely 
desirous  of  peace,  provided,  of  course,  that  all  those  advan 
tages  for  which  the  war  had  been  waged  in  vain  could  now  be 
secured  by  negotiation. 

There  had  been,  since  the  arrival  of  the  Duke  of  Alva  in 
the  Netherlands,  just  forty  years  of  fighting.  Maurice  and 
the  war  had  been  born  in  the  same  year,  and  it  would  be 
difficult  for  him  to  comprehend  that  his  whole  life's  work  had 
been  a  superfluous  task,  to  be  rubbed  away  now  with  a  sponge. 
Yet  that  Spain,  on  the  entrance  to  negotiations,  would  demand 
of  the  provinces  submission  to  her  authority,  re-establishment 
of  the  Cathrlic  religion,  abstinence  from  Oriental  or  American 
commerce,  and  the  toleration  of  Spanish  soldiers  over  all  the 
Netherlands,  seemed  indubitable. 

It  was  equally  unquestionable  that  the  seven  provinces 
would  demand  recognition  of  their  national  independence  by 
Spain,  would  refuse  public  practice  of  the  Eoman  religion 
within  their  domains,  and  would  laugh  to  scorn  any  proposed 
limitations  to  their  participation  in  the  world's  traffic.  As  to 


*8  Hoofds  Brieven,  N.  3,  bl.  3, 
cited  by  Wagenaar,  ix.  234  The 
preposterous  statement  is  there  made 


that  he  had  spent  fourteen  mfflions  of 
his  own  money. 


296  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVI. 

the  presence  of  Spanish  troops  on   their  soil,  that  was,  of 
course,  an  inconceivable  idea. 

Where,  then,  could  even  a  loophole  be  found  through 
which  the  possibility  of  a  compromise  could  be  espied  ?  The 
ideas  of  the  contending  parties  were  as  much  opposed  to  each 
other  as  fire  and  snow.  Nevertheless,  the  great  forces  of  the 
world  seemed  to  have  gradually  settled  into  such  an  equili 
brium  as  to  make  the  continuance  of  the  war  for  the  present 
impossible. 

Accordingly,  the  peace-party  in  Brussels  had  cautiously 
put  forth  its  tentacles  late  in  1606,  and  again  in  the  early 
days  of  the  new  year.  Walrave  van  Wittenhorst  and  Doctor 
Gevaerts  had  been  allowed  to  come  to  the  Hague,  ostensibly 
on  private  business,  but  with  secret  commission  from  the  arch 
dukes  to  feel  and  report  concerning  the  political  atmosphere. 
They  found  that  it  was  a  penal  offence  in  the  republic  to  talk 
of  peace  or  of  truce.  They  nevertheless  suspected  that  there 
might  be  a  more  sympathetic  layer  beneath  the  very  chill 
surface  which  they  everywhere  encountered.  Having  inti 
mated  in  the  proper  quarters  that  the  archdukes  would  be 
ready  to  receive  or  to  appoint  commissioners  for  peace  or 
armistice,  if  becoming  propositions  should  be  made,  they 

10  Jan    were  allowed  on  the  10th  of  January,  1607,  to  make 

1607  a  communication  to  the  States-General.29  They 
indulged  in  the  usual  cheap  commonplaces  on  the  effusion  of 
blood,  the  calamities  of  war,  and  the  blessings  of  peace,  and 
assured  the  States  of  the  very  benignant  disposition  of  their 
Highnesses  at  Brussels. 

The  States-General,  in  their  reply,  seventeen  days  after- 

wards,  remarking  that   the  archdukes  persisted  in 

their  unfounded  pretensions  of  authority  over  them, 

took  occasion  to  assure  their  Highnesses  that  they  had  no 

chance  to    obtain    such    authority  except    by   the    sword.30 

Whether  they  were  like  to  accomplish  much  in  that  way  the' 

history   of   the   past  might    sufficiently  indicate,   while  on 

29  Gallucci,  xx  313,    Meteren,  545,  and  ™.     Grotius,  xv.  717. 
*  Meteren,  'uJbi  sup. 


1607.  AMERICA  AND  VIRGINIA.  297 

the  other  hand  the  States  would  always  claim  the  right,  and 
never  renounce  the  hope,  of  recovering  those  provinces  which 
had  belonged  to  their  free  commonwealth  since  the  union  of 
Utrecht,  and  which  force  and  fraud  had  torn  away. 

During  twenty-five  years  that  union  had  been  confirmed  as 
a  free  state  by  solemn  decrees,  and  many  public  acts  and' 
dealings  with  the  mightiest  potentates  of  Europe,  nor  could 
any  other  answer  now  be  made  to  the  archdukes  than  the  one 
always  given  to  his  holy,  Roman  Imperial  Majesty,  and  other 
princes,  to  wit,  that  no  negotiations  could  be  had  with  powers 
making  any  pretensions  in  conflict  with  the  solemn  decrees 
and  well-maintained  rights  of  the  United  Netherlands.31 

It  was  in  this  year  that  two  words  became  more  frequent 
in  the  mouths  of  men  than  they  had  ever  been  before  ;  two- 
words  which  as  the  ages  rolled  on  were  destined  to  exercise  a 
wider  influence  over  the  affairs  of  this  planet  than  was  yet 
dreamed  of  by  any  thinker  in  Christendom.  Those  words  were 
America  and  Virginia.  Certainly  both  words  were  known 
before,  although  India  was  the  more  general  term  for  these 
auriferous  regions  of  the  west,  which,  more  than  a  century 
long,  had  been  open  to  European  adventure,  while  the  land, 
baptized  in  honour  of  the  throned  Vestal,  had  been  already 
made  familiar  to  European  ears  by  the  exploits  of  Raleigh. 
But  it  was  not  till  1607  that  Jamestown  was  founded,  that 
Captain  John  Smith's  adventures  with  Powhattan,  "  emperor 
of  Virginia,"  and  his  daughter  the  Princess  Pocahontas, 
became  fashionable  topics  in  England,  that  the  English 
attempts  to  sail  up  the  Chickahominy  to  the  Pacific  Ocean 
— as  abortive  as  those  of  the  Netherlanders  to  sail  across  the 
North  Pole  to  Cathay — were  creating  scientific  discussion  in 
Europe,  and  that  the  first  cargo  of  imaginary  gold  dust  was 
exported  from  the  James  River.32 

With  the  adventurous  minds  of  England  all  aflame  with 
enthusiasm  for  those  golden  regions,  with  the  thick-coming 
fancies  for  digging,  washing,  refining  the  precious  sands  of 
Virginia  rivers,  it  was  certain  that  a  great  rent  was  now  to  be 

11  Meteren  ubi  sup.         3*  Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States,  i.  105. 


298  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVI. 

made  in  the  Borgian  grant.  It  was  inevitable  that  the 
rivalry  of  the  Netherlander  should  be  excited  by  the  achieve 
ments  and  the  marvellous  tales  of  Englishmen  beyond  the 
Atlantic,  and  that  they  too  should  claim  their  share  of 
traffic  with  that  golden  and  magnificent  Unknown  which 
was  called  America.  The  rivalry  between  England  and 
Holland,  already  so  conspicuous  in  the  spicy  Archipelagos  of 
the  east,  was  now  to  be  extended  over  the  silvery  regions 
of  the  west.  The  two  leading  commercial  powers  of  the  Old 
World  were  now  to  begin  their  great  struggle  for  supremacy 
in  the  western  hemisphere. 

A  charter  for  what  was  called  a  West  India  Company  was 
accordingly  granted  by  the  States-General.  West  India 
was  understood  to  extend  from  the  French  settlements  in 
Newfoundland  or  Acadia,  along  the  American  coast  to  the 
Straits  of  Magellan,  and  so  around  to  the  South  Sea,  includ 
ing  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  besides  all  of  Africa 
lying  between  the  tropic  of  Cancer  and  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  At  least,  within  those  limits  the  West  India  Com 
pany  was  to  have  monopoly  of  trade,  all  other  Netherlanders 
being  warned  off  the  precincts.  Nothing  could  be  more 
magnificent,  nor  more  vague.33 

The  charter  was  for  thirty-six  years.  The  company  was  to 
maintain  armies  and  fleets,  to  build  forts  and  cities,  to  carry 
on  war,  to  make  treaties  of  peace  and  of  commerce.  It  was 
a  small  peripatetic  republic  of  merchants  and  mariners, 
evolved  out  of  the  mother  republic — which  had  at  last  esta 
blished  its  position  among  the  powers  of  Christendom — and  it 
was  to  begin  its  career  full  grown  and  in  full  armour. 

The  States-General  were  to  furnish  the  company  at  starting 
with  one  million  of  florins  and  with  twenty  ships  of  war.  The 
company  was  to  add  twenty  other  ships.  The  Government 
was  to  consist  of  four  chambers  of  directors.  One-half  the 
capital  was  to  be  contributed  by  the  chamber  of  Amsterdam, 
one-quarter  by  that  of  Zeeland,  one-eighth  respectively  by 
the  chambers  of  the  Meuse  and  of  North  Holland.  The 

,  xvj.  721-735,    Meteren,  545,  546,    Wa^enaar,  ix.  326-330. 


1607.  WEST  INDIA  COMPANY  299 

chambers  of  Amsterdam,  of  Zeeland,  of  the  Meuse,  and  of 
North  Holland  were  to  have  respectively  thirty,  eighteen, 
fifteen,  and  fifteen  directors.  Of  these  seventy-eight,  one- 
third  were  to  be  replaced  every  sixth  year  by  others,  while 
from  the  whole  number  seventeen  persons  were  to  be  elected 
as  a  permanent  board  of  managers.  Dividends  were  to  be 
made  as  soon  as  the  earnings  amounted  to  ten  per  cent,  on 
the  capital.  Maritime  judges  were  to  decide  upon  prizes,  the 
proceeds  of  which  were  not  to  be  divided  for  six  years,  in 
order  that  war  might  be  self-sustaining.  Afterwards,  the 
treasury  of  the  United  Provinces  should  receive  one-tenth, 
Prince  Maurice  one-thirtieth,  and  the  merchant  stockholders 
the  remainder.  Governors,  and  generals  were  to  take  the 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  States-General.  The  merchandize  of 
the  company  was  to  be  perpetually  free  of  taxation,  so  far  as 
regarded  old  duties,  and  exempt  from  war-taxes  for  the  first 
twenty  years.34 

Very  violent  and  conflicting  were  the  opinions  expressed 
throughout  the  republic  in  regard  to  this  project.  It  was 
urged  by  those  most  in  favour  of  it  that  the  chief  sources  of 
the  greatness  of  Spain  would  be  thus  transferred  to  the 
States-General ;  for  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  Hol 
landers,  unconquerable  at  sea,  familiar  with  every  ocean-path, 
and  whose  hardy  constitutions  defied  danger  and  privation 
and  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  would  easily  supplant 
the  more  -  delicately  organized  adventurers  from  Southern 
Europe,  already  enervated  by  the  exhausting  climate  of 
America.  Moreover,  it  was  idle  for  Spain  to  attempt  the 
defence  of  so  vast  a  portion  of  the  world.  Every  tribe  over 
which  she  had  exercised  sway  would  furnish  as  many  allies 
for  the  Dutch  company  as  it  numbered  men  ;  for  to  obey  and 
to  hate  the  tyrannical  Spaniard  were  one.  The  republic 
would  acquire,  in  reality,  the  grandeur  which  with  Spain  was 
but  an  empty  boast,  would  have  the  glory  of  transferring  the 
great  war  beyond  the  limits  of  home  into  those  far  distant 
possessions,  where  the  enemy  deemed  himself  most  secure, 

34  Authorities  last  cited. 


300  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVI 

and  would  teach  the  true  religion  to  savages  sunk  in  their 
own  superstitions,  and  still  further  depraved  by  the  imported 
idolatries  of  Eome.  Commerce  was  now  world-wide,  and  the 
time  had  come  for  the  Netherlander,  to  whom  the  ocean  be 
longed,  to  tear  out  from  the  pompous  list  of  the  Catholic 
king's  titles  his  appellation  of  Lord  of  the  Seas. 

There  were  others,  however,  whose  language  was  not  so 
sanguine.  They  spoke  with  a  shiver  of  the  inhabitants  of 
America,  who  hated  all  men,  simply  because  they  were  men, 
or  who  had  never  manifested  any  love  for  their  species 
except  as  an  article  of  food.  To  convert  such  cannibals  to 
Christianity  and  Calvinism  would  be  a  hopeless  endeavour, 
and  meanwhile  the  Spaniards  were  masters  of  the  country. 
The  attempt  to  blockade  half  the  globe  with  forty  galleots 
was  insane ;  for,  although  the  enemy  had  not  occupied  the 
whole  territory,  he  commanded  every  harbour  and  position 
of  vantage.  Men,  scarcely  able  to  defend  inch  by  inch  the 
meagre  little  sandbanks  of  their  fatherland,  who  should  now 
go  forth  in  hopes  to  conquer  the  world,  were  but  walking 
in  their  sleep.  They  would  awake  to  the  consciousness  of 
ruin. 

Thus  men  in  the  United  Provinces  spake  of  America. 
Especially  Barneveld  had  been  supposed  to  be  prominent 
among  the  opponents  of  the  new  Company,  on  the  ground 
that  the  more  violently  commercial  ambition  excited  itself 
towards  wider  and  wilder  fields  of  adventure,  tjie  fainter 
grew  inclinations  for  peace.  The  Advocate,  who  was  all  but 
omnipotent  in  Holland  and  Zeeland,  subsequently  denied  the 
imputation  of  hostility  to  the  new  corporation,  but 'the  esta 
blishment  of  the  West  India  Company,  although  chartered, 
was  postponed.35 

The  archdukes  had  not  been  discouraged  by  the  result  of 
their  first  attempts  at  negotiation,  for  Wittenhorst  had  re 
ported  a  disposition  towards  peace  as  prevalent  in  the 
rebellious  provinces,  so  far  as  he  had  contrived,  during  his 
brief  mission,  to  feel  the  public  pulse. 

35  Wagenaar,  ix,  230. 


1607.  SECRET  MISSION  TO  THE  HAGUE.  301 

On  the  6th  February,  1607,  Werner  Cruwel,  an  insolvent 
tradesman  of  Brussels,  and  a  relative  of  Recorder  Aerssens, 
father  of  the  envoy  at  Paris,  made  his  appearance  very  un 
expectedly  at  the  house  of  his  kinsman  at  the  Hague.  Sitting 
at  the  dinner-table,  but  neither  eating  nor  drinking,  he  was 
asked  by  his  host  what  troubled  him.  He  replied  that  he 
had  a  load  on  his  breast.  Aerssens  begged  him,  if  it  was 
his  recent  bankruptcy  that  oppressed  him,  to  use  philosophy 
and  patience.  The  merchant  answered  that  he  who  confessed 
well  was  absolved  well.  He  then  took  from  his  pocket-book 
a  letter  from  President  Richardot,  and  said  he  would  reveal 
what  he  had  to  say  after  dinner.  The  cloth  being  removed, 
and  the  wife  and  children  of  Aerssens  having  left  the  room, 
Cruwel  disclosed  that  he  had  been  sent  by  Eichardot  and 
Father  Neyen  on  a  secret  mission.  The  recorder,  much 
amazed  and  troubled,  refused  to  utter  a  word,  save  to  ask  if 
Cruwel  would  object  to  confer  with  the  Advocate.  The 
merchant  expressing  himself  as  ready  for  such  an  interview, 
the  recorder,  although  it  was  late,  immediately  sent  a  message 
to  the  great  statesman.  Barneveld  was  in  bed  and  asleep, 
but  was  aroused  to  receive  the  communication  of  Aerssens. 
"We  live  in  such  a  calumnious  time,"  said  the  recorder, 
"  that  many  people  believe  that  you  and  I  know  more  of  the 
recent  mission  of  Wittenhorst  than  we  admit.  You  had  best 
interrogate  Cruwel  in  the  presence  of  witnesses.  I  know 
not  the  man's  humour,  but  it  seems  to  me  since  his  failure, 
that,  in  spite  of  his  shy  and  lumpish  manner,  he  is  false  and 
cunning. " 3S 

The  result  was  a  secret  interview,  on  the  8th  February, 
between  Prince  Maurice,  Barneveld,  and  the  recorder,  in 
which  Cruwel  was  permitted  to  state  the  object  of  his  mission. 
He  then  produced  a  short  memorandum,  signed  by  Spinola 
and  by  Father  Neyen,  to  the  effect  that  the  archdukes  were 
willing  to  treat  for  a  truce  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  on  the 
sole  condition  that  the  States  would  abstain  from  the  India 
navigation.  He  exhibited  also  another  paper,  signed  only  by 
36  Original  documents  in  Deveuter,  iii,  104-109, 


302  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVI. 

Neyen,  in  which  that  friar  proposed  to  come  secretly  to  the 
Hague,  no  one  in  Brussels  to  know  of  the  visit  save  the  arch 
dukes  and  Spiiiola;  and  all  in  the  United  Provinces  to  be 
equally  ignorant  except  the  prince,  the  Advocate,  and  the 
recorder.  Cruwel  was  then  informed  that  if  Neyen  expected 
to  discuss  such  grave  matters  with  the  prince,  he  must  first 
send  in  a  written  proposal  that  could  go  on  all  fours  and 
deserve  attention.  A  week  afterwards  Cruwel  came  hack 
with  a  paper  in  which  Neyen  declared  himself  authorized  by 
the  archdukes  to  treat  with  the  States  on  the  basis  of  their 
liberty  and  independence,  and  to  ask  what  they  would  give 
in  return  for  so  great  a  concession  as  this  renunciation  of  all 
right  to  "  the  so-called  United  Provinces." 37 

This  being  a  step  in  advance,  it  was  decided  to  permit  the 
visit  of  Neyen.  It  was,  however,  the  recorded  opinion  of 
the  distinguished  personages  to  whom  the  proposal  was  made 
that  it  was  a  trick  and  a  deception.  The  archdukes  would, 
no  doubt,  it  was  said,  nominally  recognise  the  provinces  as  a 
free  State,  but  without  really  meaning  it.  Meantime,  they 
would  do  their  best  to  corrupt  the  Government  and  to  renew 
the  war  after  the  republic  had  by  this  means  been  separated 
from  its  friends.38 

John  Neyen,  father  commissary  of  the  Franciscans,  who 
had  thus  invited  himself  to  the  momentous  conference,  was  a 
very  smooth  Flemish  friar,  who  seemed  admirably  adapted, 
for  various  reasons,  to  glide  into  the  rebel  country  and  into 
the  hearts  of  the  rebels.  He  was  a  Netherlander,  born  at 
Antwerp,  when  Antwerp  was  a  portion  of  the  united  common 
wealth,  of  a  father  who  had  been  in  the  confidential  service  of 
William  the  Silent.  He  was  eloquent  in  the  Dutch  language, 
and  knew  the  character  of  the  Dutch  people.  He  had  lived 
much  at  court,  both  in  Madrid  and  Brussels,  and  was  familiar 
with  the  ways  of  kings  and  courtiers.  He  was  a  holy  man, 
incapable  of  a  thought  of  worldly  advancement  for  himself,  but 
he  was  a  master  of  the  logic  often  thought  most  conclusive  in 
those  days ;  no  man  insinuating  golden  arguments  more 

87  Original  documents  in  Deventer,  iii.  104-109.  »  Ibid. 


1607.  PROPOSALS  FOR  A  TREATY  OF  PEACE.  3Q3 

adroitly  than  he  into  half-reluctant  palms.  Blessed  with 
a  visage  of  more  than  Flemish  frankness,  he  had  in  reality  a 
most  wily  and  unscrupulous  disposition.  Insensible  to  con 
tumely,  and  incapable  of  accepting  a  rebuff,  he  could  wind 
back  to  his  purpose  when  less  supple  negotiators  would  have 
been  crushed.39 

He  was  described  by  his  admirers  as  uniting  the  wisdom  of 
the  serpent  with  the  guilelessness  of  the  dove.40  Who  better 
than  he  then,  in  this  double  capacity,  to  coil  himself  around 
the  rebellion,  and  to  carry  the  olive-branch  in  his  mouth  ? 

On  the  25th  February  the  monk,  disguised  in  the  dress  of 
a  burgher,  arrived  at  Kyswick,  a  village  a  mile  35  p^ 
and  a  half  from  the  Hague.  He  was  accompa-  1807 
nied  on  the  journey  by  Cruwel,  and  they  gave  themselves  out 
as  travelling  tradesmen."41  After  nightfafl,  a  carriage  having 
been  sent  to  the  hostelry,  according  to  secret  agreement,  by 
Recorder  Aerssens,  John  Neyen  was  brought  to  the  Hague. 
The  friar,  as  he  was  driven  on  through  these  hostile  regions, 
was  somewhat  startled,  on  looking  out,  to  find  himself  accom 
panied  by  two  mounted  musketeers  on  each  side  of  the 
carriage,  but  they  proved  to  have  been  intended  as  a  protec 
tive  escort.  He  was  brought  to  the  recorder's  house,  whence, 
after  some  delay,  he  was  conveyed  to  the  palace.  Here  he 
was  received  by  an  unknown  and  silent  attendant,  who  took 
him  by  the  hand  and  led  him  through  entirely  deserted 
corridors  and  halls.  Not  a  human  being  was  seen  nor  a 
sound  heard  until  his  conductor  at  last  reached  the  door  of  an 
inner  apartment  through  which  he  ushered  him,  without 
speaking  a  syllable.42  The  monk  then  found  himself  in  the 
presence  of  two  personages,  seated  at  a  table  covered  with 
books  and  papers.  One  was  in  military  undress,  with  an  air 
about  him  of  habitual  command,  a  fair-complexioned  man  of 
middle  age,  inclining  to  baldness,  rather  stout,  with  a  large 
blue  eye,  regular  features,  and  a  mouse-coloured  beard.  The 
other  was  in  the  velvet  cloak  and  grave  habiliments  of  a  civi] 

3»  Grotius,  xvi.  728.  *  Gallucci,  xx.  316,  317. 

«  Wagenaar,  ix.  273  °  Gallucci,  ubi  sup. 


304  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVt. 

functionary,  apparently  sixty  years  of  age,  with  a  massive 
forehead,  heavy  features,  and  a  shaggy  beard.  The  soldier 
was  Maurice  of  Nassau,  the  statesman  was  John  of  Olden- 
Barneveld. 

Both  rose  as  the  friar  entered,  and  greeted  him  with  cor 
diality. 

"  But,"  said  the  prince,  "  how  did  you  dare  to  enter  the 
Hague,  relying  only  on  the  word  of  a  Beggar  ?" 

"  Who  would  not  confide/'  replied  Neyen,  "  in  the  word  of 
so  exalted,  so  respectable  a  Beggar  as  you,  0  most  excellent 
prince  ?" 43 

With  these  facetious  words  began  the  negotiations  through 
which  an  earnest  attempt  was  at  last  to  be  made  for  ter 
minating  a  seemingly  immortal  war.  The  conversation,  thus 
begun,  rolled  amicably  and  informally  along.  The  monk 
produced  letters  from  the  archdukes,  in  which,  as  he  stated, 
the  truly  royal  soul  of  the  writers  shone  conspicuously  forth. 
Without  a  thought  for  their  own  advantage,  he  observed,  and 
moved  only  by  a  contemplation  of  the  tears  shed  by  so  many 
thousands  of  human  beings  reduced  to  extreme  misery,  their 
Highnesses,  although  they  were  such  exalted  princes,  cared 
nothing  for  what  would  be  said  by  the  kings  of  Europe  and 
all  the  potentates  of  the  universe  about  their  excessive  in 
dulgence.44 

"What  indulgence  do  you  speak  of?"  asked  the  stad- 
holder. 

"Does  that  seem  a  trifling  indulgence,"  replied  John 
Neyen,  "that  they  are  willing  to  abandon  the  right  which 
they  inherited  from  their  ancestors  over  these  provinces,  to 
allow  it  so  easily  to  slip  from  their  fingers,  to  declare  these 
people  to  be  free,  over  whom,  as  their  subjects  refusing  the 
yoke,  they  have  carried  on  war  so  long  ?" 

"  It  is  our  right  hands  that  have  gained  this  liberty,"  said 

Maurice,  "not  the  archdukes  that  have  granted  it.     It  has 

been  acquired  by  our  treasure,  poured  forth  how  freely  !  by 

the  price  of  our  blood,  by  so  many  thousands  of  souls  sent  to 

43  Gallucci,  317.  44  Ibid. 


1G07.  PRELIMINARY  NEGOTIATIONS.  305 

their  account.  Alas,  how  dear  a  price  have  we  paid  for  it ! 
All  the  potentates  of  Christendom,  save  the  King  of  Spain 
alone,  with  his  relatives  the  archdukes,  have  assented  to  our 
independence.  In  treating  for  peace  we  ask  no  gift  of  free 
dom  from  the  archdukes.  We  claim  to  be  regarded  by  them 
as  what  we  are — free  men.  If  they  are  unwilling  to  consider 
us  as  such,  let  them  subject  us  to  their  dominion  if  they  can. 
And  as  we  have  hitherto  done,  we  shall  contend  more  fiercely 
for  liberty  than  for  life." 45 

With  this,  the  tired  monk  was  dismissed  to  sleep  off  the 
efiects  of  his  journey  and  of  the  protracted  discussion,  being 
warmly  recommended  to  the  captain  of  the  citadel,  by  whom 
he  was  treated  with  every  possible  consideration. 

Several  days  of  private  discussion  ensued  between  Neyen 
and  the  leading  personages  of  the  republic.  The  emissary 
was  looked  upon  with  great  distrust.  All  schemes  of  sub 
stantial  negotiation  were  regarded  by  the  public  as  visions, 
while  the  monk  on  his  part  felt  the  need  of  all  his  tact  and 
temper  to  wind  his  way  out  of  the  labyrinth  into  which  he 
felt  that  he  had  perhaps  too  heedlessly  entered.  A  false 
movement  on  his  part  would  involve  himself  and  his  masters 
in  a  hopeless  maze  of  suspicion,  and  make  a  pacific  result 
impossible. 

At  length,  it  having  been  agreed  to  refer  the  matter  to 
the  States-General,  Recorder  Aerssens  waited  upon  Neyen 
to  demand  his  credentials  for  negotiation.  He  replied  that 
he  had  been  forbidden  to  deliver  his  papers,  but  that  he  was 
willing  to  exhibit  them  to  the  States-General. 

He  came  accordingly  to  that  assembly,  and  was  respect 
fully  received.  All  the  deputies  rose,  and  he  was  placed  in  a 
seat  near  the  presiding  officer.  Olden- Barne veld  then  in 
a  few  words  told  him  why  he  had  been  summoned.  The 
monk  begged  that  a  want  of  courtesy  might  not  be  imputed 
to  him,  as  he  had  been  sent  to  negotiate  with  three  indi 
viduals,  not  with  a  great  assembly. 

45  Gallucci.  317,  et  seqq.,  who  wrote  from  the  original  letters  and  journals 
of  Neyen,  Spinola,  and  many  others. 

VOL.  IV. — X 


306  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVI 

Thus  already  the  troublesome  effect  of  publicity  upon 
diplomacy  was  manifesting  itself.  The  many-headed,  many- 
tongued  republic  was  a  difficult  creature  to  manage,  adroit 
as  the  negotiator  had  proved  himself  to  be  in  gliding  through 
the  cabinets  and  council-chambers  of  princes  and  dealing 
with  the  important  personages  found  there. 

The  power  was,  however,  produced,  and  handed  around  the 
assembly,  the  signature  and  seals  being  duly  inspected  by 
the  members.  Neyen  was  then  asked  if  he  had  anything  to 
say  in  public.  He  replied  in  the  negative,  adding  only  a  few 
vague  commonplaces  about  the  effusion  of  blood  and  the 
desire  of  the  archdukes  for  the  good  of  mankind.  He  was 
then  dismissed. 

A  few  days  afterwards  a  committee  of  five  from  the  States- 
General,  of  which  Barneveld  was  chairman,  conferred  with 
Neyen.  He  was  informed  that  the  paper  exhibited  by  him 
was  in  many  respects  objectionable,  and  that  they  had  there 
fore  drawn  up  a  form  which  he  was  requested  to  lay  before 
the  archdukes  for  their  guidance  in  making  out  a  new  power. 
He  was  asked  also  whether  the  king  of  Spain  was  a  party  to 
these  proposals  for  negotiation.  The  monk  answered  that  he 
was  not  informed  of  the  fact,  but  that  he  considered  it  highly 
probable.46 

John  Neyen  then  departed  for  Brussels  with  the  form  pre 
scribed  by  the  States-General  in  his  pocket.  Nothing  could 
exceed  the  indignation  with  which  the  royalists  and  Catholics 
at  the  court  of  the  archdukes  were  inspired  by  the  extreme 
arrogance  and  obstinacy  thus  manifested  by  the  rebellious 
heretics.  That  the  offer  on  the  part  of  their  master  to  negotiate 
should  be  received  by  them  with  cavils,  and  almost  with  con 
tempt,  was  as  great  an  offence  as  their  original  revolt.  That 
the  servant  should  dare  to  prescribe  a  form  for  the  sovereign 
to  copy  seemed  to  prove  that  the  world  was  coming  to  an 
end.  But  it  was  ever  thus  with  the  vulgar,  said  the  cour 
tiers  and  church  dignitaries,  debating  these  matters.  The 
insanity  of  plebejaijs  was  always  enormous,  and  never  more  so 

**  Cfallucci,  ubi  sup. 


1607. 


NEYEN'S  RETURN  TO  BRUSSELS. 


307 


than  when  fortune  for  a  moment  smiled.47  Full  of  arrogance 
and  temerity  when  affairs  were  prosperous,  plunged  in  abject 
cowardice  when  dangers  and  reverses  came— such  was  the 
People— such  it  must  ever  be. 

Thus  blustered  the  priests  and  the  parasites  surrounding 
the  archduke,  nor  need  their  sentiments  amaze  us.  Could 
those  honest  priests  and  parasites  have  ever  dreamed,  before 
the  birth  of  this  upstart  republic,  that  merchants,  manufac 
turers,  and  farmers,  mechanics  and  advocates — the  People,  in 
short— should  presume  to  meddle  with  affairs  of  state  ?  Their 
vocation  had  been  long  ago  prescribed — to  dig  and  to  draw, 
to  brew  and  to  bake,  to  bear  burdens  in  peace  and  to  fill 
bloody  graves  in  war — what  better  lot  could  they  desire  ? 
Meantime  their  superiors,  especially  endowed  with  wisdom 
by  the  Omnipotent,  would  direct  trade  and  commerce,  con 
duct  war  and  diplomacy,  make  treaties,  impose  taxes,  fill 
their  own  pockets,  and  govern  the  universe.  Was  not  this 
reasonable  and  according  to  the  elemental  laws  ?  If  the 
beasts  of  the  field  had  been  suddenly  gifted  with  speech, 
and  had  constituted  themselves  into  a  free  commonwealth  for 
the  management  of  public  affairs,  they  would  hardly  have 
caused  more  profound  astonishment  at  Brussels  and  Madrid 
than  had  been  excited  by  the  proceedings  of  the  rebellious 
Dutchmen. 

Yet  it  surely  might  have  been  suggested,  when  the  lament 
of  the  courtiers  over  the  abjectness  of  the  People  in  adversity 
was  so  emphatic,  that  Dorp  and  Van  Loon,  Berendrecht  and 
Gieselles,  with  the  men  under  their  command,  who  had  dis 
puted  every  inch  of  Little  Troy  for  three  years  and  three 
months,  and  had  covered  those  fatal  sands  with  a  hundred 
thousand  corpses,  had  not  been  giving  of  late  such  evidence 
of  the  People's  cowardice  in  reverses  as  theory  required. 
The  siege  of  Os tend  had  been  finished  only  three  years 


47  "Sempre  son  grand!  le  insanie 
del  volgo  ma  piu  allora  che  gli  arride 
1'  aura  festigiante  della  fortuna.  Pieno 
d'arroganza  e  di  temerita  nelle  cose 


proprie,  tutto  abjettione  e  vilta  all* 
incontro  poi  nelle  awerse."— Benti- 
voglio,  P.  iii.  554. 


308 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLVl 


before,  and  it  is  strange  that  its  lessons  should  so  soon  have 
been  forgotten. 

It  was  thought  best,  however,  to  dissemble.  Diplomacy  in 
those  days — certainly  the  diplomacy  of  Spain  and  Rome — 
meant  simply  dissimulation.  Moreover,  that  solid  apothegm, 
hcereticis  non  servanda  fides,  the  most  serviceable  anchor  ever 
forged  for  true  believers,  was  always  ready  to  be  thrown  out, 
should  storm  or  quicksand  threaten,  during  the  intricate 
voyage  to  be  now  undertaken. 

John  Neyen  soon  returned  to  the  Hague,  having  persuaded 
his  masters  that  it  was  best  to  affect  compliance  with  the  pre 
liminary  demand  of  the  States.  During  the  discussions  in 
regard  to  peace,  it  would  not  be  dangerous  to  treat  with  the 
rebel  provinces  as  with  free  states,  over  which  the  archdukes 
pretended  to  no  authority,  because — so  it  was  secretly  argued 
— this  was  to  be  understood  with  a  sense  of  similitude.  "We 
will  negotiate  with  them  as  if  they  were  free,"  said  the  grey- 
friar  to  the  archduke  and  his  counsellors,  "  but  not  with  the 
signification  of  true  and  legitimate  liberty.  They  have  laid 
down  in  their  formula  that  we  are  to  pretend  to  no  authority 
over  them.  Very  well.  For  the  time  being  we  will  pretend 
that  we  do  not  pretend  to  any  such  authority.  To  negotiate 
with  them  as  if  they  were  free  will  not  make  them  free.  It 
is  no  recognition  by  us  that  they  are  free.  Their  liberty 
could  never  be  acquired  by  their  rebellion.48  This  is  so  mani 
fest  that  neither  the  king  nor  the  archdukes  can  lose  any  of 
their  rights  over  the  United  Provinces,  even  should  they  make 
this  declaration/'49 

Thus  the  hair-splitters  at  Brussels — spinning  a  web  that 
should  be  stout  enough  to  entrap  the  noisy,  blundering  re 
publicans  at  the  Hague,  yet  so  delicate  as  to  go  through  the 
finest  dialectical  needle.  Time  was  to  show  whether  sub  til  ty 
or  bluntness  was  the  best  diplomatic  material. 

The  monk  brought  with  him  three  separate  instruments  or 


48  "  Cio  si  sarebbe  dovuto  sempre  in 
tendere  con  senso  di  similitudine  cid  e 
come  se  fossero  libere  e  non  con  sig 


nificazione  di  vera  e  legitima  liberta/ 
— Bentivoglio,  III.  552. 
49  Ibid. 


1607.  SPANISH  DISSIMULATION.  309 

powers,  to  be  used  according  to  his  discretion.  Admitted  to 
the  assembly  of  the  States-General,  he  produced  number  one. 
It  was  instantly  rejected.  He  then  offered  number  two,  with 
the  same  result.  He  now  declared  himself  offended,  not  on 
his  own  account,  but  for  the  sake  of  his  masters,  and  asked 
leave  to  retire  from  the  assembly,  leaving  with  them  the 
papers  which  had  been  so  benignantly  drawn  up,  and  which 
deserved  to  be  more  carefully  studied.50 

The  States,  on  their  parts,  were  sincerely  and  vehemently 
indignant.  What  did  all  this  mean,  it  was  demanded,  this 
producing  one  set  of  propositions  after  another  ?  Why  did 
the  archdukes  not  declare  their  intentions  openly  and  at 
once  ?  Let  the  States  depart  each  to  the  several  provinces, 
and  let  John  Neyen  be  instantly  sent  out  of  the  country.  Was 
it  thought  to  bait  a  trap  for  the  ingenuous  Netherlander,  and 
catch  them  little  by  little,  like  so  many  wild  animals  ?  This 
was  not  the  way  the  States  dealt  with  the  archdukes.  What 
they  meant  they  put  in  front — first,  last,  and  always.  Now 
and  in  the  future  they  said  and  they  would  say  exactly  what 
they  wished,  candidly  and  seriously.  Those  who  pursued  an 
other  course  would  never  come  into  negotiation  with  them.51 

The  monk  felt  that  he  had  excited  a  wrath  which  it  would 
be  difficult  to  assuage.  He  already  perceived  the  difference 
between  a  real  and  an  affected  indignation,  and  tried  to  devise 
some  soothing  remedy.  Early  next  morning  he  sent  a  petition 
in  writing  to  the  States  for  leave  to  make  an  explanation  to 
the  assembly.  Barneveld  and  Recorder  Aerssens,  in  conse 
quence,  came  to  him  immediately,  and  heaped  invectives  upon 
his  head  for  his  duplicity.52 

Evidently  it  was  a  different. matter  dealing  with  this  many- 
headed  roaring  beast,  calling  itself  a  republic,  from  managing 
the  supple  politicians  with  whom  he  was  more  familiar.  The 
noise  and  publicity  of  these  transactions  were  already  somewhat 
appalling  to  the  smooth  friar  who  was  accustomed  to  negotiate 
in  comfortable  secrecy.  He  now  vehemently  protested  that 

60  Gallucci,  318-325,  from  Neyen's  Letters  and  Journals. 

61  Ibid.  «  Ibid. 

VOL.  II— 10* 


310  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVI. 

never  man  was  more  sincere  than  he,  and  implored  for  time 
to  send  to  Brussels  for  another  power.  It  is  true  that  num 
ber  three  was  still  in  his  portfolio,  but  he  had  seen  so  much 
indignation  on  the  production  of  number  two  as  to  feel  sure 
that  the  fury  of  the  States  would  know  no  bounds  should  he 
now  confess  that  he  had  come  provided  with  a  third. 

It  was  agreed  accordingly  to  wait  eight  days,  in  which 
period  he  might  send  for  and  receive  the  new  power  already 
in  his  possession.  These  little  tricks  were  considered  masterly 
diplomacy  in  those  days,  and  by  this  kind  of  negotiators  ; 
and  such  was  the  way  in  which  it  was  proposed  to  terminate 
a  half  century  of  warfare.53  The  friar  wrote  to  his  masters, 
not  of  course  to  ask  for  a  new  power,  but  to  dilate  on  the 
difficulties  to  be  anticipated  in  procuring  that  which  the  losing 
party  is  always  most  bent  upon  in  circumstances  like  these, 
and  which  was  most  ardently  desired  by  the  archdukes — an 
armistice.  He  described  Prince  Maurice  as  sternly  opposed 
to  such  a  measure,  believing  that  temporary  cessation  of  hos 
tilities  was  apt  to  be  attended  with  mischievous  familiarity 
between  the  opposing  camps,  with  relaxation  of  discipline, 
desertion,  and  various  kinds  of  treachery,  and  that  there  was 
no  better  path  to  peace  than  that  which  was  trampled  by  con 
tending  hosts. 

Seven  days  passed,  and  then  Neyen  informed  the  States  that 
he  had  at  last  received  a  power  which  he  hoped  would  prove 
satisfactory.  Being  admitted  accordingly  to  the  assembly,  he 
delivered  an  eloquent  eulogy  upon  the  sincerity  of  the  arch 
dukes,  who,  with  perhaps  too  little  regard  for  their  own  dignity 
and  authority,  had  thus,  for  the  sake  of  the  public  good,  so 
benignantly  conceded  what  the.  States  had  demanded. 

Barneveld,  on  receiving  the  new  power,  handed  to  Neyen  a 
draught  of  an  agreement  which  he  was  to  study  at  his  leisure, 
and  in  which  he  might  suggest  alterations.  At  the  same  time 
it  was  demanded  that  within  three  months  the  written  consent 
of  the  King  of  Spain  to  the  proposed  negotiations  should  be 

53  The  narrative  is  the  monk's  own,  as  preserved  by  his  admirer,  the  Jesuit 
Gallucci,  (ubi  sup.) 


1607.  CONSENT  OF  PHILIP  NECESSARY.  3H 

produced.  The  Franciscan  objected  that  it  did  not  comport 
with  the  dignity  of  the  archdukes  to  suppose  the  consent  of 
any  other  sovereign  needful  to  confirm  their  acts.  Barne- 
veld  insisted  with  much  vehemence  on  the  necessity  of  this 
condition.  It  was  perfectly  notorious,  he  said,  that  the 
armies  commanded  by  the  archdukes  were  subject  to  the 
King  of  Spain,  and  were  called  royal  armies.  Prince  Maurice 
observed  that  all  prisoners  taken  by  him  had  uniformly 
called  themselves  soldiers  of  the  Crown,  not  of  the  archdukes, 
nor  of  Marquis  Spinola.54 

Barneveld  added  that  the  royal  power  over  the  armies  in 
the  Netherlands  and  over  the  obedient  provinces  was  proved 
by  the  fact  that  all  commanders  of  regiments,  all  governors  of 
fortresses,  especially  of  Antwerp,  Ghent,  Cambray,  and  the 
like,  were  appointed  by  the  King  of  Spain.  These  were  royal 
citadels,  with  royal  garrisons.  That  without  the  knowledge 
and  consent  of  the  King  of  Spain  it  would  be  impossible  to 
declare  the  people  of  the  United  Provinces  free,  was  obvious  ; 
for  in  the  cession  by  Philip  II.  of  all  the  Netherlands  it  was 
provided  that,  without  the  consent  of  the  king,  no  part  of  that 
territory  could  be  ceded,  and  this  on  pain  of  forfeiting  all  the 
sovereignty.  To  treat  without  the  king  was  therefore  im 
possible. 

The  Franciscan  denied  that  because  the  sovereigns  of  Spain 
sent  funds  and  auxiliary  troops  to  Flanders,  and  appointed 
military  commanders  there  of  various  degrees,  the  authority 
of  the  archdukes  was  any  the  less  supreme.  Philip  II.  had 
$ent  funds  and  troops  to  sustain  the  League,  but  he  was  not 
J£ing  of  France. 

Barneveld  probably  thought  it  not  worth  his  while  to  reply 
that  Philip,  with  those  funds  and  those  troops,  had  done  his 
best  to  become  King  of  France,  and  that  his  failure  proved 
nothing  for  the  argument  either  way. 

Neyen  then  returned  once  more  to  Brussels,  observing  as 
he  took  leave  that  the  decision  of  the  archdukes  as  to  the 
king's  consent  was  very  doubtful,  although  he  was  sure  that 
H  Gallucci,  ubi  wp. 


312  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVI. 

the  best  thing  for  all  parties  would  be  to  agree  to  an  armistice 
out  of  hand. 

This,  however,  was  far  from  being  the  opinion  of  the  States 
or  the  stadholder. 

After  conferring  with  his  masters,  the  monk  came  down  by 
agreement  from  Antwerp  to  the  Dutch  ships  which  lay  in  the 
Scheld  before  Fort  Lillo.  On  board  one  of  these,  Dirk  van 
der  Does  had  been  stationed  with  a  special  commission  from 
the  States  to  compare  documents.  It  was  expressly  ordered 
that  in  these  preliminary  negotiations  neither  party  was  to  go 
on  shore.55  On  a  comparison  of  the  agreement  brought  by 
Neyen  from  Brussels  with  the  draught  furnished  by  Barne- 
veld,  of  which  Van  der  Does  had  a  copy,  so  many  discrepan 
cies  appeared  that  the  document  of  the  archdukes  was  at  once 
rejected.  But  of  course  the  monk  had  a  number  two,  and 
this,  after  some  trouble,  was  made  to  agree  with  the  pre 
scribed  form.  Brother  John  then,  acting  upon  what  he 
considered  the  soundest  of  principles — that  no  job  was  so  diffi 
cult  as  not  to  be  accomplished  with  the  help  of  the  precious 
metals — offered  his  fellow  negotiator  a  valuable  gold  chain  as 
a  present  from  the  archdukes.56  Dirk  van  der  Does  accepted 
the  chain,  but  gave  notice  of  the  fact  to  his  Government. 

The  monk  now  became  urgent  to  accompany  his  friend  to 
the  Hague,  but  this  had  been  expressly  forbidden  by  the  States. 
Neyen  felt  sure,  he  said,  of  being  able  by  arguments,  which  he 
could  present  by  word  of  mouth,  to  overcome  the  opposition 
to  the  armistice  were  he  once  more  to  be  admitted  to  the 
assembly.  Van  der  Does  had  already  much  overstaid  his 
appointed  time,  bound  to  the  spot,  as  it  were,  by  the  golden 
chain  thrown  around  him  by  the  excellent  friar,57  and  he  now, 
in  violation  of  orders,  wrote  to  the  Hague  for  leave  to  comply 
with  this  request.  Pending  the  answer,  the  persuasive  Neyen 
convinced  him,  much  against  his  will,  that  they  might  both 
go  together  as  far  as  Delft.  To  Delft  they  accordingly  went ; 


Gallucci,  322. 
*6  "  Optime  quippe  norant  negotium 


Wagenaar,  ix.  249. 
57  "  Quasi  valde  tenaciter  aurea  ilia 


nullum  ease  tarn  arduum  quod  auri   catena  Neyo   devinctus,"  —  Gallucci, 
ope  non  conficiatur." — Ibid.    Compare  333, 


1607. 


NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  AN  ARMISTICE. 


313 


but,  within  half  a  league  of  that  place,  met  a  courier  with  strict 
orders  that  the  monk  was  at  once  to  return  to  Brussels.  Brother 
John  was  in  great  agitation.  Should  he  go  back,  the  whole 
negotiation  might  come  to  nought ;  should  he  go  on,  he  might 
be  clapped  into  prison  as  a  spy.  Being  conscious,  however, 
that  his  services  as  a  spy  were  intended  to  be  the  most 
valuable  part  of  his  mission,  he  resolved  to  proceed  in  that 
capacity. 8  So  he  persuaded  his  friend  Dirk  to  hide  him  in 
the  hold  of  a  canal-boat.  Van  der  Does  was  in  great  trepi 
dation  himself,  but  on  reaching  the  Hague  and  giving  up  his 
gold  chain  to  Barneveld,  he  made  his  peace,  and  obtained 
leave  for  the  trembling  but  audacious  friar  to  come  out  of  his 
hiding-place. 

Appearing  once  more  before  the  States-General  on  the 
afternoon  of  7th  May,59  Neyen  urged  with  much  eloquence 
the  propriety  of  an  immediate  armistice  both  by  sea  and 
land,  insisting  that  it  would  be  a  sanguinary  farce  to  establish 
a  cessation  of  hostilities  upon  one  element  while  blood  and 
treasure  were  profusely  flowing  on  the  ocean.60  There  were 
potent  reasons  for  this  earnestness  on  the  part  of  the  monk  to 
procure  a  truce  to  maritime  operations,  as  very  soon  was  to  be 
made  evident  to  the  world.  Meantime,  on  this  renewed  visit, 
the  negotiator  expressed  himself  as  no  longer  doubtful  in 
regard  to  the  propriety  of  requesting  the  Spanish  king's  con 
sent  to  the  proposed  negotiations.  That  consent,  however, 
would  in  his  opinion  depend  upon  the  earnestness  now  to  be 
manifested  by  the  States  in  establishing  the  armistice  by  sea 
and  land,  and  upon  their  promptness  in  recalling  the  fleets 
now  infesting  the  coast  of  Spain.  No  immediate  answer  was 
given  to  these  representations,  but  Neyen  was  requested  to 
draw  up  his  argument  in  writing,  in  order  that  it  might  be 
duly  pondered  by  the  States  of  the  separate  provinces. 

The  radical  defect  of  the  Dutch  constitution — the  indepen 
dent  sovereignty  claimed  by  each  one  of  the  provinces 


58  "  Op  dat  hy  den  staat  der  verein- 
igden  Landen  van  naby  doorsnuffelen 
zou  en  heimelyk  arbeiden  tot  bevor- 
dering  van  den  handel." — Wagenaar, 


ix.  249.     Cf.  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  12. 

59  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  119. 

60  Gallucci,  324.      Van  der 
iii.  118.    Grotius,  xvi.  745. 


314  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XLVt 

composing  the  confederation,  each  of  those  provinces  on  its 
part  being  composed  of  cities,  each  again  claiming  something 
very  like  sovereignty  for  itself — could  not  fail  to  be  mani 
fested  whenever  great  negotiations  with  foreign  powers  were 
to  be  undertaken.  To  obtain  the  unanimous  consent  of  seven 
independent  little  republics  was  a  work  of  difficulty,  requiring 
immense  expenditure  of  time  in  comparatively  unimportant 
contingencies.  How  intolerable  might  become  the  obstruc 
tions,  the  dissensions,  and  the  delays,  now  that  a  series  of 
momentous  and  world-wide  transactions  was  beginning,  on 
the  issue  of  which  the  admission  of  a  new  commonwealth 
into  the  family  of  nations,  the  international  connections  of  all 
the  great  powers  of  Christendom,  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
and  the  peace  of  Europe  depended. 

Yet  there  was  no  help  for  it  but  to  make  the  best  present  use 
of  the  institutions  which  time  and  great  events  had  bestowed 
upon  the  young  republic,  leaving  to  a  more  convenient  season 
the  task  of  remodelling  the  law.  Meanwhile,  with  men  who 
knew  their  own  minds,  who  meant  to  speak  the  truth,  and 
who  were  resolved  to  gather  in  at  last  the  harvest  honestly  and 
bravely  gained  by  nearly  a  half-century  of  hard  fighting,  it 
would  be  hard  for  a  legion  of  friars,  with  their  heads  full  of 
quirks  and  their  wallets  full  of  bills  of  exchange,  to  carry  the 
day  for  despotism. 

Barneveld  was  sincerely  desirous  of  peace.  He  was  well 
aware  that  his  province  of  Holland,  where  he  was  an  intel 
lectual  autocrat,  was  staggering  under  the  burden  of  one  half 
the  expenses  of  the  whole  republic.  He  knew  that  Holland  in 
the  course  of  the  last  nine  years,  notwithstanding  the  con 
stantly  heightened  rate  of  impost  on  all  objects  of  ordinary 
consumption,  was  twenty-six  millions  of  florins  behindhand, 
and  that  she  had  reason  therefore  to  wish  for  peace.61  The 
great  Advocate,  than  whom  no  statesman  in  Europe  could 
more  accurately  scan  the  world's  horizon,  was  convinced  that 
the  propitious  moment  for  honourable  straightforward  nego- 

41  Remonstr.  van  Olden-Barneveld  in  Leven  van  Olden-Barneveld,  bl.  15Z 
Wagenaar,  ix.  241. 


1607.  PROGRESS  OF  THE  NEGOTIATIONS. 

tiations  to  secure  peace,  independence,  and  free  commerce, 
free  religion  and  free  government,  had  come,  and  he  had 
succeeded  in  winning  the  reluctant  Maurice  into  a  partial 
adoption,  at  least,  of  his  opinions.62 

The  Franciscan  remained  at  Delft,  waiting,  by  direction  of 
the  States,  for  an  answer  to  his  propositions,  and  doing  his 
best  according  to  the  instructions  of  his  own  Government  to 
espy  the  condition  and  sentiments  of  the  enemy.  Becoming 
anxious  after  the  lapse  of  a  fortnight,  he  wrote  to  Barneveld, 
In  reply  the  Advocate  twice  sent  a  secret  messenger,  urging 
him  to  be  patient,  assuring  him  that  the  affair  ,was  working 
well;  that  the  opposition  to  peace  came  chiefly  from  Zeeland 
and  from  certain  parties  in  Amsterdam  vehemently  opposed  to 
peace  or  truce  ;  .but  that  the  rest  of  Holland  was  decidedly  in 
favour  of  the  negotiations.63 

A  few  days  passed,  and  Neyen  was  again  summoned  before 
the  assembly.  Barneveld  now  informed  him  that  the  Dutch 
fleet  would  be  recalled  from  the  coast  of  Spain  so  soon  as  the 
consent  of  his  Catholic  Majesty  to  the  negotiations  arrived, 
but  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  confine  the  cessation  of  naval 
warfare  within  certain  local  limits.  Both  these  conditions  were 
strenuously  opposed  by  the  Franciscan,  who  urged  that  the 
consent  of  the  Spanish  king  was  certain,  but  that  this  new 
proposition  to  localize  the  maritime  armistice  would  prove  to 
be  fraught  with  endless  difficulties  and  dangers..  Barneveld 
and  the  States  remaining  firm,  however,  and  giving  him  a 
formal  communication  of  their  decision  in  writing,  Neyen  had 
nothing  for  it  but  to  wend  his  way  back  rather  malcontent  to 
Brussels. 

It  needed  but  a  brief  deliberation  at  the  court  of  the  arch 
dukes  to  bring  about  the  desired  arrangement.  The  desire 
for  an  armistice,  especially  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities  by  sea, 
had  been  marvellously  stimulated  by  an  event  to  be  narrated 
in  the  next  chapter.  Meantime,  more  than  the  first  three 
months  of  the  year  had  been  passed  in  these  secret  prelimi 
nary  transactions,  and  so  softly  had  the  stealthy  friar  sped  to 

68  Wagenaar,  ix.  241.     Grotius,  xviii.  w  Gallucci,  326,  327. 


316  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVL 

and  fro  between  Brussels  and  the  Hague,  that  when  at  last  the 
armistice  was  announced  it  broke  forth  like  a  sudden  flash  of 
fine  weather  in  the  midst  of  a  raging  storm.  No  one  at  the 
archduke's  court  knew  of  the  mysterious  negotiations  save 
the  monk  himself,  Spinola,  Kichardot;  Verreycken,  the  chief 
auditor,  and  one  or  two  others.04  The  great  Belgian  nobles, 
from  whom  everything  had  been  concealed,  were  very  wroth, 
but  the  Belgian  public  was  as  much  delighted  as  amazed  at 
the  prospects  of  peace.  In  the  United  Provinces  opinions 
were  conflicting,  but  doubtless  joy  and  confidence  were  the 
prevailing  emotions. 

Towards  the  middle  of  April  the  armistice  was  publicly 
announced.  It  was  to  last  for  eight  months  from  the  4th  of 
May.  During  this  period  no  citadels  were  to  be  besieged,  no 
camps  brought  near  a  city,  no  new  fortifications  built,  and  all 
troops  were  to  be  kept  carefully  within  walls.  Meantime  com 
missioners  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  archdukes  to  confer 
with  an  equal  number  of  deputies  of  the  United  Provinces  for 
peace  or  for  a  truce  of  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty  years,  on  the 
express  ground  that  the  archdukes  regarded  the  United  Pro 
vinces  as  free  countries,  over  which  their  Highnesses  pretended 
to  no  authority.65 

The  armistice  on  land  was  absolute.  On  sea,  hostilities 
were  to  cease  in  the  German  Ocean  and  in  the  channel  between 
England  and  France,  while  it  was  also  provided  that  the 
Netherland  fleet  should,  within  a  certain  period,  be  recalled 
from  the  Spanish  coast. 

A  day  of  public  fast,  humiliation,  thanksgiving,  and  prayer 
was  ordered  throughout  the  republic  for  the  9th  of  May,  in 
order  to  propitiate  the  favour  of  Heaven  on  the  great  work  to 
be  undertaken  ;  and,  as  a  further  precaution,  Prince  Maurice 
ordered  all  garrisons  in  the  strong  places  to  be  doubled,  lest 
the  slippery  enemy  should  take  advantage  of  too  much  confi 
dence  reposed  in  his  good  faith.  The  preachers  throughout 
the  commonwealth,  each  according  to  his  individual  bias, 

44  Meteren,  551™.     Gallucci,  325. 

**  Meters,  55J,    flallucci,  336,   Grotius,  xvi.  738,  Wagenaar,  ix.  350,  et  seq. 


1607.  COMPLETION  OF  AN  ARMISTICE. 

improved  the  occasion  by  denouncing  the  Spaniard  from  their 
pulpits  and  inflaming  the  popular  hatred  against  the  ancient 
enemy,  or  by  dilating  on  the  blessings  of  peace  and  the 
horrors  of  war.66  The  peace  party  and  the  war  party,  the  be 
lievers  in  Barneveld  and  the  especial  adherents  of  Prince 
Maurice,  seemed  to  divide  the  land  in  nearly  equal  portions. 

While  the  Netherlands,  both  rebellious  and  obedient,  were 
filled  with  these  various  emotions,  the  other  countries  of 
Europe  were  profoundly  amazed  at  the  sudden  revelation.  It 
was  on  the  whole  regarded  as  a  confession  of  impotence  on  the 
part  of  Spain  that  the  archdukes  should  now  prepare  to  send 
envoys  to  the  revolted  provinces  as  to  a  free  and  independent 
people.  Universal  monarchy,  brought  to  such  a  pass  as  this, 
was  hardly  what  had  been  expected  after  the  tremendous  de 
signs  and  the  grandiloquent  language  on  which  the  world  had 
so  long  been  feeding  as  its  daily  bread.  The  spectacle  of 
anointed  monarchs  thus  far  humbling  themselves  to  the 
people — of  rebellion  dictating  terms,  instead  of  writhing  in 
dust  at  the  foot  of  the  throne — was  something  new  in  history. 
The  heavens  and  earth  might  soon  be  expected  to  pass  away, 
now  that  such  a  catastrophe  was  occurring. 

The  King  of  France  had  also  been  kept  in  ignorance  of 
these  events.  It  was  impossible,  however,  that  the  negotia 
tions  could  go  forward  without  his  consent  and  formal  partici 
pation.  Accordingly  on  receiving  the  news  he  appointed  an 
especial  mission  to  the  Hague — President  Jeannin  and  De 
Hussy,  besides  his  regular  resident  ambassador  Buzanval. 
Meantime  startling  news  reached  the  republic  in  the  earlj 
days  of  May. 

*  Wagenaar,  ix.  251. 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 

A  Dutch  fleet  under  Heemskerk  sent  to  the  coast  of  Spain  and  Portugal  — 
Encounter  with  the  Spanish  war-fleet  under  D'Avila —  Death  of  both 
commanders-in-chief — Victory  of  the  Netherlanders  —  Massacre  of  the 
Spaniards. 

THE  States-General  had  not  been  inclined  to  be  tranquil 
under  the  check  which  Admiral  Haultain  had  received  upon 
the  coast  of  Spain  in  the  autumn  of  1606.  The  deed  of  ter 
rible  self-devotion  by  which  Klaaszoon  and  his  comrades  had 
in  that  crisis  saved  the  reputation  of  the  republic,  had  proved 
that  her  fleets  needed  only  skilful  handling  and  determined 
leaders  to  conquer  their  enemy  in  the  Western  seas  as  certainly 
as  they  had  done  in  the  archipelagos  of  the  East.  And  there 
was  one  pre-eminent  naval  commander,  still  in  the  very  prime 
of  life,  but  seasoned  by  an  experience  at  the  poles  and  in  the 
tropics  such  as  few  mariners  in  that  early  but  expanding 
maritime  epoch  could  boast.  Jacob  van  Heemskerk,  unlike 
many  of  the  navigators  and  ocean  warriors  who  had  made  and 
were  destined  to  make  the  Orange  flag  of  the  United  Pro 
vinces  illustrious  over  the  world,  was  not  of  humble  parentage. 
Sprung  of  an  ancient,  knightly  race,  which  had  frequently 
distinguished  itself  in  his  native  province  of  Holland,  he  had 
followed  the  seas  almost  from  his  cradle.  By  turns  a  com 
mercial  voyager,  an  explorer,  a  privateer's-man,  or  an  admiral 
of  war-fleets,  in  days  when  sharp  distinctions  between  the 
merchant  service  and  the  public  service,  corsairs'  work  and 
cruisers'  work,  did  not  exist,  he  had  ever  proved  himself  equal 
to  any  emergency — a  man  incapable  of  fatigue,  of  perplexity, 
or  of  fear.  We  have  followed  his  career  during  that  awful 
winter  in  Nova  Zembla,  where,  with  such  unflinching  cheer 
ful  heroism,  he  sustained  the  courage  of  his  comrades — the 


1607. 


JACOB  VAN  HEEMSKERK. 


319 


first  band  of  scientific  martyrs  that  had  ever  braved  the  dan 
gers  and  demanded  the  secrets  of  those  arctic  regions.  His 
glorious  name — as  those  of  so  many  of  his  comrades  and 
countrymen — has  been  rudely  torn  from  cape,  promontory, 
island,  and  continent,  once  illustrated  by  courage  and  suffer 
ing,  but  the  noble  record  will  ever  remain.1 
;  Subsequently  he  had  much  navigated  the  Indian  ocean;  his 
latest  achievement  having  been,  with  two  hundred  men,  in  a 
couple  of  yachts,  to  capture  an  immense  Portuguese  carrack, 
mounting  thirty  guns,  and  manned  with  eight  hundred 
sailors,  and  to  bring  back  a  prodigious  booty  for  the  exchequer 
of  the  republic.  A  man  with  delicate  features,  large  brown 
eyes,  a  thin  high  nose,  fair  hair  and  beard,  and  a  soft,  gentle 
expression,  he  concealed,  under  a  quiet  exterior,  and  on  ordi 
nary  occasions  a  very  plain  and  pacific  costume,  a  most  daring 
nature,  and  an  indomitable  ambition  for  military  and  naval 
distinction. 

He  was  the  man  of  all  others  in  the  commonwealth  to  lead 
any  new  enterprise  that  audacity  could  conceive  against  the 
hereditary  enemy. 

The  public  and  the  States-General  were  anxious  to  retrace 
the  track  of  Haul  tain,  and  to  efface  the  memory  of  his  inglori 
ous  return  from  the  Spanish  coast.  The  sailors  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland  were  indignant  that  the  richly  freighted  fleets  of 
the  two  Indies  had  been  allowed  to  slip  so  easily  through  their 
fingers.  The  great  East  India  Corporation  was  importunate 
with  Government  that  such  blunders  should  not  be  repeated, 
and  that  the  armaments  known  to  be  preparing  in  the  Portu 
guese  ports,  the  homeward-bound  fleets  that  might  be  looked 
for  at  any  moment  off  the  peninsular  coast,  and  the  Spanish 
cruisers  which  were  again  preparing  to  molest  the  merchant 
fleets  of  the  Company,  should  be  dealt  with  effectively  and  in 
season. 

Twenty-six  vessels  of  small  size  but  of  good  sailing  qualities, 


1  For  a  full  and  learned  dissertation 
on  the  causes  of  the  oblivion  into 
which  the  early  Dutch  voyages  have 


fallen  see  in  particular  Sennet  and 
Van  Wyk,  111 ;  Hoofdstuk,  156,  et  seq. 


320  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XLVIL 

according  to  the  idea  of  the  epoch,  were  provided,  together 
with  four  tenders.  Of  this  fleet  the  command  was  offered  to 
Jacob  van  Heemskerk.  He  accepted  with  alacrity,  express 
ing  with  his  usual  quiet  self-confidence  the  hope  that,  living 
or  dead,  his  fatherland  would  have  cause  to  thank  him.  In 
spired  only  by  the  love  of  glory,  he  asked  for  no  remuneration 
for  his  services  save  thirteen  per  cent,  of  the  booty,  after  half  a 
million  florins  should  have  been  paid  into  the  public  treasury. 
It  was  hardly  probable  that  this  would  prove  a  large  share  of 
prize  money,  while  considerable  victories  alone  could  entitle 
him  to  receive  a  stiver. 

The  expedition  sailed  in  the  early  days  of  April  for  the  coast 
of  Spain  and  Portugal,  the  admiral  having  full  discretion  to 
do  anything  that  might  in  his  judgment  redound  to  the  advan 
tage  of  the  republic.  Next  in  command  was  the  vice-admiral 
of  Zeeland,  Laurenz  Alteras.  Another  famous  seaman  in 
the  fleet  was  Captain  Henry  Janszoon  of  Amsterdam,  com 
monly  called  Long  Harry,  while  the  weather-beaten  and 
well-beloved  Admiral  Lambert,  familiarly  styled  by  his 
countrymen  "  Pretty  Lambert,"  some  of  whose  achievements 
have  already  been  recorded  in  these  pages,  was  the  comrade 
of  all  others  upon  whom  Heemskerk  most  depended.2  After 
the  10th  April  the  admiral,  lying  off  and  on  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Tagus,  sent  a  lugger  in  trading  disguise  to  reconnoitre 
that  river.  He  ascertained  by  his  spies,  sent  in  this  and  sub 
sequently  in  other  directions,  as  well  as  by  occasional  mer 
chantmen  spoken  with  at  sea,  that  the  Portuguese  fleet  for 
India  would  not  be  ready  to  sail  for  many  weeks  ;  that  no 
valuable  argosies  were  yet  to  be  looked  for  from  America,  but 
that  a  great  war-fleet,  comprising  many  galleons  of  the  largest 
size,  was  at  that  very  moment  cruising  in  the  Straits  of  Gib 
raltar.  Such  of  the  Netherland  traders  as  were  returning 
from  the  Levant,  as  well  as  those  designing  to  enter  the 
Mediterranean,  were  likely  to  fall  prizes  to  this  formidable 
enemy.  The  heart  of  Jacob  Heemskerk  danced  for  joy.  He 
had  come  forth  for  glory,  not  for  booty,  and  here  was  what  he 

9  Wagenaar,  ix.  253. 


1607.  ENCOUNTER  WITH  THE  SPANISH  FLEET.  321 

had  scarcely  dared  to  hope  for — a  powerful  antagonist  instead 
of  peaceful,  scarcely  resisting,  but  richly-laden  merchantmen. 
The  accounts  received  were  so  accurate  as  to  assure  him  that 
the  Gibraltar  fleet  was  far  superior  to  his  own  in  size  of 
vessels,  weight  of  metal,  and  number  of  combatants.  The 
circumstances  only  increased  his  eagerness.  The  more  he 
was  over-matched,  the  greater  would  be  the  honour  of  victory, 
and  he  steered  for  the  straits,  tacking  to  and  fro  in  the  teeth 
of  a  strong  head-wind. 

On  the  morning  of  the  25th  April  he  was  in  the  narrowest 
part  of  the  mountain-channel,  and  learned  that  the 
whole  Spanish  fleet  was  in  the  Bay  of  Gibraltar. 
The  marble  pillar  of  Hercules  rose  before  him.  Heemskerk 
was  of  a  poetic  temperament,  and  his  imagination  was  inflamed 
by  the  spectacle  which  met  his  eyes.  Geographical  position, 
splendour  of  natural  scenery,  immortal  fable,  and  romantic 
history,  had  combined  to  throw  a  spell  over  that  region.  It 
seemed  marked  out  for  perpetual  illustration  by  human 
valour.  The  deeds  by  which,  many  generations  later,  those 
localities  were  to  become  identified  with  the  fame  of  a  splen 
did  empire — then  only  the  most  energetic  rival  of  the  young 
republic,  but  destined  under  infinitely  better  geographical 
conditions  to  follow  on  her  track  of  empire,  and  with  far  more 
prodigious  results — were  still  in  the  womb  of  futurity.  But 
St.  Vincent,  Trafalgar,  Gibraltar — words  which  were  one  day 
to  stir  the  English  heart,  and  to  conjure  heroic  English 
shapes  from  the  depths  so  long  as  history  endures — were 
capes  and  promontories  already  familiar  to  legend  and 
romance. 

Those  Netherlanders  had  come  forth  from  their  slender 
little  fatherland  to  offer  battle  at  last  within  his  own  harbours 
and  under  his  own  fortresses  to  the  despot  who  aspired  to 
universal  monarchy,  and  who  claimed  the  lordship  of  the  seas. 
The  Hollanders  and  Zeelanders  had  gained  victories  on  the 
German  Ocean,  in  the  Channel,  throughout  the  Indies,  but 
now  they  were  to  measure  strength  with  the  ancient  enemy 
in  this  most  conspicuous  theatre,  and  before  the  eyes  of 
VOL.  iv. — Y 


322  THE  UNITED   NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XLVII 

Christendom.  It  was  on  this  famous  spot  that  the  ancient 
demigod  had  torn  asunder  by  main  strength  the  continents 
of  Europe  and  Africa.  There  stood  the  opposite  fragments  of 
the  riven  mountain-chain,  Calpe  and  Abyla,  gazing  at  each 
other,  in  eternal  separation,  across  the  gulf,  emblems  of  those 
two  antagonistic  races  which  the  terrible  hand  of  Destiny  has 
so  ominously  disjoined.  Nine  centuries  before,  the  African 
king,  Moses  son  of  Nuzir,  and  his  lieutenant,  Tarik  son  of 
Abdallah,  had  crossed  that  strait  and  burned  the  ships  which 
brought  them.  Black  Africa  had  conquered  a  portion  of 
whiter  Europe,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  deadly  mutual 
repugnance  which  nine  hundred  years  of  bloodshed  had 
heightened  into  insanity  of  hatred.  Tarik  had  taken  the 
town  and  mountain,  Carteia  and  Calpe,  and  given  to  both 
his  own  name.  Gib-al-Tarik,  the  cliff  of  Tarik,  they  are 
called  to  this  day. 

Within  the  two  horns  of  that  beautiful  bay,  and  protected 
by  the  fortress  on  the  precipitous  rock,  lay  the  Spanish  fleet 
at  anchor.  There  were  ten  galleons  of  the  largest  size, 
besides  lesser  war-vessels  and  carracks,  in  all  twenty-one 
sail  The  admiral  commanding  was  Don  Juan  Alvarez 
d  A  vila,  a  veteran  who  had  fought  at  Lepanto  under  Don 
John  of  Austria.  His  son  was  captain  of  his  flag-ship,  the 
St.  Augustine.  The  vice-admirars  galleon  was  called  C0ur 
Lady  of  La  Vega/  the  rear-admiral's  was  the  ( Mother  of 
God/  and  all  the  other  ships  were  baptized  by  the  holy 
names  deemed  most  appropriate,  in  the  Spanish  service,  to 
deeds  of  carnage. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  nomenclature  of  the  Dutch  ships 
suggested  a  menagerie.  There  was  the  Tiger,  the  Sea  Dog, 
the  Griffin,  the  Bed  Lion,  the  Golden  Lion,  the  Black  Bear, 
the  White  Bear ;  these,  with  the  ^Eolus  and  the  Morning 
Star,  were  the  leading  vessels  of  the  little  fleet. 

On  first  attaining  a  distant  view  of  the  enemy,  Heemskerk 
summoned  all  the  captains  on  board  his  flag-ship,  the  jEolus, 
and  addressed  them  in  a  few  stirring  words. 

"It  is  difficult,"  he  said,  "for  Netherlander  not  to  conquer  on 


1607.  HEEMSKERK'S  HARANGUE.  323 

salt  water.3  Our  fathers  have  gained  many  a  victory  in  dis 
tant  seas,  but  it  is  for  us  to  tear  from  the  enemy's  list  of  titles 
his  arrogant  appellation  of  Monarch  of  the  Ocean.  Here,  on 
the  verge  of  two  continents,  Europe  is  watching  our  deeds, 
while  the  Moors  of  Africa  are  to  learn  for  the  first  time  in 
what  estimation  they  are  to  hold  the  Batavian  republic. 
Kemember  that  you  have  no  choice  between  triumph  and 
destruction.  I  have  led  you  into  a  position  whence  escape  is 
impossible — and  I  ask  of  none  of  you  more  than  I  am  prepared 
to  do  myself — •  whither  I  am  sure  that  you  will  follow. 
The  enemy's  ships  are  far  superior  to  ours  in  bulk ;  but 
remember  that  their  excessive  size  makes  them  difficult  to 
handle  and  easier  to  hit,  while  our  own  vessels  are  entirely 
within  control.  Their  decks  are  swarming  with  men,  and 
thus  there  will  be  more  certainty  that  our  shot  will  take 
effect.  Kemember,  too,  that  we  are  all  sailors,  accustomed 
from  our  cradles  to  the  ocean  ;  while  yonder  Spaniards  are 
mainly  soldiers  and  landsmen,  qualmish  at  the  smell  of  bilge- 
water,  and  sickening  at  the  roll  of  the  waves.4  This  day 
begins  a  long  list  of  naval  victories,  which  will  make  our 
fatherland  for  ever  illustrious,  or  lay  the  foundation  of  an 
honourable  peace,  by  placing,  through  our  triumph,  in  the 
hands  of  the  States-General,  the  power  of  dictating  its  terms." 

His  comrades  long  remembered  the  enthusiasm  which 
flashed  from  the  man,  usually  so  gentle  and  composed  in 
demeanour,  so  simple  in  attire.  Clad  in  complete  armour, 
with  the  orange-plumes  waving  from  his  casque  and  the 
orange-scarf  across  his  breast,  he  stood  there  in  front  of  the 
mainmast  of  the  ^Eolus,  the  very  embodiment  of  an  ancientj 
Viking. 

He  then  briefly  announced  his  plan  of  attack.  It  was  of 
antique  simplicity.  He  would  lay  his  own  ship  alongside 


8  Grotius,  Meteren,  and  Wagenaar  apud  nos  nautae  pugnant,  apud  illos 
all  e?ve  essentially  the  same  report  of  milites  quos  ego  mini  videre  videor  ut 
this  speech,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  |  aunt  delicati  sentinae  odore  ac  jacta- 
therefore  that  something  very  like  it  tione  fluctuum  prope  examines  in  ver- 
was  really  spoken.  tiginem  dari." — Grotius,  734. 

4  "  Illud  vero  vel  prsecipuum  quod 


324  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVIL 

that  of  the  Spanish  admiral.  Pretty  Lambert  in  the  Tiger 
was  to  grapple  with  her  on  the  other  side.  Vice-admiral 
Alteras  and  Captain  Bras  were  to  attack  the  enemy's  vice- 
admiral  in  the  same  way.  Thus,  two  by  two;  the  little 
Netherland  ships  were  to  come  into  closest  quarters  with 
each  one  of  the  great  galleons.  Heemskerk  would  himself 
lead  the  way,  and  all  were  to  follow,  as  closely  as  possible, 
in  his  wake.  The  oath  to  stand  by  each  other  was  then 
solemnly  renewed,  and  a  parting  health  was  drunk.  The 
captains  then  returned  to  their  ships. 

As  the  Lepanto  warrior,  Don  Juan  d'Avila,  saw  the  little 
vessels  slowly  moving  towards  him,  he  summoned  a  Hollander 
whom  he  had  on  board,  one  Skipper  Gevaerts  of  a  captured 
Dutch  trading  bark,  and  asked  him  whether  those  ships  in 
the  distance  were  Netherlanders. 

"  Not  a  doubt  of  it,"  replied  the  skipper. 

The  admiral  then  asked  him  what  their  purpose  could  pos 
sibly  be,  in  venturing  so  near  Gibraltar. 

"  Either  I  am  entirely  mistaken  in  my  countrymen," 
answered  Gevaerts,  "  or  they  are  coming  for  the  express  pur 
pose  of  offering  you  battle." 5 

The  Spaniard  laughed  loud  and  long.  The  idea  that  those 
puny  vessels  could  be  bent  on  such  a  purpose  seemed  to  him 
irresistibly  comic,  and  he  promised  his  prisoner,  with  much 
condescension,  that  the  St.  Augustine  alone  should  sink  the 
whole  fleet. 

Gevaerts,  having  his  own  ideas  on  the  subject,  but  not 
being  called  upon  to  express  them,  thanked  the  admiral  for 
his  urbanity,  and  respectfully  withdrew. 

At  least  four  thousand  soldiers  were  in  D'A Vila's  ships, 
besides  seamen.  There  were  seven  hundred  in  the  St.  Augus 
tine,  four  hundred  and  fifty  in  Our  Lady  of  Vega,  and  so  o? 
in  proportion.  There  were  also  one  or  two  hundred  nob., 
volunteers  who  came  thronging  on  board,  scenting  the  battle 
from  afar,  and  desirous  of  having  a  hand  in  the  destruction  of 
the  insolent  Dutchmen. 

5  Meteren,  547. 


1607.  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  ATTACK.  325 

It  was  about  one  in  the  afternoon.     There  was  not  much 
wind,  but   the   Hollanders,   slowly   drifting   on  the 
eternal  river  that  pours  from  the  Atlantic  into  the 
Mediterranean,   were   now  very  near.      All  hands  had  been 
piped  on  board  every  one  of  the  ships,  all  had  gone  down  on 
their  knees  in  humble  prayer,  and  the  loving  cup  had  then 
been  passed  around.6 

Heemskerk,  leading  the  way  towards  the  Spanish  admiral, 
ordered  the  gunners  of  the  ^Eolus  not  to  fire  until  the  vessels 
struck  each  other.  "  Wait  till  you  hear  it  crack," 7  he  said, 
adding  a  promise  of  a  hundred  florins  to  the  man  who  should 
pull  down  the  admiral's  flag.  Avila,  notwithstanding  his 
previous  merriment,  thought  it  best,  for  the  moment,  to  avoid 
the  coming  collision.  Leaving  to  other  galleons,  which  he 
interposed  between  himself  and  the  enemy,  the  task  of  sum 
marily  sinking  the  Dutch  fleet,  he  cut  the  cable  of  the  St. 
Augustine  and  drifted  farther  into  the  bay.  Heemskerk,  not 
allowing  himself  to  be  foiled  in  his  purpose,  steered  past  two 
or  three  galleons,  and  came  crashing  against  the  admiral. 
Almost  simultaneously,  Pretty  Lambert  laid  himself  along 
her  quarter  on  the  other  side.  The  St.  Augustine  fired  into 
the  ^Eolus  as  she  approached,  but  without  doing  much 
damage.  The  Dutch  admiral,  as  he  was  coming  in  contact, 
discharged  his  forward  guns,  and  poured  an  effective  volley 
of  musketry  into  his  antagonist. 

The  St.  Augustine  fired  again,  straight  across  the  centre 
of  the  ^Eolus,  at  a  few  yards'  distance.  A  cannon-ball  took 
off  the  head  of  a  sailor,  standing  near  Heemskerk,  and 
carried  away  the  admiral's  leg,  close  to  the  body.  He  fell  on 
deck,  and,  knowing  himself  to  be  mortally  wounded,  im 
plored  the  next  in  command  on  board,  Captain  Verhoef,  to 
fight  his  ship  to  the  last,  and  to  conceal  his  death  from  the 
rest  of  the  fleet.  Then  prophesying  a  glorious  victory  for 
the  republic,  and  piously  commending  his  soul  to  his  Maker, 
he  soon  breathed  his  last.  A  cloak  was  thrown  over  him, 

6  Meteren,  Wagenaar,  Grotius. 

*  "  En  dat  sy  het  hoorden  kraaken."— Meteren,  547V0. 


326  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XLVIL 

and  the  battle  raged.  The  few  who  were  aware  that  the 
noble  Heemskerk  was  gone,  burned  to  avenge  his  death,  and 
to  obey  the  dying  commands  of  their  beloved  chief.  The 
rest  of  the  Hollanders  believed  themselves  under  his  directing 
influence,  and  fought  as  if  his  eyes  were  upon  them.  Thus 
the  spirit  of  the  departed  hero  still  watched  over  and  guided 
the  battle. 

The  ^Eolus  now  fired  a  broadside  into  her  antagonist, 
making  fearful  havoc,  and  killing  Admiral  D'Avila.  The 
commanders-in-chief  of  both  contending  fleets  had  thus  fallen 
at  the  very  beginning  of  the  battle.  While  the  St.  Augus 
tine  was  engaged  in  deadly  encounter,  yard-arm  and  yard- 
arm,  with  the  ^olus  and  the  Tiger,  Vice-admiral  Alteras 
had,  however,  not  carried  out  his  part  of  the  plan.  Before  he 
could  succeed  in  laying  himself  alongside  of  the  Spanish  vice- 
admiral,  he  had  been  attacked  by  two  galleons.  Three  other 
Dutch  ships,  however,  attacked  the  vice-admiral,  and,  after 
an  obstinate  combat,  silenced  all  her  batteries  and  set  her  on 
fire.  Her  conquerors  were  then  obliged  to  draw  off  rather 
hastily,  and  to  occupy  themselves  for  a  time  in  extinguishing 
their  own  burning  sails,  which  had  taken  fire  from  the  close 
contact  with  their  enemy.  Our  Lady  of  Vega,  all  ablaze  from 
top-gallant-mast  to  quarter-deck,  floated  helplessly  about,  a 
spectre  of  flame,  her  guns  going  off  wildly,  and  her  crew 
dashing  themselves  into  the  sea,  in  order  to  escape  by  drown 
ing  from  a  fiery  death.  She  was  consumed  to  the  water's  edge. 

Meantime,  Vice-admiral  Alteras  had  successively  defeated 
both  his  antagonists;  drifting  in  with  them  until  almost  undet 
the  guns  of  the  fortress,  but  never  leaving  them  until,  by  his 
superior  gunnery  and  seamanship,  he  had  sunk  one  of  them, 
and  driven  the  other  a  helpless  wreck  on  shore. 

Long  Harry,  while  Alteras  had  been  thus  employed,  had 
engaged  another  great  galleon,  and  set  her  on  fire.  She,  too, 
was  thoroughly  burned  to  her  hulk  ;  but  Admiral  Harry  was 
killed. 

By  this  time,  although  it  was  early  of  an  April  afternoon, 
and  heavy  clouds  of  smoke,  enveloping  the  combatants  pent 


1607.  VICTORY  OF  THE  DUTCH.  327 

together  in  so  small  a  space,  seemed  to  make  an  atmosphere 
of  midnight,  as  the  flames  of  the  burning  galleons  died  away. 
There  was  a  difficulty,  too,  in  bringing  all  the  Netherland 
ships  into   action — several  of  the   smaller   ones  having  been 
purposely  stationed  by  Heemskerk  on  the  edge  of  the  bay  to 
prevent  the  possible  escape  of  any  of  the  Spaniards.     While 
some  of  these  distant  ships  were  crowding  sail,  in  order  to 
come  to  closer  quarters,  now  that  the  day  seemed  going  against 
the  Spaniards,  a  tremendous  explosion  suddenly  shook  the  air. 
One  of  the  largest  galleons,  engaged  in  combat  with  a  couple 
of  Dutch  vessels,  had  received  a  hot  shot  full  in  her  powder 
magazine,  and  blew  up  with  all  on  board.     The  blazing  frag 
ments  drifted  about  among  the  other  ships,  and  two  more 
were   soon  on  fire,  their  guns  going  off  and  their  magazines 
exploding.     The  rock  of  Gibraltar  seemed  to  reel.     To  the 
murky  darkness  succeeded  the  intolerable  glare  of  a  new  and 
vast  conflagration.     The  scene  in  that  narrow  roadstead  was 
now  almost  infernal.     It  seemed,  said  an  eye-witness,  as  if 
heaven   and   earth   were   passing   away.      A   hopeless   panic 
seized  the  Spaniards.     The  battle  was  over.     The  St.  Augus 
tine  still  lay  in  the  deadly  embrace  of  her  antagonists,  but  all 
the  other  galleons  were  sunk  or  burned.     Several  of  the  lesser 
war-ships   had   also   been   destroyed.     It  was  nearly  sunset. 
The  St.  Augustine  at  last  ran  up  a  white  flag,  but  it  was  not 
observed  in  the  fierceness  of  the  last  moments  of  combat ;  the 
men  from  the  ^Eolus  and  the  Tiger  making  a  simultaneous 
rush  on  board  the  vanquished  foe. 

The  fight  was  done,  but  the  massacre  was  at  its  beginning. 
The  trumpeter  of  Captain  Kleinsorg  clambered  like  a  monkey 
up  the  mast  of  the  St.  Augustine,  hauled  down  the  ad 
miral's  flag,  the  last  which  was  still  waving,  and  gained  the 
hundred  florins.  The  ship  was  full  of  dead  and  dying  ;  but  a 
brutal,  infamous  butchery  now  took  place.  Some  Netherland 
prisoners  were  found  in  the  hold,  who  related  that  two  mes 
sengers  had  been  successively  despatched  to  take  their  lives, 
as  they  lay  there  in  chains,  and  that  each  had  been  shot, 
as  he  made  his  way  towards  the  -  execution  of  the  orders. 


32S  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLVI1 

This  information  did  not  chill  the  ardour  of  their  victorious 
countrymen.  No  quarter  was  given.  Such  of  the  victims 
as  succeeded  in  throwing  themselves  overboard,  out  of  the 
St.  Augustine,  or  any  of  the  burning  or  sinking  ships,  were 
pursued  by  the  Netherlander,  who  rowed  about  among  them 
in  boats,  shooting,  stabbing,  and  drowning  their  victims  by 
hundreds.  It  was  a  sickening  spectacle.  The  bay,  said  those 
who  were  there,  seemed  sown  with  corpses.  Probably  two  or 
three  thousand  were  thus  put  to  death,  or  had  met  their  fate 
before.  Had  the  chivalrous  Heemskerk  lived,  it  is  possible 
that  he  might  have  stopped  the  massacre.  But  the  thought 
of  the  grief  which  would  fill  the  commonwealth  when  the 
news  should  arrive  of  his  death — thus  turning  the  joy  of  the 
great  triumph  into  lamentations — increased  the  animosity  of 
his  comrades.  Moreover,  in  ransacking  the  Spanish  admiral's 
ship,  all  his  papers  had  been  found,  among  them  many  secret 
instructions  from  Government  signed  "I,  the  King  ; "  order 
ing  most  inhuman  persecutions,  not  only  of  the  Netherlander, 
but  of  all  who  should  in  any  way  assist  them,  at  sea  or  ashore. 
Becent  examples  of  the  thorough  manner  in  which  the  royal 
admirals  could  carry  out  these  bloody  instructions  had  been 
furnished  by  the  hangings,  burnings,  and  drownings  of 
Fazardo.  But  the  barbarous  ferocity  of  the  Dutch  on  thia 
occasion  might  have  taught  a  lesson  even  to  the  comrades  of 
Alva. 

The  fleet  of  Avila  was  entirely  destroyed.  The  hulk  of 
the  St.  Augustine  drifted  ashore,  having  been  abandoned  by 
the  victors,  and  was  set  on  fire  by  a  few  Spaniards  who  had 
concealed  themselves  on  board,  lest  she  might  fall  again  into 
the  enemy's  hands. 

The  battle  had  lasted  from  half-past  three  until  sunset. 
The  Dutch  vessels  remained  all  the  next  day  on  the  scene  of 
their  triumph.  The  townspeople  were  discerned,  packing  up 
their  goods,  and  speeding  panic-struck  into  the  interior.  Had 
Heemskerk  survived  he  would  doubtless  have-  taken  Gibraltar 
— fortress  and  town — and  perhaps  Cadiz,  such  was  the  con 
sternation  along  the  whole  coast. 


1607  FUNERAL   OF  HEEMSKERK.  329 

But  his  gallant  spirit  no  longer  directed  the  fleet.  Bent 
rather  upon  plunder  than  glory,  the  ships  now  dispersed  in 
search  of  prizes  towards  the  Azores,  the  Canaries,  or  along 
the  Portuguese  coast ;  having  first  made  a  brief  visit  to 
Tetuan,  where  they  were  rapturously  received  by  the  Bey. 

The  Hollanders  lost  no  ships,  and  but  one  hundred  seamen 
were  killed.  Two  vessels  were  despatched  homeward  directly, 
one  with  sixty  wounded  sailors,  the  other  with  the  embalmed 
body  of  the  fallen  Heemskerk.  The  hero  was  honoured  with 
a  magnificent  funeral  in  Amsterdam  at  the  public  expense — • 
the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  the  republic — and  his  name 
was  enrolled  on  the  most  precious  page  of  her  records.8 

8  The  chief  authorities  for  this  remarkable  battle  are  Meteren,  547,  54& 
Grotius,  xvi.  731-738.     Wagenaar,  ix.  251-256. 


330  THE  CHITED . MJgt'H  KKT.ANDS. 


CHAPTER    XLVIII. 


Internal  condition  of  Spain  —  Character  of  the  people  —  Influence  of  the  Inqui 
sition  —  Population  and  Revenue  —  Incomes  of  Church  and  Government 

—  Degradation  of  Labour  —  Expulsion  of  the  Moors  and  its  consequences 

—  Venality  the  special  characteristic  of  Spanish  polity  —  Maxims  of  the 
foreign  polity  of  Spain  —  The  Spanish  army  and  navy  —  Insolvent  state  of 
the  Government  —  The   Duke  of  Lerma  —  His  position  in  the  State  — 
Origin  of  his  power  —  System  of  bribery  and  trafficking  —  Philip  III.  — 
His  character —  Domestic  life  of  the  king  and  queen. 

A  GLAKCE  at  the  interior  condition  of  Spain,  now  that  there 
had  been  more  than  nine  years  of  a  new  reign,  should  no 
longer  be  deferred. 

Spain  was  still  superstitiously  regarded  as  the  leading 
power  of  the  world,  although  foiled  in  all  its  fantastic  and 
gigantic  schemes.  It  was  still  supposed,  according  to  current 
dogma,  to  share  with  the  Ottoman  empire  the  dominion  of 
the  earth.1  A  series  of  fortunate  marriages  having  united 
many  of  the  richest  and  fairest  portions  of  Europe  under  a 
single  sceptre,  it  was  popularly  believed  in  a  period  when 
men  were  not  much  given  as  yet  to  examine  very  deeply  the 
principles  of  human  governments  or  the  causes  of  national 
greatness,  that  an  aggregation  of  powers  which  had  resulted 
from  preposterous  laws  of  succession  really  constituted  a 
mighty  empire,  founded  by  genius  and  valour. 

The  Spanish  people,  endowed  with  an  acute  and  exuberant 
genius,  which  had  exhibited  itself  in  many  paths  of  literature, 
science,  and  art :  with  a  singular  aptitude  for  military  adven 
ture,  organization,  and  achievement ;  with  a  great  variety,  in 
short,  of  splendid  and  ennobling  qualities;  had  been,  for  a  long 
succession  of  years,  accursed  with  almost  the  very  worst  poli 
tical  institutions  known  to  history.  The  depth  of  their  misery 

».  Soranzo,  Relazjone, 


1607. 


THE  SPANISH  POPULATION. 


331 


and  of  their  degradation  was  hardly  yet  known  to  them 
selves,  and  this  was  perhaps  the  most  hideous  proof  of  the 
tyranny  of  which  they  had  been  the  victims.  To  the  outward 
world,  the  hollow  fabric,  out  of  which  the  whole  pith  and 
strength  had  been  slowly  gnawed  away,  was  imposing  and 
majestic  still.  But  the  priest,  the  soldier,  and  the  courtier 
had  been  busy  too  long,  and  had  done  their  work  too 
thoroughly,  to  leave  much  hope  of  arresting  the  universal 
decay. 

Nor  did  there  seem  any  probability  that  the  attempt  would 
be  made. 

It  is  always  difficult  to  reform  wide-spread  abuses,  even 
when  they  are  acknowledged  to  exist,  but  when  gigantic  vices 
are  proudly  pointed  to  as  the  noblest  of  institutions  and  as 
the  very  foundations  of  the  state,  there  seems  nothing  for  the 
patriot  to  long  for  but  the  deluge. 

It  was  acknowledged  that  the  Spanish  population — having 
a  very  large  admixture  of  those  races  which,  because  not 
Catholic  at  heart,  were  stigmatized  as  miscreants,  heretics, 
pagans,  and,  generally,  as  accursed — was  by  nature  singularly 
prone  to  religious  innovation.2  Had  it  not  been  for  the  Holy 
Inquisition,  it  was  the  opinion  of  acute  and  thoughtful  ob 
servers  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  that  the 
infamous  heresies  of  Luther,  Calvin,  and  the  rest,  would  have 
long  before  taken  possession  of  the  land.8  To  that  most 
blessed  establishment  it  was  owing  that  Spain  had  not  polluted 
itself  in  the  filth  and  ordure  of  the  Keformation,  and  had  been 
spared  the  horrible  fate  which  had  befallen  large  portions 
of  Germany,  France,  Britain,  and  other  barbarous  northern 


2  "  Li  popoli  per  la  gran  mescolanza 
che  hanno  avuto  coi  Mori  e  Giudei 
sono  molto  facili  a  divertire  dal  diretto 
sentiero  della   fede." — Gir°.   Soranzo 
Relazione.     "  Tremando  gli  Spagnuoli 
perche    incominciarono    a  colpirli  1' 
eresia  nei  tempi  di  Filippo  II.  non  solo 
nel  volgo  ma  anche  nella  alta  nobil- 
ta." — S.  Contarini,  Relazione. 

3  "  £  rispettato  1'  inquisitore  maggi-. 
ore  come  se  fosse  un  p»pa,ha  il  tribunal 


del  suo  officio  per  tutte  le  terre.  In 
somma  si  puo  dire  che  il  rigore  di 
questo  officio  mantiene  il  rito  della 
vera  religione  in  Spagna  che  senza 
questo  si  pud  grandemente  temere 
che  per  li  tanti  Moreschi  e  Marani  che 
sono  sparsi  per  il  paese  si  vederiano 
per  questo  rispetto  di  religione  del 
movimenti  e  delle  commozioni  impor« 
tanti." — Soranzo. 


332  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.       CHAP.  XLVIU 

nations.  It  was  conscientiously  and  thankfully  believed  in 
Spain,  two  centuries  ago,  that  the  state  had  been  saved 
from  political  and  moral  ruin  by  that  admirable  machine 
which  detected  heretics  with  unerring  accuracy,  burned 
them  when  detected,  and  consigned  their  descendants  to 
political  incapacity  and  social  infamy  to  the  remotest  gene 
ration.4 

As  the  awful  consequences  of  religious  freedom,  men 
pointed  with  a  shudder  to  the  condition  of  nations  already 
speeding  on  the  road  to  ruin,  from  which  the  two  peninsulas 
at  least  had  been  saved.  Yet  the  British  empire,  with  the 
American  republic  still  an  embryo  in  its  bosom,  France, 
North  Germany,  and  other  great  powers,  had  hardly  then 
begun  their  headlong  career.  Whether  the  road  of  religious 
liberty  was  leading  exactly  to  political  ruin,  the  coming  cen 
turies  were  to  judge. 

Enough  has  been  said  in  former  chapters  for  the  charac 
terization  of  Philip  II.  and  his  polity.  But  there  had  now 
been  nearly  ten  years  of  another  reign.  The  system,  inaugu 
rated  by  Charles  and  perfected  by  his  son,  had  reached  its 
last  expression  under  Philip  III. 

The  evil  done  by  father  and  son  lived  and  bore  plentiful 
fruit  in  the  epoch  of  the  grandson.  And  this  is  inevitable  in 
history.  No  generation  is  long-lived  enough  to  reap  the  har 
vest,  whether  of  good  or  evil,  which  it  sows. 

Philip  II.  had  been  indefatigable  in  evil,  a  thorough  be 
liever  in  his  supernatural  mission  as  despot,  not  entirely 
without  capacity  for  affairs,  personally  absorbed  by  the 
routine  of  his  bureau. 

He  was  a  king,  as  he  understood  the  meaning  of  the  kingly 
office.  His  policy  was  continued  after  his  death  ;  but  there 
was  no  longer  a  king.  That  important  regulator  to  the 

4  "  Con  tanta  vergogna  ed  igno-  lordura  mantenere  la  Spagna  libera 
minia  che  in  eterno  resta  macchiata  dalP  infezione  dell'  eresia,  peste  die 
quella  discendenza  di  infamia  ne  sono  ha  infettato  e  rovinato  gran  parte  del 
capaci  i  poster!  di  dignita  ne  di  onore  mondo,"  &c.,  &c. — Gir°.  Soranzo,  Re- 
alcuno  onde  tutti  procurano  di  vivere  lazione. 
in  maniera  da  non  imbrattarsi  in  tanta"! 


1607.  THE  STATE  REVENUE.  333 

governmental  machinery  was  wanting.  How  its  place  was 
supplied  will  soon  appear. 

Meantime  the  organic  functions  were  performed  very  much 
in  the  old  way.  There  was,  at  least,  no  lack  of  priests  or 
courtiers. 

Spain  at  this  epoch  had  probably  less  than  twelve  millions 
of  inhabitants,  although  the  statistics  of  those  days  cannot 
be  relied  upon  with  accuracy.5  The  whole  revenue  of  the 
state  was  nominally  sixteen  or  seventeen  millions  of  dollars, 
but  the  greater  portion  of  that  income  was  pledged  for  many 
coming  years  to  the  merchants  of  Genoa.6  All  the  little 
royal  devices  for  increasing  the  budget  by  debasing  the  coin 
of  the  realm,  by  issuing  millions  of  copper  tokens,  by  lower 
ing  the  promised  rate  of  interest  on  Government  loans,  by 
formally  repudiating  both  interest  and  principal,  had  been 
tried,  both  in  this  and  the  preceding  reign,  with  the  usual 
success.  An  inconvertible  paper  currency,  stimulating  in 
dustry  and  improving  morals  by  converting  beneficent  com 
merce  into  baleful  gambling — that  fatal  invention  did  not 
then  exist.  Meantime,  the  legitimate  trader  and  innocent 
citizen  were  harassed,  and  the  general  public  endangered, 
as  much  as  the  limited  machinery  of  the  epoch  permitted. 

The  available,  unpledged  revenue  of  the  kingdom  hardly 
amounted  to  five  millions  of  dollars  a-year.  The  regular 
annual  income  of  the  church  was  at  least  six  millions.7  The 
whole  personal  property  of  the'  nation  was  estimated — in  a 
very  clumsy  and  unsatisfactory  way,  no  doubt — at  sixty 
millions  of  dollars.8  Thus  the  income  of  the  priesthood  was 
ten  per  cent,  of  the  whole  funded  estate  of  the  country,  and 

6  Priuli  (1604-1608)  puts  the  popu  I  ma  si  pud  dire  annullate  perche  sono 
lation  of  Spain,  inclusive  of  foreign  j  obbligate  a  maggior  prezzo  die  va- 
residents,  at  thirteen  millions  (F.  j  gliano,"  &c.  &c. — Ott°.  Bon.  Relazione. 
Priuli,  Relazione).  But  Agostino  de  j  Compare  Gir°.  Soranzo,  who  puts  the 
Bias,  in  his  work  on  the  population  of  !  nominal  whole  at  seventeen  millions, 
Spain  from  official  records,  cited  by  I  but  "  impegnate  ed  annihilate  affatto." 
N.  Barozzi  (Notes,  s.  1,  vol.  i.  p.  353)  7  F.  Priuli,  Relazione. 


allows  but  9,680,191  inhabitants  for 
the  whole  peninsula. 

6  "  Sono  1'  entrate  di  S.  M.  come 
dicono  da  16  milioni  in  circa  quasi 
tutte  impegnate  e  «on  solo  impegnate  i  1604-1608. 


"  Eppure  la  Spagna  e  povera  non 
trovandosene  in  essa  piu  di  sessanta 
milioni  fra  capitali  e  robe  di  servizio." 
—Fran.  Priuli,  Ambas.  a  Filippo  III 


334 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLVIIL 


at  least  a  million  a  year  more  than  the  income  of  the  Govern 
ment.  Could  a  more  biting  epigram  be  made  upon  the 
condition  to  which  the  nation  had  been  reduced  ? 

Labour  was  more  degraded  than  ever.  The  industrious 
classes,  if  such  could  be  said  to  exist,  were  esteemed  every 
day  more  and  more  infamous.  Merchants,  shopkeepers, 
mechanics,  were  reptiles,  as  vilely  esteemed  as  Jews,  Moors, 
Protestants,  or  Pagans.  Acquiring  wealth  by  any  kind  of 
production  was  dishonourable.  A  grandee  who  should  permit 
himself  to  sell  the  wool  from  his  boundless  sheep-walks  dis 
graced  his  caste,  and  was  accounted  as  low  as  a  merchant.9 
To  create  was  the  business  of  slaves  and  miscreants  :  to 
destroy  was  the  distinguishing  attribute  of  Christians  and 
nobles.  To  cheat,  to  pick,  and  to  steal,  on  the  most  minute 
and  the  most  gigantic  scale — these  were  also  among  the 
dearest  privileges  of  the  exalted  classes.  No  merchandize 
was  polluting  save  the  produce  of  honest  industry.  To  sell 
places  in  church  and  state,  the  army,  the  navy,  and  the 
sacred  tribunals  of  law ;  to  take  bribes  from  rich  and  poor, 
high  and  low,  in  sums  infinitesimal  or  enormous,  to  pillage 
the  exchequer  in  every  imaginable  form,  to  dispose  of  titles 
of  honour,  orders  of  chivalry,  posts  in  municipal  council,10  at 
auction ;  to  barter  influence,  audiences,  official  interviews 
against  money  cynically  paid  down  in  rascal  counters — all 
this  was  esteemed  consistent  with  patrician  dignity. 

The  ministers,  ecclesiastics,  and  those  about  court,  obtain 
ing  a  monopoly  of  such  trade,  left  the  business  of  produc 
tion  and  circulation  to  their  inferiors,  while,  as  has  already 
been  sufficiently  indicated,  religious  fanaticism  and  a  pride  of 
race,  which  nearly  amounted  to  idiocy,  had 'genera ted  a  scorn 
for  labour  even  among  the  lowest  orders.  As  a  natural  con 
sequence,  commerce  and  the  mechanical  arts  fell  almost 


9  Ibid.     Compare  notes  of  Barozzi 
(s.  1,  vol.  i.  p.  351). 

10  "  Quelli  che  governano  nelle  citta 
sono  chiamati  Regidores  e  sono  nelle 
citta  grandi  in  numero  di  40  e  forse 
piu  e  nelle  piccole  in  minor  numero ; 


questi  impieghi  il  re  vende  per  denari 
e  secondo  i  luoghi  dovevanno  sogliono 
esser  venduti  per  4  o  6  mille  ducati  cio 
che  porta  al  popolo  gran  danno,"  &c 
&c. — S.  Contarini. 


1607.  DEGRADATION  OF  LABOUR.  335 

exclusively  into  the  hands  of  foreigners — Italians,  English, 
and  French — who  resorted  in  yearly  increasing  numbers  to 
Spain  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  themselves  by  the  industry 
which  the  natives  despised.11 

The  capital  thus  acquired  was  at  regular  intervals  removed 
from  the  country  to  other  lands,  where  wealth  resulting  from 
traffic  or  manufactures  was  not  accounted  infamous. 

Moreover,  as  the  soil  of  the  country  was  held  by  a  few 
great  proprietors — an  immense  portion  in  the  dead-hand  of  an 
insatiate  and  ever-grasping  church,  and  much  of  the  re 
mainder  in  vast  entailed  estates — it  was  nearly  impossible 
for  the  masses  of  the  people  to  become  owners  of  any  portion 
of  the  land.  To  be  an  agricultural  day-labourer  at  less  than 
a  beggar's  wage  could  hardly  be  a  tempting  pursuit  for  a 
proud  and  indolent  race.  It  was  no  wonder  therefore  that 
the  business  of  the  brigand,  the  smuggler,  the  professional 
mendicant  became  from  year  to  year  more  attractive  and 
more  overdone  ;  while  an  ever-thickening  swarm  of  priests, 
friars,  and  nuns  of  every  order,  engendered  out  of  a  corrupt 
and  decaying  society,  increasing  the  general  indolence,  im 
morality,  and  unproductive  consumption,  and  frightfully 
diminishing  the  productive  force  of  the  country,  fed  like 
locusts  upon  what  was  left  in  the  unhappy  land.  "  To  shirk 
labour,  infinite  numbers  become  priests  and  friars/'  said  a 
good  Catholic,  in  the  year  1608.12 

Before  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Philip  III.  the  peninsula, 
which  might  have  been  the  granary  of  the  world,  did  not 
produce  food  enough  for  its  own  population.  Corn  became  a 
regular  article  of  import  into  Spain,  and  would  have  come  in 
larger  quantities  than  it  did  had  the  industry  of  the  country 
furnished  sufficient  material  to  exchange  for  necessary  food. 

And  as  if  it  had  been  an  object  of  ambition  with  the  priests 
and  courtiers  who  then  ruled  a  noble  country,  to  make  at 
exactly  this  epoch  the  most  startling  manifestation  of  human 
fatuity  that  the  world  had  ever  seen,  it  was  now  resolved  by 

11  Gir°.  Soranzo.  I  si  fanno  preti  e  frati." — Gir°.  Soranzc^ 

15  "Perschivariltravaglioedinflmti  |  Ambas.  a  Filippo  III.  1608-1611. 


336  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XLVIIL 

government  to  expel  by  armed  force  nearly  the  whole  stock 
of  intelligent  and  experienced  labour,  agricultural  and  me 
chanical,  from  the  country.  It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  long 
upon  an  event  which,  if  it  were  not  so  familiarly  known  to 
mankind,  would  seem  almost  incredible.  But  the  expulsion 
of  the  Moors  is,  alas  !  no  exaggerated  and  imaginary  satire, 
but  a  monument  of  wickedness  and  insanity  such  as  is  not 
often  seen  in  human  history. 

Already,  in  the  very  first  years  of  the  century,  John  Kibera, 
archbishop  of  Valencia,  had  recommended  and  urged  the 
scheme. 

It  was  too  gigantic  a  project  to  be  carried  into  execution 
at  once,  but  it  was  slowly  matured  by  the  aid  of  other 
ecclesiastics.  At  last  there  were  indications,  both  human  and 
divine,  that  the  expulsion  of  these  miscreants  could  no  longer 
be  deferred.  It  was  rumoured  and  believed  that  a  general 
conspiracy  existed  among  the  Moors  to  rise  upon  the  Govern 
ment,  to  institute  a  general  massacre,  and,  with  the  assist 
ance  of  their  allies  and  relatives  on  the  Barbary  coast,  to 
re-establish  the  empire  of  the  infidels.13 

A  convoy  of  eighty  ass-loads  of  oil  on  the  way  to  Madrid 
had  halted  at  a  wayside  inn.  A  few  flasks  were  stolen,  and 
those  who  consumed  it  were  made  sick.  Some  of  the  thieves 
even  died,  or  were  said  to  have  died,  in  consequence.14 
Instantly  the  rumour  flew  from  mouth  to  mouth,  from 
town  to  town,  that  the  royal  family,  the  court,  the  whole 
capital,  all  Spain,  were  to  be  poisoned  with  that  oil.  If  such 
were  the  scheme  it  was  certainly  a  less  ingenious  one  than  the 
famous  plot  by  which  the  Spanish  Government  was  suspected 
but  a  few  years  before  to  have  so  nearly  succeeded  in  blowing 
the  king,  peers,  and  commons  of  England  into  the  air. 

The  proof  of  Moorish  guilt  was  deemed  all-sufficient,  espe 
cially  as  it  was  supported  by  supernatural  evidence  of  the 
most  portentous  and  convincing  kind.  For  several  days 
together  a  dark  cloud,  tinged  with  blood-red,  had  been  seen 
to  hang  over  Valencia.15 

18  Giro.  Soranzo.  14  Ibid.  "  Ibid.,  and  notes  of  N.  BarozzL 


1607.  EXPULSION  OF  THE  MOORS.  337 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Daroca,  a  din  of  drums  and 
trumpets  and  the  clang  of  arms  had  been  heard  in  the  sky, 
just  as  a  procession  went  out  of  a  monastery.16 

At  Valencia  the  image  of  the  Virgin  had  shed  tears.  In 
another  place  her  statue  had  been  discovered  in  a  state  of 
profuse  perspiration.17 

What  more  conclusive  indications  could  be  required  as  to 
the  guilt  of  the  Moors  ?  What  other  means  devised  for  saving 
crown,  church,  and  kingdom  from  destruction  but  to  expel 
the  whole  mass  of  unbelievers  from  the  soil  which  they  had 
too  long  profaned? 

Archbishop  Bibera  was  fully  sustained  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Toledo,  and  the  whole  ecclesiastical  body  received  energetic 
support  from  Government. 

Kibera  had  solemnly  announced  that  the  Moors  were  so 
greedy  of  money,  so  determined  to  keep  it,  and  so  occupied 
with  pursuits  most  apt  for  acquiring  it,  that  they  had  come 
to  be  the  sponge  of  Spanish  wealth.  The  best  proof  of  this, 
continued  the  reverend  sage,  was  that,  inhabiting  in  general 
poor  little  villages  and  sterile  tracts  of  country,  paying  to 
the  lords  of  the  manor  one  third  of  the  crops,  and  being 
overladen  with  special  taxes  imposed  only  upon  them,  they 
nevertheless  became  rich,  while  the  Christians,  cultivating 
the  most  fertile  land,  were  in  abject  poverty.'8 

It  seems  almost  incredible  that  this  should  not  be  satire. 
Certainly  the  most  delicate  irony  could  not  portray  the 
vicious  institutions  under  which  the  magnificent  territory  and 
noble  people  of  Spain  were  thus  doomed  to  ruin  more  subtly 
and  forcibly  than  was  done  by  the  honest  brutality  of  this 
churchman.  The  careful  tillage,  the  beautiful  system  of 
irrigation  by  aqueduct  and  canal,  the  scientific  processes  by 
which  these  "accursed"  had  caused  the  wilderness  to  bloom 
with  cotton,  sugar,  and  every  kind  of  fruit  and  gram ;  the 
untiring  industry,  exquisite  ingenuity,  and  cultivated  taste  by 


16  Gir°.  Soranzo,  and  notes  of  N. 
Barozzi. 


n 


Ibid. 
VOL.  IV, — Z 


18  Escriba,  Vida  de  Don  Juan  de 
Ribera,  papel  segundo,  quoted  by  La- 
fuente,  xv.  370-390. 


338  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XLVIIL 

which  the  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  mechanics,  guilty 
of  a  darker  complexion  than  that  of  the  peninsular  Goths,  had 
enriched  their  native  land  with  splendid  fabrics  in  cloth,  paper, 
leather,  silk,  tapestry,  and  by  so  doing  had  acquired  fortunes 
for  themselves,  despite  iniquitous  taxation,  religious  persecu 
tion,  and  social  contumely — all  these  were  crimes  against  a 
race  of  idlers,  steeped  to  the  lips  in  sloth  which  imagined 
itself  to  be  pride. 

The  industrious,  the  intelligent,  the  wealthy,  were  denounced 
as  criminals,  and  hunted  to  death  or  into  exile  as  vermin,  while 
the  Lermas,  the  Ucedas,  and  the  rest  of  the  brood  of  cormo 
rants,  settled  more  thickly  than  ever  around  their  prey. 

Meantime,  Government  declared  that  the  piece  of  four 
maravedis  should  be  worth  eight  maravedis  ;  the  piece  of  two 
maravedis  being  fixed  at  four.19  Thus  the  specie  of  the 
kingdom  was  to  be  doubled,  and  by  means  of  this  enlightened 
legislation,  Spain,  after  destroying  agriculture,  commerce, 
and  manufacture,  was  to  maintain  great  armies  and  navies, 
and  establish  universal  monarchy. 

This  measure,  which  a  wiser  churchman  than  Ribera, 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  afterwards  declared  the  most  audacious  and 
barbarous  ever  recorded  by  history,  was  carried  out  with  great 
regularity  of  organization.20  It  was  ordained  that  the  Moors 
should  be  collected  at  three  indicated  points,  whence  they 
were  not  to  move  on  pain  of  death,  until  duly  escorted  by 
troops  to  the  ports  of  embarkation.  The  children  under 
the  age  of  four  years  were  retained,  of  course  without  their 
parents,  from  whom  they  were  forever  separated.  With 
admirable  forethought,  too,  the  priests  took  measures,  as 
they  supposed,  that  the  arts  of  refining  sugar,  irrigating  the 
rice-fields,  constructing  canals  and  aqueducts,  besides  many 
other  useful  branches  of  agricultural  and  mechanical  busi 
ness,  should  not  die  out  with  the  intellectual,  accomplished, 
and  industrious  race,  alone  competent  to  practise  them, 
which  was  now  sent  forth  to  die.  A  very  small  number,  no* 

19  Lafuente,  Hist.  Gen.  de  Espana,  xv,  295. 

*  Mem.  <Je  Richelieu,  x.  231,  cited  by  Lafuente,  ubi  wp. 


1607. 


EXPULSION  OP  THE  MOORS. 


339 


more  than  six  in  each  hundred,  were  accordingly  reserved  to 
instruct  other  inhabitants  of  Spain  in  those  useful  arts 
which  they  were  now  more  than  ever  encouraged  to  despise. 

Five  hundred  thousand  full-grown  human  beings,  as  ener 
getic,  ingenious,  accomplished,  as  any  then  existing  in  the 
world,  were  thus  thrust  forth  into  the  deserts  beyond  sea,  as 
if  Spain  had  been  overstocked  with  skilled  labour,  and  as  if 
its  native  production  had  already  outgrown  the  world's  power 
of  consumption. 

Had  an  equal  number  of  mendicant  monks,  with  the  two 
archbishops  who  had  contrived  this  deed  at  their  head,  been 
exported  instead  of  the  Moors,  the  future  of  Spain  might 
have  been  a  more  fortunate  one  than  it  was  likely  to  prove. 
The  event  was  in  itself  perhaps  of  temporary  advantage 
to  the  Dutch  republic,  as  the  poverty  and  general  misery, 
aggravated  by  this  disastrous  policy,  rendered  the  acknow 
ledgment  of  the  States'  independence  by  Spain  almost  a 
matter  of  necessity.21 

It  is  superfluous  to  enter  into  any  farther  disquisiton  as  to 
the  various  branches  of  the  royal  revenue.  They  remained 
essentially  the  same  as  during  the  preceding  reign,  and  have 
been  elaborately  set  forth  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  gradual 
drying  up  of  resources  in  all  the  wide-spread  and  heterogene 
ous  territories  subject  to  the  Spanish  sceptre  is  the  striking 
phenomenon  of  the  present  epoch.  The  distribution  of  such 
wealth  as  was  still  created  followed  the  same  laws  which  had 
long  prevailed,  while  the  decay  and  national  paralysis,  of 
which  the  prognostics  could  hardly  be  mistaken,  were  a  natural 
result  of  the  system. 

The  six  archbishops  had  now  grown  to  eleven,22  and  still 
received  gigantic  revenues  ;  the  income  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Toledo,  including  the  fund  of  one  hundred  thousand 
destined  for  repairing  the  cathedral,  being  estimated  at  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year,  that  of  the  Archbishop  of 


51  Gir°.  Soranzo,  Relazlone.  The 
ambassador  expressly  states  it  as  a 
fact.  Compare  especially  Lafuente's 


admirable  history  of  Spain,  vol. 
294,  295,  seqq.,  370-394. 
™  Ibid. 


#40  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XLVIH 

Seville  and  the  others  varying  from  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  to  fifty  thousand.23  The  sixty-three  bishops 
perhaps  averaged  fifty  thousand  a  year  each,24  and  there 
were  eight  more  in  Italy.25 

The  commanderies  of  chivalry,  two  hundred  at  least  in 
number,  were  likewise  enormously  profitable.  Some  of  them 
were  worth  thirty  thousand  a  year ;  the  aggregate  annual 
value  being  from  one-and-a-half  to  two  millions,  and  all  in 
Lerma's  gift,  upon  his  own  terms.26 

Chivalry,  that  noblest  of  ideals,  without  which,  in  some 
shape  or  another,  the  world  would  be  a  desert  and  a  sty  ; 
which  included  within  itself  many  of  the  noblest  virtues 
which  can  adorn  mankind — generosity,  self-denial,  chastity, 
frugality,  patience,  protection  to  the  feeble,  the  down-trod 
den,  and  the  oppressed  ;  the  love  of  daring  adventure, 
devotion  to  a  pure  religion  and  a  lofty  purpose,  most  admir 
ably  pathetic,  even  when  in  the  eyes  of  the  vulgar  most  fan 
tastic — had  been  the  proudest  and  most  poetical  of  Spanish 
characteristics,  never  to  be  entirely  uprooted  from  the 
national  heart. 

Alas  !  what  was  there  in  the  commanderies  of  Calatrava, 
Alcantara,  Santiago,  and  all  the  rest  of  those  knightly 
orders,  as  then  existing,  to  respond  to  the  noble  sentiments 
on  which  all  were  supposed  to  be  founded  ?  Institutions  for 
making  money,  for  pillaging  the  poor  of  their  hard-earned 
pittance,  trafficked  in  by  greedy  ministers  and  needy  courtiers 
with  a  shamelessness  which  had  long  ceased  to  blush  at 
vices  however  gross,  at  venality  however  mean. 

Venality  was  in  truth  the  prominent  characteristic  of  the 
Spanish  polity  at  this  epoch.  Everything  political  or  eccle 
siastical,  from  highest  to  lowest,  was  matter  of  merchandize. 

It  was  the  autocrat,  governing  king  and  kingdom,  who 
disposed  of  episcopal  mitres,  cardinals'  hats,  commanders' 
crosses,  the  offices  of  regidores  or  municipal  magistrates  in 

**  S.  Contarini,  Relazione.    Fran.  Priuli.  M  Ibid.  JB  Ibid. 

*•  Ibid.  Giro.  Soranzo.  "  Essendo  capaci  li  maritati  a  ogni  altra  condizione 
dl  persone  non  eccettuate  le  doune." 


1607.  VENALITY  OF  THE  SPANISH  POLITY.  341 

all  the  cities,  farmings  of  revenues,  collectorships  of  taxes, 
at  prices  fixed  by  himself. 

It  was  never  known  that  the  pope  refused  to  confirm  the 
ecclesiastical  nominations  which  were  made  by  the  Spanish 
court. 

The  nuncius  had  the  privilege  of  dispensing  the  small 
cures  from  thirty  dollars  a  year  downwards,27  of  which  the 
number  was  enormous.  Many  of  these  were  capable,  in  care 
ful  hands,  of  becoming  ten  times  as  valuable  as  their  nominal 
estimate,28  and  the  business  in  them  became  in  consequence 
very  extensive  and  lucrative.  They  were  often  disposed  of 
for  the  benefit  of  servants  and  the  hangers-on  of  noble 
families,  to  laymen,  to  women,  children,  to  babes  unborn. 

When  such  was  the  most  thriving  industry  in  the  land,  was 
it  wonderful  that  the  poor  of  high  and  low  degree  were 
anxious  in  ever-increasing  swarms  to  effect  their  entrance  into 
convent,  monastery,  and  church,  and  that  trade,  agriculture, 
and  manufactures  languished  ? 

The  foreign  polity  of  the  court  remained  as  it  had  been 
established  by  Philip  II. 

Its  maxims  were  very  simple.  To  do  unto  your  neighbour 
all  possible  harm,  and  to  foster  the  greatness  of  Spain  by 
sowing  discord  and  maintaining  civil  war  in  all  other  nations, 
was  the  fundamental  precept.  To  bribe  and  corrupt  the 
servants  of  other  potentates,  to  maintain  a  regular  paid  body 
of  adherents  in  foreign  lands,  ever  ready  to  engage  in 
schemes  of  assassination,  conspiracy,  sedition,  and  rebellion 
against  the  legitimate  authority,  to  make  mankind  miserable, 
so  far  as  it  was  in  the  power  of  human  force  or  craft  to  pro 
duce  wretchedness,  were  objects  still  faithfully  pursued.29 


procurando  di  tener  lontane  le  sedi 
zioni  nei  proprii  regni  e  di  nutrire  le 
discordie  negh  altri  potentati  .  .  .  e 
vedendo  che  questo  imperio  non  e 
appoggiato  alle  richezze  de'  grand!  chi 
pochissimi  sono  che  non  siano  in 
qualche  via  consumati,  non  alle 
speranze  dei  popoli  perche  questi  con 

nle  molte  gravezze  sono  oppresse,  non 
a  Spagna   per   conservarsi,  i  alle  armi  poiche  propria  milizia  cha 

VOL.  II— ii* 


27  F  Soranzo.  2«  Ibid. 

29  «  jn  Francia  medesdmamente  pro- 
curava  col  tener  le  provincie  disunite, 
divise  le  forze,  separati  $rli  animi,  diffi- 
denti  i  pensieri,  ribellati  i  principi, 
sollevati  i  popoli  e  tirando  per  questa 
via  le  cose  al  lunpro  di  stancare  e  si 
fosse  potuto  di  ridurre  in  niente  le 
forze  di  quella  corona  ....  la  prima 
all 


342 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS,         CHAP.  XLVIU. 


They  had  not  yet  led  to  the  entire  destruction  of  othei 
realms  and  their  submission  to  the  single  sceptre  of  Spain, 
nor  had  they  developed  the  resources,  material  or  moral, 
of  a  mighty  empire  so  thoroughly  as  might  have  been 
done  perhaps  by  a  less  insidious  policy,  but  they  had  never 
been  abandoned. 

It  was  a  steady  object  of  policy  to  keep  such  potentates  of 
Italy  as  were  not  already  under  the  dominion  of  the  Spanish 
crown  in  a  state  of  internecine  feud  with  each  other  and  of 
virtual  dependence  on  the  powerful  kingdom.  The  same 
policy  pursued  in  France,  of  fomenting  civil  war  by  subsidy, 
force,  and  chicane,  during  a  long  succession  of  years  in  order 
to  reduce  that  magnificent  realm  under  the  sceptre  of  Philip, 
has  been  described  in  detail.  The  chronic  rebellion  of  Ireland 
against  the  English  crown  had  been  assisted  and  inflamed  in 
every  possible  mode,  the  system  being  considered  as  entirely 
justified  by  the  aid  and  comfort  afforded  by  the  queen  to  the 
Dutch  rebels. 

It  was  a  natural  result  of  the  system  according  to  which 
kingdoms  and  provinces  with  the  populations  dwelling  therein 
were  transferable  like  real  estate  by  means  of  marriage- 
settlements,  entails,  and  testaments,  that  the  proprietorship 
of  most  of  the  great  realms  in  Christendom  was  matter 
of  fierce  legal  dispute.  Lawsuits,  which  in  chancery  could 
last  for  centuries  before  a  settlement  of  the  various  claims 
was  made,  might  have  infinitely  enriched  the  gentlemen 
of  the  long  robe  and  reduced  all  the  parties  to  beggary, 
had  there  been  any  tribunal  but  the  battle-field  to  decide 
among  the  august  litigants.  Thus  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  claimed  the  legal  proprietorship  and  sovereignty 
of  Brittany,  Normandy,  Anjou,  Gascony,  Calais,  and 
Boulogne  in  France,  besides  the  whole  kingdom  by  right 
of  conquest.30  The  French  king  claimed  to  be  rightful 


sia  disciplinata  non  tiene  la  Spagna 
....  si  puo  affirmare  che  resti  il 
principale  fondamento  di  questo  im- 
perio  collocate  negli  travagli  nella  de- 
bolezza  e  divisione  degli  altri  poten- 


tati,"  &c.  &c. — F.  Soranzo. 

30  Niccolo  Molin,  Ambasc.  appresso 
Giacomo  I.  1607,  in  Barozzi  and 
Berchet,  Ser.  IV.  vol.  i.  Pietro  Priuli, 
Ambasc.  in  Francia,  1608.  Ibid. 


1607 


DECAY  OF  THE  SPANISH  CONSTITUTION. 


343 


heir  of  Castile,  Biscay,  Guipuscoa,  Arragon,  Navarre,  nearly 
all  the  Spanish  peninsula  in  short,  including  the  whole  of 
Portugal  and  the  Balearic  islands  to  boot.31  The  King  of 
Spain  claimed,  as  we  have  seen  often  enough,  not  only 
Brittany  but  all  France  as  his  lawful  inheritance.  Such 
was  the  virtue  of  the  prevalent  doctrine  of  proprietorship. 
Every  potentate  was  defrauded  of  his  rights,  and  every 
potentate  was  a  criminal  usurper.  As  for  the  people,  it 
would  have  excited  a  smile  of  superior  wisdom  on  regal, 
legal,  or  sacerdotal  lips,  had  it  been  suggested  that  by  any 
possibility  the  governed  could  have  a  voice  or  a  thought 
in  regard  to  the  rulers  whom  God  in  His  grace  had  raised 
Up  to  be  their  proprietors  and  masters. 

The  army  of  Spain  was  sunk  far  below  the  standard  at 
which  it  had  been  kept  when  it  seemed  fit  to  conquer  and 
govern  the  world.  Neither  by  Spain  nor  Italy  could  those 
audacious,  disciplined,  and  obedient  legions  be  furnished,32  at 
which  the  enemies  of  the  mighty  despot  trembled  from  one 
extremity  of  earth  to  the  other.  Peculation,  bankruptcy, 
and  mutiny  had  done  their  work  at  last.  We  have  recently 
had  occasion  to  observe  the  conduct  of  the  veterans  in 
Flanders  at  critical  epochs.  At  this  moment,  seventy 
thousand  soldiers  were  on  the  muster  and  pay  roll  of  the 
army  serving  in  those  provinces,  while  not  thirty  thousand 
men  existed  in  the  flesh. 

The  navy  was  sunk  to  fifteen  or  twenty  old  galleys, 
battered,  dismantled,  unseaworthy,  and  a  few  armed  ships 
for  convoying  the  East  and  West  Indiamen  to  and  from 
their  destinations.33 

The  general  poverty  was  so  great  that  it  was  often 
absolutely  impossible  to  purchase  food  for  the  royal  house 
hold.34  "  If  you  ask  me,"  said  a  cool  observer,  "  how  this  great 
show  of  empire  is  maintained,  when  the  funds  are  so  small,  I 
answer  that  it  is  done  by  not  paying  at  all."  x  The  Govern- 


31  P.  Priuli,  ubi  sup. 

32  S.  Contarini,  Relazione.  "  Perclie 
Ja  Spagna  si  trova  epopolata."    ffl  Ibid, 


34  Ibid.  "  Moment!  nei  quali  le 
mense  reali  mancavano  del  necessario 
onde  cibarsi," 


344 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XLVIIt 


ment  was  shamelessly,  hopelessly  bankrupt.  The  noble  band 
of  courtiers  were  growing  enormously  rich.  The  state  was  a 
carcase  which  unclean  vultures  were  picking  to  the  bones. 

The  foremost  man  in  the  land — the  autocrat,  the  absolute 
master  in  State  and  Church — was  the  Duke  of  Lerma.36 

Very  rarely  in  human  history  has  an  individual  attained  to 
such  unlimited  power  under  a  monarchy,  without  actually 
placing  the  crown  upon  his  own  head.  Mayors  of  the  palace, 
in  the  days  of  the  do-nothing  kings,  wielded  nothing  like  the 
imperial  control  which  was  firmly  held  by  this  great  favourite. 
Yet  he  was  a  man  of  very  moderate  capacity  and  limited 
acquirements,  neither  soldier,  lawyer,  nor  priest. 

The  duke  was  past  sixty  years  of  age,  a  tall,  stately, 
handsome  man,  of  noble  presence  and  urbane  manner. 
Born  of  the  patrician  house  of  Sandoval,  he  possessed,  on 
the  accession  of  Philip,  an  inherited  income  of  ten  or  twelve 
thousand  dollars.  He  had  now,  including  what  he  had 
bestowed  on  his  son,  a  funded  revenue  of  seven  hundred 
thousand  a  year.37  He  had  besides,  in  cash,  jewels,  and 
furniture,  an  estimated  capital  of  six  millions.38  All  this 
he  had  accumulated  in  ten  years  of  service,  as  prime 
minister,  chief  equerry,  and  first  valet  of  the  chamber  to  the 
king. 

The  tenure  of  his  authority  was  the  ascendancy  of  a  firm 
character  over  a  very  weak  one.  At  this  moment  he  was 
doubtless  the  most  absolute  ruler  in  Christendom,  and  Philip 
III.  the  most  submissive  and  uncomplaining  of  his  subjects.3" 


86  Francesco  Soranzo,  Relazione  di 
Spagna  Ambasciatore  dall'  anno  1597- 
1602,  in  Barozzi  and  Berchet,  Serie  I. 
vol.  i.  pp.  1-214.  Otto.  Bon,  Ambas 
ciatore  strao.  a  Filippo  III.  nel  1602, 
Relazione.  Ibid.  Ser  I.  vol.  i.,  pp. 
215-275.  S.  Contarini,  Ambasc.  a 
Filippo  III.  1602-1604.  Ibid.  Ser.  I. 
vol.  i.  pp.  277-337.  F.  Priuli.  Am 
basc.  a  Filippo  III.  1604-1608.  Ibid. 
Ser.  I.  vol.  i.  pp.  339-402.  Giro.  So 
ranzo,  Ambasc.  a  Filippo  III.  1608- 
1611.  Ibid.  Ser.  I.  vol.  i.  pp.  431- 
492. 


37  Giro.  Soranzo.  38  Ibid. 

39  Ed  in  questo  Duca  si  puo  dire  che 
sia  ridotta  la  somma  di  tutto  il  gover 
no,  la  dispensa  delle  grazie  e  tutto  il 
bene  ed  il  male  di  chi  pretende  alcuna 
cosa  a  quelle  corte,  perche  e  veramente 
senza  esempio  1'autorita  e  la  grazia  che 
egli  possiede  appresso  il  re  ;  anzi  che 
per  ottenere  quello  clie  si  pretende 
importa  piu  1'aver  favorevole  il  Duca 
di  Lerma  che  quasi  il  re  medesimo," 
&c.,  &c. — F.  Soranzo. 

"  E  che  finalmente  tutte  le  cose  si 
riducono  alia  volonta  ed  all'  autorita 


1607. 


YOUTH  OF  PHILIP  III. 


345 


The  origin  of  his  power  was  well  known.  During  the  reign 
of  Philip  II.,  the  prince,  treated  with  great  severity  by  his 
father,  was  looked  upon  with  contempt  hy  every  one  about 
court.  He  was  allowed  to  take  no  part  in  affairs,  and,  having 
heard  of  the  awful  tragedy  of  his  eldest  half-brother,  enacted 
ten  years  before  his  own  birth,  he  had  no  inclination  to  con 
front  the  wrath  of  that  terrible  parent  and  sovereign  before 
whom  all  Spain  trembled.  Nothing  could  have  been  more 
humble,  more  effaced,  more  obscure,  than  his  existence  as 
prince.40  The  Marquis  of  Denia,  his  chamberlain,  alone  was 
kind  to  him,  furnished  him  with  small  sums  of  money,  and 
accompanied  him  on  the  shooting  excursions  in  which  his 
father  occasionally  permitted  him  to  indulge.41  But  even  these 
little  attentions  were  looked  upon  with  jealousy  by  the  king  ; 
so  that  the  marquis  was  sent  into  honourable  exile  from 
court  as  governor  of  Valencia.42  It  was  hoped  that  absence 
would  wean  the  prince  of  his  affection  for  the  kind  chamber 
lain.  The  calculation  was  erroneous.  No  sooner  were  the 
eyes  of  Philip  II.  closed  in  death  than  the  new  king  made 
haste  to  send  for  Denia,  who  was  at  once  created  Duke  of 
Lerma,  declared  of  the  privy  council,  and  appointed  master 


del  duca  e  gli  altri  consiglieri  atten- 
dono  non  meno  al  insinuarsi  nelle 
grazie  di  S.  E.  clie  alii  loro  proprii 
interessi  in  modo  che  si  puo  dire  clie 
questo  re  sia  assolutamente  governato 
e  che  la  maggiore  parte  delli  mmistri 
piu  principal!,  per  non  dire  tutti, 
attendino  fuori  dell'  ordinario  al  pro- 
prio  bene." — Ott°  Bon  Relazione. 

"  Dal  che  nasce  il  potere  che  tiene 
sopra  di  lui  il  private  che  lo  govern  a. 
Sara  difficile  d'  ottenere  la  volonta  di 
questo  principe  perche  il  privato  lo 
tiene  in  suo  potere  fino  dai  primi  anni 
della  sua  gioventu.  II  potere  di  lui  si 
conserva  intieramente  nella  persona 
del  Duca  di  Lenna." — S.  Contarini, 
Relazione. 

"  Questo  re  viene  retto  da  un  solo 
servitore.  In  questo  regno  il  padrone 
non  ha  parte  dj  niente." — F.  Priuli. 

"  II  Duca  di  Lerma,  erminentissimo 
ed  assoluto  signore  di  quel  governo 
....  ei  ha  impossessato  della  volonta 


di  S.  M.  che  ne  e  oggidi  talmente 
signore  che  domina  e  regge  il  tutto  ai 
suoi  cenni.  Assoluto  maestro  e  dis- 
pensatore  delle  grazie  regie,  egli  as- 
segna  tutti  i  vescovati  e  commende, 
egli  fa  i  cardinali  che  sono  nominati 
dal  re  di  Spagna  ed  e  libero  signore  e 
padrone  di  tutta  la  corona  reale.'' 
Gir°.  Soranzo,  Relazione, 

"Essendo  il  Duca  cosi  accorto  ed 
avendo  cosi  ben  disposto  a  suo  gusto 
il  governo  del  palazzo  e  circondato  il 
semplice  re  da  suoi  dependent!  chj 
oltre  il  non  esser  possibile  che  alcuno 
gli  parli  senza  sua  saputa  quando  anco 
gli  fosse  parlato  da  chi  si  voglia  sa 
tutto  quello  che  gli  viene  detto  da  che 
segue  che  non  e  persona  per  grand  e 
per  importante  che  sia  che  avesse  tant' 
animo  di  svegliare  il  re  che  non 
temesse  di  pagare  subito  con  la  sua 
rovina  la  pena  del  suo  ardire."  Otto, 
Bon  Relazione. 

4°  F  Sorenzo.     41  Ibid.     «  Ibid. 


346 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XLVIII. 


of  the  horse  and  first  gentleman  of  the  bed-chamber.  From 
that  moment  the  favourite  became  supreme.  He  was  en 
tirely  without  education,  possessed  little  experience  in  affairs 
of  state,  and  had  led  the  life  of  a  commonplace  idler  and 
voluptuary  until  past  the  age  of  fifty.  Nevertheless  he  had 
a  shrewd  mother- wit,  tact  in  dealing  with  men,  aptitude  to 
take  advantage  of  events.  He  had  directness  of  purpose, 
firmness  of  will,  and  always  knew  his  own  mind.  From  the 
beginning  of  his  political  career  unto  its  end,  he  conscien 
tiously  and  without  swerving  pursued  a  single  aim  This 
was  to  rob  the  exchequer  by  every  possible  mode  and  at 
every  instant  of  his  life.  Never  was  a  more  masterly  financier 
in  this  respect,  ^ith  a  single  eye  to  his  own  interests,  he 
preserved  a  magnificent  unity  in  all  his  actions.  The  result 
had  been  to  make  him  in  ten  years  the  richest  subject  in  the 
world,  as  well  as  the  most  absolute  ruler. 

He  enriched  his  family,  as  a  matter  of  course.  His  son  was 
already  made  Duke  of  Uceda,  possessed  enormous  wealth,  and 
was  supposed  by  those  who  had  vision  in  the  affairs  of  court 
to  be  the  only  individual  ever  likely  to  endanger  the  power  of 
the  father.  Others  thought  that  the  young  duke's  natural  dul- 
ness  would  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  supplant  the  omni 
potent  favourite.43  The  end  was  not  yet,  and  time  was  to  show 
which  class  of  speculators  was  in  the  right.  Meantime  the 
whole  family  was  united  and  happy.  The  sons  and  daughters 
had  intermarried  with  the  Infantados,  and  other  most  powerful 
and  wealthy  families  of  grandees.44  The  uncle,  Sandoval,  had 
been  created  by  Lerma  a  cardinal  and  archbishop  of  Toledo  ;45 
the  king's  own  schoolmaster  being  removed  from  that  dignity, 
and  disgraced  and  banished  from  court  for  having  spoken  dis 
respectfully  of  the  favourite.46  The  duke  had  reserved  for 
himself  twenty  thousand  a  year  from  the  revenues  of  the  arch 
bishopric,47  as  a  moderate  price  for  thus  conducting  himself 
as  became  a  dutiful  nephew.  He  had  ejected  Kodrigo  de 


43  "  Ma  Tottiisita  sua  non  lo  ren- 
dera  mai  atto  a  un  tanto  carico." — 
F.  Priuli. 


44  Otto.  Bon.  «  F.  Soranzo. 

46  S.  Contarini.    F.  Soranzo. 

47  F.  Priali,  Relazione. 


1007. 


POWER  OP  THE  DUKE  OF  LERMA. 


347 


Vasquez  from  his  post  as  president  of  the  council.48  As  a 
more  conclusive  proof  of  his  unlimited  sway  than  any  other 
of  his  acts  had  been,  he  had  actually  unseated  and  banished 
the  inquisitor-general,  Don  Pietro  Porto  Carrero,49  and  sup 
planted  him  in  that  dread  office,  before  which  even  anointed 
sovereigns  trembled,  by  one  of  his  own  creatures. 

In  the  discharge  of  his  various  functions,  the  duke  and  all 
his  family  were  domesticated  in  the  royal  palace,  so  that  he 
was  at  no  charges  for  housekeeping.  His  apartments  there 
were  more  sumptuous  than  those  of  the  king  and  queen.50  He 
had  removed  from  court  the  Dutchess  of  Candia,51  sister  of  the 
great  Constable  of  Castile,  who  had  been  for  a  time  in  attend 
ance  on  the  queen,  and  whose  possible  influence  he  chose  to 
destroy  in  the  bud.  Her  place  as  mistress  of  the  robes  was 
supplied  by  his  sister,  the  Countess  of  Lemos  ;  while  his  wife, 
the  terrible  Duchess  of  Lerma,  was  constantly  with  the  queen, 
who  trembled  at  her  frown.  Thus  the  royal  pair  were  com 
pletely  beleaguered,  surrounded,  and  isolated  from  all  except 
the  Lermas.52  When  the  duke  conferred  with  the  king,  the 
doors  were  always  double  locked.53 

In  his  capacity  as  first  valet 54  it  was  the  duke's  duty  to 
bring  the  king's  shirt  in  the  morning,  to  see  to  his  wardrobe 
and  his  bed,  and  to  supply  him  with  ideas  for  the  day.  The 
king  depended  upon  him  entirely  and  abjectly,  was  miserable 
when  separated  from  him  four-and-twenty  hours,  thought 
with  the  duke's  thoughts  and  saw  with  the  duke's  eyes.  He 


48  F.  Soranzo.  4»  Ibid. 

60  Ott<>.  Bon,  Relazione.  "  Tanto 
snntuosi  da  abbagliare  quelli  del  re 
stesso." — S.  Contarini. 

51  F.  Soranzo. 

68  Ibid.  "  Vi  sari  a  anco  la  regina 
che  potria  e  sapria  svegliarlo  per  la 
comodita  ma  e  lei  ancora  tenuta  op- 
pressa  dalla  Duchessa  e  dal  medesimo 
Duca  suo  marito  che  non  pud  ne  par 
lare  ne  respirare  e  poi  conoscendo  il  re 
di  tanta  semplicita  como  e  veramente  e 
vedendolo  esser  cosi  innamorato  del 
Duca  si  crede  clie  temi  prima  di  non 
fare  frutto  e  poi  di  esser  scoperta  da 
S.  M.  al  medesimo  Duca  da  che  ne 
poteeae  seguire  mala  disposizione  tra 


loro  tanta  e  in  particolare  la  Duchessa 
terribile  e  formidabile  il  favore  del 
Duca.  In  tanto  che  il  povero  Re  per 
esser  di  natura  poco  atto  al  govern  are 
e  circondato,  sta  e  stara  sempre  cosi 
dormendo  se  non  e  svegliato  di  qualche 
gran  rovina  che  estraordinariamente 
lo  punga  e  che  insieme  necessiti  una 
buona  mano  de  soggetti  grandi  a  solle- 
varlo  ed  a  liberare  tutto  il  governo  da 
cosi  violenta  oppressione,"  &c.  &c. — 
Ott°.  Bon,  Relazione. 

53  S.  Contarini,  Relazione. 

54  "  Somiglier  del  corpo.     L'Uffizio 
del  somiglier  del  corpo  consiste  nell' 
aver  cura  dei  vestiti  del  re  e  del  su« 
letto."— S.  Contarini. 


348 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XLVII1. 


was  permitted  to  know  nothing  of  state  affairs,  save  such 
portions  as  were  communicated  to  him  by  Lerma.  The 
people  thought  their  monarch  bewitched,  so  much  did  he 
tremble  before  the  favourite,  and  so  unscrupulously  did  the 
duke  appropriate  for  his  own  benefit  and  that  of  his  creatures 
everything  that  he  could  lay  his  hands  upon.  It  would  have 
needed  little  to  bring  about  a  revolution,  such  was  the  uni 
versal  hatred  felt  for  the  minister,  and  the  contempt  openly 
expressed  for  the  king.55 

The  duke  never  went  to  the  council.  All  papers  and 
documents  relating  to  business  were  sent  to  his  apartments. 
Such  matters  as  he  chose  to  pass  upon,  such  decrees  as  he 
thought  proper  to  issue,  were  then  taken  by  him  to  the  king, 
who  signed  them  with  perfect  docility.56  As  time  went  on,  this 
amount  of  business  grew  too  onerous  for  the  royal  hand,  or 
this  amount  of  participation  by  the  king  in  affairs  of  state 
came  to  be  esteemed  superfluous  and  inconvenient  by  the 
duke,  and  his  own  signature  was  accordingly  declared  to  be 
equivalent  to  that  of  the  sovereign's  sign-manual.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  such  a  degradation  of  the  royal  prerogative 
had  ever  been  heard  of  before  in  a  Christian  monarch.57 

It  may  be  imagined  that  this  system  of  government  was  not 
of  a  nature  to  expedite  business,  however  swiftly  it  might 
fill  the  duke's  coffers.  High  officers  of  state,  foreign  ambas- 


"*  "  II  volgo  si  esprime  dicendo  che 
il  re  fu  stregato,  altri  che  trema  del  su 
favorite  .  ,  .  vi  vorrebbe  poco  per  far 
nascere  una  revoluzione  .  il  duca 
di  Lerma  prende  per  se  e  per  i  suoi 
quello  che  piu  gli  pare  e  piace,  I'  odio 
del  popolo  e  tanto  grande  verso  il  duca 
per  il  mal  uso  del  suo  potere  come 
verso  il  re  a  cagione  della  sua  debo- 
lezza." — S.  Contarini. 

•'  Hat  diese  wenige  Jahre  fur  ihn 
und  die  Seinigen  das  gras  wol  ge- 
schnitten  und  so  vil  dasz  ich  mirs 
nicht  trauwe  zu  schreiben,  denn  es 
mehr  ein  Gedicht  als  der  Wahrheit 
gleich  sieht  und  doch  in  re  ipsa  ist." 
—  Khevenhuller,  Ann.  Ferd  vi.  3041. 

"  Parian o  del  re  in  guisa  che  non 
oso  riferirlo  perche  lo  tengono  in  assai 


poca  considerazione  e  perche  fa  tutto 
quello  che  vuole  il  duca  di  Lerma." — 
Ibid 

66  Ottaviano  Bon,  Relazione.  Gir°. 
Soranzo.  S.  Contarini,  relazione.  F.j 
Priuli.  "  Rimettendoli  quasi  tutti  al 
duca  senza  vederli."  | 

57  "La  segnatura  del  duca  di  Lerma 
fu  dal  re  parificata  alia  propria,esempio 
unico  nella  storia  delle  monarchic," , 
says  N.  Barozzi,  citing  Relatione  della 
vita  del  re  Filippo  III.  e  delli  suoi 
favoriti—  MS.  della  Biblioteca  reale, 
di  Berlino.  (Barozzi  and  Berchet,  s. 
i.vi.  p.288.)  See  also  Lafuente,  xv. 
294,  s.  99. 

"  Dasz  er  absolutus  Dominus  kann 
genannt  werden."  —  Khevenhuller, 
Annal.  Ferdin.  vi.  3041. 


1607. 


SYSTEMATIC  BRIBERY. 


349 


sadors,  all  men  in  short  charged  with  important  affairs,  were 
obliged  to  dance  attendance  for  weeks  and  months  on  the  one 
man  whose  hands  grasped  all  the  business  of  the  kingdom, 
while  many  departed  in  despair  without  being  able  to  secure 
a  single  audience.  It  was  entirely  a  matter  of  trade.  It  was 
necessary  to  bribe  in  succession  all  the  creatures  of  the  duke 
before  getting  near  enough  to  headquarters  to  bribe  the  duke 
himself.58  Never  were  such  itching  palms.  To  do  business 
at  court  required  the  purse  of  Fortunatus.  There  was  no 
deception  in  the  matter.  Everything  was  frank  and  above 
board  in  that  age  of  chivalry.  Ambassadors  wrote  to  their 
sovereigns  that  there  was  no  hope  of  making  treaties  or  of 
accomplishing  any  negotiation  except  by  purchasing  the 
favour  of  the  autocrat  ;59  and  Lerma's  price  was  always  high. 
At  one  period  the  republic  of  Venice  wished  to  put  a  stop  to 
the  depredations  by  Spanish  pirates  upon  Venetian  commerce, 
but  the  subject  could  not  even  be  approached  by  the  envoy 
until  he  had  expended  far  more  than  could  be  afforded  out 
of  his  meagre  salary  in  buying  an  interview.60 


68  "  E  che  per  fargli  capitar  polizze 
o  d'  udienzia  o  di  negozio  bisogna 
durar  fatica  di  settimane  entiere  ed 
andar  a  diverse  mani  con  favori  straor- 
dinarii  e  per  aver  la  risposta  poi 
bisogna  alle  volte  star  a  quella  discre- 
zione  che  mai  viene/'  &c.  &c. — Ott°. 
Bon,  Relazione. 

•'  In  modo  che  per  la  suprema  auto- 
rita  che  lui  tiene  appresso  S.  M.  (la 
qual  non  vede  ni  ricerca  ne  fa  mai  di 
piu  di  quello  che  le  vien  detto  e  portato 
da  esso  duca)  in  suo  potere  sta  1'  espe- 
dire  quello  che  comporta  il  suo  inter- 
esse."— Ibid. 

"  Ogni  principe  o  cavaliere  avendo 
qualsivoglia  interesse  colla  corona  con 
corre  con  richissimi  presenti  e  doni 
. .  .  .  e  non  vi  e  ministro  o  rappresentate 
regio  che  non  profondi  per  mantenere 
lo  ben  affetto  e  per  goder  1'autorita 
della  sua  intercessions  n — GK  Soranzo. 

"Ottiene  dal  re  cid  che  vuole;  ha 
avuto  finora  beni,  commende,  entrate 
donativi  per  la  casa  e  per  la  persona 
sua  pel  valore  di  piu  di  due  milioni 
d'oro  e  ne  avera  quanta  vorra,  e  quante 
ne  portera  Foccasione  ;  perciocche  oltre 


quelle  mercedi  che  le  sono  fatte  dal  re 
che  sono  grandissime,  la  liberta  ch' 
ha  di  accettar  presenti  lo  fara  opu- 
lentissimo,  perche  non  e  chi  pretenda 
in  corte  cosa  di  momento  che  passando 
necessiaramente  per  mano  del  duca 
non  lo  presenta  largamente,  come  si  fa 
anco  con  gran  parte  di  questi  ministri 
novelli,  che  tutti  pero  si  vanno  facendo 
richissimi." — F.  Soranzo. 

59  F.  Soranzo.    Ott°.  Bon,  Relaz. 

60  Ott°.  Bon,  Relazione.     The  small 
amount  of  salary  paid  by  the  Vene 
tian  republic  to  itr    envoys,  who  had 
the  rank  of  ambassador  at  all  the 
principal  courts,  and  were  expected  to 
live  in  as  splendid  style  as  did  the 
better  paid  ministers  of  other  powers, 
was  a  perpetual  subject  of  complaint. 
Some  of  the  royal  ambassadors  had 
five  hundred  dollars  a  month,  a  few 
had  a  thousand  dollars  a  month,  whilo 
the  diplomatic  agent  (who  was  not 
ambassador)  of  the   Grand  Duke  of 
Florence  in  France  had  a  larger  salary 
than  that  of  the  Venetian  ambassador 
at  the  same  court.     "  We  are  equal  to 
royal  ambassadors  in  dignity,"  said 


350 


THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XLVI1I. 


When  it  is  remembered  that  with  this  foremost  power  in 
the  world  affairs  of  greater  or  less  importance  were  perpetually 
to  be  transacted  by  the  representatives  of  other  nations  as 
well  as  by  native  subjects  of  every  degree  ;  that  all  these 
affairs  were  to  pass  through  the  hands  of  Lerma,  and  that 
those  hands  had  ever  to  be  filled  with  coin,  the  stupendous 
opulence  of  the  one  man  can  be  easily  understood.  Whether 
the  foremost  power  of  the  world,  thus  governed,  were  likely  to 
continue  the  foremost  power,  could  hardly  seem  doubtful  to 
those  accustomed  to  use  their  reason  in  judging  of  the  things 
of  this  world.61 

Meantime  the  duke  continued  to  transact  business  ;  to  sell 
his  interviews  and  his  interest ;  to  traffic  in  cardinals'  hats, 
bishops'  mitres,  judges'  ermine,  civic  and  magisterial  votes  in 
all  offices,  high  or  humble,  of  church,  army,  or  state. 

He  possessed  the  art  of  remembering,  or  appearing  to 
remember,  the  matters  of  business  which  had  been  communi 
cated  to  him.  When  a  negotiator,  of  whatever  degree,  had 
the  good  fortune  to  reach  the  presence,  he  found  the  duke  to 
all  appearance  mindful  of  the  particular  affair  which  led  to 


Badoer ;  "  we  are  obliged  to  approxi 
mate  to  them  in  expense  ;  one  of  three 
things  must  therefore  happen  :  our 
salary  must  be  increased  over  the  sum 
fixed  sixty  years  ago,  which  averages 
only  one  hundred  and  seventy  miser 
able  dollars  a  month,  or  the  richest 
citizens  of  the  republic  must  always  be 
selected  to  fill  all  the  embassies,  or 
persons  must  be  made  use  of  for  the 
posts  who  will  prejudice  the  esteem 
and  service  of  this  most  serene  re 
public.  The  esteem,  because  they 
must  suffer  the  thousand  indignities 
which  are  caused  by  contempt ;  the 
service,  because  they  will  not  be  able 
to  make  their  way  towards  matters  of 
business  aijd  information  which  now-a- 
days  can  only  be  done  all  over  the 
world  with  money." — A.  Badoer,  Rela- 
zione  di  Francia  in  Barozzi  and  Ber- 
chet,  Serie  II.  vol.  i.  p.  168. 

61  "  Questi  sono  tutti  quelli  che 
governano  questa  gran  macchina,  la 
maggiore  parte  de  quali  si  lascia  vin- 
cere  e  dominare  dull'  avarizia  e  per 
cio  sono  applicati  a  ricever  volontieri 


present!  e  come  president!  dei  consigli 
liberamente  vendono  la  maggior  parte 
delle  vacanze  e  le  volonta  loro  istesse 
e  con  1'esempio  di  questi,  gT  inferior! 
che  sono  ad  essi  subordinati  s'  acco- 
modano  all'  istesso  e  in  questo  tutto 
sono  talmente  domesticati  ed  accordati 
che  sapendolo  il  re  e  non  lo  proibendo 
anzi  appro vandolo  con  il.dare  licenza 
a  quello  che  glielo  domandano  di 
poter  ricever  da  qualche  soggetto  cos- 
pi  cuo  gran  somma  nelli  negozii  non  si 
cammina  d'  altra  maniera  ne  par  altra 
via  s'  ottiene  oggidi  giustizia  e  favori 
a  quella  corte  e  non  mancano  li  mezzi 
a  quest'  afletto  ordinati  e  conosciuti  da 
tutti." — Ott°.  Bon,  Relazione.  Com 
pare  S.  Contarini,  Relazione.  "Non 
e  difficile  regal  are  il  duca  di  Lenna. 
Egii  fa,  sciogle  ed  ordina  tutto  quello 
che  vuole,"  &c.  "  They  toss  causes 
from  one  to  another  like  tennis  balls," 
wrote  Cornwallis  from  Madrid.  "A 
man  may  lawfully  say  here,  non  est  qui 
f licit  bonum,  non  usque  ad  unum.  God 
Almighty  deliver  me  from  amongst 
them."— Winwood,  II.  312. 


1607 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  COURT  FROM  MADRID. 


351 


the  interview,  ancl  fully  absorbed  by  its  importance.62  There 
were  men  who,  trusting  to  the  affability  shown  by  the  great 
favourite,  and  to  the  handsome  price  paid  down  in  cash  for  that 
urbanity,  had  been  known  to  go  away  from  their  interview 
believing  that  their  business  was  likely  to  be  accomplished, 
until  the  lapse  of  time  revealed  to  them  the  wildness  of  their 
dream. 

The  duke  perhaps  never  manifested  his  omnipotence  on  a 
more  striking  scale  than  when  by  his  own  fiat  he  removed  the 
court  and  the  seat  of  government  to  Valladolid,  and  kept  it 
there  six  years  long.63  This  was  declared  by  disinterested 
observers  to  be  not  only  contrary  to  common  sense,  but  even 
beyond  the  bounds  of  possibility.64  At  Madrid  the  king  had 
splendid  palaces,  and  in  its  neighbourhood  beautiful  country 
residences,  a  pure  atmosphere,  and  the  facility  of  changing 
the  air  at  will.  At  Yalladojid  there  were  no  conveniences  of 
any  kind,  no  sufficient  palace,  no  summer  villa,  no  park, 
nothing  but  an  unwholesome  climate.65  But  most  of  the 
duke's  estates  were  in  that  vicinity,  and  it  was  desirable 
for  him  to  overlook  them  in  person.66  Moreover,  he  wished  to 
get  rid  of  the  possible  influence  over  the  king  of  the  Empress 
Dowager  Maria,  widow  of  Maximilian  II.  and  aunt  and 
grandmother  of  Philip  III.67  The  minister  could  hardly 
drive  this  exalted  personage  from  court,  so  easily  as  he 
had  banished  the  ex-Archbishop  of  Toledo,  the  Inquisitor* 
General,  the  Duchess  of  Candia,  besides  a  multitude  of  lesser 
note.  So  he  did  the  next  best  thing,  and  banished  the  court 
from  the  empress,  who  was  not  likely  to  put  up  with  the 


62  F.  Soranzo. 

63  F.  Soranzo.  F.  Priuli.     *'  Essendo 
asceso  tanto  il  credito  appresso  S.M.che 
teme  di  contradirgli  e  percio  guidato 
da'  suoi  interessi  si  lascio  persuadere 
a  condurre  la  corte  in  Valladolid  tenen^ 
dove  la  vicino  a  sei  anni  contra  il  senso 
commune  e  quasi  contro  al  possibile 
per  1'  incapacita  del  luogo." 

64  F.  Priuli.  65  F.  Soranzo. 

w  Ibid.  "  I  fear  some  evil  event  to 
that  duke,"  wrote  Cornwallis,  "  whose 
HJHSoderate  desires,  of  bjfl  own  particu 


lar  interests  draw  him  to  precipitate 
himself  into  the  gulf  of  envy  and  male 
diction  of  the  people,  by  leading  a  king 
in  such  an  unfitting  sort  after  him, 
with  manifest  neglect  of  the  important 
affairs  of  his  kingdom,  and  disregard  of 
what  belongs  to  his  kingly  office.  The 
wisest  say  here,  according  to  our  Eng 
lish  proverb,  that  hell  is  broken  loose." 
Wjnwood,  II.  395. 

67  Ibid.  She  was  sister  of  Philip  II. 
Her  daughter  Anna  was  Philip  JJ.'a 
fourth  wife,  and  mother  of  Philip  JJJ, 


352  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XLVIII. 

inconveniences  of  Valladolid  for  the  sake  of  outrivalling  the 
duke.  This  Babylonian  captivity  lasted  until  Madrid  was 
nearly  ruined,  until  the  desolation  of  the  capital,  the  moans  of 
the  tradespeople,  the  curses  of  the  poor,  and  the  grumblings 
of  the  courtiers,  finally  produced  an  effect  even  upon  the  arbi 
trary  Lerma.68  He  then  accordingly  re-emigrated,  with  king 
and  Government,  to  Madrid,  and  caused  it  to  be  published 
that  he  had  at  last  overcome  the  sovereign's  repugnance  to 
the  old  capital,  and  had  persuaded  him  to  abandon  Valla 
dolid.69 

There  was  but  one  man  who  might  perhaps  from  his  posi 
tion  have  competed  with  the  influence  of  Lerma.  This  was 
the  king's  father-confessor,  whom  Philip  wished — although 
of  course  his  wish  was  not  gratified — to  make  a  member  of 
the  council  of  state.70  The  monarch,  while  submitting  in 
everything  secular  to  the  duke's  decrees,  had  a  feeble  deter 
mination  to  consult  and  to  be  guided  by  his  confessor  in  all 
matters  of  conscience.  As  it  was  easy  to  suggest  that  high 
affairs  of  state,  the  duties  of  government,  the  interests  of  a 
great  people,  were  matters  not  entirely  foreign  to  the  con 
science  of  anointed  kings,  an  opening  to  power  might  have 
seemed  easy  to  an  astute  and  ambitious  churchman.  But  the 
Dominican  who  kept  Philip's  conscience,  Gasparo  de  Cor 
dova  by  name,71  was,  fortunately  for  the  favourite,  of  a  very 
tender  paste,  easily  moulded  to  the  duke's  purpose.  Dull  and 
ignorant  enough,  he  was  not  so  stupid  as  to  doubt  that,  should 
he  whisper  any  suggestions  or  criticisms  in  regard  to  the 
minister's  proceedings,  the  king  would  betray  him  and  he 
would  lose  his  office.72  The  cautious  friar  accordingly  held 
his  peace  and  his  place,  and  there  was  none  to  dispute  the 
sway  of  the  autocrat. 

What  need  to  dilate  further  upon  such  a  minister  and  upon 


68  Priuli.     F.  Soranzo. 
89  Ibid.       *>  F.  Soranzo.       «  Ibid. 
12  "Ed  il  confessore,  che  e  quello 
che  parlando  al  re  di  secreto  potria 


del  governo  di  stato  ed  incapace  di 
tutte  le  cose  grandi  che  non  sapria 
farlo  e  forse  per  il  timore  che  il  re 
stesso  non  lo  palesasse  a  S.  E.  dal  che 


avvertirlo,  e  di  pasta  cosi  tenera,  di '  non  seguisse  la  sua  total  depressione." 
C08ipocointendimento,deltuttoignaro  i  — Ott°.  Bon,  Relazione. 


1607,  GOVERNMENT  OF  PHILIP  III.  353 

snch  a  system  of  government  ?  To  bribe  and  to  be  bribed,  to 
maintain  stipendiaries  in  every  foreign  Government,  to  place 
the  greatness  of  the  empire  upon  the  weakness,  distraction, 
and  misery  of  other  nations,  to  stimulate  civil  war,  revolts  of 
nobles  and  citizens  against  authority ;  separation  of  provinces, 
religious  discontents  in  every  land  of  Christendom — such  were 
the  simple  rules  ever  faithfully  enforced. 

The  other  members  of  what  was  called  the  council  were 
insignificant. 

Philip  III.,  on  arriving  at  the  throne,  had  been  heard  to 
observe  that  the  day  of  simple  esquires  and  persons  of  low 
condition  was  past,  and  that  the  turn  of  great  nobles  had 
come.73  It  had  been  his  father's  policy  to  hold  the  grandees 
in  subjection,  and  to  govern  by  means  of  ministers  who  were 
little  more  than  clerks,  generally  of  humble  origin ;  keeping 
the  reins  in  his  own  hands.  Such  great  personages  as  he 
did  employ,  like  Alva,  Don  John  of  Austria,  and  Farnese,  were 
sure  at  last  to  excite  his  jealousy  and  to  incur  his  hatred. 
Forty-three  years  of  this  kind  of  work  had  brought  Spain  to 
the  condition  in  which  the  third  Philip  found  it.  The  new 
king  thought  to  have  found  a  remedy  in  discarding  the  clerks, 
and  calling  in  the  aid  of  dukes.  Philip  II.  was  at  least  a 
king.  The  very  first  act  of  Philip  III.  at  his  father's  death 
was  to  abdicate. 

It  was,  however,  found  necessary  to  retain  some  members 
of  the  former  Government.  Fuentes,  the  best  soldier  and 
accounted  the  most  dangerous  man  in  the  empire,  was  indeed 
kept  in  retirement  as  governor  of  Milan,  while  Cristoval  di 
Mora,  who  had  enjoyed  much  of  the  late  king's  confidence,  was 
removed  to  Portugal  as  viceroy.  But  Don  John  of  Idiaquez, 
who  had  really  been  the  most  efficient  of  the  old  administra 
tion,  still  remained  in  the  council.  Without  the  subordinate 
aid  of  his  experience  in  the  routine  of  business,  it  would  have 
been  difficult  for  the  favourite  to  manage  the  great  machine 
with  his  single  hand.  But  there  was  no  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  ancient  minister  to  oppose  the  new  order  of  things. 

18  F.  Soranzo,  Relazione.     "  Scudieri,  certa  bassa  taglia  d'uomini." 
VOL.  IV.— 2  A 


354 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XLVIII. 


A  cautious,  caustic,  dry  old  functionary,  talking  more  with 
his  shoulders  than  with  his  tongue,74  determined  never  to 
commit  himself,  or  to  risk  shipwreck  by  venturing  again  into 
deeper  waters  than  those  of  the  harbour  in  which  he  now 
hoped  for  repose,  Idiaquez  knew  that  his  day  of  action  was 
past.  Content  to  be  confidential  clerk  to  the  despot  duke,  as 
he  had  been  faithful  secretary  to  the  despot  king,  he  was  the 
despair  of  courtiers  and  envoys  who  came  to  pump,  after 
having  endeavoured  to  fill  an  inexhaustible  cistern.  Thus  he 
proved,  on  the  whole,  a  useful  and  comfortable  man;  not  to 
the  country,  but  to  its  autocrat. 

Of  the  Count  of  Chinchon,  who  at  one  time  was  supposed 
to  have  court  influence  because  a  dabbler  in  architecture, 
much  consulted  during  the  building  of  the  Escorial  by 
Philip  II.  until  the  auditing  of  his  accounts  brought  him  into 
temporary  disgrace,75  and  the  Marquises  of  Velada,  Villalonga, 
and  other  ministers,  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak.  There  was 
one  man  in  the  council,  however,  who  was  of  great  importance, 
wielding  a  mighty  authority  in  subordination  to  the  duke. 
This  was  Don  Pietro  de  Franqueza.76  An  emancipated 
slave,  as  his  name  indicated,  and  subsequently  the  body- 
servant  of  Lerma,  he  had  been  created  by  that  minister 
secretary  of  the  privy  council.  He  possessed  some  of  the 
virtues  of  the  slave,  such  as  docility  and  attachment  to 
the  hand  that  had  fed  and  scourged  him,  and  many  vices  of 
both  slave  and  freedman.  He  did  much  of  the  work  which 
it  would  have  been  difficult  for  the  duke  to  accomplish  in 
person,  received  his  fees,  sold  and  dispensed  his  interviews, 
distributed  his  bribes.  In  so  doing,  as  might  be  supposed,  he 
did  not  neglect  his  own  interest.  It  was  a  matter  of  notoriety, 
no  man  knowing  it  better  than  the  king,  that  no  business, 
foreign  or  domestic,  could  be  conducted  or  even  begun  at  court 
without  large  preliminary  fees  to  the  secretary  of  the  council, 


74  "In  modo  che  e  conosciuto  da 
tutti  per  testa  secca  e  che  poco  possa 
ad  altri  che  al  re  solo  gioyare  .  .  .  . 
P  ho  provato  tanto  cauto  avido  e  riser- 
vato  che  alle  volte  piu  mi  rispondeva 


con  le    spalle  che  con  la  bocca." 
Ott°.  Bon,  Relazione. 

75  F.  Soranzo,  Relazione. 

76  Ott°.  Bon,  Relazione. 


1607.  CHARACTER  OF  THE   KING.  355 

his  wife,  and  his  children.  He  had,  in  consequence,  already 
accumulated  an  enormous  fortune.  His  annual  income,  when 
it  was  stated,  excited  amazement.  He  was  insolent  and  over 
bearing  to  all  comers  until  his  dues  had  been  paid,  when  he 
became  at  once  obliging,  supple,  and  comparatively  efficient. 
Through  him  alone  lay  the  path  to  the  duke's  sanctuary.77 

The  nominal  sovereign,  Philip  III.,  was  thirty  years  of  age, 
A  very  little  man,  with  pink  cheeks,  flaxen  hair,  and  yellow 
beard,  with  a  melancholy  expression  of  eye,  and  protruding 
under  lip  and  jaw,  he  was  now  comparatively  alert  and 
vigorous  in  constitution,  although  for  the  first  seven  years 
of  his  life  it  had  been  doubtful  whether  he  would  live  from 
week  to  week.78  He  had  been  afflicted  during  that  period 
with  a  chronic  itch  or  leprosy,  which  had  undermined  his 
strength,  but  which  had  almost  entirely  disappeared  as  he 
advanced  in  life.79 

He  was  below  mediocrity  in  mind,80  and  had  received 
scarcely  any  education.  He  had  been  taught  to  utter  a  few 
phrases,  more  or  less  intelligible,  in  French,  Italian,  and 
Flemish,  but  was  quite  incapable  of  sustaining  a  conversa 
tion  in  either  of  those  languages.81  When  a  child,  he  had 
learned  and  subsequently  forgotten  the  rudiments  of  the 
Latin  grammar.82 

These  acquirements,  together  with  the  catechism  and  the 
offices  of  the  Church,  made  up  his  whole  stock  of  erudition. 
That  he  was  devout  as  a  monk  of  the  middle  ages,  conforming 
daily  and  hourly  to  religious  ceremonies,  need  scarcely  be 
stated.  It  was  not  probable  that  the  son  of  Philip  II. 
would  be  a  delinquent  to  church  observances.  He  was  not 
deficient  in  courage,  rode  well,  was  fond  of  hunting,  kept 

77  Ott°.  Bon,  Relazione.    "  Di  bassis- 
sima  condizione,  nato  d'  uno  schiavo 
fatto  libero  che  ha  conservato  e  portato 
il  nome  di  franqueza,"  &c\  &c. 

78  "  fe  il  re  di  buona  complessione, 
agile  della  vita,  piccolo  della  persona  j 


w  Ibid. 

80  S.  Contarini.      "  La  sua   intelli- 
genza     meno    che    mediocre."  —  F. 
Priuli. 

81  S.    Contarini.       "  Parla    alcune 
lingue  ma  corrottemente  solo  che  basti 


ma  ben  formato,  di  pelo  rosso  e  biondo, !  per  farsi  intendere  ....  ed  ha  avuto 
di  carnagione  bianca  e  colorita,  col  j  qualche    principle  di   lingua   Latiiia 
labbro  del  mento  sollevato  all'  Aus-   quondo  era  giovinissimo." 
triaca.      Ha  la  guardatura   un  poco  I      82  Ibid, 
malinconica,"  &c.  &c. — F.  Soranzo. 


356 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLVIIL 


close  to  the  staghounds,  and  confronted,  spear  in  hand,  the 
wild-boar  with  coolness  and  success.83  He  was  fond  of  tennis, 
but  his  especial  passion  and  chief  accomplishment  was 
dancing.  He  liked  to  be  praised  for  his  proficiency  in  this 
art,  and  was  never  happier  than  when  gravely  leading  out  the 
queen  or  his  daughter,  then  four  or  five  years  of  age — for  he 
never  danced  with  any  one  else — to  perform  a  stately  bolero.84 
He  never  drank  wine,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  was  an 
enormous  eater  ;  so  that,  like  his  father  in  youth,  he  was  per 
petually  suffering  from  stomach-ache  as  the  effect  of  his 
gluttony.85  He  was  devotedly  attached  to  his  queen,  and  had 
never  known,  nor  hardly  looked  at,  any  other  woman.86  He 
had  no  vice  but  gambling,  in  which  he  indulged  to  a  great 
extent,  very  often  sitting  up  all  night  at  cards.87  This 
passion  of  the  king's  was  much  encouraged  by  Lerma,  for 
obvious  reasons.  Philip  had  been  known  to  lose  thirty 
thousand  dollars  at  a  sitting,  and  always  to  some  one  of  the 
family  or  dependents  of  the  duke,  who  of  course  divided  with 
them  the  spoils.  At  one  time  the  Count  of  Pelbes,  nephew 
of  Lerma,  had  won  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  a  very 
few  nights  from  his  sovereign.88 


83  "Corre  dietro  ai  cani  velocissa- 
mente,  affronta  i  porchi  cinghiali  con 
grande  ardire,  tira  d'  archibugio  in 
eccelenza  bene,"  &c. — F.  Soranzo. 

84  "  Non  beve  vino  e  mangia  assai,  si 
diletta  della  caccia  e  percio  esce  spesso 
in   campagna  e   fa  volentieri  viaggi 
impiegando  il  resto  del  tempo  in  giuo- 
care  alia  pillotta  ed  in  danzare ,  e  sog- 
getto  di  debole  ingegno,  nimicissimo 
del  negozio  e  di  governare  non  pen- 
sando  ne  a  guerra  ne  a  pace  come  se 
non  fosse  re  ne  avesse  stati,  non  incli 
nando  al  governo  ne  per  natura  ne  per 
educazione  anzi  per  propria  volonta  si 
e   allontanato  del   tutto;   e   per  sua 
natura  liberale  sebbene  alii  negozii  di 
grazia  e  di  giustizia  ancora  non  fa  ne 

S'u  ne  meno  di  quello  clie  vuole  il 
.  di  Lerma  e  in  continue  bisogno 
di  denaro,  ha  qualche  notizia  degli 
travagli  che  gli  occorrono  di  Fiandra, 
d'  Inghilterra  e  d'  altri  luoghi  ma 
come  quello  che  non  ha  gusto  ne  si 
puo  dire  parte  nel  governo  ....  ma 


non  vedendo  ne  considerando  1'  espe- 

dizioni  e  credo  io  non  essendo  capace 

i  di  cose  grandi  con  il  sotto  scrivere  pare 

|  che  dalla  S.  M.  esca  il  tutto  ma  real- 

mente  sebbene  vi  sono  li  consigli  il 

Duca  fa  e  risolve  tutte  le  cose  a  suo 

beneplacito."  —  Ottaviano    Bon,    Re- 

lazione. 

"  Balla  molto  bene  ed  e  la  cosa  che 
gusta  di  piu  piacendogli  d'  esser  lodato 
in  queste  divertimento  ...  quando 
balla  ballasempre  con  sua  figlia  o  con  la 
regina,"  &c.— S.  Coutarini,  Relazione. 

85  S.  Contarini.     "  Sottoposto  al  do 
lor  di  stomaco  per  il  soverchio  man- 
giare.     Nondimeno  mangia  carne  del 
continue  e  con  essa  si  nutrisce  quattro 
volte  il  giorno." — F.  Priuli,  Relazione. 

86  Ottavo.  Bon.     F.  Soranzo. 

87  S.  Contarini.     F.  Priuli. 

88  S.     Contarini,     Relazione.      "  Si 
intratiene  la   sera  dopo  la  cena  nel 
giuoco  con  il  quale  ha  arrichito  molti 
cavalieri  che  lo  servono." — Girolamo 
Soranzo, 


1607. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  KING. 


357 


For  the  rest,  Philip  had  few  peculiarities  or  foibles.  He  was 
not  revengeful,  nor  arrogant,  nor  malignant.  He  was  kind 
and  affectionate  to  his  wife  and  children,  and  did  his  best  to 
be  obedient  to  the  Duke  of  Lerma.  Occasionally  he  liked  to 
grant  audiences,  but  there  were  few  to  request  them.  It  was 
ridiculous  and  pathetic  at  the  same  time  to  see  the  poor  king, 
as  was  very  frequently  the  case,  standing  at  a  solemn  green 
table  till  his  little  legs  were  tired,  waiting  to  transact  business 
with  applicants  who  never  came  ;  while  ushers,  chamberlains, 
and  valets  were  rushing  up  and  down  the  corridors,  bawling 
for  all  persons  so  disposed  to  come  and  have  an  audience  of 
their  monarch.  Meantime,  the  doors  of  the  great  duke's 
apartments  in  the  same  palace  would  be  beleaguered  by  an 
army  of  courtiers,  envoys,  and  contractors,  who  had  paid  solid 
gold  for  admission,  and  who  were  often  sent  away  grumbling 
and  despairing  without  entering  the  sacred  precincts.89 

As  time  wore  on,  the  king,  too  much  rebuked  for  attempt 
ing  to  meddle  in  state  affairs,  became  solitary  and  almost 
morose,  moping  about  in  the  woods  by  himself,90  losing  satis 
faction  in  his  little  dancing  and  ball-playing  diversions,  but 
never  forgetting  his  affection  for  the  queen  nor  the  hours  for 
his  four  daily  substantial  repasts  of  meats  and  pastry.  It 
would  be  unnecessary  and  almost  cruel  to  dwell  so  long  upon 
a  picture  of  what  was  after  all  not  much  better  than  human 
imbecility,  were  it  not  that  humanity  is  a  more  sacred  thing 
than  royalty.  A  satire  upon  such  an  embodiment  of  king 
ship  is  impossible,  the  simple  and  truthful  characteristics 
being  more  effective  than  fiction  or  exaggeration.  It  would  be 


89  "  Ed  e  cosa  ridicula  il  vedere  che 
quando  il  re  vuole  dar  udienza  il  che 
segue  piii  giorni  alia  settimana  non  si 
ritrova  alcuno  che  la  voglia  e  per 
non  lasciarlo  con  questa  indignita,  li 
valletti  di  camera  salgono  sino  nelli 
corridor!  del  palazzo  gridando  ed  in- 
vitando  le  persone  a  entrare  all' 
udienza  di  sua  Maesta ;  neppure  poi 
questo  giova  in  modo  che  ben  spesso 
le  occorre  levarsi  dalla  tavola  dove 
appoggiato  suole  stare  aspettando 
senza  che  alcuno  o  pochi  le  abbino 


parlato,  ed  all'  incontro  alle  stanze 
del  duca  di  Lerma  e  tanta  frequenza 
d'ogni  sorte  di  persone  che  vorrebbero 
udienza  che  e  cosa  non  meno  di 
stupore  che  di  compassione  il  ve- 
derlo."  —  Ottaviano  Bon,  Relazioni. 

90  "  E  dopo  di  aversi  entieramente 
dato  al  duca  di  Lerma  il  suo  carattere 
e  divenuto  solitario  ed  amante  di 
i  boschi  tanto  che  si  dice  che 


questi  boschi  ed  il  duca  di   Lerma 
siano  il  re."  —  S.  Contarini. 


358 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XLVIII. 


unjust  to  exhume  a  private  character  after  the  lapse  of  two 
centuries  merely  to  excite  derision,  but  if  history  be  not  power 
less  to  instruct,  it  certainly  cannot  be  unprofitable  to  ponder 
the  merits  of  a  system  which,  after  bestowing  upon  the  world 
forty-three  years  of  Philip  the  tyrant,  had  now  followed  them 
up  with  a  decade  of  Philip  the  simpleton. 

In  one  respect  the  reigning  sovereign  was  in  advance  of 
his  age.  In  his  devotion  to  the  Madonna  he  claimed  the  same 
miraculous  origin  for  her  mother  as  for  herself.  When  the  prayer 
"  0  Sancta  Maria  sine  lobe  originali  concepta"  was  chanted,  he 
would  exclaim  with  emotion  that  the  words  embodied  his  de- 
voutest  aspirations.  He  had  frequent  interviews  with  doctors 
of  divinity  on  the  subject,  and  instructed  many  bishops  to  urge 
upon  the  pope  the  necessity  of  proclaiming  the  virginity  of  the 
Virgin's  mother.  Could  he  secure  this  darling  object  of  his  am 
bition,  he  professed  himself  ready  to  make  a  pilgrimage  oil 
foot  to  Eome.91  The  pilgrimage  was  never  made,  for  it  may 
well  be  imagined  that  Lerma  would  forbid  any  such  adven 
turous  scheme.  Meantime,  the  duke  continued  to  govern  the 
empire  and  to  fill  his  coffers,  and  the  king  to  shoot  rabbits. 

The  queen  was  a  few  years  younger  than  her  husband,  and 
far  from  beautiful.  Indeed,  the  lower  portion  of  her  face  was 
almost  deformed.  She  was  graceful,  however,  in  her  move 
ments,  and  pleasing  and  gentle  in  manner.92  She  adored  the 
king,  looking  up  to  him  with  reverence  as  the  greatest  and 
wisest  of  beings.  To  please  him  she  had  upon  her  marriage 
given  up  drinking  wine,  which,  for  a  German,  was  considered 
a  great  sacrifice.9*  She  recompensed  herself,  as  the  king  did, 
by  eating  to  an  extent  which,  according  to  contemporary 
accounts,  excited  amazement.94  Thus  there  was  perfect 


91  S.   Contarini,   Relazione.       Giro. 
Soranzo.     Notes  cf  N.  Barozzi  (p.  289 
ser.   L    vol.    i.)      Poreno,    Dichos    y 
Hechos  de  Felipe  III.  ch.  xii.,  cited 
by  Barozzi. 

92  "  Non  si  pud  dire  bruttama  non  e 
manco  bella  per   avere  la   faccia  de- 
formata    assai    dalla  bocca  a  basso, 
tuttavia    la    vapflie/za    del    colore    e 
V  agilita  del  corpo  la  fa  riuscire  grata 


ad  ognuno  e  dal  marito  e  grandemente 
amata." — F.  Priuli,  Relazione. 

93  F.    Soranzo.       Ott».    Bon,    Rela 
zione. 

94  "Le  hanno  levato    il    vino  per 
rispetto  della  conversazione^  col  re  che 
gli  riesce  molesto  ma  si  rifa  col  man- 
giare  tan  to  che  &  cosa  di  maraviglia." 
—  Otto.  Bon,  Relazione. 


1607.  DOMESTIC  LIFE  OF  THE  KING  AND  QUEEN.  359 

sympathy  between  the  two  in  the  important  article  of  diet. 
She  had  also  learned  to  play  at  cards,  in  order  to  take  a  hand 
with  him  at  any  moment,  feebly  hoping  that  an  occasional 
game  for  love  might  rescue  the  king  from  that  frantic  passion 
by  which  his  health  was  shattered  and  so  many  courtiers 
were  enriched.95 

Not  being  deficient  in  perception,  the  queen  was  quite 
aware  of  the  greediness  of  all  who  surrounded  the  palace. 
She  had  spirit  enough  too  to  feel  the  galling  tyranny  to 
which  the  king  was  subjected.  That  the  people  hated  the 
omnipotent  favourite,  and  believed  the  king  to  be  under  the 
influence  of  sorcery,  she  was  well  aware.  She  had  even  a  dim 
notion  that  the  administration  of  the  empire  was  not  the 
wisest  nor  the  noblest  that  could  be  devised  for  the  first  power 
in  Christendom.  But  considerations  of  high  politics  scarcely 
troubled  her  mind.  Of  a  People  she  had  perhaps  never  heard, 
but  she  felt  that  the  king  was  oppressed.  She  knew  that  he 
was  helpless,  and  that  she  was  herself  his  only  friend.  But  of 
what  avail  were  her  timid  little  flutterings  of  indignation  and 
resistance  ?  So  pure  and  fragile  a  creature  could  accomplish 
little  good  for  king  or  people.  Perpetually  guarded  and 
surrounded  by  the  Countess  of  Lemos  and  the  Duchess  of 
Lerma,  she  lived  in  mortal  awe  of  both.96  As  to  the  duke 
himself,  she  trembled  at  his  very  name.  On  her  first  attempts 
to  speak  with  Philip  on  political  matters — to  hint  at  the 
unscrupulous  character  of  his  government,  to  arouse  him  to 
the  necessity  of  striking  for  a  little  more  liberty  and  for  at 
least  a  trifling  influence  in  the  state — the  poor  little  king 
instantly  betrayed  her  to  the  favourite  and  she  was  severely 
punished.  The  duke  took  the  monarch  off  at  once  on  a  long 
journey,  leaving  her  alone  for  weeks  long  with  the  terrible 
duchess  and  countess.  Never  before  had  she  been  separated 
for  a  day  from  her  husband,  it  having  been  the  king's  uniform 
custom  to  take  her  with  him  in  all  his  expeditions.  Her 


95  "  Ne  mostra  dl  gustare  d'  altro 
trattenimento  che  del  giuoco  per  con- 
formarei  col  re  pretendendo  per  tal  via 
di  deviarlo  dal  giuocar  con  altri  clie 


lo  fa  cadere  nelle  sopradette  perdite. 
— F.  Priuli. 
96  p.  Priuli.    F.  Soranzo. 


360 


THE  UNITED   NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XLVIIL 


ambition  to  interfere  was  thus  effectually  cured.97  The  duke 
forbade  her  thenceforth  ever  to  speak  of  politics  to  her  hus 
band  in  public  or  in  private — not  even  in  bed — and  the  king 
was  closely  questioned  whether  these  orders  had  been 
obeyed.98  She  submitted  without  a  struggle.  She  saw  how 
completely  her  happiness  was  at  Lerma's  mercy.  She  had 
no  one  to  consult  with,  having  none  but  Spanish  people 
about  her,  except  her  German  father-confessor,  whom,  as  a 
great  favour,  and  after  a  severe  struggle,  she  had  been 
allowed  to  retain,  as  otherwise  her  ignorance  of  the  national 
language  would  have  made  it  impossible  for  her  to  confess 
her  little  sins.99  Moreover  her  brothers,  the  archdukes  at 
Gratz,  were  in  receipt  of  considerable  annual  stipends  from 
the  Spanish  exchequer,  and  the  duke  threatened  to  stop  those 
pensions  at  once  should  the  queen  prove  refractory.100  It  is 
painful  to  dwell  any  longer  on  the  abject  servitude  in  which 
the  king  and  queen  were  kept.101  The  two  were  at  least 


97  "  Voleva  alcuni  anni  sonoestender- 
si  nel  maneggio  del  negozii  ma  il  duca 
di  Lerma  che  lo  sentiva  malissimo  per 
levarla  da  quest!  pensieri  la  mortified 
conducendo  alcune  volto  il  re  in  cam- 
pagna  senza  di  lei  e  tenendo  glielo 
separate  le  settimane  entiere.  Senti 
tanto  la  regina  quest'  assenza  regia  e 
conobbe  1'origine  di  questo  disgusto 
che  da  se  si  astenne  affatto  d'  inge- 
rirsi  piu  nei  negozii  ed  in  questa 
maniera  si  pacified  col  duca." — Gir°. 
Soranzo. 

98  F.  Contarini  "  Nemmeno  tro- 
vandosi  a  letto."— N  Barozzi  (Ser.  I. 
vol.  i.  p.  325)  citing  Relazione  della 
Vita,  &c.  &c.  MS.  of  Berlin. 

"  Ihr  seyen  alle  Handt  gebunden. 
Wasz  man  ihr  zuwider  thun  kan,  das 
time  man,  wann  sie  was  heimlich  redt 
BO  halt  man  sie  in  Argwohn,  es  sey 
wider  die  Hertzogen  Lerma  und  Uzeda 
oder  die  ihrigen  angesehen.  Ihr  en 
Gemahl  examinierten  sie  was  sie  mit 
ihm  im  Bedt  redt  und  hdben  ihr  ver- 
boten  bey  dem  Konig  um  kein  Saehen 
zuintercediren  nodi  im,  Bedt  oderallein 
mit  ihm  Negocio  zu  tractiren.  Was  sie 
nach  Deutschland  schreibt  will  man 
wissen,"  etc.  etc. — Khevenhiiller, 
Annales  Ferdinandei,  torn.  vi.  3038. 
Surely  never  was  a  more  dismal  pic 


ture  painted  of  tyranny  exercised  by 
subject  over  his  sovereigns.  It  was  no 
wonder  that  the  unfortunate  queen  pro 
tested  to  Count  Khevenhiiller  that  she 
•would  rather  go  into  a  convent  at 
Gratz  than  be  Queen  of  Spain." — Ibid. 

99  Otto.   Bon,    Relazione.        "  Con- 
fessore  della    medesima    nazione  da 
lei  tenuto  a  viva  forza. — F.  Priuli. 
Relazione 

100  (jiro_  Soranzo,  Relazione.      Five 
thousand  crowns  a  month  to  the  Arch 
duke  Ferdinand,  and  much  help  be 
sides  to  the    others.      "LJ   arciduca 
Ferdinando  al  quale  ha  assegnato  5000 
scudi  di  provisione  al  mese,  e  lui  ed  i 
fratelli  cavano    del    continue    grossi 
ajuti  di  corte,  e  la  regina  non  cessa 
mai  di  procurar  loro  alcuna  cosa ;  e 
questa  e  una  delle  cause  principal!  che 
tiene  la  regina  in  necessita  di  stare 
unita  e  si  pud  dire  dependente  dal 
duca  di  Lerma  ;  poiche  procurando  lei 
sempre  alcun  sussidio  per  i  fratelli  e 
convenendo  valersi  dell'  autorita  del 
duca,  non  pud  per  questo  import  ante 
rispetto  dargli  alcun  disgusto  ne  intro- 
mettersi  in  quello  che  non  e  di  sua 
soldisfazione." 

101  «Nej  reg-to  vjve  in  continua  servitu 
e  con  tanto  rispetto  che  maggiore  non 
si  pud  dire." — Ott°.  Bon,  Relazione. 


1607.  DOMESTIC  LIFE  OF  THE  KING  AND  QUEEN. 

happy  in  each  other's  society,  and  were  blessed  with  mutual 
affection,  with  pretty  and  engaging  children,  and  with  a 
similarity  of  tastes.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  anything 
more  stately,  more  devout,  more  regular,  more  innocent, 
more  utterly  dismal  and  insipid,  than  the  lives  of  this 
wedded  pair. 

This  interior  view  of  the  court  and  council  of  Spain  will 
suffice  to  explain  why,  despite  the  languor  and  hesitations 
with  which  the  transactions  were  managed,  the  inevitable 
tendency  was  towards  a  peace.  The  inevitable  slowness, 
secrecy,  and  tergiversations  were  due  to  the  dignity  of  the 
Spanish  court,  and  in  harmony  with  its  most  sacred  traditions. 
But  what  profit  could  the  Duke  of  Lerma  expect  by  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  Dutch  war,  and  who  in  Spain  was  to  be 
consulted  except  the  Duke  of  Lerma  ? 


362  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL1X. 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 


Peace  deliberations  in  Spain  —  Unpopularity  of  the  project —  Disaffection  of 
the  courtiers  —  Complaints  against  Spinola —  Conference  of  the  Catholic 
party  —  Position  of  Henry  IV  towards  the  republic  —  State  of  France  — 
Further  peace  negotiations  —  Desire  of  King  James  of  England  for  the 
restoration  of  the  States  to  Spain  —  Arrival  of  the  French  commissioners  — 
President  Jeannin  before  the  States-General  —  Dangers  of  a  truce  with 
Spain  —  Dutch  legation  to  England  —  Arrival  of  Lewis  Verreyken  at  the 
Hague  with  Philip's  ratification — Rejection  of  the  Spanish  treaty  — 
Withdrawal  of  the  Dutch  fleet  from  the  Peninsula  —  The  peace  project 
denounced  by  the  party  of  Prince  Maurice  —  Opposition  of  Maurice  to  the 
plans  of  Barneveld — Amended  ratification  presented  to  the  States- 
General  —  Discussion  of  the  conditions  —  Determination  to  conclude  a 
peace —  Indian  trade  —  Exploits  of  Admiral  Matelieff  in  the  Malay  penin 
sula  —  He  lays  siege  to  Malacca  —  Victory  over  the  Spanish  fleet  — 
Endeavour  to  open  a  trade  with  China  —  Return  of  Matelieff  to  Holland- 

THE  Marquis  Spinola  had  informed  the  Spanish  Government 
that  if  300,000  dollars  a  month  could  be  furnished,  the  war 
might  be  continued,  but  that  otherwise  it  would  be  better  to 
treat  upon  the  basis  of  uti  possidetis,  and  according  to  the 
terms  proposed  by  the  States-General.  He  had  further  in 
timated  his  opinion  that,  instead  of  waiting  for  the  king's 
consent,  it  more  comported  with  the  king's  dignity  for  the 
archdukes  to  enter  into  negotiations,  to  make  a  preliminary 
and  brief  armistice  with  the  enemy,  and  then  to  solicit  the 
royal  approval  of  what  had  been  done. 

In  reply,  the  king — that  is  to  say  the  man  who  thought, 
wrote,  and  signed  in  behalf  of  the  king — had  plaintively 
observed  that  among  evils  the  vulgar  rule  was  to  submit  to 
the  least.1  Although,  therefore,  to  grant  to  the  Netherland 
rebels  not  only  peace  and  liberty,  but  to  concede  to  them 
whatever  they  had  obtained  by  violence  and  the  most  abomi 
nable  outrages,  was  the  worst  possible  example  to  all  princes  ; 
1  The  King  to  Spinola,  28  February,  1607,  in  GalJucci,  338, 


1607.  DIFFICULTY   OF  CONTINUING  THE  WAR.  353 

yet  as  the  enormous  sum  necessary  for  carrying  on  the  war 
was  not  to  be  had,  even  by  attempting  to  scrape  it  together 
from  every  corner  of  the  earth,  he  agreed  with  the  opinion  of 
the  archdukes  that  it  was  better  to  put  an  end  to  this  eternal 
and  exhausting  war  by  peace  or  truce,  even  under  severe 
conditions.  That  the  business  had  thus  far  proceeded  with 
out  consulting  him,  was  publicly  known,  and  he  expressed 
approval  of  the  present  movements  towards  a  peace  or  a  long 
truce,  assuring  Spinola  that  such  a  result  would  be  as  grateful 
to  him  as  if  the  war  had  been  brought  to  a  successful  issue. 

When  the  Marquis  sent  formal  notice  of  the  armistice  to 
Spain  there  were  many  complaints  at  court.  Men  said  that 
the  measure  was  beneath  the  king's  dignity,  and  contrary  to 
his  interests.  It  was  a  cessation  of  arms  under  iniquitous 
conditions,  accorded  to  a  people  formerly  subject  and  now 
rebellious.  Such  a  truce  was  more  fatal  than  any  conflict, 
than  any  amount  of  slaughter.  During  this  long  and  dreadful 
war,  the  king  had  suffered  no  disaster  so  terrible  as  this,  and 
the  courtiers  now  declared  openly  that  the  archduke  was  the 
cause  of  the  royal  and  national  humiliation.  Having  no 
children,  nor  hope  of  any,  he  desired  only  to  live  in  tran 
quillity  and  selfish  indulgence,  like  the  indolent  priest  that  he 
was,  not  caring  what  detriment  or  dishonour  might  accrue  to 
the  crown  after  his  life  was  over. 

Thus  murmured  the  parasites  and  the  plunderers  within 
the  dominions  of  the  do-nothing  Philip,  denouncing  the  first 
serious  effort  to  put  an  end  to  a  war  which  the  laws  of  nature 
had  proved  to  be  hopeless  on  the  part  of  Spain. 

Spinola  too,  who  had  spent  millions  of  his  own  money,  who 
had  plunged  himself  into  debt  and  discredit,  while  attempt 
ing  to  sustain  the  financial  reputation  of  the  king,  who  had 
by  his  brilliant  services  in  the  field  revived  the  ancient  glory 
of  the  Spanish  arms,  and  who  now  saw  himself  exposed  with 
empty  coffers  to  a  vast  mutiny,  which  was  likely  to  make  his 
future  movements  as  paralytic  as  those  of  his  immediate  pre 
decessors — Spinola,  already  hated  because  he  was  an  Italian, 
because  he  was  of  a  mercantile  family,  and  because  he  had 


364  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.          CHAP.  XL1X. 

been  successful,  was  now  as  much  the  object  of  contumely 
with  the  courtiers  as  with  the  archduke  himself. 

The  splendid  victory  of  Heemskerk  had  struck  the  govern 
ment  with  dismay  and  diffused  a  panic  along  the  coast.  The 
mercantile  fleets,  destined  for  either  India,  dared  not  venture 
forth  so  long  as  the  terrible  Dutch  cruisers,  which  had  just 
annihilated  a  splendid  Spanish  fleet,  commanded  by  a  veteran 
of  Lepanto,  and  under  the  very  guns  of  Gibraltar,  were  sup 
posed  to  be  hovering  off  the  Peninsula.2  Very  naturally, 
therefore,  there  was  discontent  in  Spain  that  the  cessation  of 
hostilities  had  not  originally  been  arranged  for  sea  as  well  as 
land,  and  men  said  openly  at  court  that  Spinola  ought  to  have 
his  head  cut  off  for  agreeing  to  such  an  armistice.3  Quite  as 
reasonably,  however,  it  was  now  felt  to  be  necessary  to  effect 
as  soon  as  possible  the  recal  of  this  very  inconvenient  Dutch 
fleet  from  the  coast  of  Spain. 

The  complaints  were  so  incessant  against  Spinola  that  it 
was  determined  to  send  Don  Diego  d'Ybarra  to  Brussels, 
charged  with  a  general  superintendence  of  the  royal  interests 
in  the  present  confused  condition  of  affairs.  He  was  especially 
instructed  to  convey  to  Spinola  the  most  vehement  reproaches 
in  regard  to  the  terms  of  the  armistice,  and  to  insist  upon  the 
cessation  of  naval  hostilities,  and  the  withdrawal  of  the 
cruisers. 

Spinola,  on  his  part,  was  exceedingly  irritated  that  the 
arrangements  which  he  had  so  carefully  made  with  the  arch 
duke  at  Brussels  should  be  so  contumaciously  assailed,  and 
even  disavowed,  at  Madrid.  He  was  especially  irritated  that 
Ybarra  should  now  be  sent  as  his  censor  and  overseer,  and 
that  Fuentes  should  have  received  orders  to  levy  seven  thou 
sand  troops  in  the  Milanese  for  Flanders,  the  arrival  of  which 
reinforcements  would  excite  suspicion,  and  probably  break  off 
negotiations.4 

He  accordingly  sent  his  private  secretary  Biraga,  post 
haste  to  Spain  with  two  letters.  In  number  one  he  implored 

*  Letter  of  Henry  IV.,  13  June,  1607,  in  Jeannin,  i.  146. 

3  Letters  of  F.  Aerssens,  in  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  123.    4  Gallucci,  329. 


1607.  DISAFFECTION  TOWARDS  SPINOLA.  365 

his  Majesty  that  Ybarra  might  not  be  sent  to  Brussels.  If 
this  request  were  granted,  number  two  was  to  be  burned. 
Otherwise,  number  two  was  to  be  delivered,  and  it  contained 
a  request  to  be  relieved  from  all  further  employment  in  the 
king's  service.  The  marquis  was  already  feeling  the  same 
effects  of  success  as  had  been  experienced  by  Alexander 
Farnese,  Don  John  of  Austria,  and  other  strenuous  main- 
tainers  of  the  royal  authority  in  Flanders.  He  was  railed 
against,  suspected,  spied  upon,  put  under  guardianship,  ac 
cording  to  the  good  old  traditions  of  the  Spanish  court.  Pub 
lic  disgrace  or  secret  poison  might  well  be  expected  by  him,  as 
the  natural  guerdons  of  his  eminent  deeds. 

Biraga  also  took  with  him  the  draught  of  the  form  in  which 
the  king's  consent  to  the  armistice  and  pending  negotiations 
was  desired,  and  he  was  particularly  directed  to  urge  that  not 
one  letter  or  comma  should  be  altered,  in  order  that  no  pre 
text  might  be  afforded  to  the  suspicious  Netherlander  for  a 
rupture. 

In  private  letters  to  his  own  superintendent  Strata,  to  Don 
John  of  Idiaquez,  to  the  Duke  of  Lerma,  and  to  Stephen 
Ybarra,  Spinola  enlarged  upon  the  indignity  about  to  be 
offered  him,  remonstrated  vehemently  against  the  wrong  and 
stupidity  of  the  proposed  policy,  and  expressed  his  reliance 
upon  the  efforts  of  these  friends  of  his  to  prevent  its  consum 
mation.  He  intimated  to  Idiaquez  that  a  new  deliberation 
would  be  necessary  to  effect  the  withdrawal  of  the  Dutch 
fleet — a  condition  not  inserted  in  the  original  armistice — but 
that  within  the  three  months  allowed  for  the  royal  ratifica 
tion  there  would  be  time  enough  to  procure  the  consent  of 
the  States  to  that  measure.5  If  the  king  really  desired  to 
continue  the  war,  he  had  but  to  alter  a  single  comma  in  the 
draught,  and,  out  of  that  comma,  the  stadholder's  party 
would  be  certain  to  manufacture  for  him  as  long  a  war  as 
he  could  possibly  wish.6 

In  a  subsequent  letter  to  the  king,  Spinola  observed  that 
he  was  well  aware  of  the  indignation  created  in  Spain  by  the 

5  Gallucci,  329,  331,  «  Ibid, 


366  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX, 

cessation  of  land  hostilities  without  the  recal  of  the  fleet, 
but  that  nevertheless  John  Neyen  had  confidentially  re 
presented  to  the  archdukes  the  royal  assent  as  almost  certain. 
As  to  the  mission  of  Ybarra,  the  marquis  reminded  his  master 
that  the  responsibility  and  general  superintendence  of  the 
negotiations  had  been  almost  forced  upon  him.  Certainly  he 
had  not  solicited  them.  If  another  agent  were  now  interposed, 
it  was  an  advertisement  to  the  world  that  the  business  had 
been  badly  managed.  If  the  king  wished  a  rupture,  he  had 
but  to  lift  his  finger  or  his  pen  ;  but  to  appoint  another  com 
missioner  was  an  unfit  reward  for  his  faithful  service.  He 
was  in  the  king's  hands.  If  his  reputation  were  now  to  be 
destroyed,  it  was  all  over  with  him  and  his  affairs.  The  man, 
whom  mortals  had  once  believed  incapable,  would  be  esteemed 
incapable  until  the  end  of  his  days. 

It  was  too  late  to  prevent  the  mission  of  Ybarra,  who,  imme 
diately  after  his  arrival  in  Brussels,  began  to  urge  in  the  king's 
name  that  the  words  in  which  the  provinces  had  been  declared 
free  by  the  archdukes  might  be  expunged.  What  could  be 
more  childish  than  such  diplomacy  ?  What  greater  proof 
could  be  given  of  the  incapacity  of  the  Spanish  court  to  learn 
the  lesson  which  forty  years  had  been  teaching  ?  Spinola 
again  wrote  a  most  earnest  remonstrance  to  the  king,  assuring 
him  that  this  was  simply  to  break  off  the  negotiation.  It  was 
ridiculous  to  suppose,  he  said,  that  concessions  already  made 
by  the  archdukes,  ratification  of  which  on  the  part  of  the 
king  had  been  guaranteed,  could  now  be  annulled.  Those 
acquainted  with  Netherland  obstinacy  knew  better.  The 
very  possibility  of  the  king's  refusal  excited  the  scorn  of  the 
States-General.7 

Ybarra  went  about,  too,  prating  to  the  archdukes  and  to 
others  of  supplies  to  be  sent  from  Spain  sufficient  to  carry  on 
the  war  for  many  years,  and  of  fresh  troops  to  be  forwarded 
immediately  by  Fuentes.  As  four  millions  of  crowns  a  year 
were  known  to  be  required  for  any  tolerable  campaigning, 
such  empty  vaunts  as  these  were  preposterous.  The  king 

7  Letter  to  the  king,  25  June,  1607,  in  Gallucci,  332. 


1607.  MISSION  OF  YBARRA  TO  BRUSSELS.  367 

knew  full  well,  said  Spinola,  and  had  admitted  the  fact  in 
his  letters,  that  this  enormous  sum  could  not  be  furnished.8 
Moreover,  the  war  cost  the  Netherlander  far  less  in  propor 
tion.  They  had  river  transportation,  by  which  they  effected 
as  much  in  two  days  as  the  Catholic  army  could  do  in  a  fort 
night,  so  that  every  siege  was  managed  with  far  greater 
rapidity  and  less  cost  by  the  rebels  than  by  their  opponents. 
As  to  sending  troops  from  Milan,  he  had  already  stated  that 
their  arrival  would  have  a  fatal  effect.  The  minds  of  the 
people  were  full  of  suspicion.  Every  passing  rumour  excited 
a  prodigious  sensation,  and  the  war  party  was  already  gaining 
the  upper  hand.  Spinola  warned  the  king,  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  that  if  the  golden  opportunity  were  now 
neglected  the  war  would  be  eternal.  This,  he  said,  was  more 
certain  than  certain.  For  himself,  he  had  strained  every 
nerve,  and  would  continue  to  do  his  best  in  the  interest  of 
peace.  If  calamity  must  come,  he  at  least  would  be  held 
blameless.9 

Such  vehement  remonstrances  from  so  eminent  a  source 
produced  the  needful  effect.  Royal  letters  were  immediately 
sent,  placing  full  powers  of  treating  in  the  hands  of  the 
marquis,  and  sending  him  a  ratification  of  the  archduke's 
agreement.  Government  moreover  expressed  boundless  confi 
dence  in  Spinola,  and  deprecated  the  idea  that  Ybarra's 
mission  was  in  derogation  of  his  authority.  He  had  been 
sent,  it  was  stated,  only  to  procure  that  indispensable 
preliminary  to  negotiations,  the  withdrawal  of  the  Dutch 
fleet,  but  as  this  had  now  been  granted,  Ybarra  was  already 
recalled. 

Spinola  now  determined  to  send  the  swift  and  sure-footed 
friar,  who  had  made  himself  so  useful  in  opening  the  path  to 
discussion,  on  a  secret  mission  to  Spain.  Ybarra  objected  ; 
especially  because  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  go  through 
France,  where  he  would  be  closely  questioned  by  the  king. 
It  would  be  equally  dangerous,  he  said,  for  the  Franciscan 

8  Letter  last  cited.  »  Ibid. 


368  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

in  that  case  to  tell  the  truth  or  to  conceal  it.  But  Spinola 
replied  that  a  poor  monk  like  him  could  steal  through  France 
undiscovered.  Moreover,  he  should  be  disguised  as  a  footman, 
travelling  in  the  service  of  Aurelio  Spinola,  a  relative  of  the 
marquis,  then  proceeding  to  Madrid.  Even  should  Henry 
hear  of  his  presence  and  send  for  him,  was  it  to  be  supposed 
that  so  practised  a  hand  would  not  easily  parry  the  strokes 
of  the  French  king — accomplished  fencer  as  he  undoubtedly 
was  ?  After  stealing  into  and  out  of  Holland  as  he  had  so 
recently  done,  there  was  nothing  that  might  not  be  expected 
of  him.  So  the  wily  friar  put  on  the  Spinola  livery, 
and,  without  impediment,  accompanied  Don  Aurelio  to 
Madrid.10 

Meantime,  the  French  commissioners — Pierre  Jeannin, 
Buzanval,  regular  resident  at  the  Hague,  and  De  Eussy,  who 
was  destined  to  succeed  that  diplomatist — had  arrived  in 
Holland. 

The  great  drama  of  negotiation,  which  was  now  to  follow 
the  forty  years'  tragedy,  involved  the  interests  and  absorbed 
the  attention  of  the  great  Christian  powers.  Although  serious 
enough  in  its  substance  and  its  probable  consequences,  its 
aspect  was  that  of  a  solemn  comedy.  There  was  a  secret 
disposition  on  the  part  of  each  leading  personage — with  a  few 
exceptions — to  make  dupes  of  all  the  rest.  Perhaps  this  was 
a  necessary  result  of  statesmanship,  as  it  had  usually  been 
taught  at  that  epoch. 

Paul  V.,  who  had  succeeded  Clement  VIII.  in  1605,  with 
the  brief  interlude  of  the  twenty-six  days  of  Leo  XI/s  ponti 
ficate,  was  zealous,  as  might  be  supposed,  to  check  the 
dangerous  growth  of  the  pestilential  little  republic  of  the 
north.  His  diplomatic  agents,  Millino  at  Madrid,  Barberini 
at  Paris,  and  the  accomplished  Bentivoglio,  who  had  just 
been  appointed  to  the  nunciatura  at  Brussels,  were  indefa 
tigable  in  their  efforts  to  suppress  the  heresy  and  the  insolent 
liberty  of  which  the  upstart  commonwealth  was  the  embodi 
ment.11 

10  GaJlucci,  335.  "  Bentivoglio,  548,  549. 


1607.  EFFORTS  TO  REPRESS  THE  REPUBLIC. 

Especially  Barberini  exerted  all  the  powers  at  his  com 
mand  to  bring  about  a  good  understanding  between  the  kings 
of  France  and  Spain.  He  pictured  to  Henry,  in  darkest 
colours,  the  blight  that  would  come  over  religion  and  civili 
zation  if  the  progress  of  the  rebellious  Netherlands  could 
not  be  arrested.  The  United  Provinces  were  becoming 
dangerous,  if  they  remained  free,  not  only  to  the  French 
kingdom,  but  to  the  very  existence  of  monarchy  throughout 
the  world.12 

No  potentate  was  ever  more  interested,  so  it  was  urged, 
than  Henry  IV.  to  bring  down  the  pride  of  the  Dutch  rebels. 
There  was  always  sympathy  of  thought  and  action  between 
the  Huguenots  of  France  and  their  co-religionists  in  Holland. 
They  were  all  believers  alike  in  Calvinism — a  sect  inimical 
not  less  to  temporal  monarchies  than  to  the  sovereign  primacy 
of  the  Church13 — and  the  tendency  and  purposes  of  the 
French  rebels  were  already  sufficiently  manifest  in  their 
efforts,  by  means  of  the  so-called  cities  of  security,  to  erect 
a  state  within  a  state  ;  to  introduce,  in  short,  a  Dutch  re 
public  into  France.14 

A  sovereign  remedy  for  the  disease  of  liberty,  now  threaten 
ing  to  become  epidemic  in  Europe,  would  be  found  in  a 
marriage  between  the  second  son  of  the  King  of  Spain  and 
a  daughter  of  France.  As  the  archdukes  were  childless,  it 
might  be  easily  arranged  that  this  youthful  couple  should 
succeed  them — the  result  of  which  would  of  course  be  the 
reduction  of  all  the  Netherlands  to  their  ancient  obedience. 

It  has  already  been  seen,  and  will  become  still  farther 
apparent,  that  nostrums  like  this  were  to  be  recommended 
in  other  directions.  Meantime,  Jeannin  and  his  colleagues 
made  their  appearance  at  the  Hague. 

If  there  were  a  living  politician  in  Europe  capable  of  dealing 
with  Barneveld  on  even  terms,  it  was  no  doubt  President 
Jeannin.  An  ancient  Leaguer,  an  especial  adherent  of  the 


12  Bentivoprlio,  548,  549. 

13  "  Sette   inimica    non  meno   alle 
monarchie  temporal!  che  al  sovrano 

VOL.  iv. — 2  B 


primato  ecclesiastico." — Ibid. 

14  "E  di  voler  introdurre  un  governo 
di  Olanda  in  Francia."— Ibid. 


370  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

Duke  of  Mayenne,  he  had  been  deep  in  all  the  various  plots 
and  counter-plots  of  the  Guises,  and  often  employed  by  the 
extinct  confederacy  in  various  important  intrigues.  Being 
secretly  sent  to  Spain  to  solicit  help  for  the  League  after  the 
disasters  of  Ivry  and  Argues,  he  found  Philip  II.  so  sincerely 
imbued  with  the  notion  that  France  was  a  mere  province  of 
Spain,  and  so  entirely  bent  upon  securing  the  heritage  of  the 
Infanta  to  that  large  property,  as  to  convince  him  that  the 
maintenance  of  the  Koman  religion  was  with  that  monarch 
only  a  secondary  condition.  Aid  and  assistance  for  the 
confederacy  were  difficult  of  attainment,  unless  coupled  with 
the  guarantee  of  the  Infanta's  rights  to  reign  in  France. 

The  Guise  faction  being  inspired  solely  by  religious  motives 
of  the  loftiest  kind,  were  naturally  dissatisfied  with  the  luke- 
warmness  of  his  most  Catholic  Majesty.  When  therefore  the 
discomfited  Mayenne  subsequently  concluded  his  bargain  with 
the  conqueror  of  Ivry,  it  was  a  matter  of  course  that  Jeannin 
should  also  make  his  peace  with  the  successful  Huguenot, 
now  become  eldest  son  of  the  Church.  He  was  very  soon 
taken  into  especial  favour  by  Henry,  who  recognised  his 
sagacity,  and  who  knew  his  hands  to  be  far  cleaner  than  those 
of  the  more  exalted  Leaguers  with  whom  he  had  dealt.  The 
"  good  old  fellow,"  as  Henry  familiarly  called  him,  had  not 
filled  his  pockets  either  in  serving  or  when  deserting  the 
League.  Placed  in  control  of  the  exchequer  at  a  later  period, 
he  was  never  accused  of  robbery  or  peculation.  He  was  a 
hard-working,  not  overpaid,  very  intelligent  public  func 
tionary.  He  was  made  president  of  the  parliament,  or 
supreme  tribunal  of  Burgundy,  and  minister  of  state,  and  was 
recognised  as  one  of  the  ablest  jurists  and  most  skilful  politi 
cians  in  the  kingdom.  An  elderly  man,  with  a  tall,  serene 
forehead,  a  large  dark  eye  and  a  long  grey  beard,  he  pre 
sented  an  image  of  vast  wisdom  and  reverend  probity.  He 
possessed— an  especial  treasure  for  a  statesman  in  that  plotting 
age — a  singularly  honest  visage.  Never  was  that  face  more 
guileless,  never  was  his  heart  more  completely  worn  upon  his 
sjeeve,  than  wbeii  he  was  harbouring  ike  deepest  or  most 


1607. 


VIEWS  OF  THE  FRENCH  KING. 


371 


dangerous  designs.15  Such  was  the  "  good  fellow/'  whom  that 
skilful  reader  of  men,  Henry  of  France,  had  sent  to  represent 
his  interests  and  his  opinions  at  the  approaching  conferences. 

What  were  those  opinions  ?  Paul  V.  and  his  legates  Bar- 
berini,  Millino,  and  the  rest,  were  well  enough  aware  of  the 
secret  strings  of  the  king's  policy,  and  knew  how  to  touch 
them  with  skill.  Of  all  things  past,  Henry  perhaps  most 
regretted  that  not  he,  hut  the  last  and  most  wretched  of  the 
Valois  line,  was  sovereign  of  France  when  the  States-General 
came  to  Paris  with  that  offer  of  sovereignty  which  had  been 
so  contumaciously  refused. 

If  the  object  were  attainable,  the  ex-chief  of  the  Hugue 
nots  still  meant  to  be  king  of  the  Netherlands  as  sincerely  as 
Philip  II.  had  ever  intended  to  be  monarch  of  France.16  But 
Henry  was  too  accurate  a  calculator  of  chances,  and  had 
bustled  too  much  in  the  world  of  realities,  to  exhaust  his 
strength  in  striving,  year  after  year,  for  a  manifest  impossi 
bility.  The  enthusiast,  who  had  passed  away  at  last  from 
the  dreams  of  the  Escorial  into  the  land  of  shadows,  had 
spent  a  lifetime,  and  melted  the  wealth  of  an  empire  ;  but 
universal  monarchy  had  never  come  forth  from  his  crucible. 
The  French  king,  although  possessed  likewise  of  an  almost 
boundless  faculty  for  ambitious  visions,  was  capable  of  dis 
tinguishing  cloud-land  from  substantial  empire.  Jeannin,  as 
his  envoy,  would  at  any  rate  not  reveal  his  master's  secret 
aspirations  to  those  with  whom  he  came  to  deal,  as  openly 
as  Philip  had  once  unveiled  himself  to  Jeannin. 

There  could  be  no  doubt  that  peace  at  this  epoch  was  the 
real  interest  of  France.  That  kingdom  was  beginning  to 
flourish  again,  owing  to  the  very  considerable  administrative 
genius  of  Bethune,  an  accomplished  financier  according  to 
the  lights  of  the  age,  and  still  more  by  reason  of  the  general 
impoverishment  of  the  great  feudal  houses  and  of  the  clergy. 
The  result  of  the  almost  interminable  series  of  civil  and 


16  Grotius,  xvi.  740  f<  Vultus  autem 
sermonieque  adeo  potens  ut  cum  maxi 
me  abderet  sensus  apertissimus  vide- 
retur." 


16  See  especially  Seconde  Instruction 
pour  le  Sr.  Jeannin.  Negotiations  de 
M.  le  President  Jeannin,  ed,  Petitot, 
1659,  i,  40-43,  and  62,  63. 


372  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLtX. 

religious  wars  had  been  to  cause  a  general  redistribution 
of  property.  Capital  was  mainly  in  the  hands  of  the  middle 
and  lower  classes,  and  the  consequence  of  this  general  circu 
lation  of  wealth  through  all  the  channels  of  society  was 
precisely  what  might  have  been  expected,  an  increase  of 
enterprise  and  of  productive  industry  in  various  branches.17 
Although  the  financial  wisdom  of  the  age  was  doing  its  best  to 
impede  commerce,  to  prevent  the  influx  of  foreign  wares, 
to  prohibit  the  outflow  of  specie — in  obedience  to  the  universal 
superstition,  which  was  destined  to  survive  so  many  centuries, 
that  gold  and  silver  alone  constituted  wealth — while,  at  the 
same  time,  in  deference  to  the  idiotic  principle  of  sumptuary 
legislation,  it  was  vigorously  opposing  mulberry  culture,  silk 
manufactures,  and  other  creations  of  luxury,  which,  in  spite  of 
the  hostility  of  government  sages,  were  destined  from  that 
time  forward  to  become  better  mines  of  wealth  for  the 
kingdom  than  the  Indies  had  been  for  Spain,  yet  on  the 
whole  the  arts  of  peace  were  in  the  ascendant  in  France. 

The  king,  although  an  unscrupulous,  self-seeking  despot 
and  the  coarsest  of  voluptuaries,  was  at  least  a  man  of  genius. 
He  had  also  too  much  shrewd  mother-wit  to  pursue  such 
schemes  as  experience  had  shown  to  possess  no  reality.  The 
talisman  "Espoir,"  emblazoned  on  his  shield,  had  led  him  to 
so  much  that  it  was  natural  for  him  at  times  to  think  all 
things  possible. 

But  he  knew  how  to  renounce  as  well  as  how  to  dare.  He 
had  abandoned  his  hope  to  be  declared  Prince  of  Wales  and 
successor  to  the  English  crown,  which  he  had  cherished  for  a 
brief  period,  at  the  epoch  of  the  Essex  conspiracy  ; 18  he  had 

imaginare  ognuno  quanto  se  le  fac- 


17  "Anche  per  richezza  avanza  la 
citta  di  Parigi  tutte  le  altre  perche 
essendo  la  nobilta  rovinata  per  le 
guerre  passate  ed  il  clero  medesima- 
mente  per  1'istessa  causa,  cominciando 
questo  da  poco  in  qua  a  ristorarsi, 
resta  il  solo  popolo  con  denari  nel  qual 
numero  sono  quelli  li  quali  fanno  la 


ciano  fruttare  per  farsi  padroni  di 
centmaja  di  migliaja  di  scudi  e  vi  sono 
molti  di  questi  tali  in  Francia  ma 
nella  citta  di  Parigi  piu  che  in  ogni 
altra." — A.  Badoer,  Eelazione. 

18  "  I  quali  sono  che  egli  pretende 
di  essere  dichiarato  principe  di  Galles 


facolta  con  le  liti,  con  li  giudizii  e  con  !  e  successore  del  regno  e  spera  in  questa 
rammimstrazione  della  entrate  pub-  ',  congiuntuia  di  poter  ottenere  quello 
bliche  perche  si  vendono  tutte  queste  !  che  per  il  passato  no  gli  e  riuscito." 
cariche  a  denari  contanti  pero  si  pud  '  — Despatch  of  Cavalli,  Venetian  am- 


STATE!  OF  FRANCE. 


373 


forgotten  his  magnificent  dream  of  placing  the  crown  of 
the  holy  German  empire  upon  his  head,19  and  if  he  still 
secretly  resolved  to  annex  the  Netherlands  to  his  realms, 
and  to  destroy  his  excellent  ally,  the  usurping,  rebellious, 
and  heretic  Dutch  republic,  he  had  craft  enough  to  work 
towards  his  aim  in  the  dark,  and  the  common  sense  to  know 
that  by  now  throwing  down  the  mask  he  would  be  for  ever 
baffled  of  his  purpose. 

The  history  of  France,  during  the  last  three-quarters  of  a 
century,  had  made  almost  every  Frenchman,  old  enough  to 
bear  arms,  an  accomplished  soldier.  Henry  boasted  that  the 
kingdom  could  put  three  hundred  thousand  veterans  into 
the  field — a  high  figure,  when  it  is  recollected  that  its  popula 
tion  certainly  did  not  exceed  fifteen  millions.20  No  man  how 
ever  was  better  aware  than  he,  that  in  spite  of  the  apparent 
pacification  of  parties,  the  three  hundred  thousand  would  not 
be  all  on  one  side,  even  in  case  of  a  foreign  war.  There  were 
at  least  four  thousand  great  feudal  lords,21  as  faithful  to  the 
Huguenot  faith  and  cause  as  he  had  been  false  to  both  ;  many 
of  them  still  wealthy,  notwithstanding  the  general  ruin  which 
had  swept  over  the  high  nobility,  and  all  of  them  with 
vast  influence  and  a  splendid  following,  both  among  the  lesser 
gentry  and  the  men  of  lower  rank. 

Although  he  kept  a  Jesuit  priest  ever  at  his  elbow,22  and 
did  his  best  to  persuade  the  world  and  perhaps  himself  that 


bassador  in  England,  16  April,  1601. 
Barozzi,  Ser.  II.  vol.  i  p.  38. 

19  "  Era  stata  sua  Maesta  gia  tempo 
desiderosa  di  farsi  eleggere  re  de' 
Romani  ed  allora  si  tratteneva  piu 
amorevolmente  con  quei  principi  ma 
scuoprendo  poi  d'aver  debole  fonda- 
mento  per  tale  pretensione  se  la  e 
levata  del  tutto  dall'  animo." — A. 
Badoer,  Relazione.  Ibid. 

"  Ebbe  anco  opinione  di  procurarsi 
la  elezione  a  re  dei  Romani  dubitando 
che  il  re  di  Spagna  avesse  questo 
medesimo  pensiero  ma  avendo  scoperto 
d'altra  inclinazione  non  se  n'  e  molto 
occupato  " — P,  Priuli,  Relazione. 

*°  Computandosi  che  in  tutto  il 
VOL.  II— 12* 


regno  vi  possono  essere  quindici  mi- 
lioni  d'anime." — Angelo  Badoer,  Re 
lazione,  1603.  Barozzi  and  Berehet, 
Ser.  II.  vol.  i. 

The  population  of  Paris  was  esti 
mated  by  the  same  ambassador  at 
400.000.  Pietro  Priuli  (Relazione 
Francia,  1608)  was  often  told  by  the 
king  that  he  had  300,000  veterans  in 
France. 

21  A.  Badoer,  Relazione.     P,  Priuli. 

22  "  Non    avendo    li     religiosi     in 
Francia    maggior    protettore    di    lui 
tenendo  sempre  a  canto  a  si  un  gesuita 
suo  favoritissimo  che  mai  lo  abban* 
dona." — Ibid. 


374 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLIX 


he  had  become  a  devout  Catholic,  in  consequence  of  those 
memorable  five  hours'  instruction  from  the  Bishop  of  Bourges, 
and  that  there  was  no  hope  for  France  save  in  its  return  to 
the  bosom  of  the  Church,  he  was  yet  too  politic  and  too  far- 
seeing  to  doubt  that  for  him  to  oppress  the  Protestants  would 
be  not  only  suicidal,  but,  what  was  worse  in  his  eyes,  ridi 
culous. 

He  knew,  too,  that  with'  thirty  or  forty  thousand  fighting- 
men  a  in  the  field,  with  seven  hundred  and  forty  churches  in 
the  various  provinces  24  for  their  places  of  worship,  with  all 
the  best  fortresses  in  France  in  their  possession,  with  leaders 
like  Rohan,  Lesdiguieres,  Bouillon,  and  many  others,  and 
with  the  most  virtuous,  self-denying,  Christian  government,25 
established  and  maintained  by  themselves,  it  would  be 
madness  for  him  and  his  dynasty  to  deny  the  Protestants 
their  political  and  religious  liberty,  or  to  attempt  a  crusade 
against  their  brethren  in  the  Netherlands. 

France  was  far  more  powerful  than  Spain,  although  the 
world  had  not  yet  recognised  the  fact.  Yet  it  would  have 
been  difficult  for  both  united  to  crush  the  new  common 
wealth,  however  paradoxical  such  a  proposition  seemed  to 
contemporaries. 

Sully  was  conscientiously  in  favour  of  peace,  and  Sully  was 
the  one  great  minister  of  France.  Not  a  Lerma,  certainly  ; 
for  France  was  not  Spain,  nor  was  Henry  IV.  a  Philip  III. 
The  Huguenot  duke  was  an  inferior  financier  to  his  Spanish 
contemporary,  if  it  were  the  height  of  financial  skill  for  a 
minister  to  exhaust  the  resources  of  a  great  kingdom  in  order 
to  fill  his  own  pocket.  Sully  certainly  did  not  neglect  his 
own  interests,  for  he  had  accumulated  a  fortune  of  at  least 
seventy  thousand  dollars  a  year,  besides  a  cash  capital 


53  Badoer  estimates  the  force  at  only 
25,000.  24  P.  Pruili,  Relazione. 

25  "  II  go verno  politico  degli  eretici," 
said  one  who  cordially  hated  heretics, 
"  e  cosi  diligente  ed  accurate  quanto 
ogni  altro  che  sia  al  mondo  ed  in 
questoavanzano  veramente  loro  mede- 
aimi  perche  trascurano  affatto  I'inter- 


esse  particolare  per  atlender  al  solo 
pubhco,  proprieta  contraria  alia  natura 
Francese  se  non  vogliano  dire  che 
I'interesse  pubblico  serva  per  conserva- 
zione  del  particolare." — A.  Badoer. 

"  Le  piu  important!  fortezze  del 
regno  sono  da  essi  tenute,"  &c.— • 
P.  Priuli. 


1607. 


STATE  OP  FRANCE. 


375 


estimated  at  a  million  and  a  half.26  But  while  enriching 
himself,  he  had  wonderfully  improved  the  condition  of  the  royal 
treasury.  He  had  reformed  many  abuses  and  opened  many 
new  sources  of  income.  He  had,  of  course,  not  accomplished 
the  whole  Augean  task  of  purification.  He  was  a  vigorous 
Huguenot,  but  no  Hercules,  and  demigods  might  have  shrunk 
appalled  at  the  filthy  mass  of  corruption  which  great  European 
kingdoms  everywhere  presented  to  the  reformer's  eye.  Com 
pared  to  the  Spanish  Government,  that  of  France  might 
almost  have  been  considered  virtuous,  yet  even  there  every 
thing  was  venal. 

To  negotiate  was  to  bribe  right  and  left,  and  at  every  step. 
All  the  ministers  and  great  functionaries  received  presents, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  and  it  was  necessary  to  pave  the  path 
way  even  of  their  ante-chambers  with  gold. 

The  king  was  fully  aware  of  the  practice,  but  winked  at  it, 
because  his  servants,  thus  paid  enormous  sums  by  the  public 
and  by  foreign  Governments,  were  less  importunate  for  rewards 
and  salaries  from  himself.27 

One  man  in  the  kingdom  was  said  to  have  clean  hands, 
the  venerable  and  sagacious  chancellor,  Pomponne  de 
Bellievre.  His  wife,  however,  was  less  scrupulous,  and  readily 
disposed  of  influence  and  court-favour  for  a  price,  without  the 
knowledge,  so  it  was  thought,  of  the  great  judge.28 

Jeannin,  too,  was  esteemed  a  man  of  personal  integrity, 
ancient  Leaguer  and  tricky  politician  though  he  were. 


26  P.  Priuli  Relazione. 

21  "  Con  tutti  il  ministri  indifferen 
temente  1'uomo  si  fa  strada  in  Francia 
con  quei  mezzi  che  ormai  mi  pare  che 
usino  per  tutto  il  mondo  ....  il  re 
medesimo  lo  sa  e  lo  permette  forse 
perche  profittando  li  ininistri  lascino  di 
molestare  la  S.  M.  per  altre  ricompense 
del  servizio  che  prestano  ed  essi  per 
questa  via  pretendono  riportare  le 
giuste  mercedi  delle  loro  fatiche  mentre 
veggono  poter  difficilmente  sperarne 
altre  dal  re."— Ibid. 

2J  •*!!  signore  cancelliere  solo  si 
mantiene  in  concetto  di  molto  ingegno 
ma  ha  una  rnoglie  che  supplisce  ai 


suo  mancamento,  ben  si  crede  senza 
sua  saputa,  poiche  ne  anco  la  moglie 
basta  a  fargli  fare  quello  che  non  con- 
viene." — Ibid.  The  ambassador  adds, 
on  the  general  subject  of  corruption 
and  bribery  at  the  French  court, 
"  Queste  cose  sono  tan  to  pubbliche 
nella  corte  che  non  pretendo  far  torto 
ad  alcuno  a  riferirle  in  questo  sacrario 
dove  sono  nondimento  sicuro  che  sa- 
ranno  custodite  con  le  altre  cose  dette 
e  da  darsi  sotto  quel  sigillo  di  segre- 
tezza  che  conviene  al  servizio  ed  alia 
riputacione  di  questo  stimatiswtno  con 
siglio," 


376 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLIX 


Highest  offices  of  magistracy  and  judicature,  Church  ancl 
State,  were  objects  of  a  traffic  almost  as  shameless  as  in 
Spain.29  The  ermine  was  sold  at  auction,  mitres  were 
objects  of  public  barter,  Church  preferments  were  bestowed 
upon  female  children  in  their  cradles.  Yet  there  was  hope  in 
France,  notwithstanding  that  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  St. 
Louis,  the  foundation  of  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church, 
had  been  annulled  by  Francis,  who  had  divided  the  seamless 
garment  of  Church  patronage  with  Leo. 

Those  four  thousand  great  Huguenot  lords,  those  thirty 
thousand  hard-fighting  weavers,  and  blacksmiths,  and  other 
plebeians,  those  seven  hundred  and  forty  churches,  those  very 
substantial  fortresses  in  every  province  of  the  kingdom,  were 
better  facts  than  the  Holy  Inquisition  to  preserve  a  great 
nation  from  sinking  into  the  slough  of  political  extinction. 

Henry  was  most  anxious  that  Sully  should  convert  himself 
to  the  ancient  Church,  and  the  gossips  of  the  day  told  each 
other  that  the  duke  had  named  his  price  for  his  conversion. 
To  be  made  high  constable  of  France,  it  was  said  would  melt 
the  resolve  of  the  stiff  Huguenot.30  To  any  other  inducement 
or  blandishment  he  was  adamant.  Whatever  truth  may  have 
been  in  such  chatter,  it  is  certain  that  the  duke  never  gratified 
his  master's  darling  desire. 

Yet  it  was  for  no  lack  of  attempts  and  intrigues  on  the  part 
of  the  king,  although  it  is  not  probable  that  he  would  have 
ever  consented  to  bestow  that  august  and  coveted  dignity 
upon  a  Bethune. 


29  "Di  qua  nasce  clie  oltre  allealtre 
invenzioni  s'  e  introdutto  vendere  non 
solo  tutti  li  ufficii  e  le  cariche  anco 
di  giustizia  ma  di  piu  gli  stessi  servizii 
della  casa  del  re  di  maestri  di  casa  dei 
gentiluomini  della  camera,  dei  valJetti, 
ed  in  sino  li  capitanati  delle  guardie 
della  propria  persona  dei  re  che  non  si 
puo  dire  piu  ;  il  che  rende  molto  mal 
sodisfatto  la  nobilta  alia  quale  erano 
in  altri  tempi  riservati  per  premii  de' 
loro  servizii  questi  luoghi  che  ora 
vendendosi  convengono  cadere  in  mano 
a  chi  ha  piu  denari  senza  alcuna  dis- 
tinzione  de'  meriti.  E  siccome  il  re  non 


e  sotto  posto  all'  odio  manco  e  soggetto 
all'  affezione  verso  le  persone  che  per 
esso  patiscono  nell'  interesse  come 
faceva  il  re  passato  che  jper  troppa 
amorevolezza  donava  piu  che  non 
aveva." — A  Badoer,  Relazione. 

30  P.  Priuli,  Relazione.  "  Procura 
(il  re)  che  egli  (Sully)  si  faccia  catto- 
lico  ....  seppure  avesse  a  venire  a 
tal  risoluzione  si  e  lasciato  intendere 
con  i  suoi  confident!  che  non  lo 
farebbe  per  altro  che  con  essere  dichia- 
rato  Contestabile  di  Francia  dignita 
si  sublime  che  tiensi  fermo  che  il  re 
non  gliela  conferirebbe." 


1607.       HENRY'S  INTRIGUES  AGAINST  PROTESTANTISM.        377 

The  king  did  his  best  by  intrigue,  by  calumny,  by  tale 
bearing,  by  inventions,  to  set  the  Huguenots  against  each 
other,  and  to  excite  the  mutual  jealousy  of  all  his  most 
trusted  adherents,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic.  The 
most  good-humoured,  the  least  vindictive,  the  most  un 
grateful,  the  falsest  of  mankind,  he  made  it  his  policy,  as 
well  as  his  pastime,  to  repeat,  with  any  amount  of  embroidery 
that  his  most  florid  fancy  could  devise,  every  idle  story  or 
calumny  that  could  possibly  create  bitter  feeling  and  make 
mischief  among  those  who  surrounded  him.  Being  aware 
that  this  propensity  was  thoroughly  understood,  he  only 
multiplied  fictions,  so  cunningly  mingled  with  truths,  as 
to  leave  his  hearers  quite  unable  to  know  what  to  believe 
and  what  to  doubt.  By  such  arts,  force  being  impossible,  he 
hoped  one  day  to  sever  the  band  which  held  the  conventicles 
together,  and  to  reduce  Protestantism  to  insignificance.  He 
would  have  cut  off  the  head  of  D'Aubigne  or  Duplessis 
Mornay  to  gain  an  object,  and  have  not  only  pardoned  but 
caressed  and  rewarded  Biron  when  reeking  from  the  con 
spiracy  against  his  own  life  and  crown,  had  he  been  willing 
to  confess  and  ask  pardon  for  his  stupendous  crime.  He 
hated  vindictive  men  almost  as  much  as  he  despised  those 
who  were  grateful.31 

31  "  Non  vi  e  delitto  per  grande  che 
pensassero  commettere  del  quale  non 
sieno  sicuri  d'ottener  il  perdono  dalla 
Maesta  sua  e  di  siffatta  maniera  che 
da  quell '  ora  in  poi  user  a  il  re  con  essi 
gli  stessi  termini  di  confidenza  che  usa 


colpa  mentre  la  confess! 
dimandi  il  perdono  ma  quando  conosce 
un  uomo  che  sia  di  natura  vendicativa 
1'odia  piu  che  per  qualsivoglia  altro 
vizio.  Usa  S.  M  un  altro  tennine  con 
li  suoi  servitori  credendo  convenirgli 


con  i  piu  antichi  e  fedeli  servitori  che  j  viver  geloso  dell'  azione  di  ciascheduno 
abbia,  il  che  non  si  scuopre  solo  nel  che  quando  stima  che  qualche  unione 
trattare  apparente,  accarezzando  tutti '  di  particolari  persone  possa  apportare 
ad  uno  modo  ma  nell'  esistente  ancora  pregiudizio  al  servizio  suo  procura  dis- 
perche  quando  il  re  ha  bisogno  dell'  unirle  con  porle  al  punto  1'uno  contra 
opera  di  qualcheduno  conosciuto  che  1'altra  non  lasciando  di  ridire  tutto 
possa  valere  in  quel  servizio  non  dis-  quello  che  gli  fosse  stato  referito  ranco 


tingue  antica  da  nuova,  sincera  da 
iiiteressata  servitu  ne  in  somma  fedel- 
ta  infidelta  ma  chiama  S.  M.  quel  tale 


con  obblififo  di  segretezza  mente  cio 
possa  giovare  al  suo  di  segno  ed  orna  la 
rel  azione  con  quei  fregi  d'invenzione 


gli  comunica  il  tutto  ej'incarica  di !  che  vengono  felicemente  composti  dal 


negoziare  come  ad  un  piu  vecchio  piu 
sincero  e  piu  fedele  servitore  suo.  In 
fine  e  proprio  del  re  non  solo  perdonare 
indifferentemente  ad  ognuno  qual  si 


suo  florido  ingegno,  quando  conosca 
potere  con  essigenerare  e  nutrire  gelo- 
sia  fra  quelli  amici,  per  disunirli  e  farli 
anco  venire  alii  mani  come  molte  volte 


378 


THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLIX. 


He  was  therefore  far  from  preferring  Sully  to  Villeroy  or 
Jeannin,  but  he  was  perfectly  aware  that,  infinancial  matters 
at  least,  the  duke  was  his  best  friend  and  an  important  pillar 
of  the  state. 

The  minister  had  succeeded  in  raising  the  annual  revenue 
of  France  to  nearly  eleven  millions  of  dollars,  and  in  reducing 
the  annual  expenditures  to  a  little  more  than  ten  millions.32 
To  have  a  balance  on  the  right  side  of  the  public  ledger  was 
a  feat  less  easily  accomplished  in  those  days  even  than  in  our 
own.  Could  the  duke  have  restrained  his  sovereign's  reck 
less  extravagance  in  buildings,  parks,  hunting  establishments, 
and  harems,  he  might  have  accomplished  even  greater 
miracles.  He  lectured  the  king  roundly,  as  a  parent  might 
remonstrate  with  a  prodigal  son,  but  it  was  impossible  even 
for  a  Sully  to  rescue  that  hoary-headed  and  most  indomit 
able  youth  from  wantonness  and  riotous  living.  The  civil- 
list  of  the  king  amounted  to  more  than  one-tenth  of  the 
whole  revenue.33 

On  the  whole,  however,  it  was  clear,  as  France  was  then 
constituted  and  administered,  that  a  general  peace  would  be, 
for  the  time  at  least,  most  conducive  to  its  interests,  and 
Henry  and  his  great  minister  were  sincerely  desirous  of 
bringing  about  that  result. 

Preliminaries  for  a  negotiation  which  should  terminate  this 
mighty  war  were  now  accordingly  to  be  laid  down  at  the 
Hague.  Yet  it  would  seem  rather  difficult  to  effect  a  com 
promise.  Besides  the  powers  less  interested,  but  which 
nevertheless  sent  representatives  to  watch  the  proceedings — 
such  as  Sweden,  Denmark,  Brandenburg,  the  Elector  Pala- 


accade.  Con  questo  arriva  S.  M  al 
fine  che  desidera,  di  dissolver  le  con 
venticole  delle  quali  vive  gelosissimo 
ma  ne  conviene  provare  anco  danno 
notabile,perche  conosciuto  ormai  la  sua 
natura  non  vi  e  chi  si  fidi  di  dirgli 
molte  cose  che  saria  suo/  servizio  il 
saperle.  Conosce  il  re  medesimo  questa 
sua  facilita  di  ridire  ma  essendogli 
impossibile  il  mutare  natura  per  rime-  j 
diarvi  in  quanto  puo  fra  le  cose  vere  ' 


mischia  con  arte  dell'  invenzione  per 
ridurre  1'uomo  a  non  saper  che  si 
credere." — A.  Badoer,  Relazione. 

32  Badoer  says  12,000,000  of  scudi, 
(four  to  the  pound  sterling),  of  which 
however  6,000  000  were  pledged.      P. 
Priuli  puts  the  whole  receipts  of  the 
exchequer  at  10,727,907  dollars,  and 
the  expenses  at  10,333,114. 

33  To  1,233,632  dollars,  according  to 
P.  Priuli. 


1607.  PRELIMINARIES  OF  PEACE.  379 

tine — there  were  Spain,  France,  England,  the  republic,  and 
the  archdukes. 

Spain  knew  very  well  that  she  could  not  continue  the 
war  ;  but  she  hoped  by  some  quibbling  recognition  of  an  im 
possible  independence  to  recover  that  authority  over  her 
ancient  vassals  which  the  sword  had  for  the  time  struck  down, 
Distraction  in  councils',  personal  rivalries,  the  well-known 
incapacity  of  a  people  to  govern  itself,  commercial  greediness, 
provincial  hatreds,  envies  and  jealousies,  would  soon  reduce 
that  jumble  of  cities  and  villages,  which  aped  the  airs  of 
sovereignty,  into  insignificance  and  confusion.  Adroit 
management  would  easily  re-assert  afterwards  the  sovereignty 
of  the  Lord's  anointed.  That  a  republic  of  freemen,  a 
federation  of  independent  states,  could  take  its  place  among 
the  nations  did  not  deserve  a  serious  thought. 

Spain  in  her  heart  preferred  therefore  to  treat.  It  was 
however  indispensable  that  the  Netherlands  should  re 
establish  the  Catholic  religion  throughout  the  land,  should 
abstain  then  and  for  ever  from  all  insolent  pretences  to 
trade  with  India  or  America,  and  should  punish  such  of  their 
citizens  as  attempted  to  make  voyages  to  the  one  or  the 
other.  With  these  trifling  exceptions,  the  court  of  Madrid 
would  look  with  favour  on  propositions  made  in  behalf  of  the 
rebels. 

France,  as  we  have  seen,  secretly  aspired  to  the  sovereignty 
of  all  the  Netherlands,  if  it  could  be  had.  She  was  alsc 
extremely  in  favour  of  excluding  the  Hollanders  from  the 
Indies,  East  and  West.  The  king,  fired  with  the  achievements 
of  the  republic  at  sea,  and  admiring  their  great  schemes  for 
founding  empires  at  the  antipodes  by  means  of  commercial 
corporations,  was  very  desirous  of  appropriating  to  his  own 
benefit  the  experience,  the  audacity,  the  perseverance,  the 
skill  and  the  capital  of  their  merchants  and  mariners.  He 
secretly  instructed  his  commissioners,  therefore,  and  re 
peatedly  urged  it  upon  them,  to  do  their  best  to  procure  the 
renunciation,  on  the  part  of  the  republic,  of  the  Indian  trade, 
and  to  contrive  the  transplantation  into  France  of  the  mignty 


380 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLIX. 


trading  companies,  so  successfully  established  in  Holland  and 
Zeeland.34 

The  plot  thus  to  deprive  the  provinces  of  their  India  trade 
was  supposed  by  the  statesmen  of  the  republic  to  have  been 
formed  in  connivance  with  Spain.  That  power,  finding  itself 
half  pushed  from  its  seat  of  power  in  the  East  by  the  "  grand 
and  infallible  society  created  by  the  United  Provinces,"35 
would  be  but  too  happy  to  make  use  of  this  French  intrigue 
in  order  to  force  the  intruding  Dutch  navy  from  its  con 
quests. 

Olden-Barneveld,  too  politic  to  offend  the  powerful  and 
treacherous  ally  by  a  flat  refusal,  said  that  the  king's  friend 
ship  was  more  precious  than  the  India  trade.  At  the  same 
time  he  warned  the  French  Government  that,  if  they  ruined 
the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  "neither  France  nor  any 
other  nation  would  ever  put  its  nose  into  India  again."  M 

James  of  England,  too,  flattered  himself  that  he  could  win 
for  England  that  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands  which  Eng 
land  as  well  as  France  had  so  decidedly  refused.  The  mar 
riage  of  Prince  Henry  with  the  Spanish  Infanta  was  the  bait, 
steadily  dangled  before  him  by  the  politicians  of  the  Spanish 
court,  and  he  deluded  himself  with  the  thought  that  the 
Catholic  king,  on  the  death  of  the  childless  archdukes,  would 
make  his  son  and  daughter-in-law  a  present  of  the  obedient 
Netherlands.  He  already  had  some  of  the  most  important 
places  in  the  United  Netherlands — the  famous  cautionary 
towns — in  his  grasp,  and  it  should  go  hard  but  he  would 
twist  that  possession  into  a  sovereignty  over  the  whole  land. 
As  for  recognising  the  rebel  provinces  as  an  independent 
sovereignty,  that  was  most  abhorrent  to  him.  Such  a 
tampering  with  the  great  principles  of  Government  was 
an  offence  against  all  crowned  heads,  a  crime  in  which  he 
was  unwilling  to  participate. 


84  Negotiations  de  Jeannin,  L  71, 
153,  183  (especially  196,  219).  Com 
pare  Gallucci,  345,  346,  and  see  espe 
cially  the  memoir  of  F.  Aerssens,  in 
r,  jji.  36-31.  Correspondence 


between  Henry  IV.  and  Olden-Barne 
veld,  pp.  46-50.     Ibid. 

35  Memoir  of  Aerssens,  uhi  sup. 

36  Deventer,  iii.  50, 


1007  VIEWS  OF  KING  JAMES.  381 

His  instinct  against  rebellion  seemed  like  second  sight. 
The  king  might  almost  be  imagined  to  have  foreseen  in  the 
dim  future  those  memorable  months  in  which  the  proudest 
triumph  of  the  Dutch  commonwealth  was  to  be  registered 
before  the  forum  of  Christendom  at  the  congress  of  West 
phalia,  and  in  which  the  solemn  trial  and  execution  of  his 
own  son  and  successor,  with  the  transformation  of  the 
monarchy  of  the  Tudors  and  Stuarts  into  a  British  republic, 
were  simultaneously  to  startle  the  world.  But  it  hardly 
needed  the  gift  of  prophecy  to  inspire  James  with  a  fear  of 
revolutions. 

He  was  secretly  desirous  therefore,  sustained  by  Salisbury 
and  his  other  advisers,  of  effecting  the  restoration  of  the 
provinces  to  the  dominion  of  his  most  Catholic  Majesty.37  It 
was  of  course  the  interest  of  England  that  the  Netherland 
rebels  should  renounce  the  India  trade.  So  would  James  be 
spared  the  expense  and  trouble  of  war ;  so  would  the  great 
doctrines  of  divine  right  be  upheld  ;  so  would  the  way  be 
paved  towards  the  ultimate  absorption  of  the  Netherlands 
by  England.  Whether  his  theological  expositions  would  find 
as  attentive  pupils  when  the  pope's  authority  had  been  re 
established  over  all  his  neighbours  ]  whether  the  Catholic 
rebels  in  Ireland  would  become  more  tranquil  by  the  sub 
jugation  of  the  Protestant  rebels  in  Holland  ;  whether  the 
principles  of  Gruy  Fawkes  might  not  find  more  effective 
application,  with  no  bulwark  beyond  the  seas  against  the 
incursion  of  such  practitioners — all  this  he  did  not  perhaps 
sufficiently  ponder. 

Thus  far  had  the  discursive  mind  of  James  wandered  from 
the  position  which  it  occupied  at  the  epoch  of  Maximilian  de 
Bethune's  memorable  embassy  to  England. 

The  archdukes  were  disposed  to  quiet.  On  them  fell  the 
burthen  of  the  war.  Their  little  sovereignty,  where — if  they 
could  only  be  allowed  to  expend  the  money  squeezed  from 
the  obedient  provinces  in  court  diversions,  stately  architecture, 
splendid  encouragement  of  the  fine  arts,  and  luxurious  living, 

w  Negotiations  de  Jeannin,  i  128, 129, 152, 184, 199, 217,  240, 524,  et  passim. 


382 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  XLDL 


surrounded  by  a  train  of  great  nobles,  fit  to  command  regi 
ments  in  the  field  or  assist  in  the  counsels  of  state,  but 
chiefly  occupied  in  putting  dishes  on  the  court  table,  handing 
ewers  and  napkins  to  their  Highnesses,  or  in  still  more  menial 
offices— so  much  enjoyment  might  be  had,  was  reduced  to  a 
mere  parade  ground  for  Spanish  soldiery. 8  It  was  ridiculous, 
said  the  politicians  of  Madrid,  to  suppose  that  a  great  empire 
like  Spain  would  not  be  continually  at  war  in  one  direction  or 
another,  and  would  not  perpetually  require  the  use  of  large 
armies.  Where  then  could  there  be  a  better  mustering  place 
for  their  forces  than  those  very  provinces,  so  easy  of  access,  so 
opulent,  so  conveniently  situate  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Spain's  most  insolent  enemies  ?  39  It  was  all  very  fine  for  the 
archduke,  who  knew  nothing  of  war,  they  declared,  who  had 
no  hope  of  children,  who  longed  only  for  a  life  of  inglorious 
ease,  such  as  he  could  have  had  as  archbishop,  to  prate  of 
peace  and  thus  to  compromise  the  dignity  of  the  realm.  On 
the  contrary,  by  making  proper  use  of  the  Netherlands,  the 
repose  and  grandeur  of  the  monarchy  would  be  secured,  even 
should  the  war  become  eternal.40 

This  prospect,  not  agreeable  certainly  for  the  archdukes  or 
their  subjects,  was  but  little  admired  outside  the  Spanish 
court. 

Such  then  were  the  sentiments  of  the  archdukes,  and  such 
the  schemes  and  visions  of  Spain,  France,  and  England.  On 
two  or  three  points,  those  great  powers  were  mainly,  if  uncon 
sciously,  agreed.  The  Netherlands  should  not  be  sovereign  ; 
they  should  renounce  the  India  navigation  ;  they  should  con 
sent  to  the  re-establishment  of  the  Catholic  religion. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  States-General  knew  their  own 
minds,  and  made  not  the  slightest  secret  of  their  intentions. 


38  "  II  se  fait  servir  par  les  plus 
grands  et  meme  par  ses  confreres  et 
compactions  d'ordre  jusques  aux 
choses  indignes  d'etre  nominees 

"  L'on  voit  chacun  jour  grand  nom- 
bre  de  noblesse,  qui  pourroit  bien 
s'employer  a  la  tete  d'une  compagnie 
de  ca valerie  ou  d'un  regiment,  ne  s'ex- 


ercer  qu'a  porter  des  plats  sur  une 
table,  et  d'autres  encore  a  d'autres 
choses  moins  neceseaires."  —  Letter 
from  Brussels  in  P.  de  TEstoile. 
Supplement  au  Journal  du  Regne 
de  Henri  IV.,  1599-1606,  torn.  iii.  pp. 
460,  461.  In  Petitot,  vol.  xlvii. 
39  Bentivoglio,  564.  40  Ibid. 


607,  JEANNIN    BEFORE  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  383 

They  would  be  sovereign,  they  would  not  renounce  the 
India  trade,  they  would  not  agree  to  the  re-establishment  of 
the  Catholic  religion. 

Could  the  issue  of  the  proposed  negotiations  be  thought 
hopeful,  or  was  another  half  century  of  warfare  impending  ? 

On  the  28th  May  the  French  commissioners  came  before 
the  States-General.41 

There  had  been  many  wild  rumours  flying  through  the  pro 
vinces  in  regard  to  the  king's  secret  designs  upon  the  republic, 
especially  since  the  visit  made  to  the  Hague  a  twelvemonth 
before  by  Francis  Aerssens,  States'  resident  at  the  French 
court.48  That  diplomatist,  as  we  know,  had  been  secretly 
commissioned  by  Henry  to  feel  the  public  pulse  in  regard  to 
the  sovereignty,  so  far  as  that  could  be  done  by  very  private 
and  delicate  fingering.  Although  only  two  or  three  personages 
had  been  dealt  with — the  suggestions  being  made  as  the 
private  views  of  the  ambassadors  only — there  had  been  much 
gossip  on  the  subject,  not  only  in  the  Netherlands,  but  at  the 
English  and  Spanish  courts.  Throughout  the  commonwealth 
there  was  a  belief  that  Henry  wished  to  make  himself  king 
of  the  country. 

As  this  happened  to  be  the  fact,  it  was  natural  that  the 
President,  according  to  the  statecraft  of  his  school,  should 
deny  it  at  once,  and  with  an  air  of  gentle  melancholy. 

Wearing  therefore  his  most  ingenuous  expression,  Jeannin 
addressed  the  assembly. 

He  assured  the  States  that  the  king  had  never  forgotten 
how  much  assistance  he  had  received  from  them  when  he 
was  struggling  to  conquer  the  kingdom  legally  belonging  to 
him,  and  at  a  time  when  they  too  were  fighting  in  their  own 
country  for  their  very  existence.43 

The  king  thought  that  he  had  given  so  many  proofs  of  his 
sincere  friendship  as  to  make  doubt  impossible  ;  but  he  had 
found  the  contrary,  for  the  States  had  accorded  an  armistice, 
and  listened  to  overtures  of  peace,  without  deigning  to  con- 

41  Meteren,  551.     Jeannin,  i.  109.        4!  Wagenaar,  ix.  261,  seqq. 
43  Jeannin,  i.  109. 


384  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

suit  him  on  the  subject.  They  had  proved,  by  beginning  and 
concluding  so  important  a  transaction  without  his  knowledge, 
that  they  regarded  him  with  suspicion,  and  had  no  respect  for 
his  name.  Whence  came  the  causes  of  that  suspicion  it  was 
difficult  to  imagine,  unless  from  certain  false  rumours  of  pro 
positions  said  to  have  been  put  forward  in  his  behalf,  although 
he  had  never  authorised  anyone  to  make  them,  by  which  men 
had  been  induced  to  believe  that  he  aspired  to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  provinces. 

"  This  falsehood/'  continued  the  candid  President,  "  has 
cut  our  king  to  the  heart,  wounding  him  more  deeply  than 
anything  else  could  have  done.  To  make  the  armistice  with 
out  his  knowledge  showed  merely  your  contempt  for  him, 
and  your  want  of  faith  in  him.  But  he  blamed  not  the 
action  in  itself,  since  you  deemed  it  for  your  good,  and  God 
grant  that  you  may  not  have  been  deceived.  But  to  pretend 
that  his  Majesty  wished  to  grow  great  at  your  expense,  this 
was  to  do  a  wrong  to  his  reputation,  to  his  good  faith,  and  to 
the  desire  which  he  has  always  shown  to  secure  the  pros 
perity  of  your  state."44 

Much  more  spoke  Jeannin,  in  this  vein,  assuring  the 
assembly  that  those  abominable  falsehoods  proceeded  from 
the  enemies  of  the  king,  and  were  designed  expressly  to 
sow  discord  and  suspicion  in  the  provinces.  The  reader, 
already  aware  of  the  minute  and  detailed  arrangements  made 
by  Henry  and  his  ministers  for  obtaining  the  sovereignty  of 
the  United  Provinces  and  destroying  their  liberties,  will 
know  how  to  appreciate  the  eloquence  of  the  ingenuous 
President. 

After  the  usual  commonplaces  concerning  the  royal  desire 
to  protect  his  allies  against  wrong  and  oppression,  and  to 
advance  their  interests,  the  President  suggested  that  the 
States  should  forthwith  communicate  the  pending  delibera 
tions  to  all  the  kings  and  princes  who  had  favoured  their 
cause,  and  especially  to  the  King  of  England,  who  had  so 
thoroughly  proved  his  desire  to  promote  their  welfare.45 

44  Jeannin,  i.  110.  45  Ibid.  113. 


1607.  BARNEVELD'S  REPLY.  385 

As  Jeannin  had  been  secretly  directed  to  pave  the  way  by 
all  possible  means  for  the  king's  sovereignty  over  the 
provinces  ;  as  he  was  not  long  afterwards  to  receive  explicit 
instructions  to  expend  as  much  money  as  might  be  necessary 
in  bribing  Prince  Maurice,  Count  Lewis  William,  Barneveld 
and  his  son,  together  with  such  others  as  might  seem  worth 
purchasing,  in  order  to  assist  Henry  in  becoming  monarch  of 
their  country  ; 46  and  as  the  English  king  was  at  that  moment 
represented  in  Henry's  private  letters  to  the  commissioners  as 
actually  loathing  the  liberty,  power,  and  prosperity  of  the  pro 
vinces,47  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  President  had  acquitted 
himself  very  handsomely  in  his  first  oration. 

Such  was  the  virtue  of  his  honest  face. 

Barneveld  answered  with  generalities  and  commonplaces. 
No  man  knew  better  than  the  Advocate  the  exact  position  of 
affairs  ;  no  man  had  more  profoundly  fathomed  the  present 
purposes  of  the  French  king ;  no  man  had  more  acutely 
scanned  his  character.  But  he  knew  the  critical  position  of 
the  commonwealth.  He  knew  that,  although  the  public 
revenue  might  be  raised  by  extraordinary  and  spasmodic 
exertion  to  nearly18  a  million  sterling,  a  larger  income  than 
had  ever  been  at  the  disposition  of  the  great  Queen  of 
England,  the  annual  deficit  might  be  six  millions  of  florins 
— more  than  half  the  revenue — if  the  war  continued,49  and 
that  there  was  necessity  of  peace,  could  the  substantial 
objects  of  the  war  be  now  obtained.  He  was  well  aware  too 
of  the  subtle  and  scheming  brain  which  lay  hid  beneath  that 
reverend  brow  of  the  President,  although  he  felt  capable  of 
coping  with  him  in  debate  or  intrigue.  Doubtless  he  was 
inspired  with  as  much  ardour  for  the  intellectual  conflict  as 
Henry  might  have  experienced  on  some  great  field-day  with 
Alexander  Farnese. 

On  this  occasion,  however,  Barneveld  preferred  to  glide 
gently  over  the  rumours  concerning  Henry's  schemes.  Those 
reports  had  doubtless  emanated,  he  said,  from  the  enemies  of 

46  Jeannin,  i.  43,  62,  63,  69,  70,  71.  41  Ibid.  157. 

48  Wagenaar,  ix.  274,  275.  «  Ibid.  277. 

VOL.  IV. — 2  C 


386  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

Netherland  prosperity.  The  private  conclusion  of  the 
armistice  he  defended  on  the  ground  of  necessity,  and 
of  temporary  financial  embarrassment,  and  he  promised 
that  deputies  should  at  once  be  appointed  to  confer  with  the 
royal  commissioners  in  regard  to  the  whole  subject. 

In  private,  he  assured  Jeannin  that  the  communications 
of  Aerssens  had  only  been  discussed  in  secret,  and  had  not 
been  confided  to  more  than  three  or  four  persons.50 

The  Advocate,  although  the  leader  of  the  peace  party,  was 
by  no  means  over  anxious  for  peace. 

The  object  of  much  insane  obloquy,  because  disposed  to 
secure  that  blessing  for  his  country  on  the  basis  of  freedom 
and  independence,  he  was  not  disposed  to  trust  in  the  sincerity 
of  the  archdukes,  or  the  Spanish  court,  or  the  French  king. 
"  Timeo  Danaos  etiam  dona  ferentes"  he  had  lately  said  to 
Aerssens.51  Knowing  that  the  resistance  of  the  Netherlands 
had  been  forty  years  long  the  bulwark  of  Europe  against  the 
designs  of  the  Spaniard  for  universal  empire,  he  believed  the 
republic  justified  in  expecting  the  support  of  the  leading 
powers  in  the  negotiations  now  proposed.  "Had  it  not 
been  for  the  opposition  of  these  provinces,"  he  said,  "he 
might,  in  the  opinion  of  the  wisest,  have  long  ago  been 
monarch  of  all  Europe,  with  small  expense  of  men,  money, 
or  credit." 52  He  was  far  from  believing  therefore  that  Spain, 
which  had  sacrificed,  according  to  his  estimate,  three  hundred 
thousand  soldiers  and  two  hundred  million  ducats  in  vain 
endeavours  to  destroy  the  resistance  of  the  United  Provinces, 
was  now  ready  to  lay  aside  her  vengeance  and  submit  to  a 
sincere  peace.  Kather  he  thought  to  see  "the  lambkins, 
now  frisking  so  innocently  about  the  commonwealth,  suddenly 
transform  themselves  into  lions  and  wolves."53  It  would  be 
a  fatal  error,  he  said,  to  precipitate  the  dear  fatherland  into 
the  net  of  a  simulated  negotiation,  from  unwise  impatience 
for  peace.  The  Netherlander  were  a  simple,  truthful 

w  Resol.  Holl.  146, 147.     Wagenaar,  ix.  270. 

51  Olden-Barneveld  to  Aerssens,  2  June,  1607,  in  Deventer,  iii.  135. 

«  Memoire  van  Olden-Barnevelt,  in  Deventer,  iii.  cxcix.  137-147.    53  Ibid. 


1607  BARNEVELD'S  REPLY.  387 

people  and  could  hope  for  no  advantage  in  dealing  with 
Spanish  friars,  nor  discover  all  the  danger  and  deceit 
lurking  beneath  their  fair  words.  Thus  the  man,  whom  his 
enemies  perpetually  accused  of  being  bought  by  the  enemy, 
of  wishing  peace  at  any  price,  of  wishing  to  bring  back  the 
Catholic  party  and  ecclesiastical  influence  to  the  Netherlands, 
was  vigorously  denouncing  a  precipitate  peace,  and  warning 
his  countrymen  of  the  danger  of  premature  negotiations. 

"  As  one  can  hardly  know  the  purity  and  value  of  gold," 
he  said,  "  without  testing  it,  so  it  is  much  more  difficult  to 
distinguish  a  false  peace  from  a  genuine  one ;  for  one  can 
never  touch  it  nor  taste  it,  and  one  learns  the  difference  when 
one  is  cheated  and  lost.  Ignorant  people  think  peace 
negotiations  as  simple  as  a  private  lawsuit.  Many  sensible 
persons  even  think  that,  the  enemy  once  recognising  us  for 
a  free,  sovereign  state,  we  shall  be  in  the  same  position  as 
England  and  France,  which  powers  have  lately  made  peace 
with  the  archdukes  and  with  Spain.  But  we  shall  find  a 
mighty  difference.  Moreover,  in  those  kingdoms  the  Spanish 
king  has  since  the  peace  been  ever  busy  corrupting  their 
officers  of  state  and  their  subjects,  and  exciting  rebellion  and 
murder  within  their  realms,  as  all  the  world  must  confess. 
And  the  English  merchants  complain  that  they  have  suffered 
more  injustice,  violence,  and  wrong  from  the  Spaniards  since 
the  peace  than  they  did  during  the  war."54 

The  Advocate  also  reminded  his  countrymen  that  the  arch 
duke,  being  a  vassal  of  Spain,  could  not  bind  that  power  by 
his  own  signature,  and  that  there  was  no  proof  that  the  king 
would  renounce  his  pretended  rights  to  the  provinces.  If  he 
affected  to  do  so,  it  would  only  be  to  put  the  republic  to  sleep. 
He  referred,  with  much  significance,  to  the  late  proceedings 
of  the  Admiral  of  Arragon  at  Emmerich,  who  refused  to 
release  that  city  according  to  his  plighted  word,  saying 
roundly  that  whatever  he  might  sign  and  seal  one  day  he 
would  not  hesitate  absolutely  to  violate  on  the  next  if  the 
king's  service  was  thereby  to  be  benefited.56  With  such 

M  Memoire  van  Olden  Barnevelt,  in  Deventer,  iii.  cxcix.  137-147.       65  Ibid. 


388  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

people,  who  had  always  learned  law-doctors  and  ghostly  con 
fessors  to  strengthen  and  to  absolve  them,  they  could  never 
expect  anything  but  broken  faith  and  contempt  for  treaties 
however  solemnly  ratified. 

Should  an  armistice  be  agreed  upon  and  negotiations  begun, 
the  Advocate  urged  that  the  work  of  corruption  and  bribery 
would  not  be  a  moment  delayed,  and  although  the  Nether- 
landers  were  above  all  nations  a  true  and  faithful  race,  it 
could  hardly  be  hoped  that  no  individuals  would  be  gained 
over  by  the  enemy.56 

"  For  the  whole  country/'  said  Barneveld,  "  would  swarm 
with  Jesuits,  priests,  and  monks,  with  calumnies  and  corrup 
tions — the  machinery  by  which  the  enemy  is  wont  to  produce 
discord,  relying  for  success  upon  the  well-known  maxim  of 
Philip  of  Macedon,  who  considered  no  city  impregnable  into 
which  he  could  send  an  ass  laden  with  gold."  57 

The  Advocate  was  charged  too  with  being  unfriendly  to  the 
India  trade,  especially  to  the  West  India  Company. 

He  took  the  opportunity,  however,  to  enlarge  with  emphasis 
and  eloquence  upon  that  traffic  as  constituting  the  very  life- 
blood  of  the  country. 

"  The  commerce  with  the  East  Indies  is  going  on  so  pros 
perously,"  he  said,  "  that  not  only  our  own  inhabitants  but  all 
strangers  are  amazed.  The  West  India  Company  is  sufficiently 
prepared,  and  will  cost  the  commonwealth  so  little,  that  the 
investment  will  be  inconsiderable  in  comparison  with  the 
profits.  And  all  our  dangers  and  difficulties  have  nearly 
vanished  since  the  magnificent  victory  of  Gibraltar,  by  which 
the  enemy's  ships,  artillery,  and  sailors  have  been  annihilated, 
and  proof  afforded  that  the  Spanish  galleys  are  not  so  terrible 
as  they  pretend  to  be.  By  means  of  this  trade  to  both  the 
Indies,  matters  will  soon  be  brought  into  such  condition  that 
the  Spaniards  will  be  driven  out  of  all  those  regions  and 
deprived  of  their  traffic.  Thus  will  the  great  wolf's  teeth  be 
pulled  out,  and  we  need  have  no  farther  fear  of  his  biting 
again.  Then  we  may  hope  for  a  firm  and  assured  peace,  and 

M  Memoire  van  Olden-Barnevelt,  in  Deventer,  iii.  cxcix.  137-147.     *7  Ibid. 


1607.  ORGANIZATION  OF  CONFERENCES.  389 

may  keep  the  Indies,  with  the  whole  navigation  thereon 
depending,  for  ourselves,  sharing  it  freely  and  in  common  with 
our  allies."58 

Certainly  no  statesman  could  more  strongly  depict  the 
dangers  of  a  pusillanimous  treaty,  and  the  splendid  future 
of  the  republic,  if  she  held  fast  to  her  resolve  for  political 
independence,  free  religion,  and  free  trade,  than  did  the  great 
Advocate  at  this  momentous  epoch  of  European  history. 

Had  he  really  dreamed  of  surrendering  the  republic  to 
Spain,  that  republic  whose  resistance  ever  since  the  middle 
of  the  previous  century  had  been  all  that  had  saved  Europe, 
in  the  opinion  of  learned  and  experienced  thinkers,  from  the 
universal  empire  of  Spain  —  had  the  calumnies,  or  even 
a  thousandth  part  of  the  calumnies,  against  him  been  true — 
how  different  might  have  been  the  history  of  human  liberty  ! 

Soon  afterwards,  in  accordance  with  the  suggestions  of  the 
French  king  and  with  their  own  previous  intentions,  a  special 
legation  was  despatched  by  the  States  to  England,  in  order  to 
notify  the  approaching  conferences  to  the  sovereign  of  that 
country,  and  to  invite  his  participation  in  the  proceedings. 

The  States'  envoys  were  graciously  received  by  James, 
who  soon  appointed  Richard  Spencer  and  Ralph  Winwood  as 
commissioners  to  the  Hague,  duly  instructed  to  assist  at  the 
deliberations,  and  especially  to  keep  a  sharp  watch  upon 
French  intrigues.  There  were  also  missions  and  invitations 
to  Denmark  and  to  the  Electors  Palatine  and  of  Branden 
burg,  the  two  latter  potentates  having,  during  the  past  three 
years,  assisted  the  States  with  a  hundred  thousand  florins 
annually.59 

The  news  of  the  great  victory  at  Gibraltar  had  reached 
the  Netherlands  almost  simultaneously  with  the  arrival  of  the 
French  commissioners.  It  was  thought  probable  that  John 
Neyen  had  received  the  weighty  intelligence  some  days 
earlier,  and  the  intense  eagerness  of  the  archdukes  and  of  the 
Spanish  Government  to  procure  the  recal  of  the  Dutch  fleet 

68  Memoire  van  Olden-Barnevelt  in  Deventer,  iii.  cxcix.  137-147. 
*  Wagenaar,  ix.  274 


390  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

was  thus  satisfactorily  explained.  Very  naturally  this  mag 
nificent  success,  clouded  though  it  was  by  the  death  of  'the 
hero  to  whom  it  was  due,  increased  the  confidence  of 
the  States  in  the  justice  of  their  cause  and  the  strength  of 
their  position. 

Once  more,  it  is  not  entirely  idle  to  consider  the  effect 
of  scientific  progress  on  the  march  of  human  affairs,  as  so 
often  exemplified  in  history.  Whether  that  half-century 
of  continuous  war  would  have  been  possible  with  the 
artillery,  means  of  locomotion,  and  other  machinery  of 
destruction  and  communication  now  so  terribly  familiar  to 
the  world,  can  hardly  be  a  question.  The  preterhuman  pro 
lixity  of  negotiation  which  appals  us  in  the  days  when  steam 
and  electricity  had  not  yet  annihilated  time  and  space,  ought 
also  to  be  obsolete.  At  a  period  when  the  news  of  a  great 
victory  was  thirty  days  on  its  travels  from  Gibraltar  to 
Flushing,  aged  counsellors  justified  themselves  in  a  solemn 
consumption  of  time  such  as  might  have  exasperated  Jared  or 
Methuselah  in  his  boyhood.  Men  fought  as  if  war  was  the 
normal  condition  of  humanity,  and  negotiated  as  if  they  were 
all  immortal.  But  has  the  art  political  kept  pace  with  the 
advancement  of  physical  science  ?  If  history  be  valuable  for 
the  examples  it  furnishes  both  for  imitation  and  avoidance, 
then  the  process  by  which  these  peace  conferences  were 
initiated  and  conducted  may  be  wholesome  food  for  reflection. 

John  Neyen,  who,  since  his  secret  transactions  already 
described  at  the  Hague  and  Fort  Lillo,  had  been  speeding 
back  and  forth  between  Brussels,  London,  and  Madrid,  had 
once  more  returned  to  the  Netherlands,  and  had  been  per 
mitted  to  reside  privately  at  Delft  until  the  king's  ratification 
should  arrive  from  Spain.60 

While  thus  established,  the  industrious  friar  had  occupied 
his  leisure  in  studying  the  situation  of  affairs.  Especially  he 
had  felt  inclined  to  renew  some  of  those  little  commercial 
speculations  which  had  recently  proved  so  comfortable  in  the 
case  of  Dirk  van  der  Does.  Kecorder  Cornelius  Aerssens 

60  Meteren,  553. 


1607.  DOINGS  OF  FRIAR  NEYEN.  391 

came  frequently  to  visit  him,  with  the  private  consent  of  the 
Government,  and  it  at  once  struck  the  friar  that  Cornelius 
would  be  a  judicious  investment.  So  he  informed  the  re 
corder  that  the  archdukes  had  been  much  touched  with 
his  adroitness  and  zeal  in  facilitating  the  entrance  of 
their  secret  agent  into  the  presence  of  the  Prince  and 
the  Advocate.  Gruwel,  in  whose  company  the  disguised 
Neyen  had  made  his  first  journey  to  the  Hague,  was  a  near 
relative  of  Aerssens.  The  honest  monk  accordingly,  in  recog 
nition  of  past  and  expected  services,  begged  one  day  the 
recorder's  acceptance  of  a  bill,  drawn  by  Marquis  Spinola 
on  Henry  Beckman,  merchant  of  Amsterdam,  for  eighty 
thousand  ducats.  He  also  produced  a  diamond  ring,  valued 
at  ten  thousand  florins,  which  he  ventured  to  think  worthy 
the  acceptance  of  Madame  Aerssens.  Furthermore,  he  de 
clared  himself  ready  to  pay  fifteen  thousand  crowns  in  cash, 
on  account  of  the  bill,  whenever  it  might  be  desired,  and 
observed  that  the  archdukes  had  ordered  the  house  which  the 
recorder  had  formerly  occupied  in  Brussels  to  be  reconveyed 
to  him.61  Other  good  things  were  in  store,  it  was  delicately 
hinted,  as  soon  as  they  had  been  earned. 

Aerssens  expressed  his  thanks  for  the  house,  which,  he 
said,  legally  belonged  to  him  according  to  the  terms  of  the 
surrender  of  Brussels.  He  hesitated  in  regard  to  the  rest,  but 
decided  finally  to  accept  the  bill  of  exchange  and  the  dia 
mond,  apprising  Prince  Maurice  and  Olden- Barne veld  of  the 
fact,  however,  on  his  return  to  the  Hague.62  Being  subse 
quently  summoned  by  Neyen  to  accept  the  fifteen  thousand 
crowns,  he  felt  embarrassed  at  the  compromising  position  iu 
which  he  had  placed  himself.  He  decided  accordingly  td 
make  a  public  statement  of  the  affair  to  the  States-General. 
This  was  done,  and  the  States  placed  the  ring  and  the  bill  in 
the  hands  of  their  treasurer,  Joris  de  Bie. 

The  recorder  never  got  the  eighty  thousand  ducats,  nor  his 
wife  the  diamond ;  but  although  there  had  been  no  duplicity 
on  his  part,  he  got  plenty  of  slander.  His  evil  genius  had 

"  Wagenaar,  ix.  271,  et  seq.    Grotius,  xvi.  741, 742.          «2  Ibid. 


392  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

prompted  him,  not  to  listen  seriously  to  the  temptings  of  the 
monk,  but  to  deal  with  him  on  his  own  terms.  He  was 
obliged  to  justify  himself  against  public  suspicion  with  ex 
planations  and  pamphlets,  but  some  taint  of  the  calumny 
stuck  by  him  to  the  last. 

Meantime,  the  three  months  allotted  for  the  reception  of 
Philip's  ratification  had  nearly  expired.  In  March,  the  royal 
Government  had  expressly  consented  that  the  archdukes 
should  treat  with  the  rebels  on  the  ground  of  their  indepen 
dence.  In  June  that  royal  permission  had  been  withdrawn, 
exactly  because  the  independence  could  never  be  acknow 
ledged.  Albert,  naturally  enough  indignant  at  such  double- 
dealing,  wrote  to  the  king  that  his  disapprobation  was 
incomprehensible,  as  the  concession  of  independence  had 
been  made  by  direct  command  of  Philip.  "  I  am  much 
amazed,"  he  said,  "  that,  having  treated  with  the  islanders 
on  condition  of  leaving  them  free,  by  express  order  of  your 
Majesty  (which  you  must  doubtless  very  well  remember), 
your  Majesty  now  reproves  my  conduct,  and  declares  your 
dissatisfaction."63  At  last,  on  the  23rd  July,  Spinola  re 
quested  a  safe  conduct  for  Louis  Verreyken,  auditor  of  the 
council  at  Brussels,  to  come  to  the  Hague.64 

On  the  23rd  of  July  that  functionary  accordingly  arrived. 
He  came  before  Prince  Maurice  and  fifty  deputies  of  the 
States-General,  and  exhibited  the  document.  At  the  same 
time  he  urged  them,  now  that  the  long-desired  ratification 
had  been  produced,  to  fulfil  at  once  their  promise,  and  to 
recal  their  fleet  from  the  coast  of  Spain.65 

Verreyken  was  requested  to  withdraw  while  the  instrument 
was  examined.  When  recalled,  he  was  informed  that  the 
States  had  the  most  staightforward  intention  to  negotiate, 
but  that  the  royal  document  did  not  at  all  answer  their 
expectation.  As  few  of  the  delegates  could  read  Spanish,  it 
would  first  of  all  be  necessary  to  cause  it  to  be  translated. 

63  Extract  from  MS.  Letter  cited  by  Deventer,  iii.  xxvi. 

64  Wagenaar,  ix.  278. 

w  Meteren,  552,  553.     Gallucci,  336.     Wagenaar,  278,  seqq. 


1607.  PHILIP'S  RATIFICATION.  393 

When  that  was  done  they  would  be  able  to  express  their 
opinion  concerning  it  and  come  to  a  decision  in  regard  to  the 
recal  of  the  fleet.  This  ended  the  proceedings  on  that 
occasion. 

Next  day  Prince  Maurice  invited  Yerreyken  and  others  to 
dine.  After  dinner  the  stadholder  informed  him  that  the 
answer  of  the  States  might  soon  be  expected;  at  the  same 
time  expressing  his  regret  that  the  king  should  have  seiit 
such  an  instrument.  It  was  very  necessary,  said  the  prince, 
to  have  plain  speaking,  and  he,  for  one,  had  never  believed 
that  the  king  would  send  a  proper  ratification.  The  one 
exhibited  was  not  at  all  to  the  purpose.  The  king  was 
expected  to  express  himself  as  clearly  as  the  archdukes  had 
done  in  their  instrument.  He  must  agree  to  treat  with  the 
States-General  as  with  people  entirely  free,  over  whom  he 
claimed  no  authority.  If  the  king  should  refuse  to  make 
this  public  declaration,  the  States  would  at  once  break  off 
all  negotiations.66 

Three  days  afterwards,  seven  deputies  conferred  with 
Yerreyken.  Barneveld,  as  spokesman,  declared  that,  so  far 
a&  the  provinces  were  concerned,  the  path  was  plain  and  open 
to  an  honest,  ingenuous,  lasting  peace,  but  that  the  manner 
of  dealing  on  the  other  side  was  artificial  and  provocative  of 
suspicion.67  A  most  important  line,  which  had  been  placed 
by  the  States  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  form  suggested  by 
them,  was  wanting  in  the  ratification  now  received.  This 
hardly  seemed  an  accidental  omission.  The  whole  document 
was  constrained  and  defective.  It  was  necessary  to  deal  with 
Netherlander  in  clear  and  simple  language.  The  basis  of 
any  possible  negotiation  was  that  the  provinces  were  to  be 
treated  with  as  and  called  entirely  free.  Unless  this  was 
done  negotiations  were  impossible.  The  States-General  were 
not  so  unskilled  in  affairs  as  to  be  ignorant  that  the  king  and 
the  archdukes  were  quite  capable,  at  a  future  day,  of 
declaring  themselves  untrammelled  by  any  conditions.  They 
would  boast  that  conventions  with  rebels  and  pledges  to 
66  Gallucci,  ubi  «#>.  67  Had. 


394  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XL1X. 

heretics  were  alike  invalid.  If  Verreyken  had  brought  no 
better  document  than  the  one  presented,  he  had  better  go  at 
once.  His  stay  in  the  provinces  was  superfluous.68 

At  a  subsequent  interview  Barneveld  informed  Yerreyken 
that  the  king's  confirmation  had  been  unanimously  rejected 
by  the  States-General  as  deficient  both  in  form  and  substance. 
He  added  that  the  people  of  the  provinces  were  growing  very 
lukewarm  in  regard  to  peace,  that  Prince  Maurice  opposed  it, 
that  many  persons  regretted  the  length  to  which  the  negotia 
tions  had  already  gone.  Difficult  as  it  seemed  to  be  to 
recede,  the  archdukes  might  be  certain  that  a  complete  rup 
ture  was  imminent. 

All  these  private  conversations  of  Barneveld,  who  was 
known  to  be  the  chief  of  the  peace  party,  were  duly  reported 
by  Verreyken  in  secret  notes  to  the  archduke  and  to  Spinola. 
Of  course  they  produced  their  effect.  It  surely  might  have 
been  seen  that  the  tricks  and  shii'ts  of  an  antiquated  diplomacy 
were  entirely  out  of  place  if  any  wholesome  result  were  desired. 
But  the  habit  of  dissimulation  was  inveterate.  That  the  man 
who  cannot  dissemble  is  unfit  to  reign,  was  perhaps  the  only 
one  of  his  father's  golden  rules  which  Philip  III.  could 
thoroughly  comprehend,  even  if  it  be  assumed  that  the 
monarch  was  at  all  consulted  in  regard  to  this  most  important 
transaction  of  his  life.  Verreyken  and  the  friar  knew  very  well 
when  they  brought  the  document  that  it  would  be  spurned 
by  the  States,  and  yet  they  were  also  thoroughly  aware  that 
it  was  the  king's  interest  to  begin  the  negotiations  as  soon 
as  possible.  When  thus  privately  and  solemnly  assured  by 
the  Advocate  that  they  were  really  wasting  their  time  by 
being  the  bearers  of  these  royal  evasions,  they  learned  there 
fore  nothing  positively  new,  but  were  able  to  assure  their 
employers  that  to  thoroughly  disgust  the  peace  party  was 
not  precisely  the  mode  of  terminating  the  war. 

Verreyken  now  received  public  and  formal  notification  that 
a  new  instrument  must  be  procured  from  the  king.  In  the 
ratification  which  had  been  sent,  that  monarch  spoke  of  the 
w  Gallucci,  337,  338. 


1607.  REJECTION  OF  THE  RATIFICATION.  395 

archdukes  as  princes  and  sovereign  proprietors  of  all  the 
Netherlands.  The  clause  by  which,  according  to  the  form 
prescribed  by  the  States,  and  already  adopted  by  the  arch 
dukes,  the  United  Provinces  were  described  as  free  countries 
over  which  no  authority  was  claimed  had  been  calmly  omitted, 
as  if,  by  such  a  subterfuge,  the  independence  of  the  republic 
could  be  winked  out  of  existence.  Furthermore,  it  was 
objected  that  the  document  was  in  Spanish,  that  it  was  upon 
paper  instead  of  parchment,  that  it  was  not  sealed  with  the 
great,  but  with  the  little  seal,  and  that  it  was  subscribed 
"  I  the  King."  This  signature  might  be  very  appropriate  for 
decrees  issued  by  a  monarch  to  his  vassals,  but  could  not  be 
rightly  appended,  it  was  urged,  to  an  instrument  addressed 
to  a  foreign  power.  Potentates,  treating  with  the  States- 
General  of  the  United  Provinces,  were  expected  to  sign  their 
names. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  technical  requirements 
in  regard  to  the  parchment,  the  signature,  and  the  seal,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  characterize  too  strongly  the  polity  of 
the  Spanish  Government  in  the  most  essential  point.  To  seek 
relief  from  the  necessity  of  recognising — at  least  in  the  sense 
of  similitude,  according  to  the  subtlety  of  Bentivoglio — the 
freedom  of  the  provinces,  simply  by  running  the  pen  through 
the  most  important  line  of  a  most  important  document,  was 
diplomacy  in  its  dotage.  Had  not  Marquis  Spinola,  a  man 
who  could  use  his  brains  and  his  pen  as  well  as  his  sword, 
expressly  implored  the  politicians  of  Madrid  not  to  change 
even  a  comma  in  the  form  of  ratification  which  he  sent  to 
Spain  ? 

Verreyken,  placed  face  to  face  with  plain-spoken,  straight 
forward,  strong-minded  men,  felt  the  dreary  absurdity  of  the 
position.  He  could  only  stammer  a  ridiculous  excuse  about 
the  clause,  having  been  accidentally  left  out  by  a  copying 
secretary.69  To  represent  so  important  an  omission  as  a 
clerical  error  was  almost  as  great  an  absurdity  as  the  original 
device  ;  but  it  was  necessary  for  Verreyken  to  say  something. 

w  Grotius,  xvi.  744,  745.    Meteren,  352.     Wagenaar,  ix.  279. 


396  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

He  promised,  however,  that  the  form  prescribed  by  the 
States  should  be  again  transmitted  to  Madrid,  and  expressed 
confidence  that  the  ratification  would  now  be  sent  as  desired. 
Meantime  he  trusted  that  the  fleet  would  be  at  once  recalled. 

This  at  once  created  a  stormy  debate  which  lasted  many 
days,  both  within  the  walls  of  the  House  of  Assembly  and 
out  of  doors.  Prince  Maurice  bitterly  denounced  the  proposi 
tion,  and  asserted  the  necessity  rather  of  sending  out  more 
ships  than  of  permitting  their  cruisers  to  return.  It  was  well 
known  that  the  Spanish  Government,  since  the  destruction  of 
A  vila's  fleet,  had  been  straining  every  nerve  to  procure  and 
equip  other  war-vessels,  and  that  even  the  Duke  of  Lerma 
had  offered  a  small  portion  of  his  immense  plunderings  to 
the  crown  in  aid  of  naval  armaments.70 

On  the  other  hand,  Barneveld  urged  that  the  States,  in  the 
preliminary  armistice,  had  already  agreed  to  send  no  muni 
tions  nor  reinforcements  to  the  fleet  already  cruising  on  the 
coasts  of  the  peninsula.  It  would  be  better,  therefore,  to 
recal  those  ships  than  to  leave  them  where  they  could  not 
be  victualled  nor  strengthened  without  a  violation  of  good 
faith. 

These  opinions  prevailed,  and  on  the  9th  August,  Verreyken 
was  summoned  before  the  Assembly,  and  informed 
ug  by  Barneveld  that  the  States  had  decided  to  with 
draw  the  fleet,  and  to  declare  invalid  all  prizes  made  six 
weeks  after  that  date.  This  was  done,  it  was  said,  out  of 
respect  to  the  archdukes,  to  whom  no  blame  was  imputed  for 
the  negligence  displayed  in  regard  to  the  ratification.  Fur 
thermore,  the  auditor  was  requested  to  inform  his  masters 
that  the  documents  brought  from  Spain  were  not  satisfactory, 
and  he  was  furnished  with  a  draught,  made  both  in  Latin  and 
French.  With  this  form,  it  was  added,  the  king  was  to  com 
ply  within  six  weeks,  if  he  desired  to  proceed  further  in 
negotiations  with  the  States.71 

Verreyken  thanked  the  States-General,  made  the  best  of 
promises,  and  courteously  withdrew. 

70  Wagenaar,  ix.  280,  281.  71  Meteren,  352.     Wagenaar,  ix.  281. 


1607. 


RETURN  OF  NEYEN'S  PRESENTS. 


397 


Next  day,  however,  just  as  his  preparations  for  departure 
had  been  made,  he  was  once  more  summoned  before  the 
Assembly  to  meet  with  a  somewhat  disagreeable  surprise. 
Barneveld,  speaking  as  usual  in  behalf  of  the  States-General, 
publicly  produced  Spinola's  bill  of  exchange  for  eighty  thou 
sand  ducats,  the  diamond  ring  intended  for  Madame  Aerssens, 
and  the  gold  chain  given  to  Dirk  van  der  Does,  and  ex 
pressed  the  feelings  of  the  republican  Government  in  regard 
to  those  barefaced  attempts  of  Friar  John  at  bribery  and 
corruption,  in  very  scornful  language.72  Netherlander  were 
not  to  be  bought — so  the  agent  of  Spain  and  of  the  archdukes 
was  informed — and,  even  if  the  citizens  were  venal,  it  would 
be  necessary  in  a  popular  Government  to  buy  up  the  whole 
nation.  "  It  is  not  in  our  commonwealth  as  in  despotisms," 
said  the  Advocate,  "  where  affairs  of  state  are  directed  by  the 
nod  of  two  or  three  individuals,  while  the  rest  of  the  inhabi 
tants  are  a  mob  of  slaves.  By  turns,  we  all  govern  and  are 
governed.  This  great  council,  this  senate — should  it  seem 
not  sufficiently  fortified  against  your  presents — could  easily 
be  enlarged.  Here  is  your  chain,  your  ring,  your  banker's 
draught.  Take  them  all  back  to  your  masters.  Such  gifts 
are  not  necessary  to  ensure  a  just  peace,  while  to  accept  them 
would  be  a  crime  against  liberty,  which  we  are  incapable  of 
committing/'73 

Verreyken,  astonished  and  abashed,  could  answer  little  save 
to  mutter  a  few  words  about  the  greediness  of  monks,  who, 
judging  everyone  else  by  themselves,  thought  no  one  inacces 
sible  to  a  bribe.74  He  protested  the  innocence  of  the  archdukes 
in  the  matter,  who  had  given  no  directions  to  bribe,  and  who 
were  quite  ignorant  that  the  attempt  had  been  made. 

He  did  not  explain  by  whose  authority  the  chain,  the  ring, 
and  the  draught  upon  Beckman  had  been  furnished  to  the 
friar. 

Meantime  that  ecclesiastic  was  cheerfully  wending  his  way 


75  Meteren,  553™. 
Wagenaar,  ix.  283. 
73  Ibid. 


Grotius,  xvi.  745. 


74  "  Nee  mirum  si  monachi  avarum 
imprimis  hominum  genus  alios  ex  sa 
aestimarent." — Grotius,  ubi  sup. 


398  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

to  Spain  in  search  of  the  new  ratification,  leaving  his  col 
league  vicariously  to  bide  the  pelting  of  the  republican 
storm,  and  to  return  somewhat  weather-beaten  to  Brussels. 

During  the  suspension,  thus  ridiculously  and  gratuitously 
caused,  of  preliminaries  which  had  already  lasted  the  better 
portion  of  a  year,  party-spirit  was  rising  day  by  da^1 
higher,  and  spreading  more  widely  throughout  the  provinces 
Opinions  and  sentiments  were  now  sharply  denned  and  loudly 
announced.  The  clergy,  from  a  thousand  pulpits,  thundered 
against  the  peace,  exposing  the  insidious  practices,  the 
faithless  promises,  the  monkish  corruptions,  by  which  the 
attempt  was  making  to  reduce  the  free  republic  once  more 
into  vassalage  to  Spain.  The  people  everywhere  listened 
eagerly  and  applauded.  Especially  the  mariners,  cordwainers, 
smiths,  ship-chandlers,  boatmen,  the  tapestry  weavers,  lace 
manufacturers,  shopkeepers,  and,  above  all,  the  India  mer 
chants  and  stockholders  in  the  great  commercial  companies 
for  the  East  and  West,  lifted  up  their  voices  for  war.  This 
was  the  party  of  Prince  Maurice,  who  made  no  secret  of  his 
sentiments,  and  opposed,  publicly  and  privately,  the  resump 
tion  of  negotiations.  Doubtless  his  adherents  were  the  most 
numerous  portion  of  the  population. 

Barneveld,  however,  was  omnipotent  with  the  municipal 
governments,  and  although  many  individuals  in  those  bodies 
were  deeply  interested  in  the  India  navigation  and  the  great 
corporations,  the  Advocate  turned  them  as  usual  around  his 
finger. 

Ever  since  the  memorable  day  of  Nieuport  there  had  been 
no  love  lost  between  the  stadholder  and  the  Advocate.  They 
had  been  nominally  reconciled  to  each  other,  and  had,  until 
lately,  acted  with  tolerable  harmony,  but  each  was  thoroughly 
conscious  of  the  divergence  of  their  respective  aims. 

Exactly  at  this  period  the  long-smothered  resentment 
of  Maurice  against  his  old  preceptor,  counsellor,  and,  as  he 
believed,  betrayer,  flamed  forth  anew.  He  was  indignant 
that  a  man,  so  infinitely  beneath  him  in  degree,  should  thus 
dare  to  cross  his  plans,  to  hazard,  as  he  believed,  the  best 


1607.  OPPOSITION  OF  MAURICE  TO  THE  TREATY.  399 

interests  of  the  state,  and  to  interfere  with  the  course  of  his 
legitimate  ambition.75  There  was  more  glory  for  a  great 
soldier  to  earn  in  future  battle-fields,  a  higher  position  before 
the  world  to  be  won.  He  had  a  right  by  birth,  by  personal 
and  family  service,  to  claim  admittance  among  the  monarchs 
of  Europe.  The  pistol  of  Balthasar  Gerard  had  alone  pre 
vented  the  elevation  of  his  father  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
provinces.  The  patents,  wanting  only  a  few  formalities, 
were  still  in  possession  of  the  son.  As  the  war  went  on — and 
nothing  but  blind  belief  in  Spanish  treachery  could  cause  the 
acceptance  of  a  peace  which  would  be  found  to  mean  slavery 
— there  was  no  height  to  which  he  might  not  climb.  With 
the  return  of  peace  and  submission,  his  occupation  would  be 
gone,  obscurity  and  poverty  the  sole  recompense  for  his  life 
long  services  and  the  sacrifices  of  his  family.  The  memory 
of  the  secret  movements  twice  made  but  a  few  years  before 
to  elevate  him  to  the  sovereignty,  and  which  he  ini602 
believed  to  have  been  baffled  by  the  Advocate,  and  1603- 
doubtless  rankled  in  his  breast.  He  did  not  forget  that  when 
the  subject  had  been  discussed  by  the  favourers  of  the  scheme 
in  Barneveld's  own  house,  Barneveld  himself  had  prophesied 
that  one  day  or  another  "  the  rights  would  burst  out  which 
his  Excellency  had  to  become  prince  of  the  provinces,  on 
strength  of  the  signed  and  sealed  documents  addressed  to  the 
late  Prince  of  Orange  ;  that  he  had  further  alluded  to  the 
efforts  then  on  foot  to  make  him  Duke  of  Gelderland  ;  adding 
with  a  sneer,  that  Zeeland  was  all  agog  on  the  subject,  while 
in  that  province  there  were  individuals  very  desirous  of 
becoming  children  of  Zebedee."76 

Barneveld,  on  his  part,  although  accustomed  to  speak  in 
public  of  his  Excellency  Prince  Maurice  in  terms  of  pro- 
foundest  respect,  did  not  fail  to  communicate  in  influential 
quarters  his  fears  that  the  prince  was  inspired  by  excessive 
ambition,  and  that  he  desired  to  protract  the  war,  not  for  the 

76  Wagenaar,  ix.  283-285. 

16  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  100-103,  396-400,  t.  «.  zealous  disciples  of  their 
master,  as  Van  der  Kemp  explains. 


400  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

good  of  the  commonwealth,  but  for  the  attainment  of  greater 
power  in  the  state.  The  envoys  of  France,  expressly  instructed 
on  that  subject  by  the  king,  whose  purposes  would  be  frus 
trated  if  the  ill-blood  between  these  eminent  personages  could 
not  be  healed,  did  their  best  to  bring  about  a  better  under- 
standing,  but  with  hardly  more  than  an  apparent  success. 

Once  more  there  were  stories  flying  about  that  the  stad 
holder  had  called  the  Advocate  liar,  and  that  he  had  struck 
him  or  offered  to  strike  him77 — tales  as  void  of  truth,  doubtless^ 
as  those  so  rife  after  the  battle  of  Nieuport,  but  which  indicated 
the  exasperation  which  existed. 

When  the  news  of  the  rejection  of  the  king's  ratification 
reached  Madrid,  the  indignation  of  the  royal  conscience- 
keepers  was  vehement.78 

That  the  potentate  of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  universe 
should  be  treated  by  those  lately  his  subjects  with  less 
respect  than  that  due  from  equals  to  equals,  seemed  in 
tolerable.  So  thoroughly  inspired,  however,  was  the  king 
by  the  love  of  religion  and  the  public  good — as  he  informed 
Marquis  Spinola  by  letter — and  so  intense  was  his  desire  for 
the  termination  of  that  disastrous  war,  that  he  did  not  hesitate 
indulgently  to  grant  what  had  been  so  obstinately  demanded. 
Little  was  to  be  expected,  he  said,  from  the  stubbornness 
of  the  provinces,  and  from  their  extraordinary  manner  of 
transacting  business,  but  looking,  nevertheless,  only  to  divine 
duty,  and  preferring  its  dictates  to  a  selfish  regard  for  his 
own  interests,  he  had  resolved  to  concede  that  liberty  to  the 
provinces  which  had  been  so  importunately  claimed.  He 
however  imposed  the  condition  that  the  States  should  permit 
free  and  public  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion  throughout 
their  territories,  and  that  so  long  as  such  worship  was 
unobstructed,  so  long  and  no  longer  should  the  liberty  now 
conceded  to  the  provinces  endure.79 

"  Thus  did  this  excellent  prince,"  says  an  eloquent  Jesuit, 
"  prefer  obedience  to  the  Church  before  subjection  to  himself, 

"  Wagenaar,  ix.  285.  78  Gallucci,  33a 

"  The  King  to  Spinola,  apud  Gallucci,  ubi  sup. 


1607.  NEYEN'S  REPORT  OF  HIS  MISSION.  4()i 

and  insist  that  those,  whom  he  emancipated  from  his  own 
dominions,  should  still  be  loyal  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Pope."80 

Friar  John,  who  had  brought  the  last  intelligence  from  the 
Netherlands,  might  have  found  it  difficult,  if  consulted,  to 
inform  the  king  how  many  bills  of  exchange  would  be  neces 
sary  to  force  this  wonderful  condition  on  the  Government  of 
the  provinces.  That  the  republic  should  accept  that  liberty 
as  a  boon  which  she  had  won  with  the  red  right  hand,  and 
should  establish  within  her  domains  as  many  agents  for 
Spanish  reaction  as  there  were  Koman  priests,  monks,  and 
Jesuits  to  be  found,  was  not  very  probable.  It  was  not  thus 
nor  then  that  the  great  lesson  of  religious  equality  and  liberty 
for  all  men — the  inevitable  result  of  the  Dutch  revolt — wag 
to  be  expounded.  The  insertion  of  such  a  condition  in  the 
preamble  to  a  treaty  with  a  foreign  power  would  have  been 
a  desertion  on  the  part  of  the  Netherlands  of  the  very  prin 
ciple  of  religious  or  civil  freedom. 

The  monk,  however,  had  convinced  the  Spanish  Govern 
ment  that  in  six  months  after  peace  had  been  made  the 
States  would  gladly  accept  the  dominion  of  Spain  once  more, 
or,  at  the  very  least,  would  annex  themselves  to  the  obedient 
Netherlands  under  the  sceptre  of  the  archdukes. 

Secondly,  he  assured  the  duke  that  they  would  publicly 
and  totally  renounce  all  connection  with  France. 

Thirdly,  he  pledged  himself  that  the  exercise  of  the 
Catholic  religion  would  be  as  free  as  that  of  any  other  creed.81 

And  the  duke  of  Lerma  believed  it  all :  such  and  no 
greater  was  his  capacity  for  understanding  the  course  of 
events  which  he  imagined  himself  to  be  directing.  Certainly 
Friar  John  did  not  believe  what  he  said. 

"  Master  Monk  is  not  quite  so  sure  of  his  stick  as  he  pre 
tends  to  be,"  said  Secretary-of-State  Villeroy.82  Of  course, 
no  one  knew  better  the  absurdity  of  those  assurances  than 
Master  Monk  himself. 

§0  Gallucci,  libi  sup.  81  Negotiations  de  Jeannin,  i,  86f. 

81  Ibid.     Letter  of  19th  Sept.  1607. 

VOL.  IV. — 2  D 


402  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX 

"  It  may  be  that  he  has  held  such  language/'  said  Jeannin. 
"  in  order  to  accomplish  his  object  in  Spain.  But  'tis  all 
dreaming  and  moonshine,  which  one  should  laugh  at  rather 
than  treat  seriously.  These  people  here  mean  to  be  sovereign 
for  ever  and  will  make  no  peace  except  on  that  condition 
This  grandeur  and  vanity  have  entered  so  deeply  into  their 
brains  that  they  will  be  torn  into  little  pieces  rather  than 
give  it  up."83 

Spinola,  as  acute  a  politician  as  he  was  a  brilliant  com 
mander,  at  once  demonstrated  to  his  Government  the  impo 
tence  of  such  senile  attempts.  No  definite  agreements  could 
be  made,  he  wrote,  except  by  a  general  convention.  Before 
a  treaty  of  peace,  no  permission  would  be  given  by  the  States 
to  the  public  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion,  for  fear  of 
giving  offence  to  what  were  called  the  Protestant  powers. 
Unless  they  saw  the  proper  ratification  they  would  enter 
into  no  negotiations  at  all.  When  the  negotiations  had  pro 
duced  a  treaty,  the  Catholic  worship  might  be  demanded. 
Thus  peace  might  be  made,  and  the  desired  conditions 
secured,  or  all  parties  would  remain  as  they  had  been.84 

The  Spanish  Government  replied  by  sending  a  double  form 
of  ratification.85  It  would  not  have  been  the  Spanish  Govern 
ment,  had  one  simple,  straightforward  document  been  sent. 
Plenty  of  letters  came  at  the  same  time,  triumphantly  refuting 
the  objections  and  arguments  of  the  States-General.  To  sign 
"  Yo  el  Eey  "  had  been  the  custom  of  the  king's  ancestors  in 
dealing  with  foreign  powers.  Thus  had  Philip  II.  signed  the 
treaty  of  Vervins.  Thus  had  the  reigning  king  confirmed 
the  treaty  of  Vervins.  Thus  had  he  signed  the  recent  treaty 
with  England  as  well  as  other  conventions  with  other  poten 
tates.  If  the  French  envoys  at  the  Hague  said  the  contrary 
they  erred  from  ignorance  or  from  baser  reasons.  The 
provinces  could  not  be  declared  free  until  Catholic  worship 
was  conceded.  The  donations  must  be  mutual  and  simul 
taneous  and  the  States  would  gain  a  much  more  stable  and 

83  Negotiations  de  Jeannin,  i.  394.     Letter  of  6th  Oct.  1607. 

ci,  ass.  **  xt>j4,  340, 


1607.  REPLY  OP  THE  SPANISH  GOVERNMENT.  403 

diuturnal  liberty,  founded  not  upon  a  simple  declaration,  but 
lawfully  granted  them  as  a  compensation  for  a  just  and  pious 
work  performed.  To  this  end  the  king  sent  ratification 
number  one  in  which  his  sentiments  were  fully  expressed. 
If,  however,  the  provinces  were  resolved  not  to  defer  the 
declaration  so  ardently  desired  and  to  refuse  all  negotiation 
until  they  had  received  it,  then  ratification  number  two, 
therewith  sent  and  drawn  up  in  the  required  form,  might  be 
used.  It  was,  however,  to  be  exhibited  but  not  delivered. 
The  provinces  would  then  see  the  clemency  with  which  they 
were  treated  by  the  king,  and  all  the  world  might  know  that 
it  was  not  his  fault  if  peace  were  not  made.86 

Thus  the  politicians  of  Madrid  ;  speaking  in  the  name  of 
their  august  sovereign  and  signing  "Yo  el  Rey"  for  him 
without  troubling  him  even  to  look  at  the  documents. 

When  these  letters  arrived,  the  time  fixed  by  the  States 
for  accepting  the  ratification  had  run  out,  and  their  patience 
was  well-nigh  exhausted.  The  archduke  held  council  with 
Spinola,  Verreyken,  Richardot,  and  others,  and  it  was  agreed 
that  ratification  number  two,  in  which  the  Catholic  worship 
was  not  mentioned,  should  be  forthwith  sent  to  the  States. 
Certainly  no  other  conclusion  could  have  been  reached,  and 
it  was  fortunate  that  a  lu^id  interval  in  the  deliberations  of 
the  lunati  csat  Madrid  had  furnished  the  archduke  with  an 
alternative.  Had  it  been  otherwise  and  had  number  one 
been  presented,  with  all  the  accompanying  illustrations,  the 
same  dismal  comedy  might  have  gone  on  indefinitely  until 
the  Dutchmen  hissed  it  aw»y  and  returned  to  their  tragic 
business  once  more. 

On   the  25th   October,   Friar  John   and  Verreyken  came 
before   the    States-General,    more   than   a  hundred    25  Oct 
members  being  present,  besides  Prince  Maurice  and    1607- 
Count  Lewis  William.87 

The  monk  stated  that  he  had  faithfully  represented  to  his 
Majesty  at  Madrid  the  sincere,  straightforward,  and  undissem- 
bling  proceedings  of  their  lordships  in  these  negotiations.88 

86  GaJlucci,  340  87  Wagenaar,  ix.  285.  88  Jeannin,  i  423. 


404  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIZ 

He  had  also  explained  the  constitution  of  their  Government 
and  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  his  royal  Majesty  the 
desired  ratification,  after  due  deliberation  with  the  council. 
This  would  now  give  the  assurance  of  a  firm  and  durable 
peace,  continued  Neyen,  even  if  his  Majesty  should  come  one 
day  to  die — being  mortal.  Otherwise,  there  might  be  incon 
veniences  to  fear.  Now,  however,  the  document  was  complete 
in  all  its  parts,  so  far  as  regarded  what  was  principal  and 
essential,  and  in  conformity  with  the  form  transmitted  by  the 
States-General.  "  God  the  Omnipotent  knows,"  proceeded 
the  friar,  "  how  sincere  is  my  intention  in  this  treaty  of  peace 
as  a  means  of  delivering  the  Netherlands  from  the  miseries 
of  war,  as  your  lordships  will  perceive  by  the  form  of  the 
agreement,  explaining  itself  and  making  manifest  its  pure 
and  undissembling  intentions,  promising  nothing  and  engaging 
to  nothing  which  will  not  be  effectually  performed.  This 
would  not  be  the  case  if  his  Majesty  were  proceeding  by 
finesse  or  deception.  The  ratification  might  be  nakedly 
produced  as  demanded,  without  any  other  explanation.  But 
his  Majesty,  acting  in  good  faith,  has  now  declared  his 
last  determination  in  order  to  avoid  anything  that  might 
be  disputed  at  some  future  day,  as  your  lordships  will  see 
more  amply  when  the  auditor  has  exhibited  the  document."  a 

When  the  friar  had  finished  Verreyken  spoke. 

He  reminded  them  of  the  proofs  already  given  by  the 
archdukes  of  their  sincere  desire  to  change  the  long  and  san 
guinary  war  into  a  good  and  assured  peace.  Their  lordships 
the  States  had  seen  how  liberally,  sincerely,  and  roundly 
their  Highnesses  had  agreed  to  all  demands  and  had  procured 
the  ratification  of  his  Majesty,  even  although  nothing  had 
been  proposed  in  that  regard  at  the  beginning  of  the  nego 
tiations. 

He  then  produced  the  original  document,  together  with 
two  copies,  one  in  French  the  other  in  Flemish,  to  be  care 
fully  collated  by  the  States.90 

"It  is  true,"  said  the  auditor,  "that  the  original  is  not 

89  Jeannin,  i.  432,  433.  M  Ibid.  433,  424 


1607.  PHILIP'S  RATIFICATION  EXHIBITED.  405 

made  out  in  Latin  nor  in  French  as  your  lordships  demanded, 
but  in  Spanish,  and  in  the  same  form  and  style  as  used  by  his 
Majesty  in  treating  with  all  the  kings,  potentates,  and  re 
publics  of  Christendom.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  it  has  seemed 
strange  that  there  should  be  a  wish  to  make  so  great  and 
puissant  a  king  change  his  style,  such  demand  being  contrary 
to  all  reason  and  equity,  and  more  so  as  his  Majesty  is  con 
tent  with  the  style  which  your  lordships  have  been  pleased 
to  adopt." 

The  ratification  was  then  exhibited. 

It  set  forth  that  Don  Philip,  by  grace  of  God  King  of 
Castile,  Leon,  Arragon,  the  Two  Sicilies,  Portugal,  Navarre, 
and  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  other  European  realms  duly  enu 
merated  ;  King  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Indies  and  of 
the  continents  on  terra  firma  adjacent,  King  of  Jerusalem, 
Archduke  of  Antioch,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  King  of  the 
Ocean,  having  seen  that  the  archdukes  were  content  to  treat 
with  the  States-General  of  the  United  Provinces  in  quality 
of,  and  as  holding  them  for,  countries,  provinces,  and  free 
states  over  which  they  pretended  to  no  authority  ;  either  by 
way  of  a  perpetual  peace  or  for  a  truce  or  suspension  of  arms 
for  twelve,  fifteen,  or  twenty  years,  at  the  choice  of  the  said 
States,  and  knowing  that  the  said  most  serene  archdukes  had 
promised  to  deliver  the  king's  ratification  ;  had,  after  ripe 
deliberation  with  his  council,  and  out  of  his  certain  wisdom 
and  absolute  royal  power,  made  the  present  declarations, 
similar  to  the  one  made  by  the  archdukes,  for  the  accom 
plishment  of  the  said  promise  so  far  as  it  concerned  him  : 

. "  And  we  principally  declare,"  continued  the  King  of  Spain, 
Jerusalem,  America,  India,  and  the  Ocean,  "  that  we  are  con 
tent  that  in  our  name,  and  on  our  part,,  shall  be  treated  with 
the  said  States  in  the  quality  of,  and  as  held  by  us  for,  free 
countries,  provinces,  and  states,  over  which  we  make  no  pre 
tensions.  Thus  we  approve  and  ratify  every  point  of  the  said 
agreement,  promising  on  faith  and  word  of  a  king  to  guard 
and  accomplish  it  as  entirely  as  if  we  had  consented  to  it  from 
the  beginning." 

VOL.  11—13* 


406  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.        CHAP.  XLIX. 

"  But  we  declare,"  said  the  king,  in  conclusion,  "  that  if 
the  treaty  for  a  peace  or  a  truce  of  many  years,  by  which  the 
pretensions  of  both  parties  are  to  be  arranged — as  well  in  the 
matter  of  religion  as  all  the  surplus — shall  not  be  concluded, 
then  this  ratification  shall  be  of  no  effect  and  as  if  it  never 
had  been  made  and,  in  virtue  of  it,  we  are  not  to  lose  a 
single  point  of  our  right,  nor  the  United  Provinces  to  acquire 
one,  but  things  are  to  remain,  so  far  as  regards  the  rights  of 
the  two  parties,  exactly  as  they  are  at  present ;  each  to  do 
what  to  each  shall  seem  best."91 

Such  were  the  substantial  parts  of  the  document — with 
much  superfluous  verbiage  lopped  away — which  had  been 
signed  "I  the  King  "  at  Madrid  on  the  18th  September,  and 
the  two  copies  of  which  were  presented  to  the  States-General 
on  the  25th  October,  the  commissioners  retaining  the  ori- 
ginal. 

The.  papers  were  accepted,  with  a  few  general  common 
places  by  Barneveld  meaning  nothing,  and  an  answer  was 
promised  after  a  brief  delay.92 

A  committee  of  seven,  headed  by  the  Advocate  as  chair 
man  and  spokesman,  held  a  conference  with  the  ambassadors 
of  France  and  England,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of 
the  same  day  and  another  at  ten  o'clock  next  morning.93 

The  States  were  not  very  well  pleased  with  the  ratification. 
What  especially  moved  their  discontent  was  the  concluding 
clause,  according  to  which  it  was  intimated  that  if  the  pre 
tensions  of  Spain  in  regard  to  religion  were  not  fulfilled  in 
the  final  treaty,  the  ratification  was  waste-paper  and  the 
king  would  continue  to  claim  all  his  rights. 

How  much  more  loudly  would  they  have  vociferated,  could 
they  have  looked  into  Friar  John's  wallet  and  have  seen 
ratification  number  one  !  Then  they  would  have  learned 
that,  after  nearly  a  year  of  what  was  called  negotiation,  the 
king  had  still  meant  to  demand  the  restoration  of  the 
Catholic  worship  before  he  would  even  begin  to  entertain  the 
little  fiction  that  the  provinces  were  free. 

91  Jeannin,  i  435-429.  92  Ibid.  433.  93  Ibid.  432-438. 


1607.  ADVICE  OF  JEANNIN.  407 

As  to  the  signature,  the  paper,  and  the  Spanish  language, 
those  were  minor  matters.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  say  why 
the  King  of  Spain  should  not  issue  a  formal  document  in 
Spanish.  It  is  doubtful  whether,  had  he  taken  a  fancy  to 
read  it,  he  could  have  understood  it  in  any  other  tongue. 
Moreover,  Spanish  would  seem  the  natural  language  for 
Spanish  state-papers.  Had  he,  as  King  of  Jerusalem,  America, 
or  India,  chosen  the  Hebrew,  Aztec,  or  Sanscrit,  in  his  nego 
tiations  with  the  United  Provinces,  there  might  have  been 
more  cause  for  dissatisfaction. 

Jeannin,  who  was  of  course  the  leading  spirit  among  the 
foreign  members  of  the  conference,  advised  the  acceptance  of 
the  ratification.  Notwithstanding  the  technical  objections  to 
its  form,  he  urged  that  in  substance  it  was  in  sufficient  con 
formity  to  the  draught  furnished  by  the  States.  Nothing 
could  be  worse,  in  his  opinion,  for  the  provinces  than  to 
remain  any  longer  suspended  between  peace  and  war.  They 
would  do  well,  therefore,  to  enter  upon  negotiations  so  soon 
as  they  had  agreed  among  themselves  upon  three  points. 

They  must  fix  the  great  indispensable  terms  which  they 
meant  to  hold,  and.  from  which  no  arguments  would  ever 
induce  them  to  recede.  Thus  they  would  save  valuable  time 
and  be  spared  much  frivolous  discourse. 

Next,  they  ought  to  establish  a  good  interior  government. 

Thirdly,  they  should  at  once  arrange  their  alliances  and 
treaties  with  foreign  powers,  in  order  to  render  the  peace  to 
be  negotiated  a  durable  one.94 

As  to  the  first  and  second  of  these  points,  the  Netherlanders 
needed  no  prompter.  They  had  long  ago  settled  the  condi 
tions  without  which  they  would  make  no  treaty  at  all,  and 
certainly  it  was  not  the  States-General  that  had  thus  far 
been  frivolously  consuming  time. 

As  to  the  form  of  government,  defective  though  it  was,  the 
leaders  of  the  republic  knew  very  well  in  whose  interests 
such  sly  allusions  to  their  domestic  affairs  were  repeatedly 
ventured  by  the  French  envoys.  In  regard  to  treaties 

*  Jeannin,  i.  432-437. 


408  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX 

foreign  powers  it  was,  of  course,  most  desirable  for  the  re-» 
public  to  obtain  the  formal  alliance  of  France  and  England. 
Jeannin  and  his  colleagues  were  ready  to  sign  such  a  treaty, 
offensive  and  defensive,  at  once,  but  they  found  it  impossible 
to  induce  the  English  ambassadors,  with  whom  there  was  a, 
conference  on  the  26th  October,  to  come  into  any  written 
engagement  on  the  subject.  They  expressed  approbation  of 
the  plan  individually  and  in  words,  but  deemed  it  best  to 
avoid  any  protocol,  by  which  their  sovereign  could  be  impli 
cated  in  a  promise.  Should  the  negotiations  for  peace  be 
broken  off,  it  would  be  time  enough  to  make  a  treaty  to 
protect  the  provinces.  Meantime,  they  ought  to  content 
themselves  with  the  general  assurance,  already  given  them, 
that  in  case  of  war  the  monarchs  of  France  and  England 
would  not  abandon  them,  but  would  provide  for  their  safety, 
either  by  succour  or  in  some  other  way,  so  that  they  would 
be  placed  out  of  danger.95 

Such  promises  were  vague  without  being  magnificent, 
and,  as  James  had  never  yet  lifted  his  finger  to  assist  the 
provinces,  while  indulging  them  frequently  with  oracular 
advice,  it  could  hardly  be  expected  that  either  the  French 
envoys  or  the  States-General  would  reckon  very  confidently 
on  assistance  from  Great  Britain,  should  war  be  renewed  with 
Spain. 

On  the  whole,  it  was  agreed  to  draw  up  a  paper  briefly 
stating  the  opinion  of  the  French  and  English  plenipo 
tentiaries  that  the*  provinces  would  do  well  to  accept  the 
ratification.96 

The  committee  of  the  States,  with  Barneveld  as  chairman, 
expressed  acquiescence,  but  urged  that  they  could  not  ap 
prove  the  clause  in  that  document  concerning  religion.  It 
looked  as  if  the  King  of  Spain  wished  to  force  them  to 
consent  by  treaty  that  the  Catholic  religion  should  be 
re-established  in  their  country.  As  they  were  free  and  sove 
reign,  however,  and  so  recognised  by  himself,  it  was  not  for 
him  to  meddle  with  such  matters.  They  foresaw  that  this 

»  Jeannin..  i.  434.  w  Ibid.  439. 


1607.         LEWIS  WILLIAM  AND  THE  FRENCH  ENVOYS.         409 

clause  would  create  difficulties  when  the  whole  matter  should 
be  referred  to  the  separate  provinces,  and  that  it  would, 
perhaps,  cause  the  entire  rejection  of  the  ratification. 

The  envoys,  through  the  voice  of  Jeannin,  remonstrated 
against  such  a  course.  After  all,  the  objectionable  clause,  it 
was  urged,  should  be  considered  only  as  a  demand  which  the 
king  was  competent  to  make  and  it  was  not  reasonable,  they 
said,  for  the  States  to  shut  his  mouth  and  prevent  him  from 
proposing  what  he  thought  good  to  propose. 

On  the  other  hand,  they  were  not  obliged  to  acquiesce  in 
the  proposition.  In  truth,  it  would  be  more  expedient  that 
the  States  themselves  should  grant  this  grace  to  the  Catho 
lics,  thus  earning  their  gratitude,  rather  than  that  it  should 
be  inserted  in  the  treaty.97 

A  day  or  two  later  there  was  an  interview  between  the 
French  envoys  and  Count  Lewis  William,  for  whose  sage, 
dispassionate,  and  upright  character  they  had  all  a  great 
respect.98  It  was  their  object — in  obedience  to  the  repeated 
instructions  of  the  French  king — to  make  use  of  his  great 
influence  over  Prince  Maurice  in  favour  of  peace.  It  would 
be  better,  they  urged,  that  the  stadholder  should  act  more  in 
harmony  with  the  States  than  he  had  done  of  late,  and  should 
reflect  that,  the  ratification  being  good,  there  was  really  no 
means  of  preventing  a  peace,  except  in  case  the  King  of 
Spain  should  refuse  the  conditions  necessary  for  securing  it. 
The  prince  would  have  more  power  by  joining  with  the  States 
than  in  opposing  them.  Count  Lewis  expressed  sympathy 
with  these  views,  but  feared  that  Maurice  would  prefer  that 
the  ratification  should  not  be  accepted  until  the  states  of  the 
separate  provinces  had  been  heard  ;  feeling  convinced  that 
several  of  those  bodies  would  reject  that  instrument  on 
account  of  the  clause  relating  to  religion. 

Jeannin  replied  that  such  a  course  would  introduce  great 
discord  into  the  provinces,  to  the  profit  of  the  enemy,  and 
that  the  King  of  France  himself — so  far  from  being  likely  to 
wish  the  ratification  rejected  because  of  the  clause — would 

•'  Jeannin,  i.  435.  •»  Ibid.  437. 


410  THE  UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX 

never  favour  the  rupture  of  negotiations  if  it  came  on  account 
of  religion.  He  had  always  instructed  them  to  use  tneir 
efforts  to  prevent  any  division  among  the  States,  as  sure  to 
lead  to  their  ruin.  He  would  certainly  desire  the  same  stipu 
lation  as  the  one  made  by  the  King  of  Spain,  and  would 
support  rather  than  oppose  the  demand  thus  made,  in  order 
to  content  the  Catholics.  To  be  sure,  he  would  prefer  that 
the  States  should  wisely  make  this  provision  of  their  own 
accord  rather  than  on  the  requisition  of  Spain,  but  a  rupture 
of  the  pending  negotiations  from  the  cause  suggested  would 
be  painful  to  him  and  very  damaging  to  his  character  at 
Borne." 

On    the  2nd   November    the    States-General    gave    their 
formal  answer  to  the  commissioners,  in  regard  to 

2nd  Nov. 

the  ratification. 

That  instrument,  they  observed,  not  only  did  not  agree 
with  the  form  as  promised  by  the  archdukes  in  language  and 
style,  but  also  in  regard  to  the  seal,  and  to  the  insertion  and 
omission  of  several  words.  On  this  account,  and  especially 
by  reason  of  the  concluding  clause,  there  might  be  inferred 
the  annulment  of  the  solemn  promise  made  in  the  body  of 
the  instrument.  The  said  king  and  archdukes  knew  very 
well  that  these  States-General  of  free  countries  and  provinces, 
over  which  the  king  and  archdukes  pretended  to  no  authority, 
were  competent  to  maintain  order  in  all  things  regarding  the 
good  constitution  and  government  of  their  land  and  its  in 
habitants.  On  this  subject,  nothing  could  be  pretented  or 
proposed  on  the  part  of  the  king  and  archdukes  without 
violation  of  formal  and  solemn  promises.100 

"Nevertheless,"  continued  the  States-General,  "in  order 
not  to  retard  a  good  work,  already  begun,  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  the  United  Provinces  out  of  a  long  and  bloody  war 
into  a  Christian  and  assured  peace,  the  letters  of  ratification 
will  be  received  in  respect  that  they  contain  the  declaration, 
on  part  of  both  the  king  and  the  archdukes,  that  they  will 
treat  for  a  peace  or  a  truce  of  many  years  with  the  States- 

M  Jeannin,  i.  433-437.     10°  Ibid.  V.  d.  Kemp,  iii.  30.    Wagenaar,  ix.  287,  288. 


1607.          FORMAL  ANSWER  OF  THE  STATES-GENERAL.          4l\ 

General  of  the  United  Provinces,  in  quality  of,  and  as  holding 
them  to  be,  free  countries,  provinces,  and  states,  over  which 
they  make  no  pretensions."  m 

It  was  further  intimated,  however,  that  the  ratification  was 
only  received  for  reference  to  the  estates  of  each  of  the 
provinces,  and  it  was  promised  that,  within  six  weeks,  the 
commissioners  should  be  informed  whether  the  provinces 
would  consent  or  refuse  to  treat.  It  was  moreover  declared 
that,  neither  at  that  moment  nor  at  any  future  time,  could 
any  point  in  the  letters  of  ratification  be  accepted  which, 
directly  or  indirectly,  might  be  interpreted  as  against  that 
essential  declaration  and  promise  in  regard  to  the  freedom  of 
the  provinces.  In  case  the  decision  should  be  taken  to  enter 
into  negotiation  upon  the  basis  of  that  ratification,  or  any 
other  that  might  meantime  arrive  from  Spain,  then  firm 
confidence  was  expressed  by  the  States  that,  neither  on  the 
part  of  the  king  nor  that  of  the  archdukes  would  there  be 
proposed  or  pretended,  in  contravention  of  that  promise,  any 
point  touching  the  good  constitution,  welfare,  state,  or  govern 
ment  of  the  United  Provinces,  and  of  the  inhabitants.  The 
hope  was  furthermore  expressed  that,  within  ten  days  after 
the  reception  of  the  consent  of  the  States  to  treat,  commis 
sioners  would  be  sent  by  the  archdukes  to  the  Hague,  fully 
authorised  and  instructed  to  declare  roundly  their  intentions, 
in  order  to  make  short  work  of  the  whole  business.  In  that 
case,  the  States  would  duly  authorize  and  instruct  commis 
sioners  to  act  in  their  behalf. 

Thus  in  the  answer  especial  warning  was  given  against  any 
possible  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  religious  question.  The 
phraseology  could  not  be  mistaken. 

At  this  stage  of  the  proceedings,  the  States  demanded  that 
the  original  instrument  of  ratification  should  be  deposited 
with  them.  The  two  commissioners  declared  that  they  were 
without  power  to  consent  to  this.  Hereupon  the  Assembly 
became  violent,  and  many  members  denounced  the  refusal 
as  equivalent  to  breaking  off  the  negotiations.  Everything 

101  Jeannin,  i,  430. 


412  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  XLIX. 

indicated,  so  it  was  urged,  a  desire  on  the  Spanish  side  to 
spin  delays  out  of  delays,  and,  meantime,  to  invent  daily 
some  new  trap  for  deception.  Such  was  the  vehemence  upon 
this  point  that  the  industrious  Franciscan  posted  back  to 
Brussels,  and  returned  with  the  archduke's  permission  to 
deliver  the  document.102  Three  conditions,  however,  were 
laid  down.  The  States  must  give  a  receipt  for  the  ratifica 
tion.  They  must  say  in  that  receipt  that  the  archdukes,  in 
obtaining  the  paper  from  Spain,  had  fulfilled  their  original 
promise.  If  peace  should  not  be  made,  they  were  to  return 
the  document. 

When  these  conditions  were  announced,  the  indignation  of 
the  republican  Government  at  the  trifling  of  their  opponents 
was  fiercer  than  ever.  The  discrepancies  between  the  form 
prescribed  and  the  ratification  obtained  had  always  been  very 
difficult  of  digestion,  but,  although  willing  to  pass  them  by, 
the  States  stoutly  refused  to  accept  the  document  on  these 
conditions. 

Tooth  and  nail103  Verreyken  and  Neyen  fought  out  the 
contest  and  were  worsted.  Once  more  the  nimble  friar  sped 
back  and  forth  between  the  Hague  and  his  employer's  palace, 
and  at  last,  after  tremendous  discussions  in  cabinet  council, 
the  conditions  were  abandoned. 

"Nobody  can  decide,"  says  the  Jesuit  historian,  "which 
was  greater — the  obstinacy  of  the  federal  Government  in 
screwing  out  of  the  opposite  party  everything  it  deemed 
necessary,  or  the  indulgence  of  the  archdukes  in  making, 
every  possible  concession."  m 

Had  these  solemn  tricksters  of  an  antiquated  school  per 
ceived  that,  in  dealing  with  men  who  meant  what  they  said 
and  said  what  they  meant,  all  these  little  dilatory  devices 
were  superfluous,  perhaps  the  wholesome  result  might  have 
sooner  been  reached.  In  a  contest  of  diplomacy  against  time 
it  generally  happens  that  time  is  the  winner,  and  on  this 
occasion,  time  and  the  republic  were  fighting  on  the  same 
side. 

w  Ctollucci,  343,  W3  "Mordicus."    Ibid.  104  Ibid. 


1607 


RENEWAL  OF  THE  ARMISTICE. 


413 


On  the  13th  December  the  States-General  re-assembled  at 
the  Hague,  the  separate  provinces  having  in  the  interval 
given  fresh  instructions  to  their  representatives.  It  was  now 
decided  that  no  treaty  should  be  made,  unless  the  freedom  of 
the  commonwealth  was  recognized  in  phraseology  which, 
after  consultation  with  the  foreign  ambassadors,  should  be 
deemed  satisfactory.  Farther  it  was  agreed  that,  neither  in 
ecclesiastical  nor  secular  matters,  should  any  conditions  be 
accepted  which  could  be  detrimental  to  freedom.  In  case 
the  enemy  should  strive  for  the  contrary,  the  world  would  be 
convinced  that  he  alone  was  responsible  for  the  failure  of  the 
peace  negotiations.  Then,  with  the  support  of  other  powers 
friendly  to  the  republic,  hostilities  could  be  resumed  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  ensure  a  favourable  issue  for  an  upright  cause. 

The  armistice,  begun  on  the  4th  of  May,  was  running  to 
an  end,  and  it  was  now  renewed  at  the  instance  of  the  States. 
That  Government,  moreover,  on  the  23rd  December  formally 
notified  to  the  archdukes  that,  trusting  to  their  declarations, 
and  to  the  statements  of  Neyen  and  Verreyken,  it  was  willing 
to  hold  conferences  for  peace.105  Their  Highnesses  were  ac 
cordingly  invited  to  appoint  seven  or  eight  commissioners  at 
once,  on  the  same  terms  as  formally  indicated. 

The  original  understanding  had  been  that  no  envoys  but 
Netherlanders  should  come  from  Brussels  for  these  negotia 
tions.106 

Barneveld  and  the  peace  party,  however,  were  desirous 
that  Spinola,  who  was  known  to  be  friendly  to  a  pacific  result, 
should  be  permitted  to  form  part  of  the  mission.  Accordingly 
the  letters,  publicly  drawn  up  in  the  Assembly,  adhered  to 
the  original  arrangement,  but  Barneveld,  with  the  privity 
of  other  leading  personages,  although  without  the  knowledge  of 
Maurice,  Lewis  William,  and  the  State-Council,  secretly  en 
closed  a  little  note  in  the  principal  despatch  to  •  Neyen  and 
Verreyken.107  In  this  billet  it  was  intimated  that,  notwith- 


105  Resol  Holl.  4  Dec  1607. 
naar,  ix.  290,  291. 

m  Wagenaar,  ix.  247,  293. 


Wage- 


107  Resol.  Holl.  4  Dec.  Wagenaar, 
ix  293-295.  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  31 
134,  135. 


414  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

standing  the  prohibition  in  regard  to  foreigners,  the  States 
were  willing — it  having  been  proposed  that  one  or  two 
who  were  not  Netherlander  should  be  sent — that  a  single 
Spaniard,  provided  he  were  not  one  of  the  principal  military 
commanders,  should  make  part  of  the  embassy.108 

The  phraseology  had  a  double  meaning.  Spinola  was 
certainly  the  chief  military  commander,  but  he  was  not  a 
Spaniard.  This  eminent  personage  might  be  supposed  to 
have  thus  received  permission  to  come  to  the  Netherlands, 
despite  all  that  had  been  urged  by  the  war-party  against  the 
danger  incurred,  in  case  of  a  renewal  of  hostilities,  by  admit 
ting  so  clear-sighted  an  enemy  into  the  heart  of  the  republic. 
Moreover,  the  terms  of  the  secret  note  would  authorize  the 
appointment  of  another  foreigner — even  a  Spaniard — while 
the  crafty  president  Elchardot  might  creep  into  the  commis 
sion,  on  the  ground  that,  being  a  Burgundian,  he  might  fairly 
call  himself  a  Netherlander. 

And  all  this  happened. 

Thus,  after  a  whole  year  of  parley,  in  which  the  States- 
General  had  held  firmly  to  their  original  position,  while  the 
Spanish  Government  had  crept  up  inch  by  inch,  and  through 
countless  windings  and  subterfuges,  to  the  point  on  which 
they  might  have  all  stood  together  at  first,  and  thus  have 
saved  a  twelvemonth,  it  was  finally  settled  that  peace  con 
ferences  should  begin. 

Barneveld  had  carried  the  day.  Maurice  and  his  cousin 
Lewis  William  had  uniformly,  deliberately,  but  not  factiously, 
used  all  their  influence  against  any  negotiations.  The  prince 
had  all  along  loudly  expressed  his  conviction  that  neither  the 
archdukes  nor  Spain  would  ever  be  brought  to  an  honourable 
peace.  The  most  to  be  expected  of  them  was  a  truce  of 
twelve  or  fifteen  years,  to  which  his  consent  at  least  should 
never  be  given,  and  during  which  cessation  of  hostilities, 
should  it  be  accorded,  every  imaginable  effort  would  be  made 
to  regain  by  intrigue  what  the  king  had  lost  by  the  sword.109 
As  for  the  King  of  England  and  his  counsellors,  Maurice 

108  Authorities  last  cited.  109  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  16. 


1607.  PRINCE  MAURICE  AND  THE  PEACE  PARTY.  415 

always  denounced  them  as  more  Spanish  than  Spaniards, 
as  doing  their  best  to  put  themselves  on  the  most  intimate 
terms  with  his  Catholic  Majesty,  and  as  secretly  desirous — 
insane  policy  as  it  seemed — of  forcing  the  Netherlands  back 
again  under  the  sceptre  of  that  monarch. 

He  had  at  first  been  supported  in  his  position  by  the 
French  ambassadors,  who  had  felt  or  affected  disinclination 
for  peace,  but  who  had  subsequently  thrown  the  whole  of 
their  own  and  their  master's  influence  on  the  side  of  Barne- 
veld.  They  had  done  their  best — and  from  time  to  time  they 
had  been  successful — to  effect  at  least  a  superficial  reconcilia 
tion  between  those  two  influential  personages.  They  had 
employed  all  the  arguments  at  their  disposal  to  bring  the 
prince  over  to  the  peace  party.  Especially  they  had  made 
use  of  the  argumentum  ad  crumenam,  which  that  veteran 
broker  in  politics,  Jeannin,  had  found  so  effective  in  times 
past  with  the  great  lords  of  the  League.  But  Maurice 
showed  himself  so  proof  against  the  golden  inducements 
suggested  by  the  President  that  he  and  his  king  both  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  there  were  secret  motives  at  work,  and 
that  Maurice  was  not  dazzled  by  the  brilliant  prospects  held 
out  to  him  by  Henry,  only  because  his  eyes  were  stedfastly 
fixed  upon  some  unknown  but  splendid  advantage,  to  be 
gained  through  other  combinations.  It  was  naturally  difficult 
for  Henry  to  imagine  the  possibility  of  a  man,  playing  a  first 
part  in  the  world's  theatre,  being  influenced  by  so  weak  a 
motive  as  conviction. 

Lewis  William  too — that  "  grave  and  wise  young  man,"  as 
Lord  Leicester  used  to  call  him  twenty  years  before — re 
mained  steadily  on  the  side  of  the  prince.  Both  in  private 
conversation  and  in  long  speeches  to  the  States-General,  he 
maintained  that  the  Spanish  court  was  incapable  of  sincere 
negotiations  with  the  commonwealth,  that  to  break  faith 
with  heretics  and  rebels  would  always  prove  the  foundation  of 
its  whole  policy,  and  that  to  deceive  them  by  pretences  of 
a  truce  or  a  treaty,  and  to  triumph  afterwards  over  the 
results  of  its  fraud,  was  to  be  expected  as  a  matter  of  course, 


416  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

Sooner  would  the  face  of  nature  be  changed  than  the  cardinal 
maxim  of  Catholic  statesmanship  be  abandoned.110 

But  the  influence  of  the  Nassaus,  of  the  province  of 
Zeeland,  of  the  clergy,  and  of  the  war-party  in  general,  had 
been  overbalanced  by  Barneveld  and  the  city  corporations, 
aided  by  the  strenuous  exertions  of  the  French  ambassadors. 

The  decision  of  the  States-General  was  received  with 
sincere  joy  at  Brussels.  The  archdukes  had  something  to 
hope  from  peace,  and  little  but  disaster  and  ruin  to  them 
selves  from  a  continuance  of  the  war.  Spinola  too  was 
unaffectedly  in  favour  of  negotiations.  He  took  the  ground 
that  the  foreign  enemies  of  Spain,  as  well  as  her  pretended 
friends,  agreed  in  wishing  her  to  go  on  with  the  war,  and 
that  this  ought  to  open  her  eyes  as  to  the  expediency  of 
peace.  While  there  was  a  general  satisfaction  in  Europe  that 
the  steady  exhaustion  of  her  strength  in  this  eternal  contest 
made  her  daily  less  and  less  formidable  to  other  nations, 
there  were  on  the  other  hand  puerile  complaints  at  court  that 
the  conditions  prescribed  by  impious  and  insolent  rebels  to 
their  sovereign  were  derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  monarchy.111 
The  spectacle  of  Spain  sending  ambassadors  to  the  Hague  to 
treat  for  peace,  on  the  basis  of  Netherland  independence, 
would  be  a  humiliation  such  as  had  never  been  exhibited 
before.  That  the  haughty  confederation  should  be  allowed 
thus  to  accomplish  its  ends,  to  trample  down  all  resistance 
to  its  dictation,  and  to  defy  the  whole  world  by  its  insults  to 
the  Church  and  to  the  sacred  principle  of  monarchy,  was  most 
galling  to  Spanish  pride.  Spinola,  as  a  son  of  Italy,  and  not 
inspired  by  the  fervent  hatred  to  Protestantism  which  was 
indigenous  to  the  other  peninsula,  steadily  resisted  those 
arguments.  None  knew  better  than  he  the  sternness  of  the 
stuff  out  of  which  that  republic  was  made,  and  he  felt  that 
now  or  never  was  the  time  to  treat,  even  as,  five  years  before, 
jam  aut  nunquam  had  been  inscribed  on  his  banner  outside 
Ostend.  But  he  protested  that  his  friends  gave  him  even 

*w  See  especially  Resol  Stat.-Gen.  30  Oct  1607,  in  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  126-130. 
111  Spinola's  letters,  apud  Qallucci,  347,  seqq.    Bentivoglio. 


1607.  THE  INDIA  TRADE.  417 

harder  work  than  his  enemies  had  ever  done,  and  he  stoutly 
maintained  that  a  peace  against  which  all  the  rivals  of  Spain 
seemed  to  have  conspired  from  fear  of  seeing  her  tranquil 
and  disembarrassed,  must  be  advantageous  to  Spain.  The 
genial  and  quick-witted  Genoese  could  not  see  and  hear  all 
the  secret  letters  and  private  conversations  of  Henry  and 
James  and  their  ambassadors,  and  he  may  be  pardoned  for 
supposing  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  crooked  and  incom 
prehensible  politics  of  Greenwich  and  Paris,  the  serious  object 
of  both  England  and  France  was  to  prolong  the  war.  In  his 
most  private  correspondence  he  expressed  great  doubts  as  to 
a  favourable  issue  to  the  pending  conferences,  but  avowed 
his  determination  that  if  they  should  fail  it  would  be  from  no 
want  of  earnest  effort  on  his  part  to  make  them  succeed.  It 
should  never  be  said  that  he  preferred  his  own  private 
advantage  to  the  duty  of  serving  the  best  interests  of  the 
crown.112 

Meantime  the  India  trade,  which  was  to  form  the  great 
bone  of  contention  in  the  impending  conferences,  had  not 
been  practically  neglected  of  late  by  the  enterprising 
Hollanders.  Peter  Verhoeff,  fresh  from  the  victory  of 
Gibraltar,  towards  which  he  had  personally  so  much  con 
tributed  by  the  splendid  manner  in  which  he  had  handled 
the  jEoliis  after  the  death  of  Admiral  Heemskerk,  was 
placed  in  command  of  a  fleet  to  the  East  Indies,  which  was 
to  sail  early  in  the  spring.113 

Admiral  Matelieff,  who  had  been  cruising  in  those  seas  during 
the  three  years  past,  was  now  on  his  way  home.  His 
exploits  had  been  worthy  the  growing  fame  of  the 
republican  navy.  In  the  summer  of  1606  he  had  laid  siege 
to  the  town  and  fortress  of  Malacca,  constructed  by  the  Por 
tuguese  at  the  southmost  extremity  of  the  Malay  peninsula. 
Andreas  Hurtado  de  Mendoza  commanded  the  position,  with 
a  force  of  three  thousand  men,  among  whom  were  many  In 
dians.  The  King  or  Sultan  of  Johore,  at  the  south-eastern 
extremity  of  the  peninsula,  remained  faithful  to  his  Dutch 
111  Gallucci,  349,  350.  "»  Wagenaar,  ix.  301. 

VOL.  IV.— 2  E 


418  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.         CHAP.  XLIX. 

allies,  and  accepted  the  proposition  of  Matelieff  to  take  part  in 
the  hostilities  now  begun.  The  admiral's  fleet  consisted  of 
eleven  small  ships,  with  fourteen  hundred  men.  It  was  not 
exactly  a  military  expedition.  To  the  sailors  of  each  ship  were 
assigned  certain  shares  of  the  general  profits,  and  as  it  was 
obvious  that  more  money  was  likely  to  be  gained  by  trade  with 
the  natives,  or  by  the  capture  of  such  stray  carracks  and  other 
merchantmen  of  the  enemy  as  were  frequently  to  be  met  in 
these  regions,  the  men  were  not  particularly  eager  to  take  part 
in  sieges  of  towns  or  battles  with  cruisers.  Matelieff,  however, 
had  sufficient  influence  over  his  comrades  to  inflame  their  zeal 
on  this  occasion  for  the  fame  of  the  republic,  and  to  induce 
them  to  give  the  Indian  princes  and  the  native  soldiery  a 
lesson  in  Batavian  warfare. 

A  landing  was  effected  on  the  peninsula,  the  sailors  and 
guns  were  disembarked,  and  an  imposing  auxiliary  force,  sent, 
according  to  promise,  after  much  delay,  by  the  Sultan  of 
Johore,  proceeded  to  invest  Malacca.  The  ground  proved  wet, 
swampy,  and  impracticable  for  trenches,  galleries,  covered 
ways,  and  all  the  other  machinery  of  a  regular  siege. 
Matelieff  was  not  a  soldier  nor  a  naval  commander  by  profes 
sion,  but  a  merchant-skipper,  like  so  many  other  heroes  whose 
achievements  were  to  be  the  permanent  glory  of  their  father 
land.  He  would  not,  however,  have  been  a  Netherlander  had 
he  not  learned  something  of  the  science  which  Prince  Maurice 
had  so  long  been  teaching,  not  only  to  his  own  countrymen 
but  to  the  whole  world.  So  moveable  turrets,  constructed  of 
the  spice-trees  which  grew  in  rank  luxuriance  all  around,  were 
filled  with  earth  and  stones,  and  advanced  towards  the  fort. 
Had  the  natives  been  as  docile  to  learn  as  the  Hollanders 
were  eager  to  teach  a  few  easy  lessons  in  the  military  art,  the 
doom  of  Andreas  Hurtado  de  Mendoza  would  have  been  sealed. 
But  the  great  truths  which  those  youthful  pedants,  Maurice 
and  Lewis  William,  had  extracted  twenty  years  before  from 
the  works  of  the  Emperor  Leo  and  earlier  pagans,  amid  the 
jeers  of  veterans,  were  not  easy  to  transplant  to  the  Malayan 
peninsula. 


1607.  MATELIEFFS  EXPLOITS  IN  INDIA.  419 

It  soon  proved  that  those  white-turbaned,  loose-garmented, 
supple-jointed,  highly-picturesque  troops  of  the  sultan  were 
not  likely  to  distinguish  themselves  for  anything  but  wonder 
ful  rapidity  in  retreat.  Not  only  did  they  shrink  from  any 
advance  towards  the  distant  forts,  but  they  were  incapable 
of  abiding  an  attack  within  or  behind  their  towers,  and,  at 
every  random  shot  from  the  enemy's  works,  they  threw  down 
their  arms  and  fled  from  their  stations  in  dismay.  It  was 
obvious  enough  that  the  conquest  and  subjugation  of  such 
feeble  warriors  by  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards  were  hardly 
to  be  considered  brilliant  national  trophies.  They  had  fallen 
an  easy  prey  to  the  first  European  invader.  They  had  no 
discipline,  no  obedience,  no  courage ;  and  Matelieff  soon 
found  that  to  attempt  a  scientific  siege  with  such  auxiliaries 
against  a  well-constructed  stone  fortress,  garrisoned  with 
three  thousand  troops,  under  an  experienced  Spanish  soldier, 
was  but  midsummer  madness. 

Fevers  and  horrible  malaria,  bred  by  the  blazing  sun  of  the 
equator  out  of  those  pestilential  jungles,  poisoned  the  atmo 
sphere.  His  handful  of  troops,  amounting  to  not  much  more 
than  a  hundred  men  to  each  of  his  ships,  might  melt  away 
before  his  eyes.  Nevertheless,  although  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  carry  the  place  by  regular  approach,  he  would  not 
abandon  the  hope  of  reducing  it  by  famine.  During  four 
months  long,  accordingly,  he  kept  every  avenue  by  land  or 
sea  securely  invested.  In  August,  however,  the  Spanish  vice 
roy  of  India,  Don  Alphonso  de  Castro,  made  his  appearance 
on  the  scene.  Coming  from  Goa  with  a  splendid  fleet,  number 
ing  fourteen  great  galleons,  four  galleys,  and  sixteen  smaller 
vessels,  manned  by  three  thousand  seven  hundred  Portuguese 
and  other  Europeans,  and  an  equal  number  of  native  troops, 
he  had  at  first  directed  his  course  towards  Atchen,  on  the 
north-west  point  of  Sumatra.  Here,  with  the  magnificent 
arrogance  which  Spanish  and  Portuguese  viceroys  were  accus 
tomed  to  manifest  towards  the  natives  of  either  India,  he 
summoned  the  king  to  surrender  his  strongholds,  to  assist  in 
constructing  a  fortress  for  the  use  of  his  conquerors,  to  deliver 


420  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP. 

up  all  the  Netherlander  within  his  domains,  and  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  the  expedition  which  had  thus  been  sent  to 
chastise  him.  But  the  King  of  Atchen  had  not  sent  ambas 
sadors  into  the  camp  of  Prince  Maurice  before  the  city  of 
Grave  in  vain.  He  had  learned  that  there  were  other  white 
skins  besides  the  Spaniards  at  the  antipodes,  and  that  the 
republic  whose  achievements  in  arts  and  arms  were  conspicu 
ous  trophies  of  Western  civilization,  was  not,  as  it  had  been 
represented  to  him,  a  mere  nest  of  pirates.  He  had  learned 
to  prefer  an  alliance  with  Holland  to  slavery  under  Spain. 
Moreover,  he  had  Dutch  engineers  and  architects  in  his  ser 
vice,  and  a  well-constructed  system  of  Dutch  fortifications 
around  his  capital.  To  the  summons  to  surrender  himself 
and  his  allies  he  returned  a  defiant  answer.  The  viceroy 
ordered  an  attack  upon  the  city.  One  fort  was  taken.  From 
before  the  next  he  was  repulsed  with  great  loss.  The 
Surnatrans  had  derived  more  profit  from  intercourse  with 
Europeans  than  the  inhabitants  of  Johore  or  the  Moluccas 
had  done.  De  Castro  abandoned  the  siege.  He  had  received 
intelligence  of  the  dangerous  situation  of  Malacca,  and  moved 
down  upon  the  place  with  his  whole  fleet.  Admiral  Matelieff, 
apprised  by  scouts  of  his  approach,  behaved  with  the  readi 
ness  and  coolness  of  a  veteran  campaigner.  Before  De  Castro 
could  arrive  in  the  roadstead  of  Malacca,  he  had  withdrawn 
all  his  troops  from  their  positions,  got  all  his  artillery  re- 
shipped,  and  was  standing  out  in  the  straits,  awaiting  the 
enemy. 

On  the  17th  August,  the  two  fleets,  so  vastly  dispropor- 
17  Aug.    tionate  in  number,  size,  equipment,  and  military 
1606.        force — eighteen   galleons    and    galleys,    with    four 
or  five  thousand  fighting  men,  against  eleven  small  vessels 
and  twelve  or  fourteen  hundred  sailors— met  in  that  narrow 
sea.     The  action  lasted  all  day.     It  was  neither  spirited  nor 
sanguinary.     It  ought  to  have  been  within  the  power  of  the 
Spaniard  to  crush  his  diminutive  adversary.     It  might  have 
seemed  a  sufficient  triumph  for  Matelieft  to  manoeuvre  him 
self  out  of  harm's  way.     No  vessel  on  either  side  was  boarded, 


1G07.  ATTACK  ON   THE  SPANISH  FLEET.  421 

not  one  surrendered,  but  two  on  each  side  were  set  on  fire 
and  destroyed.  Eight  of  the  Dutchmen  were  killed — not  a 
very  sanguinary  result  after  a  day's  encounter  with  so 
imposing  an  armada.  De  Castro's  losses  were  much  greater, 
but  still  the  battle  was  an  insignificant  one,  and  neither  fleet 
gained  a  victory.  Night  put  an  end  to  the  cannonading,  and 
the  Spaniards  withdrew  to  Malacca,  while  Matelieff  bore  away 
to  Johore.  The  siege  of  Malacca  was  relieved,  and  the 
Netherlanders  now  occupied  themselves  with  the  defence 
of  the  feeble  sovereign  at  the  other  point  of  the  peninsula. 

Matelieff  lay  at  Johore  a  month,  repairing  damages  and 
laying  in  supplies.  While  still  at  the  place,  he  received  infor 
mation  that  a  large  part  of  the  Spanish  armada  had  sailed 
from  Malacca.  Several  of  his  OWD  crew,  who  had  lost  their 
shares  in  the  adventure  by  the  burning  of  the  ships  to  which 
they  belonged  in  the  action  of  17th  August,  were  reluctant 
and  almost  mutinous  when  their  admiral  now  proposed  to 
them  a  sudden  assault  on  the  portion  of  the  Spanish  fleet  still 
remaining  within  reach.  They  had  not  come  forth  for  barren 
glory,  many  protested,  but  in  search  of  fortune  ;  they  were 
not  elated  by  the  meagre  result  of  the  expedition.  Matelieff 
succeeded,  however,  at  last  in  inspiring  all  the  men  of  his  com 
mand  with  an  enthusiasm  superior  to  sordid  appeals,  and 
made  &  few  malcontents.  On  the  21st  September,  he  sailed 
to  Malacca,  and  late  in  the  afternoon  again  attacked  the 
Spaniards.  Their  fleet  consisted  of  seven  great  galleons  and 
three  galleys  lying  in  a  circle  before  the  town.  The  outer 
most  ship,  called  the  St.  Nicholas,  was  boarded  by  men  from 
three  of  the  Dutch  galleots  with  sudden  and  irresistible  fury. 
There  was  a  brief  but  most  terrible  action,  the  Netherlanders 
seeming  endowed  with  superhuman  vigour.  So  great  was  the 
panic  that  there  was  hardly  an  effort  at  defence,  and  within 
less  than  an  hour  nearly  every  Spaniard  on  board  the  St. 
Nicholas  had  been  put  to  the  sword.  The*  rest  of  the  armada 
engaged  the  Dutch  fleet  with  spirit,  but  one  of  the  great 
galleons  was  soon  set  on  fire  and  burned  to  the  water's  edge. 
Another,  dismasted  and  crippled,  struck  her  flag,  and  all  that 


422  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX, 

remained  would  probably  have  been  surrendered  or  destroyed 
had  not  the  sudden  darkness  of  a  tropical  nightfall  put  an  end 
to  the  combat  at  set  of  sun.  Next  morning  another  galleon, 
in  a  shattered  and  sinking  condition,  was  taken  possession  of 
and  found  filled  with  dead  and  dying.  The  rest  of  the  Spanish 
ships  made  their  escape  into  the  harbour  of  Malacca.  Mate- 
liefF  stood  off  and  on  in  the  straits  for  a  day  or  two,  hesitating 
for  fear  of  shallows  to  follow  into  the  roadstead.  Before  he 
could  take  a  decision,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
enemy,  panic-struck,  save  him  any  further  trouble.  Not 
waiting  for  another  attack,  the  Spaniards  set  fire  to  every  one 
of  their  ships,  and  retired  into  their  fortress,  while  Matelieff 
and  his  men  enjoyed  the  great  conflagration  as  idle  spectators. 
Thus  the  enterprising  Dutch  admiral  had  destroyed  ten  great 
war-ships  of  the  enemy,  and,  strange  to  relate,  had  scarcely 
lost  one  man  of  his  whole  squadron.  Karely  had  a  more  com 
plete  triumph  been  achieved  on  the  water  than  in  this  battle 
in  the  straits  of  Malacca.  Matelieff  had  gained  much  glory 
but  very  little  booty.  He  was  also  encumbered  with  a  great 
number  of  prisoners.  These  he  sent  to  Don  Alphonso,  ex 
changing  them  for  a  very  few  Netherlanders  then  in  Spanish 
hands,  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  Spaniards  for  ten  Dutchmen 
—thus  showing  that  he  held  either  the  enemy  very  cheap, 
or  his  own  countrymen  very  dear.  The  captured  ships  he 
burned  as  useless  to  him,  but  retained  twenty-four  pieces  of 
artillery. 

It  was  known  to  Matelieff  that  the  Spanish  viceroy  had 
received  instructions  to  inflict  chastisement  on  all  the  oriental 
potentates  and  their  subjects  who  had  presumed  of  late  to 
trade  and  to  form  alliances  with  the  Netherlanders.  Johore, 
Achem,  Paham,  Patane,  Amboyna,  and  Bantam,  were  the 
most  probable  points  of  attack.  Johore  had  now  been  effec 
tually  defended,  Achem  had  protected  itself.  The  Dutch  fleet 
proceeded  at  first  fo  Bantam  for  refreshment,  and  from  this 
point  Matelieff  sent  three  of  his  ships  back  to  Holland.  With 
the  six  remaining  to  him,  he  sailed  for  the  Moluccas,  having 
heard  of  various  changes  which  had  taken  place  in  that 


1607.  RECOVERY  OF  TERNATE.  423 

important  archipelago.  Pausing  at  the  great  emporium  of 
nutmegs  and  all-spice,  Amboyna,  he  took  measures  for 
strengthening  the  fortifications  of  the  place,  which  was  well 
governed  by  Frederick  Houtman,  and  then  proceeded  to 
Ternate  and  Tidor. 

During  the  absence  of  the  Netherlander,  after  the  events 
on  those  islands  recorded  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  Spaniards 
had  swept  down  upon  them  from  the  Philippines  with  a  fleet 
of  thirty-seven  ships,  and  had  taken  captive  the  Sultan  of 
Ternate  ;  while  the  potentate  of  Tidor,  who  had  been  left 
by  Stephen  van  der  Hagen  in  possession  of  his  territories  on 
condition  of  fidelity  to  the  Dutch,  was  easily  induced  to 
throw  aside  the  mask,  and  to  renew  his  servitude  to  Spain. 
Thus  both  the  coveted  clove-islands  had  relapsed  into  the 
control  of  the  enemy.  Matelieff  found  it  dangerous,  on 
account  of  quicksands  and  shallows,  to  land  on  Tydore, 
but  he  took  very  energetic  measures  to  recover  possession  of 
Ternate.  On  the  southern  side  of  the  island,  the  Spaniards 
had  built  a  fort  and  a  town.  The  Dutch  admiral  disembarked 
upon  the  northern  side,  and,  with  assistance  of  the  natives, 
succeeded  in  throwing  up  substantial  fortifications  at  a  village 
called  Malaya.  The  son  of  the  former  sultan,  who  was  a 
Spanish  prisoner  at  the  Philippines,  was  now  formally 
inducted  into  his  father's  sovereignty,  and  Matelieff  esta 
blished  at  Malaya  for  his  protection  a  garrison  of  forty-five 
Hollanders  and  a  navy  of  four  small  yachts.  Such  were 
the  slender  means  with  which  Oriental  empires  were  founded 
in  those  days  by  the  stout-hearted  adventurers  of  the  little 
Batavian  republic. 

With  this  miniature  army  and  navy,  and  by  means  of  his 
alliance  with  the  distant  commonwealth,  of  whose  power 
this  handful  of  men  was  a  symbol,  the  King  of  Ternate 
was  thenceforth  to  hold  his  own  against  the  rival  potentate 
on  the  other  island,  supported  by  the  Spanish  king.  The 
same  convention  of  commerce  and  amity  was  made  with 
the  Ternatians  as  the  one  which  Stephen  van  der  Hagen  had 
formerly  concluded  with  the  Bandians,  and  it  was  agreed  that 


424  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  XLIX. 

the  potentate  should  be  included  in  any  treaty  of  peace 
that  might  be  made  between  the  republic  and  Spain. 

Matelieff,  with  three  ships  and  a  cutter,  now  sailed  for 
China,  but  lost  his  time  in  endeavouring  to  open  trade  with 
the  Celestial  empire.  The  dilatory  mandarins  drove  him  at 
last  out  of  all  patience,  and,  on  turning  his  prows  once  more 
southward,  he  had  nearly  brought  his  long  expedition  to  a 
disastrous  termination.  Six  well-armed,  well-equipped  Por 
tuguese  galleons  sailed  out  of  Macao  to  assail  him.  It  was 
not  Matelieff' s  instinct  to  turn  his  back  on  a  foe,  however 
formidable,  but  on  this  occasion  discretion  conquered  instinct. 
His  three  ships  were  out  of  repair  ;  he  had  a  deficiency  of 
powder ;  he  was  in  every  respect  unprepared  for  a  combat ; 
and  he  reflected  upon  the  unfavourable  impression  which 
would  be  made  on  the  Chinese  mind  should  the  Hollanders, 
upon  their  first  appearance  in  the  flowery  regions,  be  van 
quished  by  the  Portuguese.  He  avoided  an  encounter,  there 
fore,  and,  by  skilful  seamanship,  eluded  all  attempts  of  the 
foe  at  pursuit.  Keturning  to  Ternate,  he  had  the  satisfaction 
to  find  that  during  his  absence  the  doughty  little  garrison  of 
Malaya  had  triumphantly  defeated  the  Spaniards  in  an  assault 
on  the  fortifications  of  the  little  town.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  King  of  Johore,  panic-struck  on  the  departure  of  his 
Dutch  protectors,  had  burned  his  own  capital,  and  had 
betaken  himself  with  all  his  court  into  the  jungle. 

Commending  the  one  and  rebuking  the  other  potentate, 
the  admiral  provided  assistance  for  both,  some  Dutch  trading-, 
vessels  having  meantime  arrived  in  the  archipelago.  Matelieff 
now  set  sail  for  Holland,  taking  with  him  some  ambassadors 
from  the  King  of  Siam  and  five  ships  well  laden  with  spice. 
On  his  return  he  read  a  report  of  his  adventures  to  the  States- 
General,  and  received  the  warm  commendations  of  their 
High  Mightinesses.114  Before  his  departure  from  the  tropics, 
Paul  van  Kaarden,  with  eight  war-ships,  had  reached  Ban- 

114  The  authorities  for  Matelieff's  voyages  are  Grotius,  xvii.  792-800 ;  Mete- 
ren,  562,  563  ;  and  especially  the  original  journals  and  records  in  "  Begin  und 
Vortgang." 


1607.  MATELIEFF'S  RETURN  TO  HOLLAND.  425 

tarn.  On  his  arrival  in  Holland  the  fleet  of  Peter  ver  Hoef 
was  busily  fitting  out  for  another  great  expedition  to  the 
East.115  This  was  the  nation  which  Spanish  courtiers  thought 
to  exclude  for  ever  from  commerce  with  India  and  America, 
because  the  Pope  a  century  before  had  divided  half  the  globe 
between  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  and  Emmanuel  the  For 
tunate. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  the  results  of  MateliefPs  voyage 
were  likely  to  influence  the  pending  negotiations  for  peace. 

»*  Authorities  last  cited. 


426  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 


CHAPTER    L. 

Movements  of  the  Emperor  Rudolph— Marquis  Spinola's  reception  at  the 
Hague  —  Meeting  of  Spinola  and  Prince  Maurice  —  Treaty  of  the  Republic 
with  the  French  Government  —  The  Spanish  commissioners  before  the 
States-General  —  Beginning  of  negotiations — Stormy  discussions  —  Real 
object  of  Spain  in  the  negotiations  —  Question  of  the  India  trade  — 
Abandonment  of  the  peace  project  —  Negotiations  for  a  truce — Prolonga 
tion  of  the  armistice  —  Further  delays  —  Treaty  of  the  States  with 
England  —  Proposals  of  the  Spanish  ambassadors  to  Henry  of  France  and 
to  James  of  England  —  Friar  Neyen  at  the  court  of  Spain  —  Spanish  pro 
crastination —  Decision  of  Philip  on  the  conditions  of  peace  —  Further 
conference  at  the  Hague  —  Answer  of  the  States-General  to  the  proposals 
of  the  Spanish  Government  —  General  rupture. 

TOWARDS  the  close  of  the  year  1607  a  very  feeble  demon 
stration  was  made  in  the  direction  of  the  Dutch  republic  by 
the  very  feeble  Emperor  of  Germany.  Kudolph,  awaking  as 
it  might  be  from  a  trance,  or  descending  for  a  moment  from 
his  star-gazing  tower  and  his  astrological  pursuits  to  observe 
the  movements  of  political  spheres,  suddenly  discovered  that 
the  Netherlands  were  no  longer  revolving  in  their  pre 
ordained  orbit.  Those  provinces  had  been  supposed  to  form 
part  of  one  great  system,  deriving  light  and  heat  from  the 
central  imperial  sun.  It  was  time  therefore  to  put  an  end 
to  these  perturbations.  The  emperor  accordingly,  as  if  he 
had  not  enough  on  his  hands  at  that  precise  moment  with 
the  Hungarians,  Transylvanians,  Bohemian  protestants,  his 
brother  Matthias  and  the  Grand  Turk,  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  States  of  Holland,  Zeeland,  and  the  provinces  confede 
rated  with  them.1 

Keminding  them  of  the  care  ever  taken  by  himself  and  his 
father  to  hear  all  their  petitions,  and  to  obtain  for  them  a 
good  peace,  he  observed  that  he  had  just  heard  of  their  con* 

1  Meteren,  553,  et  seq.     Wagenaar,  ix.  295-299.    Grotiue,  xvi.  751,  752. 


1608.  THE  EMPEROR  AND  THE  STATES.  427 

templated    negotiations   with    King    Philip    and   Archduke 
Albert,  and  of  their  desire  to  be   declared   free  states   and 
peoples.     He  was  amazed,  he  said,  that  they  should  not  have 
given  him  notice  of  so  important  an  affair,  inasmuch  as  all 
the  United  Provinces  belonged  to  and  were  fiefs  of  the  holy 
Roman  Empire.     They  were  warned,  therefore,  to  undertake 
nothing  that  might  be  opposed  to  the  feudal  law       9  Oct. 
except  with   his  full  knowledge.      This   letter  was       1607- 
dated  the  9th  of  October.     The  States  took  time  to  deliberate, 
and  returned  no  answer  until  after  the  new  year.2 

On  the  2nd  of  January,  1608,  they  informed  the  emperor 
that  they  could  never  have  guessed  of  his  requiring  notifica 
tion  as  to  the  approaching  conferences.  They  had 
not  imagined  that  the  archduke  would  keep  them 
a  secret  from  his  brother,  or  the  king  from  his  uncle-cousin. 
Otherwise,  the  States  would  have  sent  due  notice  to  his 
Majesty.  They  well  remembered,  they  said,  the  appeals  made 
by  the  provinces  to  the  emperor  from  time  to  time,  at  the 
imperial  diets,  for  help  against  the  tyranny  of  the  Spaniards. 
They  well  remembered,  too,  that  no  help  was  ever  given 
them  in  response  to  those  appeals.  They  had  not  forgotten 
either  the  famous  Cologne  negotiations  for  peace  in  presence 
of  the  imperial  envoys,  in  consequence  of  which  the  enemy 
had  carried  on  war  against  them  with  greater  ferocity  than 
before.  At  that  epoch  they  had  made  use  of  an  extreme 
remedy  for  an  intolerable  evil,  and  had  solemnly  renounced 
allegiance  to  the  king.  Since  that  epoch  a  whole  generation 
of  mankind  had  passed  away,  and  many  kings  and  potentates 
had  recognised  their  freedom,  obtained  for  just  cause  and 
maintained  by  the  armed  hand.  After  a  long  and  bloody 
war,  Albert  and  Philip  had  at  last  been  brought  to  acknow 
ledge  the  provinces  as  free  countries  over  which  they  pre 
tended  to  no  right,  as  might  be  seen  by  the  letters  of  both, 
copies  of  which  were  forwarded  to  the  emperor.  Full  con 
fidence  was  now  expressed,  therefore,  that  the  emperor  and  all 
Germany  would  look  with  favour  on  such  a  God-fearing  trans- 

8  Authorities  last  cited. 


428  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

action,  by  which  an  end  would  be  put  to  so  terrible  a  war.3 
Thus  the  States-General ;  replying  with  gentle  scorn  to  the 
antiquated  claim  of  sovereignty  on  the  part  of  imperial 
majesty.  Duly  authenticated  by  citations  of  investitures, 
indulgences,  and  concordates,  engrossed  on  yellowest  parch 
ment,  sealed  with  reddest  sealing-wax,  and  reposing  in  a 
thousand  pigeon-holes  in  mustiest  archives,  no  claim  could  be 
more  solemn  or  stately.  Unfortunately,  however,  rebel  pikes 
and  matchlocks,  during  the  past  forty  years,  had  made  too 
many  rents  in  those  sacred  parchments  to  leave  much  hope 
of  their  ever  being  pieced  handsomely  together  again.  As 
to  the  historical  theory  of  imperial  enfeoifment,  the  States 
thought  it  more  delicate  to  glide  smoothly  and  silently  over 
the  whole  matter.  It  would  have  been  base  to  acknowledge 
and  impolite  to  refute  the  claim.4 

It  is  as  well  to  imitate  this  reserve.  It  is  enough  simply 
to  remind  the  reader  that  although  so  late  as  the  time 
of  Charles  Y.,  the  provinces  had  been  declared  constituent 
parts  of  the  empire,  liable  to  its  burthens,  and  entitled  to  its 
protection  ;  the  Netherlanders  being  practical  people,  and 
deeming  burthens  and  protection  correlative,  had  declined 
the  burthen  because  always  deprived  of  the  protection. 

And  now,  after  a  year  spent  in  clearing  away  the  moun 
tains  of  dust  which  impeded  the  pathway  to  peace,  and 
which  one  honest  vigorous  human  breath  might  at  once  have 
blown  into  space,  the  envoys  of  the  archduke  set  forth 
towards  the  Hague. 

Marquis  Spinola,  Don  Juan  de  Mancicidor,  private  secre^ 
tary  to  the  King  of  Spain,  President  Kichardot,  Auditoi 
Verreyken,  and  Brother  John  Neyen — a  Genoese,  a  Spaniard, 
a  Burgundian,  a  Fleming,  and  a  Franciscan  friar — travelling 
in  great  state,  with  a  long  train  of  carriages,  horses,  lackeys, 
cooks,  and  secretaries,  by  way  of  Breda,  Bergen-op-Zoom, 

31  Jan.    Dort,  Kotterdam,  and  Delft,  and  being  received  in 

1608.      &ich  town  and  village  through  which  they  passed 

Meteren,  Wagenaar,  ubi  sup.  I  lere  odiosum  et  fateri  inglorium."— 

4  "  De  feudo  silebatur  quia  et  refel-  J  Grotius,  xvi.  752. 


1608  SPINOLA  AT  THE  HAGUE.  429 

with  great  demonstrations  of  respect  and  cordial  welcome, 
arrived  at  last  within  a  mile  of  the  Hague.5 

It  was  the  dead  of  winter,  and  of  the  severest  winter 
that  had  occurred  for  many  years.  Every  river,  estuary, 
canal  was  frozen  hard.  All  Holland  was  one  broad  level 
sheet  of  ice,  over  which  the  journey  had  been  made  in 
sledges.  On  the  last  day  of  January  Prince  Maurice,  accom 
panied  by  Lewis  William,  and  by  eight  state  coaches  filled 
with  distinguished  personages,  left  the  Hague  and  halted  at 
the  Hoorn  bridge,  about  midway  between  Kyswyk  and  the 
capital.  The  prince  had  replied  to  the  first  request  of  the 
States  that  he  should  go  forward  to  meet  Spinola,  by  saying 
that  he  would  do  so  willingly  if  it  were  to  give  him  battle ; 
otherwise  not.  Olden- Barneveld  urged  upon  him  however 
that,  as  servant  of  the  republic,  he  was  bound  to  do  what  the 
States  commanded,  as  a  matter  involving  the  dignity  of  the 
nation.  In  consequence  of  this  remonstrance  Maurice  con* 
sented  to  go,  but  he  went  unwillingly.6  The  advancing 
procession  of  the  Spanish  ambassadors  was  already  in  sight. 
Far  and  wide  in  whatever  direction  the  eye  could  sweep, 
the  white  surface  of  the  landscape  was  blackened  with  human 
beings.  It  seemed  as  if  the  whole  population  of  the  Nether 
lands  had  assembled,  in  mass  meeting,  to  witness  the  pacific 
interview  between  those  two  great  chieftains  who  had  never 
before  stood  face  to  face  except  upon  the  battle-field. 

In  carriages,  in  donkey  carts,  upon  horseback,  in  sledges, 
on  skates,  upon  foot — men,  women,  and  children,  gentle  and 
simple,  Protestants,  Catholics,  Gromarites,  Arminians,  anabap 
tists,  country  squires  in  buff  and  bandaleer,  city  magistrates 
and  merchants  in  furs  and  velvet,  artisans,  boatmen,  and 
peasants,  with  their  wives  and  daughters  in  well-starched  ruff 
and  tremendous  head-gear — they  came  thronging  in  countless 
multitudes,  those  honest  Hollanders,  cheering  and  throwing 
up  their  caps  in  honour  of  the  chieftain  whose  military 
genius  had  caused  so  much  disaster  to  their  country.  This 
uproarious  demonstration  of  welcome  on  the  part  of  the 

6  Meteren,  5$3,  «  Better  of  Aerssens,  to  Deventer,  ijj.  l$j, 


430  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  U 

multitude  moved  the  spleen  of  many  who  were  old  enough  to 
remember  the  horrors  of  Spanish  warfare  within  their  borders. 
"Thus  unreflecting,  gaping,  boorish,  are  nearly  all  the 
common  people  of  these  provinces/'7  said  a  contemporary, 
describing  the  scene,  and  forgetting  that  both  high  and  low, 
according  to  his  own  account,  made  up  the  mass  of  spectators 
on  that  winter's  day.  Moreover  it  seems  difficult  to  under 
stand  why  the  Hollanders  should  not  have  indulged  a  legiti 
mate  curiosity,  and  made  a  holiday  on  this  memorable 
occasion.  Spinola  was  not  entering  their  capital  in  triumph, 
a  Spanish  army  was  not  marching — as  it  might  have  done 
had  the  course  of  events  been  different — over  the  protective 
rivers  and  marshes  of  the  fatherland,  now  changed  by  the 
exceptional  cold  into  solid  highways  for  invasion.  On  the 
contrary,  the  arrival  of  the  great  enemy  within  their  gates, 
with  the  olive-branch  instead  of  the  sword  in  his  hand,  was 
a  victory  not  for  Spain  but  for  the  republic.  It  was  known 
throughout  the  land  that  he  was  commissioned  by  the  king 
and  the  archdukes  to  treat  for  peace  with  the  States-General 
of  the  United  Provinces  as  with  the  representatives  of  a 
free  and  independent  nation,  utterly  beyond  any  foreign 
control. 

Was  not  this  opening  of  a  cheerful  and  pacific  prospect, 
after  a  half  century's  fight  for  liberty,  a  fair  cause  for 
rejoicing  ? 

The  Spanish  commissioners  arrived  at  the  Hoorn  bridge, 
Spinola  alighted  from  his  coach,  Prince  Maurice  stepped 
forward  into  the  road  to  greet  him.  Then  the  two  eminent 
soldiers,  whose  names  had  of  late  been  so  familiar  in  the 
mouths  of  men,  shook  hands  and  embraced  with  heroic 
cordiality,  while  a  mighty  shout  went  up  from  the  multitude 
around.  It  was  a  stately  and  dramatic  spectacle,  that 
peaceful  meeting  of  the  rival  leaders  in  a  war  which  had 
begun  before  either  of  them  was  born.  The  bystanders 
observed,  or  thought  that  they  observed,  signs  of  great 
emotion  on  the  faces  of  both.  It  has  also  been  recorded  that 

7  Meteren,  563. 


1608.  MEETING  OF  MAURICE  AND  SPINOLA.  431 

each  addressed  the  other  in  epigrammatic  sentences  of  com 
pliment.  "  God  is  my  witness/'  Maurice  was  supposed  to 
have  said,  "  that  the  arrival  of  these  honourable  negotiators 
is  most  grateful  to  me.  Time,  whose  daughter  is  truth,  will 
show  the  faith  to  be  given  to  my  words."8 

"  This  fortunate  day,"  replied  Spinola,  "  has  filled  full  the 
measure  of  my  hopes  and  wishes,  and  taken  from  me  the 
faculty  of  ever  wishing  for  anything  again.  I  trust  in  divine 
clemency  that  an  opportunity  may  be  given  to  show  my 
gratitude,  and  to  make  a  fit  return  for  the  humanity  thus 
shown  me  by  the  most  excellent  prince  that  the  sun  shines 
upon."9 

With  this  both  got  into  the  stadholder's  carriage,  Spinola 
being  placed  on  Maurice's  right  hand.  Their  conversation 
during  their  brief  drive  to  the  capital,  followed  by  their  long 
retinue,  and  by  the  enthusiastic  and  vociferating  crowd,  has 
not  been  chronicled.  It  is  also  highly  probable  that  the 
second-rate  theatrical  dialogue  which  the  Jesuit  historian, 
writing  from  Spinola's  private  papers,  has  preserved  for 
posterity,  was  rather  what  seemed  to  his  imagination  appro 
priate  for  the  occasion  than  a  faithful  shorthand  report  of 
anything  really  uttered.  A  few  commonplace  phrases  of 
welcome,  with  a  remark  or  two  perhaps  on  the  unexampled 
severity  of  the  frost,  seem  more  likely  to  have  formed  the 
substance  of  that  brief  conversation. 

A  couple  of  trumpeters  of  Spinola  went  braying  through 
the  streets  of  the  village  capital,  heralding  their  master's 
approach  with  superfluous  noise,  and  exciting  the  disgust  of 
the  quieter  portion  of  the  burghers.10  At  last  however  the 
envoys  and  their  train  were  all  comfortably  housed.  The 
Marquis,  President  Richardot,  and  Secretary  Mancicidor, 
were  established  at  a  new  mansion  on  the  Vyverberg, 
belonging  to  Goswyn  Menskens.  The  rest  of  the  legation 
were  lodged  at  the  house  of  Wassenaer.11 

It  soon  became  plain  that  the  ways  of  life  and  the  style  of 

8  Gallucci,  352.  9  Ibid. 

10  Meteren,  ubi  sup  »  Ibid. 


432  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

housekeeping  habitual  to  great  officers  of  the  Spanish  crown 
were  very  different  from  the  thrifty  manners  and  customs  of 
Dutch  republicans.  It  was  so  long  since  anything  like  royal 
pomp  and  circumstance  had  been  seen  in  their  borders  that 
ithe  exhibition,  now  made,  excited  astonishment.  It  was  a 
land  where  every  child  went  to  school,  where  almost  every 
individual  inhabitant  could  read  and  write,  where  even  the 
middle  classes  were  proficients  in  mathematics  and  the 
classics,  and  could  speak  two  or  more  modern  languages  ; 
where  the  whole  nation,  with  but  few  exceptions,  were  pro 
ducers  of  material  or  intellectual  wealth,  and  where  com 
paratively  little  of  unproductive  consumption  prevailed. 
Those  self-governing  and  self-sustaining  municipalities  had 
almost  forgotten  the  existence  of  the  magnificent  nothings 
so  dear  to  the  hearts  of  kings. 

Spinola's  house  was  open  day  and  night.  The  gorgeous 
plate,  gigantic  candelabra,  mighty  ewers,  shields  and  lavers 
of  silver  and  gold,  which  decorated  his  tables  and  side 
boards,  amazed  the  gaping  crowd.  He  dined  and  supped 
in  state  every  day,  and  the  public  were  admitted  to  gaze 
upon  his  banquets  as  if  he  had  been  a  monarch.  It  seemed, 
said  those  homely  republicans,  as  if  "  a  silver  christening 
were  going  on  every  day  in  his  house/' 12 

There  were  even  grave  remonstrances  made  to  the  magis 
tracy  and  to  the  States-General  against  the  effect  of  such 
ostentatious  and  immoral  proceedings  upon  the  popular  mind, 
and  suggestions  that  at  least  the  doors  should  be  shut,  so 
that  the  scandal  might  be  confined  to  Spinola's  own  house 
hold.  But  the  republican  authorities  deciding,  not  without 
wisdom,  that  the  spectacle  ought  to  serve  rather  as  a  whole 
some  warning  than  as  a  contaminating  example,  declined 
any  inquisitorial  interference  with  the  housekeeping  of  the 
Spanish  ambassadors.13 

Before  the  negotiations  began,  a  treaty  had  been  made 
between  the  republic  and  the  French  Government,  by  which 
it  was  stipulated  that  every  effort  should  be  made  by  both 

18  Meteren,  534  ls  Ibid. 


1008.  CLOTH-TRADE  DISPUTE.  433 

contracting  parties  to  bring  about  an  honourable  and  assured 
peace  between  the  United  Provinces,  Spain,  and  the  arch 
dukes.  In  case  of  the  continuance  of  the  war,  however,  it  was 
agreed  that  France  should  assist  the  States  with  ten  thousand 
men,  while  in  case  at  any  time,  during  the  continuance  of 
the  league,  France  should  be  attacked  by  a  foreign  enemy, 
she  should  receive  from  her  ally  five  thousand  auxiliary 
troops,  or  their  equivalent  in  maritime  assistance.  This 
convention  was  thought  by  other  powers  to  be  so  profit 
able  to  the  Netherlands  as  to  excite  general  uneasiness  and 
suspicion. 

The  States  would  have  gladly  signed  a  similar  agreement 
with  England,  but  nothing  was  to  be  done  with  that  Govern 
ment  until  an  old-standing  dispute  in  regard  to  the  cloth 
trade  had  been  arranged.  Middelburg  had  the  exclusive 
right  of  deposit  for  the  cloths  imported  from  England.  This 
monopoly  for  Zeeland  being  naturally  not  very  palatable  to 
Amsterdam  and  other  cities  of  Holland,  the  States-General 
had  at  last  authorized  the  merchant-adventurers  engaged  in 
this  traffic  to  deposit  their  goods  in  any  city  of  the  United 
Provinces.14  The  course  of  trade  had  been  to  import  the  raw 
cloth  from  England,  to  dress  and  dye  it  in  the  Netherlands, 
and  then  to  re-export  it  to  England.  Latterly,  however, 
some  dyers  and  clothiers  emigrating  from  the  provinces  to 
that  country,  had  obtained  a  monopoly  from  James  for 
practising  their  art  in  his  dominions.  In  consequence  of  this 
arrangement  the  exportation  of  undyed  cloths  had  been 
forbidden.  This  prohibition  had  caused  irritation  both  in  the 
kingdom  and  the  republic,  had  necessarily  deranged  the 
natural  course  of  trade  and  manufacture,  and  had  now  pre» 
vented  for  the  time  any  conclusion  of  an  alliance  offensive 
and  defensive  between  the  countries,  even  if  political  senti 
ment  had  made  such  a  league  possible.  The  States-General 
had  recourse  to  the  usual  expedient  by  which  bad  legislation 
on  one  side  was  counterveiled  by  equally  bad  legislation  on 
the  other  The  exportation  of  undyed  English  cloths  being 

M  Wageuaar,  ix.  317,318. 
VOL.  IV.— F  2 


434  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  U 

forbidden  by  England,  the  importation  of  dyed  English  cloths 
was  now  prohibited  by  the  Netherlands.  The  international 
cloth  trade  stopped.  This  embargo  became  at  last  so  detest 
able  to  all  parties  that  concession  was  made  by  the  crown  for 
a  limited  export  of  raw  cloths.  The  concession  was  soon 
widened  by  custom  into  a  general  exportation,  the  royal 
Government  looking  through  its  fingers  at  the  open  infraction 
of  its  own  laws,  while  the  natural  laws  of  trade  before  long 
re-established  the  old  equilibrium.  Meantime  the  ill-feeling 
produced  by  this  dissension  delayed  any  cordial  political 
arrangement  between  the  countries. 

On  the  5th  of  February  the  Spanish  commissioners  came 
for  the  first  time  before  the  States-General,  assembled  to 
the  number  of  a  hundred  and  thirty,  in  their  palace  at  the 
Hague.15 

The  first  meeting  was  merely  one  of  mutual  compliment, 
President  Kichardot,  on  behalf  of  his  colleagues,  expressing 
gratitude  for  the  cordial  welcome  which  had  been  manifested 
to  the  envoys  on  their  journey  through  so  many  towns  of  the 
United  Provinces.  They  had  been  received,  he  said,  not  as 
enemies  with  whom  an  almost  perpetual  war  had  been  waged, 
but  as  friends,  confederates,  and  allies.  A  warmer  reception 
they  could  never  have  hoped  for  nor  desired. 

Two  special  commissioners  were  now  appointed  by  the 
States-General  to  negotiate  with  the  envoys.  These  were 
Count  Lewis  William  and  Brederode.  With  these  delegates 
at  large  were  associated  seven  others,  one  from  each  pro 
vince.  Barneveld  of  course  represented  Holland  ;  Maldere, 
Zeeland  ;  Berk,  Utrecht ;  Hillama,  Friesland  ;  Sloat,  Over- 
yssel ;  Koender  van  Helpen,  Groningen ;  Cornelius  van  Gend, 
Gelderland.16 

The  negotiations  began  at  once.  The  archdukes  had  em 
powered  the  five  envoys  to  deal  in  their  name  and  in  that 
of  the  King  of  Spain.  Philip  had  authorized  the  rrchdukes 
to  take  this  course  by  an  instrument  dated  10th  January, 

15  Van  der  Kemp,  iii  137,  et  *eq.    Meteren,  564,  565. 
'«  Wagenaar,  322,  ix  323.    Gallucci,  353-355. 


1608. 


PEACE   NEGOTIATIONS. 


435 


In  this  paper  he  called  the  archdukes  hereditary  sovereigns 
of  the  Netherlands. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  various  points  of  negotiation  should 
he  taken  up  in  regular  order ;  hut  the  first  question  of  all 
that  presented  itself  was  whether  the  conferences  should  he 
for  a  truce  or  a  peace.17 

The  secret  object  of  Spain  was  for  a  truce  of  years.  Thus 
she  thought  to  save  her  dignity,  to  reserve  her  rights  of 
re-conquest,  to  replenish  her  treasury,  and  to  repair  her 
military  strength.  Barneveld  and  his  party,  comprising  a 
large  majority  of  the  States-General,  were  for  peace.  Prince 
Maurice,  having  done  his  utmost  to  oppose  negotiations  for 
peace,  was,  for  still  stronger  reasons,  determined  to  avoid 
falling  into  what  he  considered  the  ambush  of  a  truce.  The 
French  ambassadors  were  also  for  peace.  The  Spanish 
envoys  accordingly  concealed  their  real  designs,  and  all 
parties  began  discussions  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a 
permanent  peace. 

This  preliminary  being  settled,  Barneveld.  asked  the 
{Spaniards  if  they  had  full  powers  to  treat  with  the  States 
as  with  a  free  nation,  and  if  they  recognised  them  as  such. 

"  The  most  ample  power/'  was  the  reply  ;  "  and  we  are 
content  to  treat  with  you  even  if  you  should  choose  to  call 
yourself  a  kingdom." 

"  By  what  right  then  are  the  archdukes  called  by  the  king 
hereditary  sovereigns  of  the  Netherlands,  and  why  do  they 
append  the  seals  of  the  seven  United  Provinces  to  this 
document  ?  "  asked  the  Advocate,  taking  up  from  the  table 
the  full  power  of  Albert  and  Isabella  and  putting  his  finger 
on  the  seals.18 

"  By  the  same  right/'  replied  President  Kichardot,  "  that 
the  King  of  France  calls  himself  King  of  Navarre,  that  the 


17  Ibid.    Meteren,  564  565. 

18  Negotiations  de  Jeannin,  i.  538, 
539.     Gallucci,    Meteren,   Wagenaar, 
ubi  sup.    Compare  also,  for  the  whole 
course    of     these     ratifications,    the 
Minutes  of  Olden-Barn eveld    during 
the  conferences,  now  first  published  in 


the  invaluable  and  admirably-edited 
collection  of  Van  Deventer.  "  Verhaal 
der  Onderhandelingen  te  's  Hage 
tusschen  de  Nederlandsche  en  Spaan- 
Bche  gevolmagtigden,"  &c.,  1  Feb- 
ruarij,  1608-4  Maart,  1609.— Deventer, 
iii.  No.  ccviii.  pp.  169-239,  pamm. 


436  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

King  of  Great  Britain  calls  himself  King  of  France,  that  the 
King  of  Spain  calls  himself  King  of  Jerusalem." 

Nothing  could  be  more  logical,  nothing  more  historically 
accurate.  But  those  plain-spoken  republicans  saw  no  advan 
tage  in  beginning  a  negotiation  for  peace  on  the  basis  of 
their  independence  by  permitting  the  archduke  to  call 
himself  their  sovereign,  and  to  seal  solemn  state  papers  with 
their  signet.  It  might  seem  picturesque  to  genealogical 
minds,  it  might  be  soothing  to  royal  vanity,  that  paste  coun 
terfeits  should  be  substituted  for  vanished  jewels.  It  would 
be  cruelty  to  destroy  the  mock  glitter  without  cause.  But 
there  was  cause.  On  this  occasion  the  sham  was  dangerous. 
James  Stuart  might  call  himself  King  of  France.  He  was 
not  more  likely  to  take  practical  possession  of  that  kingdom 
than  of  the  mountains  in  the  moon.  Henry  of  Bourbon  was 
not  at  present  contemplating  an  invasion  of  the  hereditary 
possessions  of  the  house  of  Albret.  It  was  a  matter  of  indif 
ference  to  the  Netherlands  whether  Philip  III.  were  crowned 
in  Jerusalem  that  very  day,  or  the  week  afterwards,  or  never. 
It  was  very  important  however  that  the  United  Provinces 
should  have  it  thoroughly  recognised  that  they  were  a  free 
and  independent  republic,  nor  could  that  recognition  be 
complete  so  long  as  any  human  being  in  the  whole  world 
called  himself  their  master,  and  signed  with  their  seals  of 
state.  "  'Tis  absurd,"  said  the  Hollanders,  "  to  use  the  names 
and  arms  of  our  provinces.  We  have  as  yet  no  precedent  to 
prove  that  you  consider  the  United  Provinces  as  lost,  and 
name  and  arms  to  be  but  wind."  Barneveld  reminded  them 
that  they  had  all  expressed  the  most  straightforward  inten 
tion,  and  that  the  father  commissary  especially  had  pledged 
his  very  soul  for  the  sincerity  of  the  king  and  the  archdukes. 
"  We  ourselves  never  wished  and  never  could  deceive  any 
one,"  continued  the  Advocate,  "  and  it  is  also  very  difficult 
for  others  to  deceive  us."  19 

This  being  the  universal  sentiment  of  the  Netherlanders,  it 
was  thought  proper  to  express  it  in  respectful  but  vigorous 

19  Minutes  of  Olden-Barneveld. 


1608.  END  OF  THtf  FIRST  SESSION.  437 

language.  This  was  done  and  the  session  was  terminated. 
The  Spanish  envoys,  knowing  very  well  that  neither  the  king 
nor  the  archduke  regarded  the  retention  of  the  titles  and 
seals  of  all  the  seventeen  Netherlands  as  an  empty  show,  but 
that  a  secret  and  solid  claim  lurked  beneath  that  usurpation, 
were  very  indignant.  They  however  dissembled  their  wrath 
from  the  States'  commissioners.  They  were  unwilling  that 
the  negotiations  should  be  broken  up  at  the  very  first  session, 
and  they  felt  that  neither  Prince  Maurice  nor  Barneveld  was 
to  be  trifled  with  upon  this  point.20  But  they  were  loud  and 
magnificent  in  their  demonstrations  when  they  came  to  talk 
the  matter  over  with  the  ambassadors  of  France  and 
England.21  It  was  most  portentous,  they  thought,  to  the 
cause  of  monarchy  and  good  government  all  over  the  world, 
that  these  republicans,  not  content  to  deal  with  kings  and 
princes  on  a  footing  of  equality,  should  presume  to  dictate 
to  them  as  to  inferiors.  Having  passed  through  rebellion  to 
liberty,  they  were  now  proceeding  to  trample  upon  the  most 
hallowed  customs  and  rites.  What  would  become  of  royalty, 
if  in  the  same  breath  it  should  not  only  renounce  the 
substance,  but  even  put  away  the  symbols  of  authority.  This 
insolence  of  the  people  was  not  more  dangerous  to  the  king 
and  the  archdukes  than  it  was  to  every  potentate  in  the 
universe.  It  was  a  sacred  duty  to  resist  such  insults.22  Sage 
Jeannin  did  his  best  to  pacify  the  vehemence  of  the  commis 
sioners.  He  represented  to  them  that  foreign  titles  borne 
by  anointed  kings  were  only  ensigns  of  historical  posses 
sions  which  they  had  for  ever  renounced  ;  but  that  it  might 
become  one  day  the  pleasure  of  Spain,  or  lie  in  the  power  of 
Spain,  to  vindicate  her  ancient  rights  to  the  provinces. 

Hence  the  anxiety  of  the  States  was  but  natural.  The  old 
Leaguer  and  political  campaigner  knew  very  well,  moreover, 
that  at  least  one  half  of  Bichardot's  noble  wrath  was  feigned.23 
The  commissioners  would  probably  renounce  the  title  and 


20  Gallucci,  355,  356.  Grotius, 
xvii  764,  765.  Wagenaar,  ix.  324- 
326  Meteren,  564™.  Bentivoglio,  564. 

VOL.  11—14* 


81  Ibid. 

22  Gallucci,  Bentivoglio,  uU  SUP- 

23  Gallucci,  356. 


438  'fHE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

the  seven  seals,  but  in  so  doing  would  drive  a  hard  bargain. 
For  an  empty  phrase  and  a  pennyworth  of  wax  they  would 
extort  a  heavy  price.  And  this  was  what  occurred.  The  com 
missioners  agreed  to  write  for  fresh  instructions  to  Brussels. 
A  reply  came  in  due  time  from  the  archdukes,  in  which  they 
signified  their  willingness  to  abandon  the  title  of  sovereigns 
over  all  the  Netherlands,  and  to  abstain  from  using  their 
signet.  In  exchange  for  this  concession  they  merely  de 
manded  from  the  States-General  a  formal  abandonment  of 
the  navigation  to  both  the  Indies.  This  was  all.  The  arch 
dukes  granted  liberty  to  the  republic.  The  republic  would 
renounce  its  commerce  with  more  than  half  the  world. 

The  scorn  of  the  States'  commissioners  at  this  proposition 
can  be  imagined,  and  it  became  difficult  indeed  for  them  to 
speak  on  the  subject  in  decorous  language.  Because  the 
archdukes  were  willing  to  give  up  something  which  was  not 
their  property,  the  republic  was  voluntarily  to  open  its  veins 
and  drain  its  very  life-blood  at  the  bidding  of  a  foreign  po 
tentate.  She  was  to  fling  away  all  the  trophies  of  Heems- 
kerk  and  Sebalt  de  Weerd,  of  Balthasar  de  Cordes,  Van  del 
Hagen,  Matelieff,  and  Verhoeff;  she  was  to  abdicate  the 
position  which  she  had  already  acquired  of  mistress  of  the 
seas,  and  she  was  to  deprive  herself  for  ever  of  that  daily 
increasing  ocean  commerce  which  was  rapidly  converting  a 
cluster  of  puny,  half-submerged  provinces  into  a  mighty 
empire.  Of  a  certainty  the  Spanish  court  at  this  new  epoch 
was  an  astounding  anachronism.  In  its  view  Pope  Alex 
ander  VI.  still  lived  and  reigned. 

Liberty  was  not  a  boon  conferred  upon  the  Netherlander 
by  their  defeated  enemy.  It  had  been  gained  by  their  own 
right  hands  ;  by  the  blood,  and  the  gold,  and  the  sweat  of 
two  generations.  If  it  were  the  king's  to  give,  let  him  try 
once  more  if  he  could  take  it  away.  Such  were  the  opinions 
and  emotions  of  the  Dutchmen,  expressed  in  as  courteous 
language  as  they  could  find. 

"  It  would  be  a  political  heresy,"  said  Barneveld  to  the 
Spanish  commissioners  at  this  "session,  "if  my  lords  the 


1608. 


DISCUSSION  OF  PROPOSITIONS. 


439 


States  should  by  contract  banish  their  citizens  out  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  world,  both  land  and  sea." 

u?Tis  strange,"  replied  the  Spaniards,  "that  you  wish  to 
have  more  than  other  powers — kings  or  republics — who 
never  make  any  such  pretensions.  The  Indies,  East  and 
West,  are  our  house,  privately  possessed  by  us  for  more  than 
a  hundred  years,  and  no  one  has  a  right  to  come  into  it 
without  our  permission.  This  is  not  banishment,  but  a 
custom  to  which  all  other  nations  submit.  We  give  you 
your  sovereignty  before  all  the  world,  quitting  all  claims 
upon  it  We  know  very  well  that  you  deny  receiving  it  from 
us ;  but  to  give  you  a  quit  claim,  and  to  permit  free  trade 
besides,  would  be  a  little  more  than  you  have  a  right  to 
expect/'24 

Was  it  not  well  for  the  cause  of  liberty,  commercial  inter 
course,  and  advancement  of  the  human  intellect,  that  there 
was  this  obstinate  little  republic  in  the  world,  refusing  to 
tolerate  that  to  which  all  other  great  powers  of  the  earth 
submitted ;  that  there  was  one  nation  determined  not  to 
acknowledge  three-quarters  of  the  world,  including  America 
and  India,  as  the  private  mansion  of  the  King  of  Spain,  to  be 
locked  against  the  rest  of  the  human  race  ? 

The  next  session  of  the  negotiators  after  the  arrival  of  this 
communication  from  the  archdukes  was  a  stormy  one.  The 
India  trade  was  the  sole  subject  of  discussion.  As  the  States 
were  firmly  resolved  never  to  relinquish  that  navigation 
which  in  truth  was  one  of  their  most  practical  and  valuable 
possessions,  and  as  the  royal  commissioners  were  as  solemnly 
determined  that  it  should  never  be  conceded,  it  may  be 
imagined  how  much  breath,  how  much  foolscap  paper,  was 
wasted. 

In  truth,  the  negotiation  for  peace  had  been  a  vile  mockery 
from  the  beginning.  Spain  had  no  real  intention  of  abdi 
cating  her  claim  to  the  United  Provinces. 


24  Minutes  ot  Olden-Barneveld,  vM 
sup.  "Dattet  hunl.  Huys  was  over 
hundert  jaren  privatim  beseten  en  dat 
daer  jegens  bun  danck  met  be- 


hoorde  te  komen.  Datter  geen  ban- 
nissement  was  maer  een  gebruyck  als 
de  andere  Coningen  en  RepubUquen 
deden,"  &c, 


440  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  U 

At  the  very  moment  when  the  commissioners  were  cate 
gorically  making  that  concession  in  Brussels,  and  claiming 
such  a  price  for  it,  Hoboken,  the  archduke's  diplomatic  repre 
sentative  in  London,  was  earnestly  assuring  King  James 
that  neither  his  master  nor  Philip  had  the  remotest  notion 
of  renouncing  their  sovereignty  over  all  the  Netherlands. 
What  had  been  said  and  written  to  that  effect  was  merely 
a  device,  he  asserted,  to  bring  about  a  temporary  truce. 
During  the  interval  of  imaginary  freedom  it  was  certain 
that  the  provinces  would  fall  into  such  dire  confusion  that 
it  would  be  easier  for  Spain  to  effect  their  re-conquest,  after 
a  brief  delay  for  repairing  her  own  strength,  than  it  would  be 
by  continuing  the  present  war  without  any  cessation.25 

The  Spanish  ambassador  at  Vienna  too  on  his  part  assured 
the  Emperor  Rudolph  that  his  master  was  resolved  never  to 
abdicate  the  sovereignty  of  the  provinces.  The  negotiations 
then  going  on,  he  said,  were  simply  intended  to  extort  from 
the  States  a  renunciation  of  the  India  trade  and  their  consent 
to  the  re-introduction  of  the  Catholic  religion  throughout 
their  territories. 

Something  of  all  this  was  known  and  much  more  suspected 
at  the  Hague  ;  the  conviction  therefore  that  no  faith  would 
be  kept  with  rebels  and  heretics,  whatever  might  be  said  or 
written,  gained  strength  every  day.  That  these  delusive 
negotiations  with  the  Hollanders  were  not  likely  to  be  so 
successful  as  the  comedy  enacted  twenty  years  before  at 
Bourbourg,  for  the  amusement  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her 
diplomatists  while  the  tragedy  of  the  Armada  was  preparing, 
might  be  safely  prophesied.  Richardot  was  as  effective  ag 
ever  in  the  part  which  he  had  so  often  played,  but  Spinola 
laboured  under  the  disadvantage  of  being  a  far  honester 
man  than  Alexander  Farnese.  Far  from  equal  to  that 
famous  chieftain  in  the  management  of  a  great  military 
campaign,  it  is  certain  that  he  was  infinitely  inferior  to  him 
in  genteel  comedy.  Whether  Maurice  and  Lewis  William, 
Barneveld  and  Brederode,  were  to  do  better  in  the  parts 

85  Meteren,  565. 


1608.  THE  INDIAN  TRADE.  44] 

formerly  assigned  to  John   Rogers,  Valentine  Dale,  Comp 
troller  Croft,  and  their  colleagues,  remained  to  be  seen. 

On  the  15th  of  February,  at  the  fifth  conference  of  the 
commissioners,  the  first  pitched  battle  on  the  India    15  Feb. 
trade   was    fought.       Thereafter    the    combat    was     1608- 
almost  every  day  renewed.     Exactly,  as  a  year  before,  the 
news  of  Heemskerk's  victory  at  Gibraltar  had  made  the  king 
and   the   archdukes   eager  to   obtain  an  armistice  with  the 
rebels  both  by  land  and  sea,  so  now  the  report  of  MateliefFs 
recent  achievements  in  the  Indian  ocean  was  increasing  their 
anxiety  to  exclude  the  Netherlander  from  the  regions  which 
they  were  rapidly  making  their  own. 

As  we  look  back  upon  the  negotiations,  after  the  lapse  of 
two  centuries  and  a  half,  it  becomes  difficult  to  suppress 
our  amazement  at  those  scenes  of  solemn  trickery  and 
superhuman  pride.  It  is  not  necessary  to  follow,  step  by 
step,  the  proceedings  at  each  daily  conference,  but  it  is 
impossible  for  me  not  to  detain  the  reader  for  yet  a  season 
longer  witii  those  transactions,  and  especially  to  invite  him 
to  ponder  the  valuable  lesson  which  in  their  entirety  they 
convey. 

No  higher  themes  could  possibly  be  laid  before  statesmen 
to  discuss.  Questions  of  political  self-government,  religious 
liberty,  national  independence,  divine  Bight,  rebellious  Power, 
freedom  of  commerce,  supremacy  of  the  seas,  omnipotence 
claimed  by  the  old  world  over  the  destiny  of  what  was  called 
the  new,  were  importunately  demanding  solution.  All  that 
most  influenced  human  passion,  or  stirred  human  reason  to 
its  depths — at  that  memorable  point  of  time  when  two  great 
spochs  seemed  to  be  sweeping  against  each  other  in  elemental 
conflict — was  to  be  dealt  with.  The  emancipated  currents 
of  human  thought,  the  steady  tide  of  ancient  dogma,  were 
mingling  in  wrath.  There  are  times  of  paroxysm  in  which 
Nature  seems  to  effect  more  in  a  moment,  whether  intellec 
tually  or  materially,  than  at  other  periods  during  a  lapse  of 
years.  The  shock  of  forces,  long  preparing  and  long  delayed, 
is  apt  at  last  to  make  itself  sensible  to  those  neglectful  of 


442  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

gradual  but  vital  changes.     Yet  there  are  always  ears  that 
remain  deaf  to  the  most  portentous  din. 

Thus,  after  that  half  century  of  war,  the  policy  of  Spain 
was  still  serenely  planting  itself  on  the  position  occupied 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  revolt.  The  commonwealth,  solidly 
established  by  a  free  people,  already  one  of  the  most  energetic 
and  thriving  among  governments,  a  recognised  member  of 
the  great  international  family,  was  now  gravely  expected  to 
purchase  from  its  ancient  tyrant  the  independence  which  it 
had  long  possessed,  while  the  price  demanded  for  the  free 
papers  was  not  only  extravagant,  but  would  be  disgraceful  to 
an  emancipated  slave.  Holland  was  not  likely  at  that  turning 
point  in  her  history,  and  in  the  world's  history,  to  be  false 
to  herself  and  to  the  great  principles  of  public  law.  It  was 
good  for  the  cause  of  humanity  that  the  republic  should 
reappear  at  that  epoch.  It  was  wholesome  for  Europe  that 
there  should  be  just  then  a  plain  self-governing  people,  able 
to  speak  homely  and  important  truths.  It  was  healthy  for 
the  moral  and  political  atmosphere — in  those  days  and  in  the 
time  to  come — that  a  fresh  breeze  from  that  little  sea-born 
commonwealth  should  sweep  away  some  of  the  ancient  fog 
through  which  a  few  very  feeble  and  very  crooked  mortals 
had  so  long  loomed  forth  like  giants  and  gods. 

To  vindicate  the  laws  of  nations  and  of  nature  ;  to  make  a 
noble  effort  for  reducing  to  a  system — conforming,  at  least 
approximately,  to  divine  reason — the  chaotic  elements  of  war 
and  peace  ;  to  recal  the  great  facts  that  earth,  sea,  and  sky 
ought  to  belong  to  mankind,  and  not  to  an  accidental  arid 
very  limited  selection  of  the  species,  was  not  an  unworthy  task 
for  a  people  which  had  made  such  unexampled  sacrifies  for 
liberty  and  right. 

Accordingly,  at  the  conference  on  the  15th  February,  the 
Spanish  commissioners  categorically  summoned  the  States  to 
desist  entirely  from  the  trade  to  either  India,  exactly  as 
before  the  war.  To  enforce  this  prohibition,  they  said,  was 
the  principal  reason  why  Philip  desired  peace.  To  obtain 
their  freedom  was  surely  well  worth  renunciation  of  this 


1608.  DISCUSSION  OF  THE  INDIAN   QUESTION.  443 

traffic  ;  the  more  so,  because  their  trade  with  Spain,  which 
was  so  much  shorter  and  safer,  was  now  to  be  re-opened.  If 
they  had  been  able  to  keep  that  commerce,  it  was  suggested, 
they  would  have  never  talked  about  the  Indies.  The  com 
missioners  added,  that  this  boon  had  not  been  conceded  to 
France  nor  England,  by  the  treaties  of  Vervins  and  London, 
and  that  the  States  therefore  could  not  find  it  strange  that 
it  should  be  refused  to  them.26 

The  States'  commissioners  stoutly  replied  that  commerce 
was  open  to  all  the  world,  that  trade  was  free  by  the  great  law 
of  nature,  and  that  neither  France,  England,  nor  the  United 
Provinces,  were  to  receive  edicts  on  this  great  subject  from 
Spain  and  Portugal.  It  was  absurd  to  circumscribe  com 
mercial  intercourse  at  the  very  moment  of  exchanging  war 
for  peace.  To  recognise  the  liberty  of  the  States  upon 
paper,  and  to  attempt  the  imposition  of  servitude  in  reality, 
was  a  manifest  contradiction.  The  ocean  was  free  to  all 
nations.  It  had  not  been  enclosed  by  Spain  with  a  rail- 
fence.27 

The  debate  grew  more  stormy  every  hour.  Spinola  ex 
pressed  great  indignation  that  the  Netherlanders  should  be 
so  obstinate  upon  this  point.  The  tall,  spare  President  arose 
in  wrath  from  his  seat  at  the  council-board,  loudly  protesting 
that  the  King  of  Spain  would  never  renounce  his  sovereignty 
over  the  provinces  until  they  had  forsworn  the  India  trade ; 
and  with  this  menace  stalked  out  of  the  room.28 

The  States7  commissioners  were  not  frightened.  Barneveld 
was  at  least  a  match  for  Kichardot,  and  it  was  better,  after  all, 
that  the  cards  should  be  played  upon  the  table.  Subsequent 


26  Wagenaar,  ix  327,  seqq  Meteren, 
565,  567-593.     Grotius,  xvii  763-781. 
Gallucci.  356-358. 

27  Oceanum  quippe  nullis  clausum 
canc.ettis  cunctis  nationibus  patere." 
—Gallucci,  357.     It  is  impossible  in 
this  connection  not  to  recal  the  quaint 
words  of  a  great  poet  of  our  own  coun- 


1  We  own  the  ocean,  too,  John, 

You  mustn't  think  it  hard 
If  we  can't  think  with  yon,  John, 
It's  just  your  own  back  yard. 

Old  uncle  8.,  says  he,  I  guess 
If  that's  his  same,  says  he, 

The  fencing  stuff  will  cost  enough 
To  bust  up  friend  J.  B. 
As  well  as  you  and  me." 


try  in  a  famous  idyl  written  two  and  a  '  J  R-  LmceU- 

half  centuries  later  than  these  trans-  '      28  Meteren,  Grotius,  Gallucci,  Wage- 
actions  :—  naar,  vbi  sup. 


444  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

meetings  were  quite  as  violent  as  the  first,  the  country  was 
agitated  far  and  wide,  the  prospects  of  pacification  dwindled 
to  a  speck  in  the  remote  horizon.  Arguments  at  the  Board 
of  Conference,  debates  in  the  States-General,  pamphlets  by 
merchants  and  advocates — especially  several  emanating  from 
the  East  India  Company — handled  the  great  topic  from  every 
point  of  view,  and  it  became  more  and  more  evident  that 
Spain  could  not  be  more  resolute  to  prohibit  than  the  republic 
to  claim  the  trade.29 

It  was  an  absolute  necessity,  so  it  was  urged,  for  the  Hol 
landers  to  resist  the  tyrannical  dominion  of  the  Spaniards. 
But  this  would  be  impossible  for  them,  should  they  rely  on 
the  slender  natural  resources  of  their  own  land.  Not  a  sixth 
part  of  the  population  could  be  nourished  from  the  soil.  The 
ocean  was  their  inheritance,  their  birthright,  their  empire. 
It  was  necessary  that  Spain  should  understand  this  first, 
last,  and  always.  She  ought  to  comprehend,  too,  that  her 
recognition  of  Dutch  independence  was  not  a  gift,  but  the 
acknowledgment  of  a  fact.  Without  that  acknowledgment 
peace  was  impossible.  If  peace  were  to  be  established,  it  was 
not  to  be  bought  by  either  party.  Each  gave  and  each 
received,  and  certainly  Spain  was  in  no  condition  to  dictate 
the  terms  of  a  sale.  Peace,  without  freedom  of  commerce, 
would  be  merely  war  without  killing,  and  therefore  without 
result.  The  Netherlander,  who  in  the  middle  of  the  previous 
century  had  risen  against  unjust  taxation  and  arbitrary  laws, 
had  not  grown  so  vile  as  to  accept  from  a  vanquished  foe 
what  they  had  spurned  from  their  prince.  To  be  exiled  from 
the  ocean  was  an  unimaginable  position  for  the  republic. 
Moreover,  to  retire  from  the  Indies  would  be  to  abandon  her 
Oriental  allies,  and  would  be  a  dishonour  as  well  as  a  disaster, 
Her  good  faith,  never  yet  contaminated,  would  be  stained, 
were  she  now  to  desert  the  distant  peoples  and  potentates 
with  whom  she  had  formed  treaties  of  friendship  and  com 
merce,  and  hand  them  over  to  the  vengeance  of  the  Spaniards 
and  Portuguese.30 

»  Authorities  last  citecl  *  Ibid- 


1608.  IMPORTANCE  Otf  THE  INDIAN  TRADE.  445 

And  what  a  trade  it  was  which  the  United  Provinces  were 
thus  called  upon  to  renounce  !  The  foreign  commerce  of  no 
other  nation  could  be  compared  in  magnitude  to  that  of  their 
commonwealth.  Twenty  ships  traded  regularly  to  Guinea, 
eighty  to  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands,  twenty  to  America,  and 
forty  to  the  East  Indies.  Ten  thousand  sailors,  who  gained 
their  living  in  this  traffic,  would  be  thrown  out  of  employment, 
if  the  States  should  now  listen  to  the  Spanish  propositions.31 

It  was  well  known  too  that  the  profits  of  the  East  India 
Company  had  vastly  increased  of  late,  and  were  augmenting 
with  every  year.  The  trade  with  Cambay,  Malabar,  Ceylon, 
Koromandel,  and  Queda,  had  scarcely  begun,  yet  was  already 
most  promising.  Should  the  Hollanders  only  obtain  a  footing 
in  China,  they  felt  confident  of  making  their  way  through  the 
South  Seas  and  across  the  pole  to  India.  Thus  the  search 
for  a  great  commercial  highway  between  Cathay,  Europe,  and 
the  New  World,  which  had  been  baffled  in  the  arctic  regions, 
should  be  crowned  with  success  at  the  antarctic,  while  it  was 
deemed  certain  that  there  were  many  lands,  lighted  by  the 
Southern  Cross,  awaiting  the  footsteps  of  the  fortunate  Eu 
ropean  discoverer.  What  was  a  coasting-trade  with  Spain 
compared  with  this  boundless  career  of  adventure  ?  Now 
that  the  world's  commerce,  since  the  discovery  of  America 
and  the  passage  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  had  become 
oceanic  and  universal,  was  the  nation  which  took  the  lead  on 
blue  water  to  go  back  to  the  creeping  land-locked  navigation 
of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Phoenicians  ?  If  the  East  India 
Company,  in  whose  womb  was  empire,  were  now  destroyed, 
it  would  perish  with  its  offspring  for  ever.  There  would  be  no 
regeneration  at  a  future  day.  The  Company's  ships  too  were 
a  navy  in  themselves,  as  apt  for  war  as  for  trade.  This  the 
Spaniards  and  Portuguese  had  already  learned  to  their  cost. 
The  merchant- traders  to  Spain  would  be  always  in  the  power 
of  Spain,  and  at  any  favourable  moment  might  be  seized  by 
Spain.  The  Spanish  monopoly  in  the  East  and  West  was  the 
great  source  of  Spanish  power,  the  chief  cause  of  the  contempt 

31  Authorities  last  cited. 


446  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

with  which  the  Spanish  monarchy  looked  down  upon  other 
nations.  Let  those  widely  expanded  wings  he  clipped,  and 
Spain  would  fall  from  her  dizzy  height.  To  know  what  the 
States  ought  to  refuse  the  enemy,  it  was  only  necessary  to 
observe  what  he  strenuously  demanded,  to  ponder  the  avowed 
reason  why  he  desired  peace.  The  enemy  was  doing  his 
best  to  damage  the  commonwealth ;  the  States  were  merely 
anxious  to  prevent  injury  to  themselves  and  to  all  the  world  ; 
to  vindicate  for  themselves,  and  for  all  men,  the  common 
use  of  ocean,  land,  and  sky. 

A  nation  which  strove  to  shut  up  the  seas,  and  to  acquire 
a  monopoly  of  the  world's  trade,  was  a  pirate,  an  enemy  of 
mankind.  She  was  as  deserving  of  censure  as  those  who 
created  universal  misery  in  time  of  famine,  by  buying  up  all 
the  corn  in  order  to  enrich  themselves.  According  to  the 
principles  of  the  ancients,  it  was  legitimate  to  make  war  upon 
such  States  as  closed  their  own  ports  to  foreign  intercourse. 
Still  more  just  was  it,  therefore,  to  carry  arms  against  a  nation 
which  closed  the  ports  of  other  people.32 

The  dispute  about  the  India  navigation  could  be  settled 
in  a  moment,  if  Spain  would  but  keep  her  word.  She  had 
acknowledged  the  great  fact  of  independence,  which  could 
not  be  gainsaid.  Let  each  party  to  the  negotiation,  there 
fore,  keep  that  which  it  already  possessed.  Let  neither 
attempt  to  prescribe  to  the  other — both  being  free  and  in 
dependent  States — any  regulations  about  interior  or  foreign 
trade.33 

Thus  reasoned  the  States-General,  the  East  India  directors, 
the  great  majority  of  the  population  of  the  provinces,  upon 
one  great  topic  of  discussion.  A  small  minority  only  at 
tempted  to  defend  the  policy  of  renouncing  the  India  trade 
as  a  branch  of  industry,  in  which  a  certain  class,  and  that 
only  in  the  maritime  provinces,  was  interested.  It  is  cer 
tainly  no  slight  indication  of  the  liberty  of  thought,  of  speech, 
and  of  the  press,  enjoyed  at  that  epoch  in  the  Netherlands— 
and  nowhere  else  to  anything  like  the  same  extent — that 
88  Authorities  last  cited.  *  Ibid. 


1608. 


FIRMNESS  OF  THE  STATES-GENERAL. 


447 


such  opinions,  on  a  subject  deemed  vital  to  the  very  existence 
of  the  republic,  were  freely  published  and  listened  to  with 
toleration,  if  not  with  respect.  Even  the  enlightened  mind 
of  Grotius  was  troubled  with  terrors  as  to  the  effect  on  the 
public  mind  at  this  crisis  of  anonymous  pamphlets  concerning 
political  affairs.34  But  in  this  regard  it  must  be  admitted  that 
Grotius  was  not  in  advance  of  his  age,  although  fully  con 
ceding  that  press-laws  were  inconsistent  with  human  liberty. 

Maurice  and  Barneveld  were  equally  strenuous  in  main 
taining  the  India  trade  ;  the  prince,  because  he  hoped  that 
resistance  to  Spain  upon  this  point  would  cause  the  negotia 
tions  to  be  broken  off,  the  Advocate  in  the  belief  that  firmness 
on  the  part  of  the  States  would  induce  the  royal  commis 
sioners  to  yield. 

The  States-General  were  not  likely  to  be  deficient  in  firm 
ness.  They  felt  that  the  republic  was  exactly  on  the  point 
of  wresting  the  control  of  the  East  from  the  hands  of  the 
Portuguese,  and  they  were  not  inclined  to  throw  away  the 
harvest  of  their  previous  labours  just  as  it  was  ripening.  Ten 
thousand  persons  at  least,  besides  the  sailors  employed,  were 
directly  interested  in  the  traffic,  most  of  whom  possessed 
great  influence  in  the  commonwealth,  and  would  cause  great 
domestic  dissension  should  they  now  be  sacrificed  to  Spain. 
To  keep  the  India  trade  was  the  best  guarantee  for  the  future 
possession  of  the  traffic  to  Spain  ;  for  the  Spanish  Government 
would  never  venture  an  embargo  upon  the  direct  intercourse 
between  the  provinces  and  its  own  dominions,  for  fear  of 
vengeance  in  the  East.  On  the  other  hand,  by  denouncing 
oceanic  commerce,  they  would  soon  find  themselves  without 
a  navy  at  all,  and  their  peaceful  coasting  ships  would  be  at 
the  mercy  of  Spain  or  of  any  power  possessing  that  maritime 
energy  which  would  have  been  killed  in  the  republic.  By 
abandoning  the  ocean,  the  young  commonwealth  would  sink 
into  sloth,  and  become  the  just  object  of  contempt  to*  the 

34  "  Non  minimum  ego  istius  rei-  repressam  tamen,  dum  acris  indago  et 

public®   malum   arbitror  tantam   in  graves  pcenae  repudiantur  ut  libertati 

plebe  libellis  concitanda  proterviam  contraria." — Grotius,  xvii,  77(5, 
vetitam  saepe  et  tune  novo  edicto  nee 


448  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

world.      It  would   cease   to  be   an  independent  power,  and 
deserve  to  fall  a  prey  to  any  enterprising  neighbour.35 

Even  Villeroy  admitted  the  common  belief  to  be,  that  if 
the  India  trade  were  abandoned  "the  States  would  melt 
away  like  snow  in  the  sun."36  He  woiild  not,  on  that  account, 
however,  counsel  to  the  States  obstinacy  upon  the  subject,  if 
Spain  refused  peace  or  truce  except  on  condition  of  their 
exclusion  from  the  traffic.37  Jeannin,  Villeroy,  and  their 
master ;  Isaac  le  Maire  and  Peter  Plancius,  could  have  told 
the  reason  why  if  they  had  chosen. 

Early  in  March  a  triple  proposition  was  made  by  the  States' 
commissioners.  Spain  might  take  her  choice  to  make  peace 
on  the  basis  of  free  trade  ;  to  make  peace,  leaving  everything 
beyond  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  to  the  chance  of  war  ;  or  to  make 
peace  in  regard  to  all  other  than  the  tropical  regions,  con 
cluding  for  those  only  a  truce  during  a  definite  number  of 
years.38 

The  Spaniards  rejected  decidedly  two  of  these  suggestions. 
Of  course  they  would  not  concede  freedom  of  the  sea.  They 
considered  the  mixture  of  peace  and  war  a  monstrous  con 
ception.  They  were,  however,  willing  to  favour  peace  for 
Europe  and  truce  in  the  tropics,  provided  the  States  bound 
themselves,  on  the  expiration  of  the  limited  period,  to 
abandon  the  Indian  and  American  trade  for  ever.  And  to 
this  proposition  the  States  of  course  were  deaf.  And  thus 
they  went  on  spinning  around,  day  after  day,  in  the  same 
vicious  circle,  without  more  hope  of  progress  than  squirrels 
in  a  cage. 

Barneveld,  always  overbearing  with  friend  or  foe,  and  often 
violent,  was  not  disposed  to  make  preposterous  concessions, 
notwithstanding  his  eager  desire  for  peace.  "  The  might  of 
the  States-General,"  said  he,  "  is  so  great,  thank  God,  that 
they  need  not  yield  so  much  to  the  King  of  Spain  as  seems 
to  be  expected,  nor  cover  themselves  with  dishonour." 

"And   do  you   think   yourselves    more  mighty  than   the 

»  Wagenaar,  ix  332,  334.  »  Jeannin,  i.  625.  37  Ibid. 

38  Wagenaar,  ix.  334.    Gallucci,  358,  359.    Bcntivoglio,  565. 


1606  STORMY  DISCUSSIONS.  449 

Kings  of  England  and  France  ?"  cried  Kichardot  in  a  great 
rage,  "  for  they  never  dared  to  make  any  attempt  upon  the 
Indies,  East  or  West."39 

"  We  are  willing  to  leave  the  king  in  his  own  quarters/' 
was  the  reply,  "  and  we  expect  him  to  leave  us  in  ours." 

"  You  had  better  take  a  sheet  of  paper  at  once,"  said 
Richardot,  "  write  down  exactly  what  you  wish,  and  order  us 
to  agree  to  it  all  without  discussion." 

"  We  demand  nothing  that  is  unreasonable  in  these  nego 
tiations,"  was  the  firm  rejoinder,  "and  expect  that  nothing 
anjust  will  be  required  of  us." 40 

It  was  now  suggested  by  the  States'  commissioners  that  a 
peace,  with  free  navigation,  might  be  concluded  for  Europe, 
and  a  truce  for  other  parts  of  the  world,  without  any  stipula 
tions  as  to  what  should  take  place  on  its  termination. 

This  was  hardly  anything  new,  but  it  served  as  a  theme 
for  more  intellectual  buffeting.  Hard  words  were  freely  ex 
changed  during  several  hours,  and  all  parties  lost  their 
temper.  At  last  the  Spaniards  left  the  conference-chamber 
in  a  rage.  Just  as  they  were  going,  Barneveld  asked  them 
whether  he  should  make  a  protocol  of  the  session  for  the 
States-General,  and  whether  it  was  desirable  in  future  to 
resume  the  discussion. 

"Let  every  one  do  exactly  as  he  likes,"  replied  Spinola, 
wrathfully,  as  he  moved  to  the  door. 

Friar  John,  always  plausible,  whispered  a  few  soothing 
words  in  the  ear  of  the  marquis,  adding  aloud,  so  that  the 
commissioners  might  hear,  "Night  brings  counsel."  These 
words  he  spoke  in  Latin. 

"He  who  wishes  to  get  everything  is  apt  to  lose  every 
thing,"  cried  out  Maldere,  the  Zeeland  deputy,  in  Spanish,  to 
the  departing  commissioners. 

"  Take  that  to  yourselves,"  rejoined  Richardot,  very  fiercely ; 
"you  may  be  sure  that  it  will  be  your  case."41 

So  ended  that  interview. 

89  Minutes  of  Olden-Barneveld,  191,  and  note  from  Memoire  yan  Staet. 
40  Ibid.  4i  Jeannin,  i.  595. 

VOL.  IV. — 2  G 


450  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAK  ^ 

Directly  afterwards  there  was  a  conference  between  the 
States'  commissioners  and  the  French  envoys. 

Jeannin  employed  all  his  powers  of  argument  and  per 
suasion  to  influence  the  Netherlander  against  a  rupture  of 
the  negotiations  because  of  the  India  trade.  It  would  be 
better  to  abandon  that  commerce,  so  he  urged,  than  to  give 
up  the  hope  of  peace.  The  commissioners  failed  to  see  the 
logic  or  to  melt  at  the  eloquence  of  his  discourse.  They 
would  have  been  still  less  inclined,  if  that  were  possible,  to 
move  from  their  position,  had  they  known  of  the  secret  con 
ferences  which  Jeannin  had  just  been  holding  with  Isaac 
le  Maire  of  Amsterdam,  and  other  merchants  practically 
familiar  with  the  India  trade.  Carrying  out  the  French 
king's  plan  to  rob  the  republic  of  that  lucrative  traffic,  and 
to  transplant  it,  by  means  of  experienced  Hollanders,  into 
France,  the  president,  while  openly  siding  with  the  States, 
as  their  most  disinterested  friend,  was  secretly  doing  all  in  his 
power  to  destroy  the  very  foundation  of  their  commonwealth.42 

Isaac  le  Maire  came  over  from  Amsterdam  in  a  mysterious 
manner,  almost  in  disguise.  Had  his  nocturnal  dealings  with 
the  French  minister  been  known,  he  would  have  been  rudely 
dealt  with  by  the  East  India  Company,  He  was  a  native  of 
Tournay,  not  a  sincere  republican  therefore,  "was  very  strongly 
affected  to  France,  and  declared  that  all  his  former  fellow- 
townsmen,  and  many  more,  had  the  fleur-de-lys  stamped  on 
their  hearts.  If  peace  should  be  made  without  stipulation 
in  favour  of  the  East  India  Company,  he,  with  his  three 
brothers,  would  do  what  they  could  to  transfer  that  corporation 
to  France.  All  the  details  of  such  a  prospective  arrangement 
were  thoroughly  discussed,  and  it  was  intimated  that  the  king 
would  be  expected  to  take  shares  in  the  enterprise.  Jeannin 
had  also  repeated  conferences  on  the  same  subject  with  the 
great  cosmographer  Plancius.  It  may  be  well  understood, 
therefore,  that  the  minister  of  Henry  IV.  was  not  very  ardent 
to  encourage  the  States  in  their  resolve  to  oppose  peace  or 
truce,  except  with  concession  of  the  India  trade.43 
««  Jeannin,  i.  603-606.  **  Ibid. 


1608.  PROLONGED  DEBATE.  451 

The  States  preferred  that  the  negotiations  should  come  to 
nought  on  the  religious  ground  rather  than  on  account  of  the 
India  trade.  The  provinces  were  nearly  unanimous  as  to 
the  prohibition  of  the  Catholic  worship,  not  from  bigotry  for 
their  own  or  hatred  of  other  creeds,  but  from  larger  views  of 
what  was  then  called  tolerance,  and  from  practical  regard 
for  the  necessities  of  the  State.  To  permit  the  old  worship, 
not  from  a  sense  of  justice  but  as  an  article  of  bargain  with 
a  foreign  power,  was  not  only  to  abase  the  government  of  the 
States  but  to  convert  every  sincere  Catholic  throughout 
the  republic  into  a  grateful  adherent  of  Philip  and  the  arch 
dukes.  It  was  deliberately  to  place  a  lever,  to  be  used  in 
all  future  time,  for  the  overthrow  of  their  political  structure. 

In  this  the  whole  population  was  interested,  while  the  India 
navigation,  although  vital  to  the  well-being  of  the  nation, 
was  not  yet  universally  recognised  as  so  supremely  import 
ant,  and  was  declared  by  a  narrow-minded  minority  to  con 
cern  the  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  alone. 

All  were  silently  agreed,  therefore,  to  defer  the  religious 
question  to  the  last. 

Especially,  commercial  greed  induced  the  States  to  keep  a 
firm  clutch  on  the  great  river  on  which  the  once  splendid  city 
of  Antwerp  stood.  Ever  since  that  commercial  metropolis 
had  succumbed  to  Farnese,  the  republic  had  maintained 
the  lower  forts,  by  means  of  which,  and  of  Flushing  at  the 
river's  mouth,  Antwerp  was  kept  in  a  state  of  suspended 
animation.  To  open  the  navigation  of  the  Scheld,  to  permit 
free  approach  to  Antwerp,  would,  according  to  the  narrow 
notions  of  the  Amsterdam  merchants,  be  destructive  to  their 
own  flourishing  trade. 

In  vain  did  Richardot,  in  one  well-fought  conference,  do 
his  best  to  obtain  concessions  on  this  important  point.  The 
States'  commissioners  were  as  deaf  as  the  Spaniards  had  been 
on  the  India  question.  Richardot,  no  longer  loud  and  furious, 
began  to  cry.  With  tears  running  down  his  cheeks,44  he  be 
sought  the  Netherlander  not  to  insist  so  strenuously  upon  all 
44  Grotius,  xvii.  769. 


452  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP   L 

their  points,  and  to  remember  that  concessions  were  mutually 
necessary,  if  an  amicable  arrangement  were  to  be  framed. 
The  chances  for  peace  were  promising.  "  Let  not  a  blight  be 
thrown  over  all  our  hopes/'  he  exclaimed,  "  by  too  great  per 
tinacity  on  either  side.  Above  all,  let  not  the  States  dictate 
terms  as  to  a  captive  or  conquered  king,  but  propose  such  con 
ditions  as  a  benevolent  but  powerful  sovereign  could  accept." 

These  adjurations  might  be  considered  admirable,  if  it  had 
been  possible  for  the  royal  commissioners  to  point  to  a  single 
mustard-seed  of  concession  ever  vouchsafed  by  them  to  the 
republic. 

Meantime  the  month  of  March  had  passed.  Nothing  had 
been  accomplished,  but  it  was  agreed  to  prolong  the  armistice 
through  April  and  May. 

The  negotiations  having  feebly  dribbled  off  into  almost 
absolute  extinction,  Friar  John  was  once  more  set  in  motion, 
and  despatched  to  Madrid.  He  was  sent  to  get  fresh  instruc 
tions  from  Philip,  and  he  promised,  on  departing,  to  return 
in  forty  days.  He  hoped  as  his  reward,  he  said,  to  be  made 
bishop  of  Utrecht.  "  That  will  be  a  little  above  your  calibre/' 
replied  Barneveld.45  Forty  days  "was  easily  said,  and  the 
States  consented  to  the  additional  delay. 

During  his  absence  there  was  much  tedious  discussion  of 
minor  matters,  such  as  staple  rights  of  wine  and  cloths,  regula 
tions  of  boundaries,  removal  of  restrictions  on  trade  and  navi 
gation,  passports,  sequestered  estates,  and  the  like  ;  all  of 
which  were  subordinate  to  the  all-important  subjects  of  India 
and  Keligion,  those  two  most  tender  topics  growing  so  much 
more  tender  the  more  they  were  handled  as  to  cause  at  last  a 
shiver  whenever  they  were  approached.  Nevertheless  both 
were  to  be  dealt  with,  or  the  negotiations  would  fall  to  the 
ground.46 

The  States  felt  convinced  that  they  would  fall  to  the 
ground,  that  they  had  fallen  to  the  ground,  and  they  at 
least  would  not  stoop  to  pick  them  up  again. 

«  Minutes  of  Olden-Barneveld,  205. 1  *eqq.  Meteren,  B.  xxix. 
*  arotius,  xvii.    Wagenaar,ix.  343, 1  36,  37, 154-157. 


1608.  THE  ANGLO-DUTCH  TREATY  453 

The  forty  days  passed  away,  but  the  friar  never  returned. 
April  and  May  came  and  went,  and  again  the  armistice 
expired  by  its  own  limitation.  The  war  party  was  disgusted 
with  the  solemn  trifling,  Maurice  was  exasperated  beyond 
endurance,  Barneveld  and  the  peace  men  began  to  find 
immense  difficulty  in  confronting  the  gathering  storm. 

The  prince,  with  difficulty,  consented  to  a  prolongation  of 
the  armistice  for  two  months  longer ;  resolute  to  resume 
hostilities  should  no  accord  be  made  before  the  end  of  July. 
The  Advocate,  with  much  earnestness,  and  with  more  vio 
lence  than  was  habitual  with  him,  insisted  on  protracting  the 
temporary  truce  until  the  end  of  the  year.  The  debates  in 
the  States-General  and  the  state-council  were  vehement ; 
passion  rose  to  fever-heat,  but  the  stadholder,  although  often 
half  beside  himself  with  rage,  ended  by  submitting  once  more 
to  the  will  of  Barneveld. 

This  was  the  easier,  as  the  Advocate  at  last  proposed  an 
agreement  which  seemed  to  Maurice  and  Lewis  William 
even  better  than  their  own  original  suggestion.  It  was  ar 
ranged  that  the  armistice  should  be  prolonged  until  the  end 
of  the  year,  but  it  was  at  the  same  time  stipulated  that  unless 
the  negotiations  had  reached  a  definite  result  before  the  1st 
of  August,  they  should  be  forthwith  broken  off. 

Thus  a  period  of  enforced  calm — a  kind  of  vacation,  as  if 
these  great  soldiers  and  grey-beards  had  been  a  troop  of  idle 
school-boys — was  now  established,  without  the  slightest  reason. 

President  Jeannin  took  occasion  to  make  a  journey  to 
Paris,  leaving  the  Hague  on  the  20th  June. 

During  his  absence  a  treaty  of  the  States  with  England, 
similar  in  its  terms  to  the  one  recently  concluded  between 
the  republic  and   France,   but   only   providing  for  half  the 
number  of  auxiliary  troops  arranged  for  in  the  French  con 
vention,  was  signed  at  the  Hague.     The  English     26  June, 
plenipotentiaries,   Win  wood  and  Spencer,  wished     1608 
to  delay  the  exchange  of  signatures  under  the  pending  nego 
tiations  with  Spain  and   the   archdukes   were  brought  to  a 
close,  as  King  James  was  most  desirous  at  that  epoch  to 


454  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  I* 

keep  on  good  terms  with  his  Catholic  Majesty.  The  States 
were  so  urgent,  however,  to  bring  at  least  this  matter  to  a 
termination,  and  the  English  so  anxious  lest  France  should 
gain  still  greater  influence  than  she  now  enjoyed  in  the  pro 
vinces,  that  they  at  last  gave  way.  It  was  further  stipulated 
in  the  convention  that  the  debt  of  the  States  to  England, 
then  amounting  to  S18,408Z.  sterling,  should  be  settled  by 
annual  payments  of  60,0002. ;  to  begin  with  the  expected 
peace.47 

Besides  this  debt  to  the  English  Government,  the  States- 
General  owed  nine  millions  of  florins  (900,OOOZ.),  and  the 
separate  provinces  altogether  eighteen  millions  (1,800,000^.). 
In  short,  there  would  be  a  deficiency  of  at  least  three  hundred 
thousand  florins48  a  month  if  the  war  went  on,  although 
every  imaginable  device  had  already  been  employed  foi1 
increasing  the  revenue  from  taxation.  It  must  be  admitted 
therefore,  that  the  Barneveld  party  were  not  to  be  severely 
censured  for  their  desire  to  bring  about  an  honourable  peace 

That  Jeannin  was  well  aware  of  the  disposition  prevailing 
throughout  a  great  part  of  the  commonwealth  is  certain.  It 
is  equally  certain  that  he  represented  to  his  sovereign,  while 
at  Paris,  that  the  demand  upon  his  exchequer  by  the  States, 
in  case  of  the  resumption  of  hostilities,  would  be  more  con 
siderable  than  ever.  Immense  was  the  pressure  put  upon 
Henry  by  the  Spanish  court,  during  the  summer,  to  induce 
him  to  abandon  his  allies.  Yery  complicated  were  the  nets 
thrown  out  to  entangle  the  wary  old  politician  in  "  the  grey 
jacket  and  with  the  heart  of  gold,"  as  he  was  fond  of  desig 
nating  himself,  into  an  alliance  with  Philip  and  the  arch 
dukes. 

Don  Pedro  de  Toledo,  at  the  head  of  a  magnificent  em 
bassy,  arrived  in  Paris  with  projects  of  arranging  single, 
double,  or  triple  marriages  between  the  respective  nurseries 
of  France  and  Spain.  The  Infanta  might  marry  with  a 
French  prince,  and  have  all  the  Netherlands  for  her  dower, 
so  soon  as  the  childless  archdukes  should  have  departed  this 
41  \^agenaar,  ix.  344.  48  Ibid,  377.  Compare  Grotius,  xvii.  777. 


1608.  MATRIMONIAL  PROJECTS.  455 

life.     Or  an   Infante  might   espouse   a   daughter  of  France 
with  the  same  heritage  assigned  to  the  young  couple. 

Such  proposals,  duly  set  forth  in  sonorous  Spanish  by  the 
Constable  of  Castile,  failed  to  produce  a  very  soothing  effect 
on  Henry's  delicate  ear.  He  had  seen  and  heard  enough  of 
gaining  thrones  by  Spanish  marriages.  Had  not  the  very 
crown  on  his  own  head,  which  he  had  won  with  foot  in  stirrup 
and  lance  in  rest,  been  hawked  about  for  years,  appended  to 
the  wedding  ring  of  the  Spanish  Infanta  ?  It  might  become 
convenient  to  him,  at  some  later  day,  to  form  a  family 
alliance  with  the  house  of  Austria,  although  he  would  not 
excite  suspicion  in  the  United  Provinces  by  openly  accepting 
it  then.  But  to  wait  for  the  shoes  of  Albert  and  Isabella, 
and  until  the  Dutch  republic  had  been  absorbed  into  the 
obedient  Netherlands  by  his  assistance,  was  not  a  very 
flattering  prospect  for  a  son  or  daughter  of  France.  The 
ex-Huguenot  and  indomitable  campaigner  in  the  field  or  in 
politics  was  for  more  drastic  measures.  Should  the  right 
moment  come,  he  knew  well  enough  how  to  strike,  and  could 
appropriate  the  provinces,  obedient  or  disobedient,  without 
assistance  from  the  Spanish  babies.49 

Don  Pedro  took  little  by  his  propositions.  The  king 
stoutly  declared  that  the  Netherlands  were  very  near  to  his 
heart,  and  that  he  would  never  abandon  them  on  any  con 
sideration.  So  near,  indeed,  that  he  meant  to  bring  them 
still  nearer,  but  this  was  not  then  suspected  by  the  Spanish 
court ;  Henry,  the  while,  repelling  as  a  personal  insult  to 
himself  the  request  that  he  should  secretly  labour  to  reduce 
the  United  Provinces  under  subjection  to  the  archdukes. 
It  had  even  been  proposed  that  he  should  sign  a  secret  con 
vention  to  that  effect,  and  there  were  those  about  the  court 
who  were  not  ill-disposed  for  such  a  combination.  The  king 
was,  however,  far  too  adroit  to  be  caught  in  any  such  trap. 
The  marriage  proposals  in  themselves  he  did  not  dislike,  but 
Jeannin  and  he  were  both  of  a  mind  that  they  should  be 
kept  entirely  secret. 

4*  Wagenaar,  ix.  350-357.     Grotius,  xvii.  774.    Jeannin. 


456  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L 

Don  Pedro,  on  the  contrary,  for  obvious  reasons,  was  for 
making  the  transactions  ostentatiously  public,  and,  as  a  gua 
rantee  of  his  master's  good  faith  in  regard  to  the  heritage 
of  the  Netherlands,  he  proposed  that  every  portion  of  the 
republic,  thenceforth  to  be  conquered  by  the  allies,  should 
be  confided  to  hands  in  which  Henry  and  the  archdukes 
would  have  equal  confidence. 

But  these  artifices  were  too  trivial  to  produce  much  effect. 
Henry  remained  true,  in  his  way,  to  the  States-General,  and 
Don  Pedro  was  much  laughed  at  in  Paris,  although  the 
public  scarcely  knew  wherefore. 

These  intrigues  had  not  been  conducted  so  mysteriously 
but  that  Barneveld  was  aware  of  what  was  going  on.  Both 
before  Jeannin's  departure  from  the  Hague  in  June,  and  on 
his  return  in  the  middle  of  August,  he  catechised  him  very 
closely  on  the  subject.  The  old  Leaguer  was  too  deep,  how 
ever,  to  be  thoroughly  pumped,  even  by  so  practised  a  hand 
as  the  Advocate's,  so  that  more  was  suspected  than  at  the 
time  was  accurately  known. 

As,  at  the  memorable  epoch  of  the  accession  of  the  King 
of  Scots  to  the  throne  of  Elizabeth,  Maximilian  de  Bethune 
had  flattered  the  new  monarch  with  the  prospect  of  a 
double  marriage,  so  now  Don  Fernando  Girono  had  been 
sent  on  solemn  mission  to  England,  in  order  to  offer  the 
same  infants  to  James  which  Don  Pedro  was  placing  at  the 
disposition  of  Henry. 

The  British  sovereign,  as  secretly  fascinated  by  the  idea  of 
a  Spanish  family  alliance  as  he  had  ever  been  by  the  pro 
posals  of  the  Marquis  de  Kosny  for  the  French  marriages, 
listened  with  eagerness.  Money  was  scattered  as  profusely 
among  the  English  courtiers  by  Don  Fernando  as  had  been 
done  by  De  Bethune  four  years  before.50  The  bribes 
were  accepted,  and  often  by  the  very  personages  who  knew 
the  colour  of  Bourbon  money,  but  the  ducats  were  scarcely 
earned.  Girono,  thus  urging  on  the  English  Government 
the  necessity  of  deserting  the  republic  and  cementing  a 

60  Wagenaar,  ix.  355,  356.    Jeannin. 


1608.  PROGRESS  OF  NEYEN  AT  MADRID.  457 

cordial,  personal,  and  political  understanding  between  James 
and  Philip,  effected  but  little.  It  soon  became  thoroughly 
understood  in  England  that  the  same  bargaining  was  going 
on  simultaneously  in  France.  As  it  was  evident  that  the 
Spanish  children  could  not  be  disposed  of  in  both  markets 
at  the  same  time,  it  was  plain  to  the  dullest  comprehension 
that  either  the  brokerage  of  Toledo  or  of  Girono  was  a  sham, 
and  that  a  policy  erected  upon  such  flimsy  foundations  would 
soon  be  washed  away. 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  James,  while  affecting  friend 
ship  for  the  States,  and  signing  with  them  the  league  of 
mutual  assistance,  was  secretly  longing  to  nibble  the  bait 
dangled  before  him  by  Girono,  and  was  especially  determined 
to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  plans  of  Toledo. 

Meantime,  brother  John  Neyen  was  dealing  with  Philip 
and  the  Duke  of  Lerma,  in  Spain. 

The  friar  strenuously  urged  upon  the  favourite  and  the 
rest  of  the  royal  advisers  the  necessity  of  prompt  action  with 
the  States.  This  needed  not  interfere  with  an  unlimited 
amount  of  deception.  It  was  necessary  to  bring  the  negotia 
tions  to  a  definite  agreement.  It  would  be  by  no  means 
requisite,  however,  to  hold  to  that  agreement  whenever  a 
convenient  opportunity  for  breaking  it  should  present  itself. 
The  first  object  of  Spanish  policy,  argued  honest  John, 
should  be  to  get  the  weapons  out  of  the  rebels'  hands.  The 
Netherlanders  ought  to  be  encouraged  to  return  to  their 
usual  pursuits  of  commerce  and  manufactures,  whence  they 
derived  their  support,  and  to  disband  their  military  and  naval 
forces.  Their  sailors  and  traders  should  be  treated  kindly  in 
Spain,  instead  of  being  indulged  as  heretofore  with  no  hos 
pitality  save  that  of  the  Holy  Inquisition  and  its  dungeons. 
Let  their  minds  be  disarmed  of  all  suspicion.  Now  the  whole 
population  of  the  provinces  had  been  convinced  that  Spain, 
in  affecting  to  treat,-  was  secretly  devising  means  to  re-impose 
her  ancient  yoke  upon  their  necks.51 

Time   went   by  in    Aranjuez    and    Madrid.      The    forty 

61  Gallucci  361,  363. 


458  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

days,  promised  as  the  period  of  Neyen's  absence,  were 
soon  gone ;  but  what  were  forty  days,  or  forty  times  forty, 
at  the  Spanish  court  ?  The  friar,  who,  whatever  his  faults, 
was  anything  but  an  idler,  chafed  at  a  procrastination  which 
seemed  the  more  stupendous  to  him,  coming  fresh  as  he  did 
from  a  busy  people  who  knew  the  value  of  time.  In  the 
anguish  of  his  soul  he  went  to  Kodrigo  Calderon,  of  the 
privy  council,  and  implored  his  influence  with  Govern 
ment  to  procure  leave  for  him  to  depart.  Calderon,  in 
urbane  but  decisive  terms,  assured  him  that  this  would  be 
impossible  before  the  king  should  return  to  Madrid.  The 
monk  then  went  to  Idiaquez,  who  was  in  favour  of  his  pro 
ceeding  at  once  to  the  Netherlands,  but  who  on  being  in 
formed  that  Calderon  was  of  a  different  opinion,  gave  up  the 
point.  More  distressed  than  ever,  Neyen  impored  Prada's 
assistance,  but  Prada  plunged  him  into  still  deeper  despair. 
His  Majesty,  said  that  counsellor,  with  matchless  effrontery, 
was  studying  the  propositions  of  the  States-General,  and  all 
the  papers  in  the  negotiation,  line  by  line,  comma  by  comma. 
There  were  many  animadversions  to  make,  many  counter 
suggestions  to  offer.  The  king  was  pondering  the  whole 
subject  most  diligently.  When  those  lucubrations  were 
finished,  the  royal  decision,  aided  by  the  wisdom  of  the  privy 
council,  would  be  duly  communicated  to  the  archdukes.52 

To  wait  for  an  answer  to  the  propositions  of  the  suspicious 
States-General  until  Philip  III.  had  mastered  the  subject  in 
detail,  was  a  prospect  too  dreary  even  for  the  equable  soul 
of  Brother  John.  Dismayed  at  the  position  in  which  he 
found  himself,  he  did  his  best  to  ferret  out  the  reasons  for 
the  preposterous  delay ;  not  being  willing  to  be  paid  off  in 
allusions  to  the  royal  investigations.  He  was  still  further 
appalled  at  last  by  discovering  that  the  delay  was  absolutely 
for  the  delay's  sake.  It  was  considered  inconsistent  with  the 
dignity  of  the  Government  not  to  delay.  The  court  and 
cabinet  had  quite  made  up  their  minds  as  to  the  answer  to 
be  made  to  the  last  propositions  of  the  rebels,  but  to  make 

w  Gallucci,  361,  363. 


1608.  SPANISH  DILATORINESS.  459 

it  known  at  once  was  entirely  out  of  the  question.  In  the 
previous  year  his  Majesty's  administration,  so  it  was  now 
confessed  with  shame,  had  acted  with  almost  indecent  haste. 
That  everything  had  been  conceded  to  the  confederated  pro 
vinces  was  the  common  talk  of  Europe.  Let  the  time- 
honoured,  inveterate  custom  of  Spain  in  grave  affairs  to 
proceed  slowly,  and  therefore  surely,  be  in  future  observed. 
A  proper  self-respect  required  the  king  to  keep  the  universe 
in  suspense  for  a  still  longer  period  upon  the  royal  will  and 
the  decision  of  the  royal  council.53 

Were  the  affairs  of  the  mighty  Spanish  empire  so  subordi 
nate  to  the  convenience  of  that  portion  of  it  called  the 
Netherlands  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost  before  settling 
their  affairs  P54 

Such  dismal  frivolity,  such  palsied  pride,  seems  scarcely 
credible  ;  but  more  than  all  this  has  been  carefully  recorded 
in  the  letters  of  the  friar. 

If  it  were  precipitation  to  spend  the  whole  year  1607  in 
forming  a  single  phrase  ;  to  wit,  that  the  archdukes  and  the 
king  would  treat  with  the  United  Provinces  as  with  coun 
tries  to  which  they  made  no  pretensions  ;  and  to  spend  the 
best  part  of  another  year  in  futile  efforts  to  recal  that  phrase  ; 
if  all  this  had  been  recklessness  and  haste,  then,  surely,  the 
most  sluggish  canal  in  Holland  was  a  raging  cataract,  and 
the  march  of  a  glacier  electric  speed. 

Midsummer  had  arrived.  The  period  in  which  peace  was 
to  be  made  or  abandoned  altogether  had  passed.  Jeannin  had 
returned  from  his  visit  to  Paris  ;  the  Danish  envoys,  sent  to 
watch  the  negotiations,  had  left  the  Hague,  utterly  disgusted 
with  a  puppet-show,  all  the  strings  of  which,  they  protested, 
were  pulled  from  the  Louvre.  Brother  John,  exasperated  by 
the  superhuman  delays,  fell  sick  of  a  fever  at  Burgos,  and 
was  sent,  on  his  recovery,  to  the  court  at  Valladolid  to  be 

58  "  An  existimationem  quoque  rei  I  lucci,  ubi  sup. 

facere  ut  diutius  in  expectation^  regise        54   Neyen's    letters  to    Spinola,  23 
voluntatis    regiique    senatus-consulti  ,  May,  1608,  in  Gallucci,  362  363. 
suspensus  esset  orbis  terrarum." — Gal- 1 


460  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

made  ill  again  by  the  same  cause,  and  still  there  came  no 
sound  from  the  Government  of  Spain.55 

At  last  the  silence  was  broken.  Something  that  was  called 
the  voice  of  the  king  reached  the  ears  of  the  archduke. 
Long  had  he  wrestled  in  prayer  on  this  great  subject,  said 
Philip  III.,  fervently  had  he  besought  the  Omnipotent  for 
light.  He  had  now  persuaded  himself  that  he  should  not 
fulfil  his  duty  to  God,  nor  satisfy  his  own  strong  desire  for 
maintaining  the  Catholic  faith,  nor  preserve  his  self-respect, 
if  he  now  conceded  his  supreme  right  to  the  Confederated 
Provinces  at  any  other  price  than  the  uncontrolled  exercise, 
within  their  borders,  of  the  Catholic  religion.  He  wished, 
therefore,  as  obedient  son  of  the  Church  and  Defender  of  the 
Faith,  to  fulfil  this  primary  duty,  untrammelled  by  any 
human  consideration,  by  any  profit  that  might  induce  him  to 
wards  a  contrary  course.  That  which  he  had  on  other  occasions 
more  than  once  signified  he  now  confirmed.  His  mind  was 
fixed  ;  this  was  his  last  and  immutable  determination,  that  if 
the  confederates  should  permit  the  free  and  public  exercise  of 
the  Catholic,  Koman,  Apostolic  religion  to  all  such  as  wished 
to  live  and  die  in  it,  for  this  cause  so  grateful  to  God,  and  for 
no  other  reason,  he  also  would  permit  to  them  that  supreme 
right  over  the  provinces,  and  that  authority  which  now 
belonged  to  himself.  Natives  and  residents  of  those  coun 
tries  should  enjoy  liberty,  just  so  long  as  the  exercise  of  the 
Catholic  religion  flourished  there,  and  not  one  day  nor  hour 
longer. 

Philip  then  proceeded  flatly  to  refuse  the  India  navigation, 
giving  reasons  very  satisfactory  to  himself  why  the  provinces 
ought  cheerfully  to  abstain  from  that  traffic.  If  the  con 
federates,  in  consequence  of  the  conditions  thus  definitely 
announced,  moved  by  their  innate  pride  and  obstinacy,,  and 
relying  on  the  assistance  of  their  allies,  should  break  off  the 
negotiations,  then  it  would  be  desirable  to  adopt  the  plan 
proposed  by  Jeannin  to  Kichardot,  and  conclude  a  truce  for 
five  or  six  years.  The  king  expressed  his  own  decided  pre- 

66  Neyen  to  Spinola,  20  Aug.  1608,  in  Gallucci,  369. 


1608.  PHILIP'S  DECISION  461 

ference  for  a  truce  rather  than  a  peace,  and  his  conviction 
that  Jeannin  had  made  the  suggestion  by  command  of  his 
sovereign.56 

The  negotiators  stood  exactly  where  they  did  when  Friar 
John,  disguised  as  a  merchant,  first  made  his  bow  to  the 
Prince  and  Barneveld  in  the  palace  at  the  Hague. 

The  archduke,  on  receiving  at  last  this  peremptory  letter 
from  the  king,  had  nothing  for  it  but  to  issue  instructions 
accordingly  to  the  plenipotentiaries  at  the  Hague.    20  Aug 
A   decisive   conference  between   those  diplomatists    1608- 
and  the  States'  commissioners  took  place  immediately  after 
wards. 

It  was  on  the  20th  August. 

Although  it  had  been  agreed  on  the  1st  May  to  break  off 
negotiations  on  the  ensuing  1st  of  August,  should  no  result  be 
reached,  yet  three  weeks  beyond  that  period  had  been  suffered 
to  elapse,  under  a  tacit  agreement  to  wait  a  little  longer  for  the 
return  of  the  friar.  President  Jeannin,  too,  had  gone  to  Paris 
on  the  20th  June,  to  receive  new  and  important  instructions, 
verbal  and  written,  from  his  sovereign,  and  during  his  ab 
sence  it  had  not  been  thought  expedient  to  transact  much 
business.  Jeannin  returned  to  the  Hague  on  the  15th  of 
August,  and,  as  definite  instructions  from  king  and  archduke 
had  now  arrived,  there  seemed  no  possibility  of  avoiding  an 
explanation. 

The  Spanish  envoys  accordingly,  with  much  gravity,  and 
as  if  they  had  been  propounding  some  cheerful  novelty,  an 
nounced  to  the  assembled  commissioners  that  all  reports 
hitherto  flying  about  as  to  the  Spanish  king's  intentions  were 
false. 

His  Majesty  had  no  intention  of  refusing  to  give  up  the 
sovereignty  of  the  provinces.  On  the  contrary,  they  were 
instructed  to  concede  that  sovereignty  freely  and  frankly  to 
my  lords  the  States- General — a  pearl  and  a  precious  jewel, 
the  like  of  which  no  prince  had  ever  given  away  before.  Yet 
the  king  desired  neither  gold  nor  silver,  neither  cities  nor 
w  King  to  the  Archdukes,  in  Gallucci,  365,  367, 


462  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  L. 

anything  else  of  value  in  exchange.  He  asked  only  for  that 
which  was  indispensable  to  the  tranquillity  of  his  conscience 
before  God,  to  wit,  the  re-establishment  in  those  countries  of 
the  Catholic  Apostolic  Roman  religion.57  This  there  could 
surely  be  no  reasons  for  refusing.  They  owed  it  as  a  return 
for  the  generosity  of  the  king,  they  owed  it  to  their  own 
relatives,  they  owed  it  to  the  memory  of  their  ancestors,  not 
to  show  greater  animosity  to  the  ancient  religion  than  to  the 
new  and  pernicious  sect  of  Anabaptists,  born  into  the  world 
for  the  express  purpose  of  destroying  empires  ;  they  owed  it 
to  their  many  fellow-citizens,  who  would  otherwise  be  driven 
into  exile,  because  deprived  of  that  which  is  dearest  to 
humanity.58 

In  regard  to  the  East  India  navigation,  inasmuch  as  the 
provinces  had  no  right  whatever  to  it,  and  as  no  other  prince 
but  the  sovereign  of  Spain  had  any  pretensions  to  it,  his 
Majesty  expected  that  the  States  would  at  once  desist 
from  it.59 

This  was  the  magnificent  result  of  twenty  months  of  diplo 
macy.  As  the  king's  father  had  long  ago  flung  away  the 
pearl  and  precious  jewel  which  the  son  now  made  a  merit  of 
selling  to  its  proprietors  at  the  price  of  their  life's  blood — the 
world's  commerce — it  is  difficult  to  imagine  that  Richardot, 
while  communicating  this  preposterous  ultimatum,  could  have 
kept  his  countenance.  But  there  were  case-hardened  politi 
cians  on  both  sides.  The  proposition  was  made  and  received 
with  becoming  seriousness,  and  it  was  decided  by  the  States' 
commissioners  to  make  no  answer  at  all  on  that  occasion.  They 
simply  promised  to  render  their  report  to  the  States- General, 
who  doubtless  would  make  short  work  with  the  matter. 

They  made  their  report  and  it  occasioned  a  tumult.  Every 
member  present  joined  in  a  general  chorus  of  wrathful 
denunciation.  The  Spanish  commissioners  were  infamous 
swindlers,  it  was  loudly  asserted.  There  should  be  no  more 
dealings  with  them  at  all.  Spain  was  a  power  only  to  be 

67  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  156-160,  from  Sec.  Res.  Stat.-Gen.  Grotius,  xvii.  775. 
Wagenaar.  58  Grotius,  ubi  sup.  59  Van  der  Kemp,  ubi  sup. 


1608.  GENERAL  RUPTURE.  453 

treated  with  on  the  battle-field.  In  the  tempest  of  general 
rage  no  one  would  listen  to  argument,  no  one  asked  which 
would  be  the  weaker,  which  the  stronger  party,  what  re 
sources  for  the  renewed  warfare  could  be  found,  or  who 
would  be  the  allies  of  the  republic.  Hatred,  warlike  fury  and 
scorn  at  the  duplicity  with  which  they  had  been  treated, 
washed  every  more  politic  sentiment  away,  and  metamor 
phosed  that  body  of  burghers  as  in  an  instant.  The  negotia= 
tions  should  be  broken  off,  not  on  one  point,  but  on  all  points, 
and  nothing  was  left  but  to  prepare  instantly  for  war.60 

Three  days  later,  after  the  French  and  English  ambassa 
dors,  as  well  as  Prince  Maurice  and  Count  Lewis  33  August, 
William,  had  been  duly  consulted,  comparative  calm  1608. 
was  restored,  and  a  decisive  answer  was  unanimously  voted 
by  the  States-General.  The  proposition  of  the  commis 
sioners  was  simply  declared  to  be  in  direct  violation  of  the 
sovereignty  and  freedom  of  the  country,  and  it  was  announced 
that,  if  it  should  be  persisted  in,  the  whole  negotiation  might 
be  considered  as  broken  off.  A  formal  answer  to  the  royal 
propositions  would  be  communicated  likewise  to  the  envoys 
of  foreign  powers,  in  order  that  the  royal  commissioners  might 
be  placed  completely  in  the  wrong.61 

On  the  25th  August  an  elaborate  response  was  accordingly 
delivered  in  writing  by  the  States'  commissioners  to  35  August, 
those  of  the  archdukes  and  king,  it  being  at  the  1608< 
same  time  declared  by  Barneveld  and  his  colleagues  that 
their  functions  were  ended,  and  that  this  document,  emanat 
ing  from  the  States-General,  was  a  sovereign  resolution,  not 
a  diplomatic  note.62 

|  The  contents  of  this  paper  may  be  inferred  from  all  that 
has  been  previously  narrated.  The  republic  knew  its  own 
mind,  and  had  always  expressed  itself  with  distinctness.  The 
Spanish  Government  having  at  last  been  brought  to  disclose 
its  intentions,  there  was  an  end  to  the  negotiations  for  peace. 
The  rupture  was  formally  announced. 

60  Jeannin,  i.  819.  61  Van  der  Kemp,  uU  sup.    Wagenaar,  ix.  357,  358. 

62  See  the  paper  in  Meteren,  605,  606. 


464  THE  UNITEI>  NETHERLANDa  CHAP.  Ll. 


CHAPTER    LI. 


Designs  of  Henry  IV.  —  New  marriage  project  between  France  and  Spain  — 
Formal  proposition  of  negotiating  for  a  truce  between  the  States  and 
Spain  —  Exertions  of  Prince  Maurice  to  counteract  the  designs  of  Barne 
veld —  Strife  between  the  two  parties  in  the  republic  —  Animosity  of  the 
people  against  Barneveld — Return  of  the  Spanish  commissioners  —  Fur 
ther  trifling  —  Dismissal  of  the  commissioners  —  Close  of  the  negotiations 
—  Accidental  discovery  of  the  secret  instructions  of  the  archdukes  to  the 
commissioners  —  Opposing  factions  in  the  republic  —  Oration  of  President 
Jeannin  before  the  States-General  —  Comparison  between  the  Dutch  and 
Swiss  republics  —  Calumnies  against  the  Advocate  —  Ambassador  Lambert 
in  France  —  Henry's  letter  to  Prince  Maurice  —  Reconciliation  of  Maurice 
and  Barneveld  —  Agreement  of  the  States  to  accept  a  truce. 

PKESIDENT  JEANNIN  had  long  been  prepared  for  this  result. 
It  was  also  by  no  means  distasteful  to  him.  A  peace  would 
not  have  accorded  with  the  ulterior  and  secretly  cherished 
schemes  of  his  sovereign,  and  during  his  visit  to  Paris,  he  had 
succeeded  in  persuading  Henry  that  a  truce  would  be  far  the 
most  advantageous  solution  of  the  question,  so  far  as  his  inte 
rests  were  concerned. 

For  it  had  been  precisely  during  that  midsummer  vacation 
of  the  President  at  Paris  that  Henry  had  completed  his  plot 
against  the  liberty  of  the  republic,  of  which  he  professed  him 
self  the  only  friend.  Another  phase  of  Spanish  marriage- 
making  had  excited  his  ever  scheming  and  insidious  brain.  It 
had  been  proposed  that  the  second  son  of  the  Spanish  king 
should  espouse  one  of  Henry's  daughters. 

The  papal  Nuncius  asked  what  benefit  the  King  of  Spain 
would  receive  for  his  share,  in  case  of  the  marriage.  The 
French  king  replied  by  plainly  declaring  to  the  Nuncius  that 
the  united  States  should  abstain  from  and  renounce  all  navi 
gation  to  and  commerce  with  the  Indies,  and  should  permit 
public  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion.  If  they  refused,  he 


1608.  DESIGNS  OF  HENRY  IV.  465 

would  incontinently  abandon  them  to  their  fate.  More  than 
this,  he  said,  could  not  honestly  he  expected  of  him.1 

Surely  this  was  enough.  Honestly  or  dishonestly,  what 
more  could  Spain  expect  of  the  republic's  best  ally,  than  that 
he  should  use  all  his  efforts  to  bring  her  back  into  Spanish 
subjection,  should  deprive  her  of  commerce  with  three- 
quarters  of  the  world,  and  compel  her  to  re-establish  the 
religion  which  she  believed,  at  that  period,  to  be  incompatible 
with  her  constitutional  liberties  ?  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a 
more  profligate  or  heartless  course  than  the  one  pursued  at 
this  juncture  by  Henry.  Secretly,  he  was  intriguing,  upon 
the  very  soil  of  the  Netherlands,  to  filch  from  them  that 
splendid  commerce  which  was  the  wonder  of  the  age,  which 
had  been  invented  and  created  by  Dutch  navigators  and  men 
of  science,  which  was  the  very  foundation  of  their  State,  and 
without  which  they  could  not  exist,  in  order  that  he  might 
appropriate  it  to  himself,  and  transfer  the  East  India  Com 
pany  to  France ;  while  at  Paris  he  was  solemnly  engaging 
himself  in  a  partnership  with  their  ancient  and  deadly  enemy 
to  rob  them  of  their  precious  and  nobly  gained  liberty.  Was 
better  proof  ever  afforded  that  God  alone  can  protect  us 
against  those  whom  we  trust  ?  Who  was  most  dangerous  to 
the  United  Provinces  during  those  memorable  peace  negotia 
tions,  Spain  the  avowed  enemy,  or  France  the  friend  ? 

The  little  republic  had  but  her  own  sword,  her  own  brain, 
and  her  own  purse  to  rely  upon.  Elizabeth  was  dead,  and 
James  loved  Spain  better  than  he  did  the  Netherlands, 
and  quiet  better  than  Spain.  "  I  have  told  you  often,"  said 
Caron,  "  and  I  say  it  once  more,  the  Spaniard  is  lucky 
that  he  has  such  a  peaceable  king  as  this  to  deal  with  in 
England/'2 


1  "  Le  nonce  avait  demande  au  roy 
quel  benefice  recevrait  de  sa  part  le 
Roy  d'Espagne  en  respect  des  ma- 
riages,  Et  pour  parler  plus  clair  le 
roy  declara  au  nonce  que  les  Etats  se 
deporteront  de  toute  navigation  et 
commerce  aux  Indes,  et  permettront 
quelque  exercise  public  de  la  foy 

VOL.  IV. — 2  H 


Catbolique  es  Provinces  Unies,  ou  a 
faute  de  ce  il  les  delaissera  et  aban- 
donnera  incontinent,  en  quoy  il  dit 
estre  compris  tout  ce  que  Ton  peut 
honnetement  pretendre  de  lay  pour  le 
present." — Extract  of  Letter  of  Peck- 
ius,  cited  in  Deventer,  iii.  250. 
»  Deventer,  iii.  253. 


466 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  LI, 


The  details  of  the  new  marriage  project  were  arranged  at 
Paris  between  the  Nuncius,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  Don 
Pedro  de  Toledo,  the  diplomatic  agent  of  the  archdukes,  and 
Henry's  ministers,  precisely  as  if  there  had  been  no  negotia 
tions  going  on  between  the  States  and  Spain.  Yet  the 
French  king  was  supposed  to  be  the  nearest  friend  of 
the  States,  and  was  consulted  by  them  on  every  occasion, 
while  his  most  intimate  and  trusted  counsellor,  the  ingenuous 
Jeannin,  whose  open  brow  was  stamped  with  sincerity,  was 
privy  to  all  their  most  secret  deliberations. 

But  the  statesman  thus  dealing  with  the  Hollanders 
under  such  a  mask  of  friendly  candour,  knew  perfectly  well 
the  reason  why  his  Government  preferred  a  truce  to  a 
peace.  During  a  prolonged  truce,  the  two  royal  children 
would  grow  old  enough  for  the  consummation  of  marriage, 
and  the  States — so  it  was  hoped — would  be  corrupted  and 
cajoled  into  renouncing  their  liberty.  All  the  Netherlands 
would  be  then  formed  into  a  secundogeniture  for  Spain,  and 
the  first  sovereign  would  be  the  husband  of  a  French  prin 
cess.3  Even  as  an  object  of  ambition,  the  prize  to  be  secured 


3 "  Et  le  point  auquel  nous  travail- 
Ions  maintenant  est  de  penetrer  a  quoy 
le  Roy  de  France  se  resouldra  advenant 
faulte  de  paix ;  et  tachons  de  faire 
trouver  bon  a  ses  dits  mmistres  qu'en 
ce  cas  il  abandonne  les  dits  Etats 
et  empoigne  le  party  du  manage  du 
second  fils  d'Espaigne  avecq  1'une  de 
ses  filles  aux  conditions  ja  proposees ; 
pour  a  quoy  les  induire  sert  de  beau- 
coup  de  les  avoir  mene  jusques  la 
qu'ils  confessent  y  avoir  de  la  raison, 
equite  et  justice  es  conditions  con- 
cernans  la  religion  et  la  navigation 
aux  Indes,  soubs  lesquelles  Ton  est 
content  de  quitter  la  souverainete  des 
dites  provinces ;  ce  qu'aussi  le  roy 
mesme  advoua  assez  clerement  en  ma 
derniere  audience  Et  sur  ce  a  res 
parti  qu'estans  les  dites  conditions 
telles,  il  auroit  juste  occasion  de 
s'offenser  et  retirer  des  dits  Estats  s'il  I 
ne  s'y  accomodaient,  il  me  dit  qu'il  j 
s'entendoit  comme  cela  ....  Et  se  | 
resolvant  le  roy  a  cest  abandon  et 
delaissement  des  dits  Estats,  le  dit 


Don  Pedro  m'a  dit  qu'il  a  pouvoir 
d'accorder  en  tel  cas  le  dit  mariage 
avecq  Tinvestiture  des  Pais-Bas  et 
aultres  conditions  plus  fortes  pour 
asseurer  le  roy  qu'iceulx  pays  demeu- 
ront  separez  de  la  couronne  d'Espaigne 
Mais  il  semble  a  aulcuns  des  ministres 
qu'a  faulte  de  paix  le  plus  expedient 
sera  de  faire  une  longue  treve  avecq 
les  dits  Estats  et  cependant  arrester 
le  dit  mariage  et  attendre  le  temps  de 
consommation  d'icelluy  et  de  la  lignee 
qui  en  pourra  proceder  Auquel  cas 
le  roy  tres  Chretien  ne  seroit  seule- 
ment  content  d'abandonner  les  dits 
Etats,  mais  encore  de  tenir  la  main  a 
les  faire  rejoindre  aux  aultres  provin 
ces  de  1'obeyssance  de  votre  altesse  " 
— Peckius  to  the  Archduke,  18  Aug 
1608,  in  Deventer,  iii  250-252. 

Two  months  before  Peckius  had 
written  that  the  Due  de  Sully  had 
been  feeling  his  pulse  in  regard  to  a 
truce  in  the  Netherlands  with  refer 
ence  to  these  marriage  projects, — 
Ibid. 


1608.  OPENING  OF  TRUCE  NEGOTIATIONS.  467 

by  so  much    procrastination    and   so  much    treachery  was 
paltry. 

When  the  Spanish  commissioners  came  to  the  French  and 
English  ambassadors  accordingly,  complaining  of  the  abrupt 
and  peremptory  tone  of  the  States'  reply,  the  suggestion  of 
conferences  for  truce,  in  place  of  fruitless  peace  negotiations, 
was  made  at  once,  and  of  course  favourably  received.  It  was 
soon '  afterwards  laid  before  the  States-General.  To  this  end, 
in  truth,  Kichardot  and  his  colleagues  had  long  been  secretly 
tending.  Moreover,  the  subject  had  been  thoroughly  but 
secretly  discussed  long  before  between  Jeannin  and  Barne- 
vekL 

The  French  and  English  ambassadors,  accordingly,  on  the 
27th  August,  came  before  the  States- General,  and  made  a 
formal  proposition  for  the  opening  of  negotiations  for  a  truce. 
They  advised  the  adoption  of  this  course  in  the  strongest 
manner.  "  Let  the  truce  be  made  with  you,"  they  said,  "as 
with  free  States,  over  which  the  king  and  the  archdukes  have 
no  pretensions,  with  the  understanding  that,  during  the  time, 
of  the,  truce,  you  are  to  have  free  commerce  as  well  to  the 
Indies  as  to  Spain  and  the  obedient  Netherlands,  and  to 
every  part  of  the  Spanish  dominions  ;  that  you  are  to  retain 
all  that  you  possess  at  present,  and  that  such  other  conditions 
are  to  be  added  as  you  may  find  it  reasonable  to  impose. 
During  this  period  of  leisure  you  will  have  time  to  put  your 
affairs  in  order,  to  pay  your  debts,  and  to  reform  your  Gov 
ernment,  and  if  you  remain  united,  the  truce  will  change  into 
an  absolute  peace."4 

Maurice  was  more  indignant  when  the  new  scheme  was 
brought  to  his  notice  than  he  had  ever  been  before,  and  used 
more  violent  language  in  opposing  a  truce  than  he  had  been 
used  to  employ  when  striving  against  a  peace.  To  be  treated 
with,  as  with  a  free  State,  and  to  receive  permission  to  trade 
with  the  outside  world  until  the  truce  should  expire,  seemed 
to  him  a  sorry  result  for  the  republic  to  accept. 

4  Jeannin,-i  827 


468  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LL 

The    state-council    declared,   by   way   of    answer    to    the 
foreign  ambassadors,  that  the  principal  points  and 
conditions  which  had  been  solemnly  fixed,  before  the 
States  had  consented  to  begin  the  negotiations,  had  been  dis 
puted  with  infinite  effrontery  and  shamelessness  by  the  enemy.5 
The  pure  and  perfect  sovereignty  notoriously  included  reli 
gion  and  navigation  to  any  part  of  the  world;  and  the  republic 
would  never  consent  to  any  discussion  of  truce  unless  these 
points   were   confirmed   beforehand   with  the  Spanish  king's 
signature  and  seal. 

This  resolution  of  the  council — a  body  which  stood  much 
under  the  influence  of  the  Nassaus — was  adopted  next  day 
by  the  States-General,  and  duly  communicated  to  the  friendly 
ambassadors.6 

The  foreign  commissioners,  when  apprised  of  this  decision, 
begged  for  six  weeks'  time,  in  order  to  be  able  to  hear  from 
Madrid. 

Even  the  peace  party  was  disgusted  with  this  imperti 
nence.  Maurice  boiled  over  with  wrath.  The  ambassadors 
recommended  compliance  with  the  proposal.  Their  advice 
was  discussed  in  the  States-General,  eighty  members  being 
present,  besides  Maurice  and  Lewis  William.  The  stadholder 
made  a  violent  and  indignant  speech.7 

He  was  justified  in  his  vehemence.  Nothing  could  exceed 
the  perfidy  of  their  great  ally. 

"  I  know  that  the  King  of  France  calculates  thus  " — wrote 
Aerssens  at  that  moment  from  Paris — "'If  the  truce  lasts  seven 
years,  my  son  will  be  old  enough  to  accomplish  the  proposed 
marriage,  and  they  will  be  obliged  to  fulfil  their  present 
offers.  Otherwise.  I  would  break  the  truce  in  the  Nether 
lands,  and  my  own  peace  with  them,  in  order  to  take  from 
the  Spaniard  by  force  what  he  led  me  to  hope  from  alliance.7 
Thus  it  is,"  continued  the  States'  envoy,  "  that  his  Majesty 
condescends  to  propose  to  us  a  truce,  which  may  have  a 
double  interpretation,  according  to  the  disposition  of  the 
strongest,  and  thus  our  commonwealth  will  be  kept  in  perpe- 

"  Vermeetelyk  en  onbeschaemd."    6  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  160,  162,     7  Ibid  40. 


1608.  DEBATE  AT  THE  HAGUE.  469 

tual  disquiet,  without  knowing  whether  it  is  sovereign  or  not. 
Nor  will  it  be  sovereign  unless  it  shall  so  please  our  neigh 
bour,  who  by  this  means  will  always  keep  his  foot  upon  our 
throat." 8 

"To  treat  with  the  States  as  if  they  were  free,"  said  Henry 
to  the  Nuncius  soon  afterwards,  "  is  not  to  make  them  free. 
This  clause  does  no  prejudice  to  the  rights  of  the  King  of 
Spain,  except  for  the  time  of  the  truce."  Aerssens  taxed 
the  king  with  having  said  this.  His  Majesty  flatly  denied 
it.  The  republican  envoy  bluntly  adduced  the  testimony 
of  the  ambassadors  of  Venice  and  of  Wirtemberg.  The 
king  flew  into  a  rage  on  seeing  that  his  secrets  had  been 
divulged,  and  burst  out  with  these  words  : — "  What  you 
demand  is  not  reasonable.  You  wish  the  king  of  Spain  to 
renounce  his  rights  in  order  to  arrive  at  a  truce.  You  wish 
to  dictate  the  law  to  him.  If  you  had  just  gained  four 
battles  over  him,  you  could  not  demand  more.  I  have 
always  held  you  for  sovereigns,  because  I  am  your  friend,  but 
if  you  would  judge  by  equity  and  justice,  you  are  not  sove 
reigns.  It  is  not  reasonable  that  the  king  of  Spain  should 
quit  the  sovereignty  for  always,  and  you  ought  to  be  satisfied 
with  having  it  so  long  as  the  treaty  shall  last."  9 

Here  was  playing  at  sovereignty  with  a  vengeance.  Sove 
reignty  was  a  rattle  for  the  States  to  amuse  themselves  with, 
until  the  royal  infants,  French  and  Spanish,  should  be  grown 
old  enough  to  take  the  sovereignty  for  good.  Truly  this  was 
indeed  keeping  the  republic  under  the  king's  heel  to  be 
crushed  at  his  pleasure,  as  Aerssens,  with  just  bitterness, 
exclaimed. 

Two  days  were  passed  at  the  Hague  in  vehement  debate. 
The  deputies  of  Zeeland  withdrew.  The  deputies  from 
Holland  were  divided,  but,  on  the  whole,  it  was  agreed  to 
listen  to  propositions  of  truce,  provided  the  freedom  of  the 
United  Provinces — not  under  conditions  nor  during  a  certain 
period,  but  simply  and  for  all  time — should  be  recognised 
beforehand.10 

1  Correspondence  in  Deventer,  iii.  263-267.    •  Ibid.     10  Wagenaar,  ix.  378-380. 

VOL.  II— i s* 


470  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI 

It   was  further  decided   on   the  14th   September  to   wait 

until  the  end  of  the  month  for   the  answer  from 
14  Sept.    0     . 
bpam. 

After  the  1st  of  October  it  was  distinctly  intimated  to  the 
Spanish  commissioners  that  they  must  at  once  leave  the 
country  unless  the  king  had  then  acknowledged  the  absolute 
independence  of  the  provinces.11 

A  suggestion  which  had  been  made  by  these  diplomatists 
to  prolong  the  actually  existing  armistice  into  a  truce  of 
seven  years,  a  step  which  they  professed  themselves  willing 
to  take  upon  their  own  responsibility,  had  been  scornfully 
rejected  by  the  States.  It  was  already  carrying  them  far 
enough  away,  they  said,  to  take  them  away  from  a  peace  to  a 
truce,  which  was  something  far  less  secure  than  a  peace,  but 
the  continuance  of  this  floating,  uncertain  armistice  would  be 
the  most  dangerous  insecurity  of  all.  This  would  be  going 
from  firm  land  to  slippery  ice,  and  from  slippery  ice  into  the 
water.  By  such  a  process,  they  would  have  neither  war  nor 
peace — neither  liberty  of  government  nor  freedom  of  com 
merce — and  they  unanimously  refused  to  listen  to  any  such 
schemes.12 

During  the  fortnight  which  followed  this  provisional 
consent  of  the  States,  the  prince  redoubled  his  efforts  to 
counteract  the  Barneveld  party. 

He  was  determined,  so  far  as  in  him  lay,  that  the  United 
Netherlands  should  never  fall  back  under  the  dominion  of 
Spain.  He  had  long  maintained  the  impossibility  of  effecting 
their  thorough  independence  except  by  continuing  the  war, 
and  had  only  with  reluctance  acquiesced  in  the  arguments  of 
the  French  ambassadors  in  favour  of  peace  negotiations.  As 
to  the  truce,  he  vehemently  assured  those  envoys  that  it  was 
but  a  trap.  How  could  the  Netherlander  know  who  their 
friends  might  be  when  the  truce  should  have  expired,  and 
under  what  unfavourable  auspices  they  might  not  be  com 
pelled  to  resume  hostilities  ? 13 

As  if  he  had  been  actually  present  at  the  council  boards 
»  Van  der  Kemp,  fii.  41.  1S  Meteren,  606,  607.  13  Jeannin,  i.  889,  seqg 


1608  OPPOSITION  OF  PRINCE  MAURICE.  471 

in  Madrid  and  Valladolid,  or  had  been  reading  the  secret 
letters  of  Friar  John  to  Spinola,  he  affirmed  that  the  only 
object  of  Spain  was  to  recruit  her  strength  and  improve 
her  finances,  now  entirely  exhausted.  He  believed,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  people  of  the  provinces,  after  they 
should  have  once  become  accustomed  to  repose,  would  shrink 
from  exchanging  their  lucrative  pursuits  for  war,  and  would 
prefer  to  fall  back  under  the  yoke  of  Spain.  During  the 
truce  they  would  object  to  the  furnishing  of  necessary  contri 
butions  for  garrison  expenses,  and  the  result  would  be  that 
the  most  important  cities  and  strongholds,  especially  those  on 
the  frontier,  which  were  mainly  inhabited  by  Catholics,  would 
become  insecure.  Being  hostile  to  a  Government  which 
only  controlled  them  by  force,  they  would  with  difficulty  be 
kept  in  check  by  diminished  garrisons,  unless  they  should 
obtain  liberty  of  Catholic  worship.14 

It  is  a  dismal  proof  of  the  inability  of  a  leading  mind, 
after  half  a  century's  war,  to  comprehend  the  true  lesson  of 
the  war — that  toleration  of  the  Koman  religion  seemed  to 
Maurice  an  entirely  inadmissible  idea.  The  prince  could  not 
rise  to  the  height  on  which  his  illustrious  father  had  stood  ; 
and  those  about  him,  who  encouraged  him  in  his  hostility  to 
Catholicism,  denounced  Barneveld  and  Arminius  as  no  better 
than  traitors  and  atheists.  In  the  eyes  of  the  extreme  party, 
the  mighty  war  had  been  waged,  not  to  liberate  human 
thought,  but  to  enforce  predestination ;  and  heretics  to 
Calvinism  were  as  offensive  in  their  eyes  as  Jews  and 
Saracens  had  ever  been  to  Torquemada. 

The  reasons  were  unanswerable  for  the  refusal  of  the 
States  to  bind  themselves  to  a  foreign  sovereign  in  regard  to 
the  interior  administration  of  their  commonwealth  ;  but  that 
diversity  of  religious  worship  should  be  considered  incom 
patible  with  the  health  of  the  young  republic — that  the  men 
who  had  so  bravely  fought  the  Spanish  Inquisition  should  now 
claim  their  own  right  of  inquisition  into  the  human  con 
science — this  was  almost  enough  to  create  despair  as  to  the 
14  Jeannin,  i.  889,  seqq, 


47$  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI 

possibility  of  the  world's  progress.  The  seed  of  intellectual 
advancement  is  slow  in  ripening,  and  it  is  almost  invariably 
the  case  that  the  generation  which  plants — often  but  half 
conscious  of  the  mightiness  of  its  work — is  not  the  generation 
which  reaps  the  harvest.  But  all  mankind  at  last  inherits 
what  is  sown  in  the  blood  and  tears  of  a  few.  That  Govern 
ment,  whether  regal  or  democratic,  should  dare  to  thrust 
itself  between  man  and  his  Maker — that  the  State,  not 
satisfied  with  interfering  in  a  thousand  superfluous  ways  with 
the  freedom  of  individual  human  action  in  the  business  of 
life,  should  combine  with  the  Church  to  reduce  human 
thought  to  slavery  in  regard  to  the  sacred  interests  of 
eternity,  was  one  day  to  be  esteemed  a  blasphemous  presump 
tion  in  lands  which  deserved  to  call  themselves  free.  But  that 
hour  had  not  yet  come. 

"  If  the  garrisons  should  be  weakened,"  said  the  prince, 
"  nothing  could  be  expected  from  the  political  fidelity  of  the 
town  populations  in  question,  unless  they  should  be  allowed 
the  exercise  of  their  own  religion.  But  the  States  could 
hardly  be  disposed  to  grant  this  voluntarily,  for  fear  of 
injuring  the  general  insecurity  and  violating  the  laws  of  the 
commonwealth,  built  as  it  is  upon  a  foundation  which  can 
not  suffer  this  diversity  in  the  public  exercise  of  religion. 
Already,"  continued  Maurice,  "  there  are  the  seeds  of  dis 
sension  in  the  provinces  and  in  the  cities,  sure  to  ripen  in  the 
idleness  and  repose  of  peace  to  an  open  division.  This  would 
give  the  enemy  a  means  of  intriguing  with  and  corrupting 
those  who  are  already  wickedly  inclined."15 

Thus  in  the  year  1608,  the  head  of  the  Dutch  republic, 
the  son  of  William  the  Silent,  seemed  to  express  himself 
in  favour  of  continuing  a  horrible  war,  not  to  maintain  the 
political  independence  of  his  country,  but  to  prevent  Catholics 
from  acquiring  the  right  of  publicly  worshipping  God  accord 
ing  to  the  dictates  of  their  conscience. 

Yet  it  would  be  unjust  to  the  prince,  whose  patriotism 
was  as  pure  and  unsullied  as  his  sword,  to  confound  his 

15  Jeannin,  i.  889,  seqq. 


1608. 


TOLERATION  MISUNDERSTOOD. 


473 


motives  with  his  end.  He  was  firmly  convinced  that  liberty 
of  religious  worship,  to  be  acquired  during  the  truce,  would 
inevitably  cause  the  United  Provinces  to  fall  once  more 
under  the  Spanish  yoke.  The  French  ambassador,  with 
whom  he  conferred  every  day,  never  doubted  his  sincerity. 
Gelderland,  Friesland,  Overyssel,  Groningen,  and  Utrecht, 
five  provinces  out  of  the  united  seven,  the  prince  declared  to 
be  chiefly  inhabited  by  Catholics.  They  had  only  entered 
the  union,  he  said,  because  compelled  by  force.  They  could 
only  be  kept  in  the  union  by  force,  unless  allowed  freedom 
of  religion.  His  inference  from  such  a  lamentable  state  of 
affairs  was,  not  that  the  experiment  of  religious  worship 
should  be  tried,  but  that  the  garrisons  throughout  the  five 
provinces  ought  to  be  redoubled,  and  the  war  with  Spain 
indefinitely  waged.  The  President  was  likewise  of  opinion 
that  "  a  revolt  of  these  five  provinces  against  the  union  might 
be  at  any  moment  expected,  ill  disposed  as  they  were  to 
recognise  a  sovereignty  which  abolished  their  religion." 
Being  himself  a  Catholic,  however,  it  was  not  unnatural 
that  he  should  make  a  different  deduction  from  that  of  the 
prince,  and  warmly  recommend,  not  more  garrisons,  but  more 
liberty  of  worship.16 

Thus  the  very  men  who  were  ready  to  dare  all,  and  to 
sacrifice  all  in  behalf  of  their  country,  really  believed  them 
selves  providing  for  the  imperishable  security  of  the  com 
monwealth  by  placing  it  on  the  narrow  basis  of  religious 
intolerance. 

Maurice,  not  satisfied  with  making  these  vehement  argu 
ments  against  the  truce  in  his  conferences  with  the  envoys 
of  the  French  and  British  sovereigns,  employed  the  brief 
interval  yet  to  elapse  before  definitely  breaking  off  or 
resuming  the  conferences  with  the  Spanish  commissioners 
in  making  vigorous  appeals  to  the  country. 

"  The  weal  or  woe  of  the  United  Provinces  for  all  time/' 


16  Thus  Jeannin  (i  891,  892)  re 
ported  in  his  letters  to  Villeroy  the 
prince's  conversation,  yet  certainly  the 


prince  was  erroneously  or  falsely 
q  uoted.  —  Compare  Van  der  Kemp, 
iii  43 


474  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  Lt 

he  said,  "  is  depending  on  the  present  transactions.17  Weigh 
well  the  reasons  we  urge,  and  make  use  of  those  which 
seem  to  you  convincing.  You  know  that  the  foe,  according 
to  his  old  deceitful  manner,  laid  down  very  specious  condi 
tions  at  the  beginning,  in  order  to  induce  my  lords  the 
States-General  to  treat. 

"  If  the  king  and  the  archdudes  sincerely  mean  to  relin 
quish  absolutely  their  pretensions  to  these  provinces,  they 
can  certainly  have  no  difficulty  in  finding  honest  and  con 
venient  words  to  express  their  intention.  As  they  are 
seeking  other  phrases  than  the  usual  and  straightforward 
ones,  they  give  certain  proof  that  they  mean  to  keep  back 
from  us  the  substance.  They  are  trying  to  cheat  us  with 
dark,  dubious,  loosely-screwed  terms,18  which  secure  nothing 
and  bind  to  nothing.  If  it  be  wise  to  trust  the  welfare 
of  our  State  to  ambiguous  words,  you  can  judge  according 
to  your  own  discretion. 

"  Recognition  of  our  sovereignty  is  the  foundation-stone  of 
these  negotiations. 

"  Let  every  man  be  assured  that,  with  such  mighty  enemies, 
we  can  do  nothing  by  halves.  We  cannot  afford  to  retract, 
mutilate,  or  moderate  our  original  determination.  He  who 
swerves  from  the  straight  road  at  the  beginning  is  lost  ;  he 
who  stumbles  at  the  first  step  is  apt  to  fall  down  the  whole 
staircase.  If,  on  account  of  imaginable  necessity,  we  postpone 
that  most  vital  point,  the  assurance  of  our  freedom,  we  shall 
very  easily  allow  less  important  points  to  pass  muster,19  and 
at  last  come  tamely  into  the  path  of  reconciliation.  That  was 
exactly  the  danger  which  our  ancestors  in  similar  negotiations 
always  feared,  and  against  which  we  too  have  always  done 
our  best  to  guard  ourselves. 

"  Wherefore,  if  the  preservation  of  our  beloved  fatherland  is 
dear  to  you,  I  exhort  you  to  maintain  that  great  fundamental 
resolution,  at  all  times  and  against  all  men,  even  if  this  should 

17  The  letter,  dated  21  Sept.  1608,  is  I    ' 18  "  Op  schroeven  gestelde  woorden 
ublished  in  full  by  Van  der  Kemp,    en  termen." 


pi; 
iii 
by  Meteren,  606-608. 


166-174.     It  is  less  accurately  given 


19  "Geringere    punkten    ook    we! 
door  de  monstering  passeren." 


1608.  PRINCE  MAURICE'S  ADDRESS.  475 

cause   the   departure  of  the  enemy's  commissioners.     What 
can  you  expect  from  them  but  evil  fruit  ?  " 

He  then  advised  all  the  estates  and  magistracies  which  he 
was  addressing  to  instruct  their  deputies,  at  the  approaching 
session  of  the  States-General,  to  hold  on  to  the  first  article  of 
the  often-cited  preliminary  resolution  without  allowing  one 
syllable  to  he  altered.  Otherwise  nothing  could  save  the 
commonwealth  from  dire  and  notorious  confusion.  Above  all, 
he  entreated  them  to  act  in  entire  harmony  and  confidence 
with  himself  and  his  cousin,  even  as  they  had  ever  done  with 
his  illustrious  father. 

Certainly  the  prince  fully  deserved  the  confidence  of  the 
States,  as  well  for  his  own  signal  services  and  chivalrous  self- 
devotion,  as  for  the  unexampled  sacrifices  and  achievements 
of  William  the  Silent.  His  words  had  the  true  patriotic  ring 
of  his  father's  frequent  and  eloquent  appeals  ;  and  I  have  not 
hesitated  to  give  these  extracts  from  his  discourse,  because 
comparatively  few  of  such  utterances  of  Maurice  have  been 
preserved,  and  because  it  gives  a  vivid  impression  of  the 
condition  of  the  republic  and  the  state  of  parties  at  that 
momentous  epoch.  It  was  not  merely  the  fate  of  the  United 
Netherlands  and  the  question  of  peace  or  war  between  the 
little  republic  and  its  hereditary  enemy  that  were  upon  the 
issue.  The  peace  of  all  Christendom,  the  most  considerable 
material  interests  of  civilization,  and  the  highest  political  and 
moral  principles  that  can  influence  human  action,  were  in 
volved  in  those  negotiations. 

There  were  not  wanting  many  to  impeach  the  purity  of 
the  stadholder's  motives.  As  admiral  or  captain-general,  he 
received  high  salaries,  besides  a  tenth  part  of  all  prize-money 
gained  at  sea  by  the  fleets,  or  of  ransom  and  blackmail  on 
land  by  the  armies  of  the  republic.  His  profession,  his  ambi 
tion,  his  delights,  were  those  of  a  soldier.  As  a  soldier  in  a 
great  war,  he  was  more  necessary  to  his  countrymen  than  he 
could  expect  to  be  as  a  statesman  in  time  of  peace.  But 
nothing  ever  appeared  in  public  or  in  private,  which  threw  a 
reasonable  suspicion  upon  his  lofty  patriotism.  Peace  he  had 


476  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI 

always  believed  to  be  difficult  of  attainment.  It  had  now 
been  proved  impossible.  A  truce  he  honestly  considered  a 
pitfall  of  destruction,  and  he  denounced  it,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  the  language  of  energetic  conviction.  He  never  alluded 
to  his  pecuniary  losses  in  case  peace  should  be  made.  His 
disinterested  patriotism  was  the  frequent  subject  of  comment 
in  the  most  secret  letters  of  the  French  ambassadors  to  the 
king.  He  had  repeatedly  refused  enormous  offers  if  he 
would  forsake  the  cause  of  the  republic.  The  King  of  France 
was  ever  ready  to  tempt  him  with  bribes,  such  as  had  proved 
most  efficacious  with  men  as  highly  born  and  as  highly  placed 
as  a  cadet  of  the  house  of  Orange-Nassau.  But  there  is  no 
record  that  Jeannin  assailed  him  at  this  crisis  with  such 
temptations,  although  it  has  not  been  pretended  that  the 
prince  was  obdurate  to  the  influence  of  Mammon  when  that 
deity  could  be  openly  approached. 

That  Maurice  loved  power,  pelf,  and  war,  can  hardly  be 
denied.  That  he  had  a  mounting  ambition ;  that  he  thought  a 
monarchy  founded  upon  the  historical  institutions  and  charters 
of  the  provinces  might  be  better  than  the  burgher-aristocracy 
which,  under  the  lead  of  Barneveld,  was  establishing  itself  in 
the  country  ;  that  he  knew  no  candidate  so  eligible  for  such 
a  throne  as  his  fa ther's  son  ;  all  this  is  highly  probable  and 
scarcely  surprising.  But  that  such  sentiments  or  aspirations 
caused  him  to  swerve  the  ninth  part  of  a  hair  from  what  he 
considered  the  direct  path  of  duty  ;  that  he  determined  to 
fight  out  the  great  fight  with  Spain  and  Rome  until  the  States 
were  free  in  form,  in  name,  and  in  fact,  only  that  he  might 
then  usurp  a  sovereignty  which  would  otherwise  revert  to 
Philip  of  Spain  or  be  snatched  by  Henry  of  Navarre — of 
all  this  there  is  no  proof  whatever. 

The  language  of  Lewis  William  to  the  provinces  under  his 
government  was  quite  as  vigorous  as  the  appeals  of  Maurice.20 

During  the  brief  interval  remaining  before  the  commis 
sioners  should  comply  with  the  demands  of  the  States  or  take 
their  departure,  the  press  throughout  the  Netherlands  was 
20  His  letter  is  published  by  Van  der  Kemp,  Ui,  174-173, 


1608.  PAMT  CONTENTION.  477 

most  active.  Pamphlets  fell  thick  as  hail.  The  peace  party 
and  the  war  party  contended  with  each  other,  over  all  the 
territory  of  the  provinces,  as  vigorously  as  the  troops  of 
Fuentes  or  Bucquoy  had  ever  battled  with  the  columns  of 
Bax  and  Meetkerke.  The  types  of  Blaauw  and  Plantin  were  as 
effective  during  the  brief  armistice,  as  pike  and  arquebus  in 
the  field,  but  unfortunately  they  were  used  by  Netherlander 
against  each  other.  As  a  matter  of  course,  each  party  im 
peached  the  motives  as  well  as  the  actions  of  its  antagonist. 
The  adherents  of  the  Advocate  accused  the  stadholder  of  de 
siring  the  continuance  of  the  war  for  personal  aims.  They 
averred  that  six  thousand  men  for  guarding  the  rivers  would 
be  necessary,  in  addition  to  the  forty-five  thousand  men,  now 
kept  constantly  on  foot.  They  placed  the  requisite  monthly 
expenses,  if  hostilities  were  resumed,  at  800,000  florins,  while 
they  pointed  to  the  27,000,000  of  debt  over  and  above  the 
8,000,000  due  to  the  British  crown,  as  a  burthen  under  which 
the  republic  could  scarcely  stagger  much  longer.21  Such 
figures  seem  modest  enough,  as  the  price  of  a  war  of  inde 
pendence. 

Familiar  with  the  gigantic  budgets  of  our  own  day,  we 
listen  with  something  like  wonder,  now  that  two  centuries 
and  a  half  have  passed,  to  the  fierce  denunciations  by  the 
war  party  of  these  figures  as  wilful  fictions.  Science  has 
made  in  that  interval  such  gigantic  strides.  The  awful  in 
tellect  of  man  may  at  last  make  war  impossible  for  his 
physical  strength.  He  can  forge  but  cannot  wield  the 
hammer  of  Thor ;  nor  has  Science  yet  discovered  the  phi 
losopher's  stone.  Without  it,  what  exchequer  can  accept 
chronic  warfare  and  escape  bankruptcy  ?  After  what  has 
been  witnessed  in  these  latest  days,  the  sieges  and  battles  of 
that  distant  epoch  seem  like  the  fights  of  pigmies  and  cranes. 
Already  an  eighty  years'  war,  such  as  once  was  waged,  has 
become  inconceivable.  Let  two  more  centuries  pass  away,  and 
perhaps  a  three  weeks'  campaign  may  exhaust  an  empire.22 

Meantime  the  war  of  words  continued.      A  proclamation 

81  Wagenaar,  ix.  377.  *2  This  was  written  in  March,  1866. 


473 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  LI. 


with  penalties  was  issued  by  the  States  against  the  epidemic 
plague  of  pamphlets  or  "  blue-books/7  as  those  publications 
were  called  in  Holland23  but  with  little  result.24  It  was  not 
deemed  consistent  with  liberty  by  those  republicans  to  put 
chains  on  the  press  because  its  utterances  might  occasionally 
be  distasteful  to  magistrates.25  The  writers,  printers,  and 
sellers  of  the  "blue-books"  remained  unpunished  and 
snapped  their  fingers  at  the  placard. 

We  have  seen  the  strenuous  exertions  of  the  Nassaus  and 
their  adherents  by  public  appeals  and  private  conversation  to 
defeat  all  schemes  of  truce.  The  people  were  stirred  by  the 
eloquence  of  the  two  stadholders.  They  were  stung  to  fury 
against  Spain  and  against  Barneveld  by  the  waspish  effusions 
of  the  daily  press.  The  magistrates  remained  calm,  and  took 
part  by  considerable  majorities  with  Barneveld.  That  states 
man,  while  exercising  almost  autocratic  influence  in  the 
estates,  became  more  and  more  odious  to  the  humbler  classes, 
to  the  Nassaus,  and  especially  to  the  Calvinist  clergy.  He 
was  denounced  as  a  papist,  an  atheist,  a  traitor,  because 
striving  for  an  honourable  peace  with  the  foe,  and  because 
admitting  the  possibility  of  more  than  one  road  to  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven.  To  doubt  the  infallibility  of  Calvin 
was  as  heinous  a  crime,  in  the  eyes  of  his  accusers,  as  to 
kneel  to  the  host.  Peter  Titelmann,  half  a  century  earlier, 
dripping  with  the  blood  of  a  thousand  martyrs,  seemed 
hardly  a  more  loathsome  object  to  all  Netherlander  than 
the  Advocate  now  appeared  to  his  political  enemies,  thus 
daring  to  preach  religious  toleration,  and  boasting  of  humble 
ignorance  as  the  safest  creed.26  Alas  !  we  must  always  have 
something  to  persecute,  and  individual  man  is  never  so 
convinced  of  his  own  wisdom  as  when  dealing  with  subjects 
beyond  human  comprehension. 


23  "Blaauwboekje."  Was  the  phrase 
derived  from  the  name  of  the  great 
printer  Blaauw  ? 

24Groot  Plakaat  Bock,  i.  D.  kol. 
437.  Wagenaar,  ix.  373. 

25  "  Alzo  het  streng  onderzocken 
naar  schryvers  en  verspreiden  voor 


strydig  met  de  vryheid  aangezien  en 
daerom  gemyd  werdt." — Wagenaar, 
ix.3?3. 

%  «  Nfl  scire  tutissima  fides." — De 
vice  of  the  Olden-Barneveld  family, 
vide  vol.  i.  of  this  work,  page  315. 


1608.  ACCUSATIONS  AGAINST  BARNEVELD.  479 

Unfortunately,  however,  while  the  great  Advocate  was 
clear  in  his  conscience  he  had  scarcely  clean  hands.  He 
had  very  recently  accepted  a  present  of  twenty  thousand 
florins  from  the  King  of  France.  That  this  was  a  bribe  by 
which  his  services  were  to  be  purchased  for  a  cause  not  in 
harmony  with  his  own  convictions  it  would  be  unjust  to  say. 
We  of  a  later  generation,  who  have  had  the  advantage  of 
looking  through  the  portfolio  of  President  Jeannin,  and  of 
learning  the  secret  intentions  of  that  diplomatist  and  of  his 
master,  can  fully  understand  however  that  there  was  more 
than  sufficient  cause  at  the  time  for  suspecting  the  purity  of 
the  great  Advocate's  conduct.  We  are  perfectly  aware  that 
the  secret  instructions  of  Henry  gave  his  plenipotentiaries 
almost  unlimited  power  to  buy  up  as  many  influential  person 
ages  in  the  Netherlands  as  could  be  purchased.  So  they 
would  assist  in  making  the  king  master  of  the  United 
Provinces  at  the  proper  moment  there  was  scarcely  any  price 
that  he  was  not  willing  to  pay. 

Especially  Prince  Maurice,  his  cousin,  and  the  Advocate 
of  Holland,  were  to  be  secured  by  life  pensions,  property, 
offices,  and  dignities,  all  which  Jeannin  might  offer  to  an 
almost  unlimited  amount,  if  by  such  means  those  great 
personages  could  possibly  be  induced  to  perform  the  king's 
work. 

There  is  no  record  that  the  president  ever  held  out  such 
baits  at  this  epoch  to  the  prince.  There  could  never  be  a 
doubt  however  in  any  one's  mind  that  if  the  political  chief  of 
the  Orange-Nassau  house  ever  wished  to  make  himself  the 
instrument  by  which  France  should  supplant  Spain  in  the 
tyranny  of  the  Netherlands,  he  might  always  name  his  own 
price.  Jeannin  never  insulted  him  with  any  such  trading 
propositions.  As  for  Barneveld,  he  avowed  long  years  after 
wards  that  he  had  accepted  the  twenty  thousand  florins,  and 
that  the  king  had  expressly  exacted  secrecy  in  regard  to  the 
transaction.  He  declared  however  that  the  money  was  a 
reward  for  public  services  rendered  by  him  to  the  French 
Government  ten  years  before,  in  the  course  of  his  mission  to 


480 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  LI. 


France  at  the  time  of  the  peace  of  Vervins.  The  reward 
had  been  promised  in  1598,  and  the  pledge  was  fulfilled  in 
1608.  In  accepting  wages  fairly  earned,  however,  he  pro 
tested  that  he  had  bound  himself  to  no  dishonourable  service, 
and  that  he  had  never  exchanged  a  word  with  Jeannin  or 
with  any  man  in  regard  to  securing  for  Henry  the  sove 
reignty  of  the  Netherlands.27 

His  friends  moreover  maintained  in  his  defence  that  there 
were  no  laws  in  the  Netherlands  forbidding  citizens  to 
accept  presents  or  pensions  from  foreign  powers.  Such  an 
excuse  was  as  bad  as  the  accusation.  Woe  to  the  republic 
whose  citizens  require  laws  to  prevent  them  from  becoming 
stipendiaries  of  foreign  potentates  !  If  public  virtue,  the  only 
foundation  of  republican  institutions,  be  so  far  washed  away 
that  laws  in  this  regard  are  necessary  to  save  it  from 
complete  destruction,  then  already  the  republic  is  impossible. 
Many  who  bore  illustrious  names,  and  occupied  the  highest 
social  positions  at  that  day  in  France,  England,  and  the 
obedient  provinces,  were  as  venal  as  cattle  at  a  fair.  Philip 
and  Henry  had  bought  them  over  and  over  again,  whenever 
either  was  rich  enough  to  purchase  and  strong  enough  to 
enforce  the  terms  of  sale.  Bribes  were  taken  with  both 
hands  in  overflowing  measure ;  the  difficulty  was  only  in 
obtaining  the  work  for  the  wage. 

But  it  would  have  been  humiliating  beyond  expression  had 
the  new  commonwealth,  after  passing  through  the  fiery 
furnace  of  its  great  war,  proved  no  purer  than  leading 
monarchies  at  a  most  corrupt  epoch.  It  was  no  wonder 
therefore  that  men  sought  to  wipe  off  the  stain  from  the 
reputation  of  Barneveld,  and  it  is  at  least  a  solace  that 
there  was  no  proof  of  his  ever  rendering,  or  ever  having 
agreed  to  render,  services  inconsistent  with  his  convictions  as 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  commonwealth.  It  is  sufficiently 
grave  that  he  knew  the  colour  of  the  king's  money,  and  that 


n  See  for  this  whole  story  of  the 
twenty  thousand  florins  paid  to  the 
Advocate,  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  43,  165, 


166.      Brandt,  Regtspleging,  87,  88. 
Wagenaar,  ix.  367-370. 


1608.  BARNEVELD'S  AMBITION.  481 

in  a  momentous  crisis  of  history  he  accepted  a  reward  for 
former  professional  services,  and  that  the  broker  in  the 
transaction,  President  Jeannin,  seriously  charged  him  by 
Henry's  orders  to  keep  the  matter  secret.  It  would  be  still 
more  dismal  if  Jeannin,  in  his  private  letters,  had  ever 
intimated  to  Yilleroy  or  his  master  that  he  considered  it  a 
mercantile  transaction,  or  if  any  effort  had  ever  been  made 
by  the  Advocate  to  help  Henry  to  the  Batavian  throne. 
This  however  is  not  the  case. 

In  truth,  neither  Maurice  nor  Barneveld  was  likely  to  assist 
the  French  king  in  his  intrigues  against  the  independence  of 
their  fatherland.  Both  had  higher  objects  of  ambition  than 
to  become  the  humble  and  well-paid  servants  of  a  foreign 
potentate.  The  stadholder  doubtless  dreamed  of  a  crown 
which  might  have  been  his  father's,  and  which  his  own 
illustrious  services  might  be  supposed  to  have  earned  for 
himself.  If  that  tempting  prize  were  more  likely  to  be 
gained  by  a  continuance  of  the  war,  it  is  none  the  less  certain 
that  he  considered  peace,  and  still  more  truce,  as  fatal  to  the 
independence  of  the  provinces. 

The  Advocate,  on  the  other  hand,  loved  his  country  well. 
Perhaps  he  loved  power  even  better.  To  govern  the  city 
magistracies  of  Holland,  through  them  the  provincial  estates, 
and  through  them  again  the  States-General  of  the  whole 
commonwealth ;  as  first  citizen  of  a  republic  to  wield  the 
powers  of  a  king  ;  as  statesman,  diplomatist,  and  financier,  to 
create  a  mighty  empire  out  of  those  slender  and  but  recently 
emancipated  provinces  of  Spain,  was  a  more  flattering  prospect 
for  a  man  of  large  intellect,  iron  will,  and  infinite  resources, 
than  to  sink  into  the  contemptible  position  of  stipendiary  to  a 
foreign  master.  He  foresaw  change,  growth,  transformation 
in  the  existing  condition  of  things.  Those  great  corporations 
the  East  and  West  India  Companies  were  already  producing 
a  new  organism  out  of  the  political  and  commercial  chaos 
which  had  been  so  long  brooding  over  civilization.  Visions 
of  an  imperial  zone  extending  from  the  little  Batavian  island 
around  the  earth,  a  chain  of  forts  and  factories  dotting  the 
VOL.  iv. — 2  I 


482  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI. 

newly-discovered  and  yet  undiscovered  points  of  vantage,  on 
island  or  promontory,  in  every  sea  ;  a  watery,  nebulous,  yet 
most  substantial  empire — not  fantastic,  but  practical — not 
picturesque  and  mediaeval,  but  modern  and  lucrative — a 
world- wide  commonwealth  with  a  half- submerged  metro 
polis,  which  should  rule  the  ocean  with  its  own  fleets  and, 
like  Venice  and  Florence,  job  its  land  wars  with  mercenary 
armies — all  these  dreams  were  not  the  cloudy  pageant  of  a 
poet  but  the  practical  schemes  of  a  great  creative  mind. 
They  were  destined  to  become  reality.  Had  the  geographical 
conditions  been  originally  more  favourable  than  they  were, 
had  Nature  been  less  a  stepmother  to  the  metropolis  of  the 
rising  Batavian  realm,  the  creation  might  have  been  more 
durable.  Barneveld,  and  the  men  who  acted  with  him,  com 
prehended  their  age,  and  with  slender  materials  were  prepared 
to  do  great  things.  They  did  not  look  very  far  perhaps  into 
futurity,  but  they  saw  the  vast  changes  already  taking  place, 
and  felt  the  throb  of  forces  actually  at  work. 

The  days  were  gone  when  the  iron-clad  man  on  horseback 
conquered  a  kingdom  with  his  single  hand.  Doubtless  there 
is  more  of  poetry  and  romance  in  his  deeds  than  in  the 
achievements  of  the  counting-house  aristocracy,  the  hier 
archy  of  joint-stock  corporations  that  was  taking  the  lead  in 
the  world's  affairs.  Enlarged  views  of  the  social  compact 
and  of  human  liberty,  as  compared  with  those  which  later 
generations  ought  to  take,  standing  upon  the  graves,  heaped 
up  mountains  high,  of  their  predecessors,  could  hardly  be 
expected  of  them.  But  they  knew  how  to  do  the  work  before 
them.  They  had  been  able  to  smite  a  foreign  and  sacerdotal 
tyranny  into  the  dust  at  the  expense  of  more  blood  and  more 
treasure,  and  with  sacrifices  continued  through  a  longer  cycle 
of  years,  than  had  ever  been  recorded  by  history. 

Thus  the  Advocate  believed  that  the  chief  fruits  of  the 
war — political  independence,  religious  liberty,  commercial 
expansion — could  be  now  secured  by  diplomacy,  and  that 
a  truce  could  be  so  handled  as  to  become  equivalent  to  a 
peace.  He  required  no  bribes  therefore  to  labour  for  that 


1608.  RETURN  OF  VERREYKEN.  483 

which  he  believed  to  be  for  his  own  interests  and  for  those 
of  the  country. 

First  citizen  of  Holland,  perpetual  chairman  of  a  board  of 
ambitious  shopkeepers  who  purposed  to  dictate  laws  to  the 
world  from  their  counting-house  table,  with  an  unerring  eye 
for  the  interests  of  the  commonwealth  and  his  own,  with 
much  vision,  extraordinary  eloquence,  and  a  magnificent  will, 
he  is  as  good  a  sample  of  a  great  burgher — an  imposing  not 
a  heroic  figure — as  the  times  had  seen. 

A  vast  stride  had  been  taken  in  the  world's  progress.  Even 
monopoly  was  freedom  compared  to  the  sloth  and  ignorance 
of  an  earlier  epoch  and  of  other  lands,  and  although  the 
days  were  still  far  distant  when  the  earth  was  to  belong  to 
mankind,  yet  the  modern  republic  was  leading,  half  uncon 
sciously,  to  a  period  of  wider  liberty  of  government,  com 
merce,  and  above  all  of  thought. 

Meantime,  the  period  assigned  for  the  departure  of  the 
Spanish  commissioners,  unless  they  brought  a  satisfactory 
communication  from  the  king,  was  rapidly  approaching. 

On  the  24th  September  Verreyken  returned  from  Brussels, 
but  it  was  soon  known  that  he  came  empty  handed. 
He  informed  the  French  and  English  ambassadors 
that  the  archdukes,   on  their  own  responsibility,  now  sug 
gested  the  conclusion  of  a  truce  of  seven  years  for  Europe 
only.     This  was  to  be  negotiated  with  the  States-General  as 
with  free  people,  over  whom  no  pretensions  of  authority  were 
made,  and  the  hope  was  expressed  that  the  king  would  give 
his  consent  to  this  arrangement. 

The  ambassadors  naturally  refused  to  carry  the  message  to 
the  States.  To  make  themselves  the  mouthpieces  of  such 
childish  suggestions  was  to  bring  themselves  and  their 
masters  into  contempt.  There  had  been  trifling  enough,  and 
even  Jeannin  saw  that  the  storm  of  indignation  about  to 
burst  forth  would  be  irresistible.  There  was  no  need  of  any 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  commissioners  to  prolong  their 
stay  if  this  was  the  result  of  the  fifteen  days'  grace  which  had 
so  reluctantly  been  conceded  to  them.  To  express  a  hope 


484  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI 

that  the  king  might  perhaps  give  his  future  approval  to  a 
proceeding  for  which  his  signed  and  sealed  consent  had 
been  exacted  as  an  indispensable  preliminary,  was  carrying 
effrontery  further  than  had  yet  been  attempted  in  these 
amazing  negotiations. 

Prince  Maurice  once  more  addressed  the  cities  of  Holland, 
giving  vent  to  his  wrath  in  language  with  which 
there  was  now  more  sympathy  than  there  had  been 
before.  "Verreyken  has  come  back/'  he  said,  "not  with  a 
signature,  but  with  a  hope.  The  longer  the  enemy  remains 
in  the  country  the  more  he  goes  back  from  what  he  had 
originally  promised.  He  is  seeking  for  nothing  more  than,  in 
this  cheating  way  and  in  this  pretence  of  waiting  for  the 
king's  consent — which  we  have  been  expecting  now  for  more 
than  eighteen  months — to  continue  the  ruinous  armistice. 
Thus  he  keeps  the  country  in  a  perpetual  uncertainty,  the 
only  possible  consequence  of  which  is  our  complete  destruc 
tion.  We  adjure  you  therefore  to  send  a  resolution  in  con 
formity  with  our  late  address,  in  order  that  through  these 
tricks  and  snares  the  fatherland  may  not  fall  into  the  clutch 
of  the  enemy,  and  thus  into  eternal  and  intolerable  slavery. 
God  save  us  all  from  such  a  fate  !  " 28 

Neither  Barneveld  nor  Jeannin  attempted  to  struggle 
against  the  almost  general  indignation.  The  deputies  of 
Seeland  withdrew  from  the  assembly  of  the  States-General, 
protesting  that  they  would  never  appear  there  again  so  long 
as  the  Spanish  commissioners  remained  in  the  country.  The 
door  was  opened  wide,  and  it  was  plain  that  those  function 
aries  must  take  their  departure.  Pride  would  not  allow 
them  to  ask  permission  of  the  States  to  remain,  although 
they  intimated  to  the  ambassadors  their  intense  desire  to 
linger  for  ten  or  twelve  days  longer.  This  was  obviously 
inadmissible,  and  on  the  30th  September  they  appeared 
before  the  Assembly  to  take  leave.29 

28  Document  given  in  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  177,  178. 

29  Meteren,  608.    Grotius,  xvii.  780,  781.    Wagenaar,  ix.  385-388.    Van  der 
Kemp,  iii.  178-183. 


1606.  RICHARDOT'S  FAREWELL  SPEECH.  485 

There  were  but  three  of  them,  the  Genoese,  the  Spaniard, 
and  the  Burgundian — Spinola,  Mancicidor,  and  Kichardot. 
Of  the  two  Netherlander,  brother  John  was  still  in  Spain, 
and  Verreyken  found  it  convenient  that  day  to  have  a 
lame  leg. 

President  Bichardot,  standing  majestically  before  the  States- 
General,  with  his  robes  wrapped  around  his  tall, 
spare  form,  made  a  solemn  farewell  speech  of 
mingled  sorrow,  pity,  and  the  resentment  of  injured  inno 
cence.  They  had  come  to  the  Hague,  he  said,  sent  by  the 
King  of  Spain  and  the  archdukes  to  treat  for  a  good  and 
substantial  peace,  according  to  the  honest  intention  of  his 
Majesty  arid  their  Highnesses.  To  this  end  they  had  sincerely 
and  faithfully  dealt  with  the  gentlemen  deputed  for  that 
purpose  by  their  High  Mightinesses  the  States,  doing  every 
thing  they  could  think  of  to  further  the  cause  of  peace. 
They  lamented  that  the  issue  had  not  been  such  as  they  had 
hoped,  notwithstanding  that  the  king  and  archdukes  had  so 
far  derogated  from  their  reputation  as  to  send  their  commis 
sioners  into  the  United  Netherlands,  it  having  been  easy 
enough  to  arrange  for  negotiations  on  other  soil.  It  had 
been  their  wish  thus  to  prove  to  the  world  how  straight 
forward  were  their  intentions  by  not  requiring  the  States  to 
send  deputies  to  them.  They  had  accorded  the  first  point  in 
the  negotiations,  touching  the  free  state  of  the  country. 
Their  High  Mightinesses  had  taken  offence  upon  the  second, 
regarding  the  restoration  of  religion  in  the  United  Provinces. 
Thereupon  the  father  commissary  had  gone  to  Spain,  and 
had  remained  longer  than  was  agreeable.  Nevertheless, 
they  had  meantime  treated  of  other  points.  Coming  back  at 
last  to  the  point  of  religion,  the  States-General  had  taken  a 
resolution,  and  had  given  them  their  dismissal,  without  being 
willing  to  hear  a  word  more,  or  to  make  a  single  proposition 
of  moderation  or  accommodation. 

He  could  not  refrain  fronl  saying  that  the  commissioners 
had  been  treated  roughly.  Their  High  Mightinesses  had  fixed 
the  time  for  their  dismissal  more  precisely  than  one  would  do 


486  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LL 

with  a  servant  who  was  discharged  for  misconduct ;  for  the 
lackey,  if  he  asked  for  it,  would  be  allowed  at  least  a  day 
longer  to  pack  his  trunk  for  the  journey.  They  protested 
before  God  and  the  assembly  of  the  States  that  the  king 
and  princes  had  meant  most  sincerely,  and  had  dealt  with 
all  roundness  and  sincerity.  They  at  least  remained  inno 
cent  of  all  the  disasters  and  calamities  to  come  from  the  war. 

"  As  for  myself/'  said  Eichardot,  "  I  am  no  prophet,  nor 
the  son  of  a  prophet ;  yet  I  will  venture  the  prediction  to 
you,  my  lords  the  States-General,  that  you  will  bitterly  rue  it 
that  you  did  not  embrace  the  peace  thus  presented,  and 
which  you  might  have  had.  The  blood  which  is  destined  to 
flow,  now  that  you  have  scorned  our  plan  of  reconciliation, 
will  be  not  on  our  heads  but  your  own/'30 

Barneveld  replied  by  temperately  but  firmly  repelling  the 
charges  brought  against  the  States  in  this  artful  oration  of 
the  president.  They  had  proceeded  in  the  most  straight 
forward  manner,  never  permitting  themselves  to  enter  into 
negotiations  except  on  the  preliminary  condition  that  their 
freedom  should  be  once  for  all  conceded  and  recognised. 
"  You  and  you  only/'  he  continued,  "  are  to  bear  the  blame 
that  peace  has  not  been  concluded ;  you  who  have  not  been 
willing  or  not  been  able  to  keep  your  promises.  One  might, 
with  better  reason,  hold  you  guilty  of  all  the  bloodshed  ;  you 
whose  edicts,  bloodier  and  more  savage  than  war  itself,  long 
ago  forced  these  provinces  into  the  inevitable  necessity  of 
waging  war ;  you  whose  cruelty,  but  yesterday  exercised  on 
the  crews  of  defenceless  and  innocent  merchantmen  and  fish 
ing-vessels,  has  been  fully  exibited  to  the  world/' 

Spinola's  countenance  betrayed  much  emotion  as  he 
listened  to  the  exchange  of  bitter  recriminations  which  took 
place  on  this  farewell  colloquy.  It  was  obvious  that  the  brave 
and  accomplished  soldier  honestly  lamented  the  failure  of  the 
attempt  to  end  the  war. 

But  the  rupture  was  absolute.  The  marquis  and  the  pre 
sident  dined  that  day  with  Prince  Maurice,  by  whom  they 

30  Authorities  last  cited 


1608  END  OF  THE  NEGOTIATIONS.  487 

were  afterwards  courteously  accompanied  a  part  of  the  way 
on  their  journey  to  Brussels.31 

Thus  ended  the  comedy  which  had  lasted  nearly  two 
years.  The  dismal  leave-taking,  as  the  curtain  fell,  was  not 
as  entertaining  to  the  public  outside  as  the  dramatic  meeting 
between  Maurice  and  Spinola  had  been  at  the  opening  scene 
near  Byswyk.  There  was  no  populace  to  throw  up  their 
hats  for  the  departing  guests.  From  the  winter's  night  in 
which  the  subtle  Franciscan  had  first  stolen  into  the  prince's 
Cabinet  down  to  this  autumn  evening,  not  a  step  of  real  pro 
gress  could  be  recorded  as  the  result  of  the  intolerable  quan 
tity  of  speech-making  and  quill-driving.  There  were  boat-loads 
of  documents,  protocols,  and  notes,  drowsy  and  stagnant  as 
the  canals  on  whicH  they  were  floated  off  towards  their 
tombs  in  the  various  archives.  Peace  to  the  dust  which 
we  have  not  wantonly  disturbed,  believing  it  to  be  whole 
some  for  the  cause  of  human  progress  that  the  art  of  ruling 
the  world  by  doing  nothing,  as  practised  some  centuries  since, 
should  once  and  again  be  exhibited. 

Not  in  vain  do  we  listen  to  those  long-bearded,  venerable, 
very  tedious  old  presidents,  advocates,  and  friars  of  orders 
gray,  in  their  high  ruffs,  taffety  robes  or  gowns  of  frieze, 
as  they  squeak  and  gibber,  for  a  fleeting  moment,  to  a  world 
which  knew  them  not.  It  is  something  to  learn  that  grave 
statesmen,  kings,  generals,  and  presidents  could  negotiate 
for  two  years  long,  and  that  the  only  result  should  be  the 
distinction  between  a  conjunction,  a  preposition,  and  an 
adverb.  That  the  provinces  should  be  held  as  free  States, 
not  for  free  States — that  they  should  be  free  in  similitude, 
not  in  substance — thus  much  and  no  more  had  been  accom 
plished. 

And  now  to  all  appearance  every  chance  of  negotiation 
was  gone.  The  half-century  war,  after  this  brief  breathing 
space,  was  to  be  renewed  for  another  century  or  so,  and 
more  furiously  than  ever.  So  thought  the  public.  So  meant 
Prince  Maurice.  Kichardot  and  Jeannin  knew  better. 

81  Authorities  last  cited. 


488  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  U 

The  departure  of  the  commissioners  was  recorded  upon 
the  register  of  the  resolutions  of  Holland,  with  the  ominous 
note :  "  God  grant  that  they  may  not  have  sown  evil  seed 
here  ;  the  effects  of  which  will  one  day  be  visible  in  the  ruin 
of  this  commonwealth/'32 

Hardly  were  the  backs  of  the  commissioners  turned,  before 
the  indefatigable  Jeannin  was  ready  with  his  scheme  for 
repatching  the  rupture.  He  was  at  first  anxious  that  the 
deputies  of  Zeeland  should  be  summoned  again,  now  that 
the  country  was  rid  of  the  Spaniards.  Prince  Maurice,  how 
ever,  was  wrathful  when  the  president  began  to  talk  once 
more  of  truce.  The  proposition,  he  said,  was  simply  the 
expression  of  a  wish  to  destroy  the  State.  Holland  and 
Zeeland  would  never  agree  to  any  such  measure,  and  they 
would  find  means  to  compel  the  other  provinces  to  follow 
their  example.  If  there  were  but  three  or  four  cities  in  the 
whole  country  to  reject  the  truce,  he  would,  with  their  as 
sistance  alone,  defend  the  freedom  of  the  republic,  or  at  least 
die  an  honourable  death  in  its  defence.  This  at  least  would 
be  better  than  after  a  few  months  to  become  slaves  of  Spain. 
Such  a  result  was  the  object  of  those  who  began  this  work, 
but  he  would  resist  it  at  the  peril  of  his  life.33 

A  singular  incident  now  seemed  to  justify  the  wrath  of  the 
stadholder,  and  to  be  likely  to  strengthen  his  party. 

Young  Count  John  of  Nassau  happened  to  take  possession 
of  the  apartments  in  Goswyn  Meursken's  hostelry  at  the 
Hague,  just  vacated  by  Kichardot.  In  the  drawer  of  a 
writing-table  was  found  a  document,  evidently  left  there  by 
the  president.  This  paper  was  handed  by  Count  John  to 
his  cousin,  Frederic  Henry,  who  at  once  delivered  it  to  his 
brother  Maurice.  The  prince  produced  it  in  the  assembly  of 
the  States-General,  members  from  each  province  were  fur 
nished  with  a  copy  of  it  within  two  or  three  hours,  and  it 
was  soon  afterwards  printed  and  published.  The  document, 
being  nothing  less  than  the  original  secret  instructions  of 

«  Resol.  Holl.  30  Sept.  1608,  bl.  223.     Wagenaar,  ix.  388. 
33  Wagenaar,  ix.  389,  390.    Jeannin. 


1608.  RICHARDOT'S  SECRET   INSTRUCTIONS.  439 

the  archdukes  to  their  commissioners,  was  naturally  read 
with  intense  interest  by  the  States-General,  by  the  foreign 
envoys,  and  by  the  general  public.34 

It  appeared,  from  an  inspection  of  the  paper,35  that  the 
commissioners  had  been  told  that,  if  they  should  find 
the  French,  English,  arid  Danish  ambassadors  desirous  of 
being  present  at  the  negotiations  for  the  treaty,  they  were 
to  exclude  them  from  all  direct  participation  in  the  pro 
ceedings.  They  were  to  do  this,  however,  so  sweetly  and 
courteously  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  those  diploma 
tists  to  take  offence,  or  to  imagine  themselves  distrusted. 
On  the  contrary,  the  States-General  were  to  be  informed  that 
their  communication  in  private  on  the  general  subject  with 
the  ambassadors  was  approved  by  the  archdukes,  because  they 
believed  the  sovereigns  of  France,  England,  and  Denmark, 
their  sincere  and  affectionate  friends.  The  commissionerh 
were  instructed  to  domesticate  themselves  as  much  as  possible 
with  President  Jeannin  and  to  manifest  the  utmost  con 
fidence  in  his  good  intentions.  They  were  to  take  the  same 
course  with  the  English  envoys,  but  in  more  general  terms, 
and  were  very  discreetly  to  communicate  to  them  whatever 
they  already  knew,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  carefully  to 
conceal  from  them  all  that  was  still  a  secret. 

They  were  distinctly  told  to  make  the  point  of  the  Catholic 
religion  first  and  foremost  in  the  negotiations  ;  the  arguments 
showing  the  indispensable  necessity  of  securing  its  public 
exercise  in  the  United  Provinces  being  drawn  up  with  con 
siderable  detail.  They  were  to  insist  that  the  republic 
should  absolutely  renounce  the  trade  with  the  East  and  West 
Indies,  and  should  pledge  itself  to  chastise  such  of  its  citizens 
as  might  dare  to  undertake  those  voyages,  as  disturbers  of 
the  peace  and  enemies  of  the  public  repose,  whether  they 
went  to  the  Indies  in  person  or  associated  themselves  with 
men  of  other  nations  for  that  purpose,  under  any  pretext 
whatever.  When  these  points,  together  with  many  matters 
of  detail  less  difficult  of  adjustment,  had  been  satisfactorily 

31  Jeannin,  i.  925,  et  seq.     35  See  the  document  itself  in  Jeannin,  i.  51-58. 


490  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAT.  U 

settled,  the  commissioners  were  to  suggest  measures  of  union 
for  the  common  defence  between  the  united  and  the  obedient 
provinces.  This  matter  was  to  he  broached  very  gently. 
"  In  the  sweetest  terms  possible,"  it  was  to  be  hinted  that  the 
whole  body  of  the  Netherlander  could  protect  itself  against 
every  enemy,  but  if  dismembered,  as  it  was  about  to  be? 
neither  the  one  portion  nor  the  o^her  would  be  safe.  The 
commissioners  were  therefore  to  request  the  offer  of  some 
proposition  from  the  States-General  for  the  common  defence. 
In  case  they  remained  silent,  however,  then  the  commissioners 
were  to  declare  that  the  archdukes  had  no  wish  to  speak 
of  sovereignty  over  the  United  Provinces,  however  limited. 
"  Having  once  given  them  that  morsel  to  swallow,"  said  their 
Highnesses,  "  we  have  nothing  of  the  kind  in  our  thoughts. 
But  if  they  reflect,  it  is  possible  that  they  may  see  fit  to  take 
us  for  protectors." 

The  scheme  was  to  be  managed  with  great  discreetness 
and  delicacy,  and  accomplished  by  hook  or  by  crook,  if  the 
means  could  be  found.  "  You  need  not  be  scrupulous  as  to 
the  form  or  law  of  protection,  provided  the  name  of  protector 
can  be  obtained,"  continued  the  archdukes. 

At  least  the  greatest  pains  were  to  be  taken  that  the  two 
sections  of  the  Netherlands  might  remain  friends.  "  We  are 
in  great  danger  unless  we  rely  upon  each  other,"  it  was  urged. 
"  But  touch  this  chord  very  gently,  lest  the  French  and 
English  hearing  of  it  suspect  some  design  to  injure  them. 
At  least  we  may  each  mutually  agree  to  chastise  such  of  our 
respective  subjects  as  may  venture  to  make  any  alliance  with 
the  enemies  of  the  other." 

It  was  much  disputed  whether  these  instructions  had  been 
^eft  purposely  or  by  accident  in  the  table-drawer.  Jeannin 
could  not  make  up  his  mind  whether  it  was  a  trick  or  not, 
and  the  vociferous  lamentations  of  Kichardot  upon  his  mis 
fortunes  made  little  impression  upon  his  mind.  He  had 
small  confidence  in  any  austerity  of  principle  on  the  part 
of  his  former  fellow-leaguer  that  would  prevent  him  from 
leaving  the  document  by  stealth,  and  then  protesting  that  lie 


1608  THEIR  PUBLICATION  BY  THE  STATES.  491 

had  been  foully  wronged  by  its  coming  to  light.  On  the 
whole,  he  was  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  the  paper  had 
been  stolen  from  him.26 

Barneveld,  after  much  inquiry,  was  convinced  that  it  had 
been  left  in  the  drawer  by  accident.37 

Kichardot  himself  manifested  rage  and  dismay  when  he 
found  that  a  paper,  left  by  chance  in  his  lodgings,  had  been 
published  by  the  States.  Such  a  proceeding  was  a  violation, 
he  exclaimed,  of  the  laws  of  hospitality.  With  equal  justice^ 
he  declared  it  to  be  an  offence  against  the  religious  respect 
due  to  ambassadors,  whose  persons  and  property  were  sacred 
in  foreign  countries.  "  Decency  required  the  States,"  he  said, 
"  to  send  the  document  back  to  him,  instead  of  showing  it  as 
a  trophy,  and  he  was  ready  to  die  of  shame  and  vexation  at 
the  unlucky  incident."38 

Few  honourable  men  will  disagree  with  him  in  these  com 
plaints,  although  many  contemporaries  obstinately  refused 
to  believe  that  the  crafty  and  experienced  diplomatist  could 
have  so  carelessly  left  about  his  most  important  archives. 
He  was  generally  thought  by  those  who  had  most  dealt  with 
him,  to  prefer,  on  principle,  a  crooked  path  to  a  straight 
one.  "  "Pis  a  mischievous  old  monkey,"  said  Villeroy  on 
another  occasion,  "  that  likes  always  to  turn  its  tail  instead 
of  going  directly  to  the  purpose."39  The  archduke,  however, 
was  very  indulgent  to  his  plenipotentiary.  "  My  good  master," 
said  the  president,  "  so  soon  as  he  learned  the  loss  of  that 
accursed  paper,  benignantly  consoled,  instead  of  chastising 
me ;  and,  after  having  looked  over  the  draught,  was  glad 
that  the  accident  had  happened  ;  for  thus  his  sincerity  had 
been  proved,  and  those  who  sought  profit  by  the  trick  had 
been  confounded."  40  On  the  other  hand,  what  good  could  it 
do  to  the  cause  of  peace,  that  these  wonderful  instructions 
should  be  published  throughout  the  republic  ?  They  might 
almost  seem  a  fiction,  invented  by  the  war  party  to  inspire 
a  general  disgust  for  any  further  negotiation.  Every  loyal 

36  Jeannin,  i.  914,  919,  925.  "  Ibid.  919  «  Ibid.  924 

39  Ibid  ii.  129  40  Ibid.  21. 


492  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS,  CHAP.  LI 

Netherlands  would  necessarily  be  qualmish  at  the  word 
peace,  now  that  the  whole  design  of  the  Spanish  party  was 
disclosed. 

The  public  exercise  of  the  Roman  religion  was  now  known 
to  be  the  indispensable  condition — first,  last,  and  always 
— to  any  possible  peace.  Every  citizen  of  the  republic  was 
to  be  whipped  out  of  the  East  and  West  Indies,  should  he 
dare  to  show  his  face  in  those  regions.  The  States-General, 
while  swallowing  the  crumb  of  sovereignty  vouchsafed  by  the 
archdukes,  were  to  accept  them  as  protectors,  in  order  not  to 
fall  a  prey  to  the  enemies  whom  they  imagined  to  be  their 
friends. 

What  could  be  more  hopeless  than  such  negotiations  ? 
What  more  dreary  than  the  perpetual  efforts  of  two  lines  to 
approach  each  other  which  were  mathematically  incapable 
of  meeting  ?  That  the  young  republic,  conscious  of  her  daily 
growing  strength,  should  now  seek  refuge  from  her  nobly 
won  independence  in  the  protectorate  of  Albert,  who  was 
himself  the  vassal  of  Philip,  was  an  idea  almost  inconceivable 
to  the  Dutch  mind.  Yet  so  impossible  was  it  for  the  arch- 
dukos  to  put  themselves  into  human  relations  with  this 
new  and  popular  Government,  that  in  the  inmost  recesses 
of  their  breasts  they  actually  believed  themselves,  when 
making  the  offer,  to  be  performing  a  noble  act  of  Christian 
charity. 

The  efforts  of  Jeannin  and  of  the  English  ambassador  were 
now  unremitting,  and  thoroughly  seconded  by  Barneveld. 
Maurice  was  almost  at  daggers  drawn,  not  only  with  the 
Advocate  but  with  the  foreign  envoys.  Sir  Ealph  Winwood, 
who  had,  in  virtue  of  the  old  treaty  arrangements  with 
England,  a  seat  in  the  state-council  at  the  Hague,  and  who 
was  a  man  of  a  somewhat  rough  and  insolent  deportment, 
took  occasion  at  a  session  of  that  body,  when  the  prince  was 
present,  to  urge  the  necessity  of  at  once  resuming  the  rup 
tured  negotiations.  The  King  of  Great  Britain,  he  said,  only 
recommended  a  course  which  he  was  himself  always  ready 
to  pursue.  Hostilities  which  were  necessary,  and  no  others, 


1608.  ENDEAVORS  FOR  A  TRUCE.  493 

were  just.  Such,  and  such  only,  could  be  favoured  by  God 
or  by  pious  kings.  But  wars  were  not  necessary  which  could 
be  honourably  avoided.  A  truce  was  not  to  be  despised,  by 
which  religious  liberty  and  commerce  were  secured,  and  it 
was  not  the  part  of  wisdom  to  plunge  into  all  the  horrors  of 
immediate  war  in  order  to  escape  distant  and  problematical 
dangers,  that  might  arise  when  the  truce  should  come  to  an 
end.  If  a  truce  were  now  made,  the  kings  of  both  France 
and  England  would  be  guarantees  for  its  faithful  observance. 
They  would  take  care  that  no  wrong  or  affront  was  offered 
to  the  States-General.41 

Maurice  replied,  with  a  sneer,  to  these  sententious  common 
places  derived  at  second-hand  from  King  James  that  great 
kings  were  often  very  indifferent  to  injuries  sustained  by 
their  friends.  Moreover,  there  was  an  eminent  sovereign,  he 
continued,  who  was  even  very  patient  under  affronts  directly 
offered  to  himself.  It  was  not  very  long  since  a  horrible 
plot  had  been  discovered  to  murder  the  King  of  England, 
with  his  wife,  his  children,  and  all  the  great  personages  of 
the  realm.  That  this  great  crime  had  been  attempted  under 
the  immediate  instigation  of  the  King  of  Spain  was  notorious 
to  the  whole  world,  and  certainly  no  secret  to  King  James. 
Yet  his  Britannic  Majesty  had  made  haste  to  exonerate  the 
great  criminal  from  all  complicity  in  the  crime  ;  and  had 
ever  since  been  fawning  upon  the  Catholic  king,  and  han 
kering  for  a  family  alliance  with  him.  Conduct  like  this  the 
prince  denounced  in  plain  terms  as  cringing  and  cowardly, 
and  expressed  the  opinion  that  guarantees  of  Dutch  indepen 
dence  from  such  a  monarch  could  hardly  be  thought  very 
valuable. 

These  were  terrible  words  for  the  representative  of  James 
to  have  hurled  in  his  face  in  full  council  by  the  foremost 
personage  of  the  republic.  Winwood  fell  into  a  furious 
passion,  and  of  course  there  was  a  violent  scene,  with  much 
subsequent  protesting  and  protocolling. 


41  Wagenaar,  «.  408,  409.     Grotius,  xvii.  79.1,    Van  der  Kemp,  iii,  48, 
Jeomun. 


494  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI 

The  British  king  insisted  that  the  prince  should  make 
public  amends  for  the  insult,  and  Maurice  firmly  refused  to 
do  anything  of  the  kind.  The  matter  was  subsequently 
arranged  by  some  amicable  concessions  made  by  the  prince 
in  a  private  letter  to  James,  but  there  remained  for  the  time 
a  sfcate  of  alienation  between  England  and  the  republic,  at 
which  the  French  sincerely  rejoiced.  The  incident,  how 
ever,  sufficiently  shows  the  point  of  exasperation  which  the 
prince  had  reached,  for,  although  choleric,  he  was  a  reason- 
able  man,  and  it  was  only  because  the  whole  course  of  the 
negotiations  had  offended  his  sense  of  honour  and  of  right 
that  he  had  at  last  been  driven  quite  beyond  the  bounds  of 
self-control.42 

On  the  13th  of  October,  the  envoys  of  France,  England, 
Denmark,  and  of  the  Elector  Palatine,  the  Elector 

13  Oct 

of  Brandeburg,  and  other  German  princes,  came 
before  the  States-General. 

Jeannin,  in  the  name  of  all  these  foreign  ministers,  made 
a  speech  warmly  recommending  the  truce/'43 

He  repelled  the  insinuation  that  the  measure  proposed 
had  been  brought  about  by  the  artifices  of  the  enemy,  and 
was  therefore  odious.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  originated  by 
himself  and  the  other  good  friends  of  the  republic. 

In  his  opinion,  the  terms  of  the  suggested  truce  contained 
sufficient  guarantees  for  the  liberty  of  the  provinces,  not  only 
during  the  truce,  but  for  ever. 

No  stronger  recognition  of  their  independence  could  be 
expected  than  the  one  given.  It  was  entirely  without  ex 
ample,  argued  the  president,  that  in  similar  changes  brought 
about  by  force  of  arms,  sovereigns  after  having  been  despoiled 
of  their  states  have  been  compelled  to  abandon  their  rights 
shamefully  by  a  public  confession,  unless  they  had  absolutely 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies  and  were  completely 
at  their  mercy.  "  Yet  the  princes  who  made  this  great  con 
cession,"  continued  Jeannin,  "are  not  lying  vanquished  at 

42  Jeannin,  ii.  303,  304,  and  authorities  last  cited.     Winwood,  ii.  353,  354. 
43  See  the  text  in  Jeannin,  ii.  3-8. 


1008.  DISCUSSION  OF  CONDITIONS.  495 

your  feet,  nor  reduced  by  dire  necessity  to  yield  what  they 
have  yielded." 

He  reminded  the  assembly  that  the  Swiss  enjoyed  at  that 
moment  their  liberty  in  virtue  of  a  simple  truce,  without 
ever  having  obtained  from  their  former  sovereign  a  declara 
tion  such  as  was  now  offered  to  the  United  Provinces. 

The  president  argued,  moreover,  with  much  force  and 
acuteness  that  it  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  States,  and 
inconsistent  with  their  consciousness  of  strength,  to  lay  so 
much  stress  on  the  phraseology  by  which  their  liberty  was 
recognised.  That  freedom  had  been  won  by  the  sword,  and 
would  be  maintained  against  all  the  world  by  the  sword. 

"  In  truth,"  said  the  orator,  "  you  do  wrong  to  your  liberty 
by  calling  it  so  often  in  doubt,  and  in  claiming  with  so  much 
contentious  anxiety  from  your  enemies  a  title-deed  for  your 
independence.  You  hold  it  by  your  own  public  decree.  In 
virtue  of  that  decree,  confirmed  by  the  success  of  your  arms, 
you  have  enjoyed  it  long.  Nor  could  anything  obtained 
from  your  enemies  be  of  use  to  you  if  those  same  arms  with 
which  you  gained  your  liberty  could  not  still  preserve  it  for 
you." 

Therefore,  in  the  opinion  of  the  president,  this  persistence 
in  demanding  a  more  explicit  and  unlimited  recognition  of 
independence  was  only  a  pretext  for  continuing  the  war, 
ingeniously  used  by  those  who  hated  peace. 

Addressing  himself  more  particularly  to  the  celebrated 
circular  letter  of  Prince  Maurice  against  the  truce,  the  presi 
dent  maintained  that  the  liberty  of  the  republic  was  as  much 
acknowledged  in  the  proposed  articles  as  if  the  words  "  for 
ever  "  had  been  added.  "  To  acknowledge  liberty  is  an  act 
which,  by  its  very  nature,  admits  of  no  conditions,"  he  ob 
served,  with  considerable  force.44 

The  president  proceeded  to  say  that  in  the  original  nego 
tiations  the  qualifications  obtained  had  seemed  to  him 
enough.  As  there  was  an  ardent  desire,  however,  on  the 
part  of  many  for  a  more  explicit  phraseology,  as  something 

44  Ecrit  fait  par  Monsieur  Jeannin,  13  Oct.  1608.     Text  in  Jeannin,  ii.  8-19. 


496  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.L!. 

necessary  to  the  public  safety,  he  had  thought  it  worth  at 
tempting. 

"We  all  rejoiced  when  you  obtained  it,"  continued 
Jeannin,  "  but  not  when  they  agreed  to  renounce  the  names, 
titles,  and  arms  of  the  United  Provinces  ;  for  that  seemed  to 
us  shameful  for  them  beyond  all  example.  That  princes 
should  make  concessions  so  entirely  unworthy  of  their  gran 
deur,  excited  at  once  our  suspicion,  for  we  could  not  imagine 
the  cause  of  an  offer  so  specious.  We  have  since  found  out 
the  reason." 45 

The  archdukes  being  unable,  accordingly,  to  obtain  for  the 
truce  those  specious  conditions  which  Spain  had  originally 
pretended  to  yield,  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  old  diplomatist 
that  the  king  should  be  permitted  to  wear  the  paste  substi 
tutes  about  which  so  many  idle  words  had  been  wasted. 

It  would  be  better,  he  thought,  for  the  States  to  be  con 
tented  with  what  was  precious  and  substantial,  and  not  to 
lose  the  occasion  of  making  a  good  treaty  of  truce,  which 
was  sure  to  be  converted  with  time  into  an  absolute  peace. 

"  It  is  certain,"  he  said,  "  that  the  princes  with  whom  you 
are  treating  will  never  go  to  law  with  you  to  get  an  exposi 
tion  of  the  article  in  question.  After  the  truce  has  expired, 
they  will  go  to  war  with  you  if  you  like,  but  they  will  not 
trouble  themselves  to  declare  whether  they  are  fighting  you 
as  rebels  or  as  enemies,  nor  will  it  very  much  signify.  If 
their  arms  are  successful,  they  will  give  you  no  explanations. 
If  you  are  the  conquerors,  they  will  receive  none.  The  for 
tune  of  war  will  be  the  supreme  judge  to  decide  the  dispute, 
not  the  words  of  a  treaty.  Those  words  are  always  inter 
preted  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  weak  and  the  vanquished, 
although  they  may  be  *so  perfectly  clear  that  no  man  could 
doubt  them  ;  never  to  the  prejudice  of  those  who  have  proved 
the  validity  of  their  rights  by  the  strength  of  their  arms."46 

This   honest,    straightforward  cynicism,   coming  from   the 
lips  of  one  of  the  most  experienced  diplomatists  of  Europe, 
was  difficult  to  gainsay.     Speaking  as  one  having  authority, 
46  Jeannin,  ii  8-19.  4«  Ibid. 


1608.  SPEECH  OF  PRESIDENT  JEANNIN.  497 

the  president  told  the  States-General  in  full  assembly,  that 
there  was  no  law  in  Christendom,  as  between  nations,  but 
the  good  old  fist-law,  the  code  of  brute  force. 

Two  centuries  and  a  half  have  rolled  by  since  that  oration 
was  pronounced,  and  the  world  has  made  immense  progress 
in  science  during  that  period.  But  there  is  still  room  for 
improvement  in  this  regard  in  the  law  of  nations.  Certainly 
there  is  now  a  little  more  reluctance  to  come  so  nakedly 
before  the  world.  But  has  the  cause  of  modesty  or  humanity 
gained  very  much  by  the  decorous  fig-leaves  of  modern 
diplomacy  ? 

The  president  alluded  also  to  the  ungrounded  fears  that 
bribery  and  corruption  would  be  able  to  effect  much,  during 
the  truce,  towards  the  reduction  of  the  provinces  under  their 
repudiated  sovereign.  After  all,  it  was  difficult  to  buy  up  a 
whole  people.  In  a  commonwealth,  where  the  People  was 
sovereign,  and  the  persons  of  the  magistrates  ever  changing, 
those  little  comfortable  commercial  operations  could  not  be 
managed  so  easily  as  in  civilized  realms  like  France  and 
England.  The  old  Leaguer  thought  with  pensive  regret,  no 
doubt,  of  the  hard,  but  still  profitable  bargains  by  which  the 
Guises  and  Mayennes  and  Mercceurs,  and  a  few  hundred  of 
their  noble  adherents,  had  been  brought  over  to  the  cause 
of  the  king.  He  sighed  at  the  more  recent  memories  of  the 
Marquis  de  Kosny's  embassy  in  England,  and  his  largess 
scattered  broadcast  among  the  great  English  lords.  It  would 
be  of  little  use  he  foresaw — although  the  instructions  of 
Henry  were  in  his  portfolio,  giving  him  almost  unlimited 
powers  to  buy  up  everybody  in  the  Netherlands  that  could 
be  bought — to  attempt  that  kind  of  traffic  on  a  large  scale  in 
the  Netherlands. 

Those  republicans  were  greedy  enough  about  the  naviga 
tion  to  the  East  and  West  Indies,  and  were  very  litigious 
about  the  claim  of  Spain  to  put  up  railings  around  the  ocean 
as  her  private  lake,  but  they  were  less  keen  than  were  their 
more  polished  contemporaries  for  the  trade  in  human  souls. 

"  When  we  consider,"  said  Jeannin,  "  the  constitution  of 

VOL.  iv. — 2  K 


498  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI.    • 

your  State,  and  that  to  corrupt  a  few  people  among  you  does 
no  good  at  all,  because  the  frequent  change  of  magistracies 
takes  away  the  means  of  gaining  over  many  of  them  at  the 
same  time,  capable  by  a  long  duration  of  their  power  to  con 
duct  an  intrigue  against  the  commonwealth,  this  fear  must 
appear  wholly  vain."47 

And  then  the  old  Leaguer,  who  had  always  refused  bribes 
himself,  although  he  had  negotiated  much  bribery  of  others, 
warmed  into  sincere  eloquence  as  he  spoke  of  the  simple 
virtues  on  which  the  little  republic,  as  should  be  the  case 
with  all  republics,  was  founded.  He  did  homage  to  the 
Dutch  love  of  liberty. 

"  Kemember,"  he  said,  "  the  love  of  liberty  which  is  en 
graved  in  the  hearts  of  all  your  inhabitants,  and  that  there 
are  few  persons  now  living  who  were  born  in  the  days  of  the 
ancient  subjection,  or  who  have  not  been  nourished  and 
brought  up  for  so  long  a  time  in  liberty  that  they  have  a 
horror  for  the  very  name  of  servitude.  You  will  then  feel 
that  there  is  not  one  man  in  your  commonwealth  who  would 
wish  or  dare  to  open  his  mouth  to  bring  you  back  to  subjec 
tion,  without  being  in  danger  of  instant  punishment  as  a 
traitor  to  his  country."  48 

He  again  reminded  his  hearers  that  the  Swiss  had  con 
cluded  a  long  and  perilous  war  with  their  ancient  masters  by 
a  simple  truce,  during  which  they  had  established  so  good  a 
government  that  they  were  never  more  attacked.  Honest 
republican  principles,  and  readiness  at  any  moment  to  de 
fend  dearly  won  liberties,  had  combined  with  geographical 
advantages  to  secure  the  national  independence  of  Switzer 
land.49 

Jeannin  paid  full  tribute  to  the  maritime  supremacy  of 
the  republic. 

"  You  may  have  as  much  good  fortune,"  he  said,  "  as  the 

Swiss,  if  you  are   wise.     You  have  the  ocean  at  your  side, 

great  navigable  rivers   enclosing   you   in   every  direction,    a 

multitude  of  ships,  with  sailors,  pilots,  and  seafaring  men  of 

4?  ^annin,  ii,  8-19.  **  Ibid,  «  Ibi<J, 


1608.     ANIMOSITY  BETWEEN  MAURICE  AND  BARNEVELD.      499 

every  description,  who  are  the  very  best  soldiers  in  battles  at 
sea  to  be  found  in  Christendom.  With  these  you  will  pre 
serve  your  military  vigour  and  your  habits  of  navigation,  the 
long  voyages  to  which  you  are  accustomed  continuing  as  usual. 
And  such  is  the  kind  of  soldiers  you  require.  As  for  auxiliaries, 
should  you  need  them  you  know  where  to  find  them/'50 

The  president  implored  the  States-General  accordingly  to 
pay  no  attention  to  the  writings  which  were  circulated  among 
the  people  to  prejudice  them  against  the  truce. 

This  was  aimed  directly  at  the  stadholder,  who  had  been 
making  so  many  direct  personal  appeals  to  the  people,  and 
who  was  now  the  more  incensed,  recognising  the  taunt  of  the 
president  as  an  arrow  taken  from  Barneveld's  quiver.  There 
had  long  ceased  to  be  any  communication  between  the  Prince 
and  the  Advocate,  and  Maurice  made  no  secret  of  his  bitter 
animosity  both  to  Barnevold  and  to  Jeannin. 

He  hesitated  on  no  occasion  to  denounce  the  Advocate 
as  travelling  straight  on  the  road  to  Spain,  and  although  he 
was  not  aware  of  the  twenty  thousand  florins  recently  pre 
sented  by  the  French  king,  he  had  accustomed  himself,  with 
the  enormous  exaggeration  of  party  spirit,  to  look  upon  the 
first  statesman  of  his  country  and  of  Europe  as  a  traitor  to 
the  republic  and  a  tool  of  the  archdukes.  As  we  look  back 
upon  those  passionate  days,  we  cannot  but  be  appalled  at  the 
depths  to  which  theological  hatred  could  descend. 

On  the  very  morning  after  the  session  of  the  assembly  in 
which  Jeannin  had  been  making  his  great  speech, 
and   denouncing   the  practice  of  secret  and  incen 
diary  publication,  three  remarkable  letters  were  found  on  the 
doorstep  of  a  house  in  the  Hague.     One  was  addressed  to  the 
States-General,  another  to  the  States  of  Holland,  and  a  third 
to  the  burgomaster  of  Amsterdam.      In  all  these  documents, 
the  Advocate  was  denounced  as  an  infamous  traitor,  who  was 
secretly  intriguing  to  bring  about  a  truce  for  the  purpose  of 
handing  over  the  commonwealth  to  the  enemy.     A  shameful 
death,  it  was  added,  would  be  his  fitting  reward.51 
50  Jeannin,  ii.  8-19.    61  Wagenaar,  ix.  411, 412.    Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  51, 52, 


500  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP  LI. 

Thse  letters  were  read  in  the  Assembly  of  the  States- 
General,  and  created  great  wrath  among  the  friends  of 
Barneveld.  Even  Maurice  expressed  indignation,  and  favoured 
a,  search  for  the  anonymous  author,  in  order  that  he  might 
be  severely  punished. 

It  seems  strange  enough  that  anonymous  letters  picked  up 
in  the  street  should  have  been  deemed  a  worthy  theme  of 
discussion  before  their  High  Mightinesses  the  States- General 
Moreover,  it  was  raining  pamphlets  and  libels  against  Barne 
veld  and  his  supporters  every  day,  and  the  stories  which 
grave  burghers  and  pious  elders  went  about  telling  to  each 
other,  and  to  everybody  who  would  listen  to  them,  about  the 
Advocate's  depravity,  were  wonderful  to  hear. 

At  the  end  of  September,  just  before  the  Spanish  commis 
sioners  left  the  Hague,  a  sledge  of  the  kind  used  in  the 
Dutch  cities  as  drays  stopped  before  Barneveld's  front-door 
one  fine  morning,  and  deposited  several  large  baskets,  filled 
with  money,  sent  by  the  envoys  for  defraying  certain  ex 
penses  of  forage,  hire  of  servants,  and  the  like,  incurred  by 
them  during  their  sojourn  at  the  Hague,  and  disbursed  by 
the  States.  The  sledge,  with  its  contents,  was  at  once  sent 
by  order  of  the  Advocate,  under  guidance  of  Commissary 
John  Spronsen,  to  the  Receiver-General  of  the  republic.52 

Yet  men  wagged  their  beards  dismally  as  they  whispered 
this  fresh  proof  of  Barneveld's  venality.  As  if  Spinola  and 
his  colleagues  were  such  blunderers  in  bribing  as  to  send 
bushel  baskets  full  of  Spanish  dollars  on  a  sledge,  in  broad 
daylight,  to  the  house  of  a  great  statesman  whom  they  meant 
to  purchase,  expecting  doubtless  a  receipt  in  full  to  be  brought 
back  by  the  drayman  !  Well  might  the  Advocate  say  at  a 
later  moment,  in  the  bitterness  of  his  spirit,  that  his  enemies, 
not  satisfied  with  piercing  his  heart  with  their  false,  injurious 
and  honour-filching  libels  and  stories,  were  determined  to 
break  it.  "  He  begged  God  Almighty,"  he  said,  "to  be 
merciful  to  him,  and  to  judge  righteously  between  him  and 
them."5-3 

62  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  54,  229,  230.  M  Ibid.  229. 


1608  VIOLENT  PA&TY  FEELING.  501 

Party  spirit  has  rarely  run  higher  in  any  commonwealth 
than  in  Holland  during  these  memorable  debates  concerning 
a  truce.  Yet  the  leaders  both  of  the  war  party  and  the  truce 
party  were  doubtless  pure,  determined  patriots,  seeking  their 
country's  good  with  all  their  souls  and  strength. 

Maurice  answered  the  discourse  of  Jeannin  by  a  second 
and  very  elaborate  letter.  In  this  circular,  addressed 
to  the  magistracies  of  Holland,  he  urged  his  country 
men  once  more  with  arguments  already  employed  by  him, 
and  in  more  strenuous  language  than  ever,  to  beware  of  a 
truce  even  more  than  of  a  peace,  and  warned  them  not  to 
swerve  by  a  hair's  breadth  from  the  formula  in  regard  to  the 
sovereignty  agreed  upon  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  nego 
tiations.54  To  this  document  was  appended  a  paper  of  con 
siderations,  drawn  up  by  Maurice  and  Lewis  William,  in 
refutation,  point  by  point,  of  all  the  arguments  of  President 
Jeannin  in  his  late  discourse. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  do  more  than  allude  to  these  docu 
ments,  which  were  marked  by  the  close  reasoning  and  fiery 
spirit  which  characterized  all  the  appeals  of  the  prince  and 
his  cousin  at  this  period,  because  the  time  had  now  come 
which  comes  to  all  controversies  when  argument  is  exhausted 
and  either  action  or  compromise  begins. 

Meantime,  Barneveld,  stung  almost  to  madness  by  the 
poisonous  though  ephemeral  libels  which  buzzed  so  per 
petually  about  him,  had  at  last  resolved  to  retire  from  the 
public  service.  He  had  been  so  steadily  denounced  as  being 
burthensome  to  his  superiors  in  birth  by  the  power  which  he 
had  acquired,  and  to  have  shot  "up  so  far  above  the  heads  of 
his  equals,  that  he  felt  disposed  to  withdraw  from  a  field 
where  his  presence  was  becoming  odious. 

His  enemies,  of  course,  considered  this  determination  a 
trick  by  which  he  merely  wished  to  prove  to  the  country 
how  indispensable  he  was,  and  to  gain  a  fresh  lease  of  his 
almost  unlimited  power  by  the  alarm  which  his  proposed 
abdication  would  produce.  Certainly,  however,  if  it  were  a 

VOL  II— 16*  M  ^eann*n' "•  35-33,  gives  the  text. 


502  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LL 

trick,  and  he  were  not  indispensable,  it  was  easy  enough  to 
prove  it  and  to  punish  him  by  taking  him  at  his  word. 

On  the  morning  after  the  anonymous  letters  had  been 
found  in  the  street  he  came  into  the  House  of  Assembly 
and  made  a  short  speech.  He  spoke  simply  of  his  thirty- 
one  years  of  service,  during  which  he  believed  himself  to 
have  done  his  best  for  the  good  of  the  fatherland  and  for 
the  welfare  of  the  house  of  Nassau.  He  had  been  ready 
thus  to  go  on  to  the  end,  but  he  saw  himself  environed  by 
enemies,  and  felt  that  his  usefulness  had  been  destroyedo 
He  wished,  therefore,  in  the  interest  of  the  country,  not 
from  any  fear  for  himself,  to  withdraw  from  the  storm,  and 
for  a  time  at  least  to  remain  in  retirement.  The  dis 
pleasure  and  hatred  of  the  great  were  nothing  new  to  him, 
he  said.  He  had  never  shrunk  from  peril  when  he  could 
serve  his  fatherland  ;  for  against  all  calumnies  and  all  acci 
dents  he  had  worn  the  armour  of  a  quiet  conscience.  But 
he  now  saw  that  the  truce,  in  itself  an  unpleasant  affair, 
was  made  still  more  odious  by  the  hatred  felt  towards 
him.  He  begged  the  provinces,  therefore,  to  select  anothc 
servant  less  hated  than  himself  to  provide  for  the  publi< 
welfare.55 

Having  said  these  few  words  with  the  dignity  which  was 
natural  to  him  he  calmly  walked  out  of  the  Assembly 
House.56 

The    personal   friends  of  Barneveld   and  the   whole  truce 
party    were    in    consternation.      Even    the    enemies   of   the  I 
Advocate   shrank  appalled  at  the  prospect  of  losing  the  ser-  | 
vices    of  the   foremost   statesman   of  the   commonwealth   at 
this  critical  juncture.     There  was  a  brief  and  animated  dis 
cussion  as  soon  as  his  back  was  turned.     Its  result  was  the  ', 
appointment  of  a  committee  of  five  to  wait  upon  Barneveld 
and  solemnly  to  request  him  to  reconsider  his  decision.    Their 
efforts   were  successful.     After  a  satisfactory  interview  with 
the  committee  he  resumed  his  functions  with  greater  authority 
than    ever.57      Of  course   there   were   not  wanting  many  to 

^  Wagenaar,  ix.  411, 412.    Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  51,  52.      «  Ibid.      «  Ibid. 


1608.  RESIGNATION  OF    BARNEVELD.  503 

whisper  that  the  whole  proceeding  had  been  a  comedy,  and 
that  Barneveld  would  have  been  more  embarrassed  than  he 
had  ever  been  in  his  life  had  his  resignation  been  seriously 
accepted.  But  this  is  easy  to  say,  and  is  always  said, 
whenever  a  statesman  who  feels  himself  aggrieved,  yet 
knows  himself  useful,  lays  down  his  office.  The  Advocate 
had  been  the  mark  of  unceasing  and  infamous  calumnieSo 
He  had  incurred  the  deadly  hatred  of  the  highest  placed,  the 
most  powerful,  and  the  most  popular  man  in  the  common 
wealth.  He  had  more  than  once  been  obliged  to  listen  to 
opprobrious  language  from  the  prince,  and  it  was  even  whis 
pered  that  he  had  been  threatened  with  personal  violence. 
That  Maurice  was  perpetually  denouncing  him  in  public  and 
private,  as  a  traitor,  a  papist,  a  Spanish  partisan,  was  noto 
rious.  He  had  just  been  held  up  to  the  States  of  the  union 
and  of  his  own  province  by  unknown  voices  as  a  criminal 
worthy  of  death.  Was  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  man  of 
sixty,  who  had  passed  his  youth,  manhood,  and  old  age  in 
the  service  of  the  republic,  and  was  recognised  by  all  as  the 
ablest,  the  most  experienced,  the  most  indefatigable  of  her 
statesmen,  should  be  seriously  desirous  of  abandoning  an 
office  which  might  well  seem  to  him  rather  a  pillory  than  a 
post  of  honour  ? 

"  As  for  neighbour  Barneveld,"  said  recorder  Aerssens,58 
little  dreaming  of  the  foul  witness  he  was  to  bear  against  that 
neighbour  at  a  terrible  moment  to  come,  "  I  do  what  I  can 
and  wish  to  help  him  with  my  blood.  He  is  more  courageous 
than  I.  I  should  have  sunk  long  ago,  had  I  been  obliged  to 
stand  against  such  tempests.  The  Lord  God  will,  I  hope, 
help  him  and  direct  his  understanding  for  the  good  of  all 
Christendom,  and  for  his  own  honour.  If  he  can  steer  this 
ship  into  a  safe  harbour  we  ought  to  raise  a  golden  statue  of 
him.  I  should  like  to  contribute  my  mite  to  it.  He  deserves 
twice  as  much  honour,  despite  all  his  enemies,  of  whom 
he  has  many  rather  from  envy  than  from  reason.  May 

68  Aerssens  and  the  Advocate  were  next  door  neighbours  in  the  Spui  straat, 
fit  the  Hague,  Peventer,  iii.  371. 


504  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LL 

the  Lord  keep  him  in  health,  or  it  will  go  hardly  with 
us  all/'59 

Thus  spoke  some  of  his  grateful  countrymen  when  the 
Advocate  was  contending  at  a  momentous  crisis  with  storms 
threatening  to  overwhelm  the  republic.  Alas  !  where  is  the 
golden  statue  ? 

He  believed  that  the  truce  was  the  most  advantageous 
measure  that  the  country  could  adopt.  He  believed  this 
with  quite  as  much  sincerity  as  Maurice  held  to  his  con 
viction  that  war  was  the  only  policy.  In  the  secret  letter  of 
the  French  ambassador  there  is  not  a  trace  of  suspicion  as  to 
his  fidelity  to  the  commonwealth,  not  the  shadow  of  proof 
of  the  ridiculous  accusation  that  he  wished  to  reduce  the 
provinces  to  the  dominion  of  Spain.  Jeannin,  who  had  no 
motive  for  concealment  in  his  confidential  correspondence 
with  his  sovereign,  always  rendered  unequivocal  homage  to 
the  purity  and  patriotism  of  the  Advocate  and  the  Prince. 

He  returned  to  the  States-General  and  to  the  discharge  of 
his  functions  as  Advocate-General  of  Holland.  His  policy 
for  the  time  was  destined  to  be  triumphant,  his  influence 
more  extensive  than  ever.  But  the  end  of  these  calumnies 
and  anonymous  charges  was  not  yet. 

Meantime  the  opposition  to  the  truce  was  confined  to  the 
States  of  Zeeland  and  two  cities  of  Holland.60  Those  cities 
were  very  important  ones,  Amsterdam  and  Delft,  but  they 
were  already  wavering  in  their  opposition.  Zeeland  stoutly 
maintained  that  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  forbade  a  decision  of 
the  question  of  peace  and  war  except  by  a  unanimous  vote 
of  the  whole  confederacy.  The  other  five  provinces  and  the 
friends  of  the  truce  began  with  great  vehemence  to  declare 
that  the  question  at  issue  was  now  changed.  It  was  no 
longer  to  be  decided  whether  there  should  be  truce  or  war 
with  Spain,  but  whether  a  single  member  of  the  confederacy 
could  dictate  its  law  to  the  other  six  States.  Zeeland,  on 
her  part,  talked  loudly  of  seceding  from  the  union,  and 

w  Aerssens  to  Van  der  Veecken,  7  Nov.  1608.     In  Deventer,  iii.  272. 
60  Wagenaar,  ix.  414. 


1608.  LAMBERT'S  MISSION  TO  HENRY.  505 

setting  up  for  an  independent,  sovereign  commonwealth.61 
She  would  hardly  have  been  a  very  powerful  one,  with  her 
half-dozen  cities,  one  prelate,  one  nobleman,  her  hundred 
thousand  burghers  at  most,  bustling  and  warlike  as  they 
were,  and  her  few  thousand  mariners,  although  the  most 
terrible  fighting  men  that  had  ever  sailed  on  blue  water. 
She  was  destined  ere  long  to  abandon  her  doughty  resolu 
tion  of  leaving  her  sister  provinces  to  their  fate. 

Maurice  had  not  slackened  in  his  opposition  to  the  truce, 
despite  the  renewed  vigour  with  which  Barneveld  pressed  the 
measure  since  his  return  to  the  public  councils.  The  prince 
was  firmly  convinced  that  the  kings  of  France  and  England 
would  assist  the  republic  in  the  war  with  Spain  so  soon  as  it 
should  be  renewed.  His  policy  had  been  therefore  to  force 
the  hand  of  those  sovereigns,  especially  that  of  Henry,  and  to 
induce  him  to  send  more  stringent  instructions  to  Jeannin 
than  those  with  which  he  believed  him  to  be  furnished.  He 
had  accordingly  despatched  a  secret  emissary  to  the  French 
king,  supplied  with  confidential  and  explicit  instructions. 
This  agent  was  a  Captain  Lambert.  Whether  it  was  "Pretty 
Lambert,"  "  Dandy  Lambert  "  —  the  vice-admiral  who  had 
so  much  distinguished  himself  at  the  great  victory  of  Gib 
raltar — does  not  distinctly  appear.  If  it  were  so,  that  hard 
hitting  mariner  would  seem  to  have  gone  into  action  with 
the  French  Government  as  energetically  as  he  had  done 
eighteen  months  before,  when,  as  master  of  the  Tiger,  he 
laid  himself  aboard  the  Spanish  admiral  and  helped  send  the 
St.  Augustine  to  the  bottom.  He  seemed  indisposed  to  mince 
matters  in  diplomacy.  He  intimated  to  the  king  and  his 
ministers  that  Jeannin  and  his  colleagues  were  pushing  the 
truce  at  the  Hague  much  further  and  faster  than  his  Majesty 
could  possibly  approve,  and  that  they  were  obviously  exceed 
ing  their  instructions.  Jeannin,  who  was  formerly  so  much 
honoured  and  cherished  throughout  the  republic,  was  now 
looked  upon  askance  because  of  his  intimacy  with  Barneveld 

81  Wagenaar,  ix  416     "  Zo  ver  liep  de  twist  dat  de  Zeeuwen  spraaken  van 
zich  te  willen  af  zonderen  van  de  overigen. 


506 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  LI. 


and  his  partisans.62  He  assured  the  king  that  nearly  all  the 
cities  of  Holland,  and  the  whole  of  Zeeland,  were  entirely 
agreed  with  Maurice,  who  would  rather  die  than  consent  to 
the  proposed  truce.63  The  other  provinces,  added  Lambert, 
would  be  obliged,  will  ye  nill  ye,  to  receive  the  law  from 
Holland  and  Zeeland.  Maurice,  without  assistance  from 
France  or  any  other  power,  would  give  Spain  and  the  arch 
dukes  as  much  exercise  as  they  could  take  for  the  next 
fifty  years  before  he  would  give  up,  and  had  declared 
that  he  would  rather  die  sword  in  hand  than  basely  betray 
his  country  by  consenting  to  such  a  truce.64  As  for  Barne- 
veld,  he  was  already  discovering  the  blunders  which  he  had 
made,  and  was  trying  to  curry  favour  with  Maurice.65  Barne- 
veld  and  both  the  Aerssens  were  traitors  to  the  State,  had 
become  the  objects  of  general  hatred  and  contempt,  and 
were  in  great  danger  of  losing  their  lives,  or  at  least  of 
being  expelled  from  office.66 

Here  was  altogether  too  much  zeal  on  the  part  of  Pretty 
Lambert ;  a  quality  which,  not  for  the  first  time,  was  thus 
proved  to  be  less  useful  in  diplomatic  conferences  than  in  a 
sea-fight.  Maurice  was  obliged  to  disavow  his  envoy,  and 
to  declare  that  his  secret  instructions  had  never  authorized 
him  to  hold  such  language.  But  the  mischief  was  done. 
The  combustion  in  the  French  cabinet  was  terrible.  The 
Dutch  admiral  had  thrown  hot  shot  into  the  powder-magazine 
of  his  friends,  and  had  done  no  more  good  by  such  tactics 
than  might  be  supposed.  Such  diplomacy  was  denounced  as 
a  mere  mixture  of  "indiscretion  and  impudence/'67  Henry 
was  very  wroth,  and  forthwith  indited  an  imperious  letter  to 
his  cousin  Maurice.68 


"  Jeannin,  i  932. 

63  Ibid  932,  933,  and  ii.  49. 

54  Ibid.  65 

86  Ibid  Compare  for  this  mission 
of  Lambert,  Wagenaar,  ix.  384,  385  ; 
Van  der  Kemp,  lii.  57,  232 

67  Jeannin,  i  932  Every  one  of 
these  amazing  assertions  of  "the  gentle 
ambassador  Lambert"  were  denounced 
by  Jeannin  in  his  letters  to  Villeroy  as 
impudent  falsehoods.  Especially  in 


regard  to  the  pretended  vaunt  of 
Maurice,  that  he  could  carry  on  the 
war  fifty  years  if  France  would  only 
remain  neutral,  the  president  said  that 
he  had  been  expressly  informed  by 
the  prince  that  without  the  assistance 
of  France  the  republic  was  lost  for 
ever — Jeannin,  ii.  45-51. 

68  The  letter  is  given  in  Jeannin,  ii. 
58-64 


1608.  HENRY'S   LETTER  TO  MAURICE.  507 

"  Lambert's  talk  to  me  by  your  orders/'  said  the  king,  "  has 
not  less  astonished  than  scandalized  me.      I   now 
learn  the  new  resolution  which  you  have  taken,  and  I 
observe  that  you  have  begun  to  entertain  suspicions  as  to  my 
will  and  my  counsels  on  account  of  the  proposition  of  truce." 

Henry's  standing  orders  to  Jeannin,  as  we  know,  were  to 
offer  Maurice  a  pension  of  almost  unlimited  amount,  together 
with  ample  rewards  to  all  such  of  his  adherents  as  could  be 
purchased,  provided  they  would  bring  about  the  incorporation 
of  the  United  Provinces  into  France.69  He  was  therefore 
full  of  indignation  that  the  purity  of  his  intentions  and  the 
sincerity  of  his  wish  for  the  independence  of  the  republic 
could  be  called  in  question. 

"  People  have  dared  to  maliciously  invent,"  he  continued, 
"  that  I  am  the  enemy  of  the  repose  and  the  liberty  of  the 
United  Provinces,  and  that  I  was  afraid  lest  they  should 
acquire  the  freedom  which  had  been  offered  them  by  their 
enemies,  because  I  derived  a  profit  from  their  war,  and  in 
tended  in  time  to  deprive  them  of  their  liberty.  Yet  these 
falsehoods  and  jealousies  have  not  been  contradicted  by  you 
nor  by  anyone  else,  although  you  know  that  the  proofs  of  my 
sincerity  and  good  faith  have  been  entirely  without  reproach 
or  example.  You  knew  what  was  said,  written,  and  published 
everywhere,  and  I  confess  that  when  I  knew  this  malice,  and 
that  you  had  not  taken  offence  at  it,  I  was  much  amazed  and 
very  malcontent." 

Queen  Elizabeth,  in  her  most  waspish  moods,  had  not  often 
lectured  the  States-General  more  roundly  than  Henry  now 
lectured  his  cousin  Maurice. 

The  king  once  more  alluded  to  the  secret  emissary's  violent 
talk,  which  had  so  much  excited  his  indignation. 

"If  by  weakness  and  want  of  means,"  he  said,  "you  are 
forced  to  abandon  to  your  enemies  one  portion  of  your 
country  in  order  to  defend  the  other — as  Lambert  tells  me 
you  are  resolved  to  do,  rather  than  agree  to  the  truce  without 
recognition  of  your  sovereignty  for  ever — I  pray  you  to  con- 

69  Jeaimin,  i.  43,  62,  63,  69,  70,  71. 


508  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI 

sider  how  many  accidents  and  reproaches  may  befal  you. 
Do  you  suppose  that  any  ally  of  the  States,  or  of  your 
family,  would  risk  his  reputation  and  his  realms  in  such  a 
game,  which  would  seem  to  be  rather  begun  in  passion  and 
despair  than  required  by  reason  or  necessity  ?  " 

Here  certainly  was  plain  speaking  enough,  and  Maurice 
could  no  longer  expect  the  king  for  his  partner,  should  he 
decide  to  risk  once  more  the  bloody  hazard  of  the  die. 

But  Henry  was  determined  to  leave  no  shade  of  doubt  on 
the  subject. 

"  Lambert  tells  me,"  he  said,  "  that  you  would  rather  perish 
with  arms  in  your  hands  than  fall  shamefully  into  inevitable 
ruin  by  accepting  truce.  I  have  been  and  am  of  a  contrary 
opinion.  Perhaps  I  am  mistaken,  not  knowing  as  well  as 
you  do  the  constitution  of  your  country  and  the  wishes  of 
your  people.  But  I  know  the  general  affairs  of  Christendom 
better  than  you  do,  and  I  can  therefore  judge  more  soundly 
on  the  whole  matter  than  you  can,  and  I  know  that  the  truce, 
established  and  guaranteed  as  proposed,  will  bring  you  more 
happiness  than  you  can  derive  from  war." 

Thus  the  king,  in  the  sweeping,  slashing  way  with  which 
he  could  handle  an  argument  as  well  as  a  sword,  strode 
forward  in  conscious  strength,  cutting  down  right  and  left 
all  opposition  to  his  will.  He  was  determined,  once  for  all,  to 
show  the  stadholder  and  his  adherents  that  the  friendship  of 
a  great  king  was  not  to  be  had  by  a  little  republic  on  easy 
terms,  nor  every  day.  Above  all,  the  Prince  of  Nassau 
was  not  to  send  a  loud-talking,  free  and  easy  Dutch  sea- 
captain  to  dictate  terms  to  the  King  of  France  and  Navarre. 
"Lambert  tells  me" — and  Maurice  might  well  wish  that 
Pretty  Lambert  had  been  sunk  in  the  bay  of  Gibraltar,  Tiger 
and  all,  before  he  had  been  sent  on  this  diplomatic  errand — 
"Lambert  tells  me,"  continued  his  Majesty,  "that  you  and 
the  States-General  would  rather  that  I  should  remain  neutral, 
and  let  you  make  war  in  your  own  fashion,  than  that  I  should 
do  anything  more  to  push  on  this  truce.  My  cousin,  it 
would  be  very  easy  for  me?  and  perhaps  more  advantageous 


1608.  HENRY'S  LETTER  TO  MAURICE.  509 

for  me  and  my  kingdom  than  you  think,  if  I  could  give  you 
•this  satisfaction,  whatever  might  be  the  result.  If  I  chose 
to  follow  this  counsel,  I  am,  thanks  be  to  God,  in  such  con 
dition,  that  I  have  no  neighbour  who  is  not  as  much  in  need 
of  me  as  I  can  be  of  him,  and  who  is  not  glad  to  seek  for 
and  to  preserve  my  friendship.  If  they  should  all  conspire 
against  me  moreover,  I  can  by  myself,  and  with  no  assistance 
but  heaven's,  which  never  failed  me  yet,  wrestle  with  them 
altogether,  and  fling  them  all,  as  some  of  my  royal  predecessors 
have  done.  Know  then,  that  I  do  not  favour  war  nor  truce 
for  the  United  Provinces  because  of  any  need  I  may  have 
of  the  one  or  the  other  for  the  defence  of  my  own  sceptre. 
The  counsels  and  the  succours,  which  you  have  so  largely 
received  from  me,  were  given  because  of  my  consideration  for 
the  good  of  the  States,  and  of  yourself  in  particular,  whom 
I  have  always  favoured  and  cherished,  as  I  have  done  others 
of  your  house  on  many  occasions." 

The  king  concluded  his  lecture  by  saying,  that  after  his 
ambassadors  had  fulfilled  their  promise,  and  had  spoken  the 
last  word  of  their  master  at  the  Hague,  he  should  leave 
Maurice  and  the  States  to  do  as  they  liked. 

"  But  I  desire,"  he  said,  "  that  you  and  the  States  should 
not  do  that  wrong  to  yourselves  or  to  me  as  to  doubt  the 
integrity  of  my  counsels  nor  the  actions  of  my  ambassadors. 
I  am  an  honest  man  and  a  prince  of  my  word,  and  not 
ignorant  of  the  things  of  this  world.  Neither  the  States  nor 
you,  with  your  adherents,  can  permit  my  honour  to  be  com 
promised  without  tarnishing  your  own,  and  without  being 
branded  for  ingratitude.  I  say  not  this  in  order  to  reproach 
you  for  the  past  nor  to  make  you  despair  of  the  future,  but 
to  defend  the  truth.  I  expect,  therefore,  that  you  will  not 
fall  into  this  fault,  knowing  you  as  I  do.  I  pay  more  heed 
to  what  you  said  in  your  letter  than  in  all  Lambert's  fine 
talk,  and  you  will  find  out  that  nobody  wishes  your  prosperity 
and  that  of  the  States  more  sincerely  than  I  do,  or  can  be 
more  useful  to  you  than  I  can." 70 

70  I  have  abbreviated  this  remarkable  letter,  but  of  course  the  text  of  th« 
passages  cited  is  literally  given. 


510  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI 

There  could  be  but  little  doubt  in  the  mind  of  Prince 
Maurice,  after  this  letter  had  been  well  pondered,  that  Bar-r 
neveld  had  won  the  game,  and  that  the  peace  party  had 
triumphed. 

To  resume  the  war,  with  the  French  king  not  merely 
neutral  but  angry  and  covertly  hostile,  and  with  the  sovereign 
of  Great  Britain  an  almost  open  enemy  in  the  garb  of  an 
ally,  might  well  seem  a  desperate  course. 

And  Maurice,  although  strongly  opposed  to  the  truce,  and 
confident  in  his  opinions  at  this  crisis,  was  not  a  desperado. 

He  saw  at  once  the  necessity  of  dismounting  from  the  high 
horse  upon  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  he  had  been  inclined 
for  more  rough-riding  of  late  than  the  situation  warranted. 
Peace  was  unattainable,  war  was  impossible,  truce  was  in 
evitable  ;  Barneveld  was  master  of  the  field. 

The  prince  acquiesced  in  the  result  which  the  letter  from 
the  French  king  so  plainly  indicated.  He  was,  however, 
more  incensed  than  ever  against  Barneveld  ;  for  he  felt  him 
self  not  only  checkmated  but  humiliated  by  the  Advocate, 
and  believed  him  a  traitor,  who  was  selling  the  republic  to 
Spain.  It  was  long  since  the  two  had  exchanged  a  word. 

Maurice  now  declared,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  that  it 
was  useless  for  him  any  longer  to  attempt  opposition  to  the 
policy  of  truce.  The  States  must  travel  on  the  road  which 
they  had  chosen,  but  it  should  not  be  under  his  guidance, 
and  he  renounced  all  responsibility  for  the  issue. 

Dreading  disunion,  however,  more  than  ought  else  that 
could  befal  the  republic,  he  now  did  his  best  to  bring  about 
the  return  of  Zeeland  to  the  federal  councils.  He  was 
successful.71  The  deputies  from  that  province  reappeared  in 
the  States-General  on  the  llth  November.  They  were  still 
earnest,  however,  in  their  opposition  to  the  truce,  and  warmly 
maintained,  in  obedience  to  instructions,  that  the  Union  of 
Utrecht  forbade  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  except  by  unani 
mous  consent  of  the  Seven  Provinces.  They  were  very  fierce 
in  their  remonstrances,  and  again  talked  loudly  of  secession. 

Van  der  Kemp,  in.  58.    Jeannin. 


1608  JEANNIN'S  HARANGUE.  511 

After  consultation  with  Barneveld,  the  French  envoys  now 
thought  it  their  duty  to  take  the  recalcitrant  Zeelanders 
in  hand  ;  Maurice  having,  as  it  were,  withdrawn  from  the 
contest. 

On  the  18th  November,  accordingly,  Jeannin  once  more 
came  very  solemnly  before  the  States-General,  ac- 

•      1    1          1    •         V      1  X'  11  72  18  N°V- 

companied  by  his  diplomatic  colleagues.72 

He  showed  the  impossibility  of  any  arrangement,  except 
by  the  submission  of  Zeeland  to  a  vote  of  the  majority 
"  It  is  certain,"  he  said,  "  that  six  provinces  will  never  bq 
willing  to  be  conquered  by  a  single  one,  nor  permit  her  to 
assert  that,  according  to  a  fundamental  law  of  the  common 
wealth,  her  dissent  can  prevent  the  others  from  forming  a 
definite  conclusion. 

"It  is  not  for  us,"  continued  the  president,  "who  are 
strangers  in  your  republic,  to  interpret  your  laws,  but  com 
mon  sense  teaches  us  that,  if  such  a  law  exist,  it  could  only 
have  been  made  in  order  to  forbid  a  surrender. 

"  If  any  one  wishes  to  expound  it  otherwise,  to  him  we 
would  reply,  in  the  words  of  an  ancient  Roman,  who  said 
of  a  law  which  seemed  to  him  pernicious,  that  at  least  the 
tablet  upon  which  it  was  inscribed,  if  it  could  not  be  de 
stroyed,  should  be  hidden  out  of  sight.  Thus  at  least  the 
citizens  might  escape  observing  it,  when  it  was  plain  that  it 
would  cause  detriment  to  the  republic,  and  they  might 
then  put  in  its  place  the  most  ancient  of  all  laws,  solus  populi 
supremo,  lex." 

The  president,  having  suggested  this  ingenious  expedient 
of  the  antique  Roman  for  getting  rid  of  a  constitutional  pro 
vision  by  hiding  the  statute-book,  proceeded  to  give  very 
practical  reasons  for  setting  up  the  supreme  law  of  the 
people's  safety  on  this  occasion.  And,  certainly,  that  mag 
nificent  common-place,  which  has  saved  and  ruined  so  many 
States,  the  most  effective  weapon  in  the  political  arsenal, 
whether  wielded  by  tyrants  or  champions  of  freedom,  was 

72  The  speech  of  the  president  is  given  in  full  in  his  "  Negotiations."—* 
Jeannin,  ii.  106-112. 


512  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI. 

not  unreasonably  recommended  at  this  crisis  to  the  States 
in  their  contest  with  the  refractory  Zeelanders.  It  was  easy 
to  talk  big,  but  after  all  it  would  be  difficult  for  that  doughty 
little  sandbank,  notwithstanding  the  indomitable  energy 
which  it  had  so  often  shown  by  land  and  sea,  to  do  battle 
by  itself  with  the  whole  Spanish  empire.  Nor  was  it  quite 
consistent  with  republican  principles  that  the  other  six  pro 
vinces  should  be  plunged  once  more  into  war,  when  they  had 
agreed  to  accept  peace  and  independence  instead,  only  that 
Zeeland  should  have  its  way. 

The  orator  went  on  to  show  the  absurdity,  in  his  opinion, 
oi  permitting  one  province  to  continue  the  war,  when  all 
seven  united  had  not  the  means  to  do  it  without  the  assist 
ance  of  their  allies.  He  pointed  out,  too,  the  immense 
blunders  that  would  be  made,  should  it  be  thought  that  the 
Kings  of  France  and  England  were  so  much  interested  in 
saving  the  provinces  from  perdition  as  to  feel  obliged  in  any 
event  to  render  them  assistance. 

"  Beware  of  committing  an  irreparable  fault,"  he  said,  "  on 
so  insecure  a  foundation.  You  are  deceiving  yourselves. 
And,  in  order  that  there  may  be  no  doubt  on  the  subject,  we 
declare  to  you  by  express  command  that  if  your  adversaries 
refuse  the  truce,  according  to  the  articles  presented  to  you  by 
us,  it  is  the  intention  of  our  kings  to  assist  you  with  armies  and 
subsidies,  not  only  as  during  the  past,  but  more  powerfully 
than  before.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  rupture  comes  from  your 
side,  and  you  despise  the  advice  they  are  giving  you,  you 
have  no  succour  to  expect  from  them.  The  refusal  of  condi 
tions  so  honourable  and  advantageous  to  your  commonwealth 
will  render  the  war  a  useless  one,  and  they  are  determined  to 
do  nothing  to  bring  the  reproach  upon  themselves." 

The  president  then  intimated,  not  without  adroitness,  that 
the  republic  was  placing  herself  in  a  proud  position  by  ac 
cepting  the  truce,  and  that  Spain  was  abasing  herself  by 
giving  her  consent  to  it.  The  world  was  surprised  that  the 
States  should  hesitate  at  all.71 

Jeannin,  ubi  sup. 


1608.       RECONCILIATION  OF  MAURICE  AND  BARNEVELD.        513 

There  was  much  more  of  scholastic  dissertation  in  the 
president's  address,  but  enough  has  been  given  to  show  its 
very  peremptory  character. 

If  the  war  was  to  go  on  it  was  to  be  waged  mainly  by 
Zeeland  alone.  This  was  now  plain  beyond  all  peradventure. 
The  other  provinces  had  resolved  to  accept  the  proposed 
treaty.  The  cities  of  Delft  and  Amsterdam,  which  had 
stood  out  so  long  among  the  estates  of  Holland,  soon  re 
nounced  their  opposition.  Prince  Maurice,  with  praiseworthy 
patriotism,  reconciled  himself  with  the  inevitable,  and  now 
that  the  great  majority  had  spoken,  began  to  use  his  influ 
ence  with  the  factious  minority. 

On  the  day  after  Jeannin's  speech  he  made  a  visit  to  the 
French  ambassadors.  After  there  had  been  some  little  dis 
cussion  among  them,  Barneveld  made  his  appearance.  His 
visit  seemed  an  accidental  one,  but  it  had  been  previously 
arranged  with  the  envoys.74 

The  general  conversation  went  on  a  little  longer,  when  the 
Advocate,  frankly  turning  to  the  Prince,  spoke  of  the  pain 
which  he  felt  at  the  schism  between  them.  He  defended 
himself  with  honest  warmth  against  the  rumours  circulated, 
in  which  he  was  accused  of  being  a  Spanish  partisan.  His 
whole  life  had  been  spent  in  fighting  Spain,  and  he  was  now 
more  determined  than  ever  in  his  hostility  to  that  monarchy. 
He  sincerely  believed  that  by  the  truce  now  proposed  all  the 
solid  advantages  of  the  war  would  be  secured,  and  that  such 
a  result  was  a  triumphant  one  for  the  republic.  He  was  also 
most  desirous  of  being  restored  to  the  friendship  and  good 
opinion  of  the  house  of  Nassau ;  having  proved  during  his 
whole  life  his  sincere  attachment  to  their  interests — a 
sentiment  never  more  lively  in  his  breast  than  at  that 
moment.75 

This  advance  was  graciously  met  by  the  stadholder,  and 
the  two  distinguished  personages  were,  for  the  time  at  least, 
reconciled.76 

74  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  59,  60.    Compare  Wagenaar,  ix.  422,  423. 

75  Van  der  Kemp.     Wagenaar,  ubi  sup.  7<  Ibid 

VOL.  IV. — 2  L 


514  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS,  CHAP.  Lt. 

It  was  further  debated  as  to  the  number  of  troops  that  it 
would  be  advisable  for  the  States  to  maintain  during  the 
truce,  and  Barneveld  expressed  his  decided  opinion  that 
thirty  thousand  men,  at  least,  would  be  required.  This 
opinion  gave  the  prince  at  least  as  much  pleasure  as  did  the 
personal  devotion  expressed  by  the  Advocate,  and  he  now 
stated  his  intention  of  working  with  the  peace  party. 

The  great  result  was  now  certain.  Delft  and  Amsterdam 
withdrew  from  their  opposition  to  the  treaty,  so  that  Holland 
was  unanimous  before  the  year  closed  ;  Zeeland,  yielding  to 
the  influence  of  Maurice,  likewise  gave  in  her  adhesion  to 
the  truce. 

The  details  of  the  mode  in  which  the  final  arrangement 
was  made  are  not  especially  interesting.  The  discussion  was 
fairly  at  an  end.  The  subject  had  been  picked  to  the  bones. 
It  was  agreed  that  the  French  ambassadors  should  go  over 
the  frontier,  and  hold  a  preliminary  interview  with  the 
Spanish  commissioners  at  Antwerp. 

The  armistice  was  to  be  continued  by  brief  and  repeated 
renewals,  until  it  should  be  superseded  by  the  truce  of 
years. 

Meantime,  Archduke  Albert  sent  his  father  confessor, 
Inigo  Brizuela,  to  Spain,  in  order  to  make  the  treaty  pro 
posed  by  Jeannin  palatable  to  the  king.77 

The  priest  was  to  set  forth  to  Philip,  as  only  a  ghostly 
confessor  could  do  with  full  effect,  that  he  need  not  trouble 
himself  about  the  recognition  by  the  proposed  treaty  of  the 
independence  of  the  United  Provinces.  Ambiguous  words 
had  been  purposely  made  use  of  in  this  regard,  he  was  to 
explain,  so  that  not  only  the  foreign  ambassadors  were  of 
opinion  that  the  rights  of  Spain  were  not  curtailed,  but  the 
emptiness  of  the  imaginary  recognition  of  Dutch  freedom  had 
been  proved  by  the  sharp  criticism  of  the  States. 

It  is  true  that  Eichardot,  in  the  name  of  the  archduke, 
had  three  months  before  promised  the  consent  of  the  king, 
as  having  already  been  obtained.  But  Kichardot  knew  very 

77  Wagenaar,  ix.  435,  426.    Jeannin. 


1008. 


CLOSE  OF  THE  DISCUSSION. 


515 


well  when  lie  made  the  statement  that  it  was  false.  The 
archduke,  in  subsequent  correspondence  with  the  ambas 
sadors  in  December,  repeated  the  pledge.  Yet,  not  only 
had  the  king  not  given  that  consent,  but  he  had  expressly 
refused  it  by  a  courier  sent  in  November.78 

Philip,  now  convinced  by  Brother  Inigo  that  while  agree 
ing  to  treat  with  the  States-General  as  with  a  free  common 
wealth,  over  which  he  pretended  to  no  authority,  he  really 
meant  that  he  was  dealing  with  vassals  over  whom  his 
authority  was  to  be  resumed  when  it  suited  his  convenience, 
at  last  gave  his  consent  to  the  proposed  treaty.  The  royal 
decision  was,  however,  kept  for  a  time  concealed,  in  order  that 
the  States  might  become  more  malleable.79 


78  Documents  in  Deventer,  iii.  273. 

79  Wagenaar,  ix.  425,  426.  Jeannin. 
The  reasoning  was  quite  in  accordance 
with  the  views  of  the  French  court. 
"Maintenant  la  caption  est  tout  claire," 
wrote  Aerssens,  "  en  ce  qu'ils  refusent 
d'oter  le  mot  comme.  Et  ajoutent  nos 
amis,  que  cette  clause  a  este  concue 
ainsi  douteusement  par  M.  Janin,  pour 
au  boat  des  dix  ans  r^server  au  ro 


de  nous  declarer  libres  ou  non  selon 
que  le  Roy  d'Espagne  luy  tiendra 
parole  sur  les  mariages." — Deventer, 
iii.  275.  "  If  a  peace  it  prove,"  wrote 
Cornwallis  from  Madrid,  "such  are 
the  difficulties  as  for  my  own  part  I 
should  think  it  like  the  peace  of  God 
which  passeth  all  understanding." — 
Winwood,  ii.  387. 


516  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LII. 


CHAPTER     LII. 


Vote  of  the  States-General  on  the  groundwork  of  the  treaty  —  Meeting  of  the 
plenipotentiaries  for  arrangement  of  the  truce  —  Signing  of  the  twelve 
years'  truce  —  Its  purport  —  The  negotiations  concluded  —  Ratification  by 
the  States-General,  the  Archdukes,  and  the  King  of  Spain  —  Question 
of  toleration  — Appeal  of  President  Jeannin  on  behalf  of  the  Catholics  — 
Religious  liberty  the  fruit  of  the  war  —  Internal  arrangements  of  the 
States  under  the  rule  of  peace  —  Deaths  of  John  Duke  of  Cleves  and  Jacob 
Arminius  —  Doctrines  of  Arminius  and  Gomarus — Theological  warfare 
—  Twenty  years'  truce  between  the  Turkish  and  Roman  empires  —  Fer 
dinand  of  Styria  —  Religious  peace  —  Prospects  of  the  future. 

ON  the  llth  January,  1609,  the  States-General  decided  by 
unanimous  vote  that  the  first  point  in  the  treaty  should  he 
not  otherwise  fixed  than  thus  :  — 

"  That  the  archdukes — to  superfluity — declare,  as  well  in 
their  own  name  as  in  that  of  the  King  of  Spain,  their  willing 
ness  to  treat  with  the  lords  States  of  the  United  Provinces 
in  the  capacity  of,  and  as  holding  them  for,  free  countries, 
provinces,  and  states,  over  which  they  have  no  claim,  and 
that  they  are  making  a  treaty  with  them  in  those  said  names 
and  qualities/'1 

It  was  also  resolved  not  to  permit  that  any  ecclesiastical 
or  secular  matters,  conflicting  with  the  ahove-mentioned 
freedom,  should  he  proposed  ;  nor  that  any  delay  should  he 
sought  for,  by  reason  of  the  India  navigation  or  any  other 
point. 

In  case  anything  to  the  contrary  should  be  attempted  by 
the  king  or  the  archdukes,  and  the  deliberations  protracted 
in  consequence  more  than  eight  days,  it  was  further  decided 
by  unanimous  vote  that  the  negotiations  should  at  once  be 
broken  off,  and  the  war  forthwith  renewed,  with  the  help,  if 

»  Wagenaar,  ix.  429,  430. 


1609. 


VOTE  OF  THE  STATES-GENERAL. 


517 


possible,  of  the  kings,  princes,  and  states,  friends  of  the  good 
cause.2 

This  vigorous  vote  was  entirely  the  work  of  Barneveld, 
the  man  whom  his  enemies  dared  to  denounce  as  the  par 
tisan  of  Spain,  and  to  hold  up  as  a  traitor  deserving  of  death. 
It  was  entirely  within  his  knowledge  that  a  considerable 
party  in  the  provinces  had  grown  so  weary  of  the  war,  and 
so  much  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  the  negotiations  for  truce 
coming  to  nought,  as  to  be  ready  to  go  into  a  treaty  without 
a  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  States.  This  base 
faction  was  thought  to  be  instigated  by  the  English  Govern 
ment,  intriguing  secretly  with  President  Richardot.  The 
Advocate,  acting  in  full  sympathy  with  Jeannin,  frustrated 
the  effects  of  the  manoauvre  by  obtaining  all  the  votes  of 
Holland  and  Zeeland  for  this  supreme  resolution.  The  other 
live  provinces  dared  to  make  no  further  effort  in  that  direction 
against  the  two  controlling  states  of  the  republic. 

It  was  now  agreed  that  the  French  and  English  ambas 
sadors  should  delay  going  to  Antwerp  until  informed  of  the 
arrival  in  that  city  of  Spinola  and  his  colleagues  ;  and  that 
they  should  then  proceed  thither,  taking  with  them  the  main 
points  of  the  treaty,  as  laid  down  by  themselves,  and  ac 
cepted  with  slight  alterations  by  the  States.3 

When  the  Spanish  commissioners  had  signed  these  points 
the  plenipotentiaries  were  to  come  to  Antwerp  in  order  to 
settle  other  matters  of  less  vital  import.  Meantime,  the 
States-General  were  to  be  summoned  to  assemble  in  Bergen- 
op-Zoom,  that  they  might  be  ready  to  deal  with  difficulties, 
should  any  arise.4 

The  first  meeting  took  place  on  the  10th  February,  1609. 
The  first  objection  to  the  draught  was  made  by  the 
Spaniards.      It  was  about  words  and  wind.     They 
liked  not  the  title  of  high  and   puissant  lords5  which  was 
given    to    the    States-General,  and   they  proposed    to   turn 


2  Wagenaar,  ix.  429,430. 

8  Ibid.  431.     Jeannin. 

4  Ibid.     Jeannin.     Qrotius,  xviii. 


5  Wagenaar,  ix.  132.  "  Hoogmo- 
gende  herren,"  "Hants  et  puissants 
seigneurs." 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIL 

the  difficulty  by  abstaining  from  giving  any  qualifications 
whatever,  either  to  the  archdukes  or  the  republican  autho 
rities.  The  States  refused  to  lower  these  ensigns  of  their 
new-born  power.  It  was,  however,  at  last  agreed  that,  in 
stead  of  high  and  mighty,  they  should  be  called  illustrious 
and  serene.6 

This  point  being  comfortably  adjusted,  the  next  and  most 
important  one  was  accepted  by  the  Spaniards.  The  inde 
pendence  of  the  States  was  recognised  according  to  the 
prescribed  form.  Then  came  the  great  bone  of  contention, 
over  which  there  had  been  such  persistent  wrangling — the 
India  trade. 

The  Spanish  Government  had  almost  registered  a  vow  in 
heaven  that  the  word  India  should  not  be  mentioned  in  the 
treaty.  It  was  no  less  certain  that  India  was  stamped  upon 
the  very  heart  of  the  republic,  and  could  not  be  torn  from  it 
while  life  remained.  The  subtle  diplomatists  now  invented 
a  phrase  in  which  the  word  should  not  appear,  while  the 
thing  itself  should  be  granted.  The  Spaniards,  after  much 
altercation,  at  last  consented.7 

By  the  end  of  February,  most  of  the  plenipotentiaries 
thought  it  safe  to  request  the  appearance  of  the  States- 
General  at  Bergen-op-Zoom.8 

Jeannin,  not  altogether  satisfied,  however,  with  the  lan 
guage  of  the  Spaniards  in  regard  to  India,  raised  doubts  as 
to  the  propriety  of  issuing  the  summons.  Putting  on  his 
most  reverend  and  artless  expression  of  countenance,  he  as 
sured  Kichardot  that  he  had  just  received  a  despatch  from 
the  Hague,  to  the  effect  that  the  India  point  would,  in  all 
probability,  cause  the  States  at  that  very  moment  to  break 
off  the  negotiations.9  It  was  surely  premature,  therefore,  to 
invite  them  to  Bergen.  The  despatch  from  the  Hague  was 
a  neat  fiction  on  the  part  of  the  president,  but  it  worked 

6  Wagenaar,  ix.  432.  i  xviii.  808,  809. 

7  "Huic     additamento     Hispanic!       8  Wagenaar,    ix.    432,    433,    434. 
valde  reluctabantur  turn  quod  Indiana    Jeannin,  vol.  ii.  Resol.  Holl.  4  March, 
noil  minus  quam  si  nominaretur  Claris    1609. 

indiciis     exprimeret,"     &c. — Grotius,        9  Jeannin,  ii.  383. 


1600.  ARRANGEMENT  OF  THE  TRUCE  519 

admirably.  The  other  president,  himself  quite  as  ready 
at  inventions  as  Jeannin  could  possibly  be,  was  nevertheless 
taken  in ;  the  two  ex-leaguers  being,  on  the  whole,  fully  a 
match  for  each  other  in  the  art  of  intrigue.  Richardot, 
somewhat  alarmed,  insisted  that  the  States  should  send  their 
plenipotentiaries  to  Antwerp  as  soon  as  possible.  He  would 
answer  for  it  that  they  would  not  go  away  again  without 
settling  upon  the  treaty.10  The  commissioners  were  for 
bidden,  by  express  order  from  Spain,  to  name  the  Indies  in 
writing,  but  they  would  solemnly  declare,  by  word  of  mouth, 
that  the  States  should  have  full  liberty  to  trade  to  those 
countries  ;  the  King  of  Spain  having  no  intention  of  inter 
fering  with  such  traffic  during  the  period  of  the  truce.11 

The  commissioners  came  to  Antwerp.  The  States-General 
assembled  at  Bergen.  On  the  9th  April,  1609,  the  truce  for 
twelve  years  was  signed.  This  was  its  purport : — 

The  preamble  recited  that  the  most  serene  princes  and 
archdukes,  Albert  and  Isabella  Clara  Eugenia,  had  made,  on 
the  24th  April,  1607,  a  truce  and  cessation  of  arms  for  eight 
months  with  the  illustrious  lords  the  States-General  of  the 
United  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands,  in  quality  of,  and  as 
holding  them  for,  states,  provinces,  and  free  countries,  over 
which  they  pretended  to  nothing ;  which  truce  was  ratified 
by  his  Catholic  Majesty,  as  to  that  which  concerned  him,  by 
letters  patent  of  18th  September,  1607 ;  and  that,  moreover, 
a  special  power  had  been  given  to  the  archdukes  on  the  10th 
January,  1608,  to  enable  them  in  the  king's  name  as  well  as 
their  own  to  do  everything  that  they  might  think  proper  to 
bring  abou't  a  peace  or  a  truce  of  many  years. 

It  then  briefly  recited  the  rupture  of  the  negotiations  for 
peace,  and  the  subsequent  proposition,  originated  by  the 
foreign  ambassadors,  to  renew  the  conference  for  the  purpose 
of  concluding  a  truce.  The  articles  of  the  treaty  thus  agreed 
upon  were : — 

That  the  archdukes  declared,  as  well  in  their  own  name  as 
that  of  the  king,  that  they  were  content  to  treat  with  the 

10  Jeannin,  ii.  383.  »  Winwood,  ii.  489. 


520  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LII. 

lords  the  States-General  of  the  United  Provinces  in  quality 
of,  and  as  holding  them  for,  countries,  provinces,  and  free 
states,  over  which  they  pretended  to  nothing,  and  to  make 
with  them  a  truce  on  certain  following  conditions — to  wit : — 

That  the  truce  should  be  good,  firm,  loyal,  inviolable,  and 
for  the  term  of  twelve  years,  during  which  time  there  was  to 
be  cessation  of  all  acts  of  hostility  between  the  king,  arch 
dukes,  and  States-General,  as  well  by  sea  and  other  waters 
as  by  land,  in  all  their  kingdoms,  countries,  lands,  and  lord 
ships,  and  for  all  their  subjects  and  inhabitants  of  whatever 
quality  and  condition,  without  exception  of  places  or  of 
persons  ; 

That  each  party  should  remain  seized  of  their  respective 
possessions,  and  be  not  troubled  therein  by  the  other  party 
during  the  truce  ; 

That  the  subjects  and  inhabitants  of  the  respective  coun 
tries  should  preserve  amity  and  good  correspondence  during 
the  truce,  without  referring  to  past  offences,  and  should 
freely  and  securely  entertain  communication  and  traffic  with 
each  other  by  land  and  sea.  This  provision,  however,  was 
to  be  expressly  understood  as  limited  by  the  king  to  the 
kingdoms  and  countries  possessed  by  him  in  Europe,  and  in 
other  places  and  seas  where  the  subjects  of  other  kings  and 
princes,  his  friends  and  allies,  have  amicable  traffic.  In 
regard,  however,  to  places,  cities,  ports,  and  harbours  which 
he  possessed  outside  of  those  limits,  the  States  and  their 
subjects  were  to  exercise  no  traffic,  without  express  permis 
sion  of  the  king.  They  could,  however,  if  they  chose,  trade 
with  the  countries  of  all  other  princes,  potentates,  and 
peoples  who  were  willing  to  permit  it,  even  outside  those 
limits,  without  any  hindrance  by  the  king  ; 

That  the  truce  should  begin  in  regard  to  those  distant 
countries  after  a  year  from  date,  unless  actual  notification 
could  be  sooner  served  there  on  those  concerned ; 

That  the  subjects  of  the  United  Provinces  should  have 
the  same  liberty  and  privilege  within  the  States  of  the  king 
and  archdukes  as  had  been  accorded  to  the  subjects  of  the 


1609.  ARTICLES  OF  THE  TREATY.  521 

King  of  Great  Britain,  according  to  the  last  treaty  made  with 
that  sovereign  ; 

That  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  should  not  be  granted 
during  the  truce,  except  for  special  cause,  and  in  cases  per 
mitted  by  the  laws  and  imperial  constitutions,  and  according 
to  the  rules  therein  prescribed  ; 

That  those  who  had  retired  into  neutral  territory  during 
the  war  were  also  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  truce,  and  could 
reside  wherever  they  liked  without  being  deprived  of  their 
property  ; 

That  the  treaty  should  be  ratified  by  the  archdukes  and 
the  States-General  within  four  days.  As  to  the  ratification 
of  the  king,  the  archdukes  were  bound  to  deliver  it  in  good 
and  due  form  within  three  months,  in  order  that  the  lords 
the  States-General,  their  subjects  and  inhabitants,  might  enjoy 
effectively  the  fruits  of  the  treaty ; 

That  the  treaty  should  be  published  everywhere  imme 
diately  after  the  ratification  of  the  archdukes  and  States- 
General. 

This  document  was  signed  by  the  ambassadors  of  the 
Kings  of  France  and  Great  Britain,  as  mediators,  and  then 
by  the  deputies  of  the  archdukes,  and  afterwards  by  those  of 
the  lords  the  States-General.12 

There  were  thirty-eight  articles  in  all,  but  the  chief  pro 
visions  have  been  indicated.  The  other  clauses,  relating  to 
boundaries,  confiscations,  regulations  of  duties,  frontier  fortifi 
cations,  the  estates  of  the  Nassau  family,  and  other  seques 
trated  property,  have  no  abiding  interest. 

There  was  also  a  secret  and  special  treaty  which  was  de 
manded  of  the  King  of  Spain  by  the  States-General,  and  by 
him  accorded. 

This  secret  treaty  consisted  of  a  single  clause.  That  clause 
was  made  up  of  a  brief  preamble  and  of  a  promise.  The 
preamble  recited  textually  article  fourth  of  the  public  treaty 
relative  to  the  India  trade.  The  promise  was  to  this  effect.13 

18  See  the  treaty  in  full  in  Jeannin.  ii.  446-457.    Compare  Meteren,  613. 
18  The  text  of  the  second  treaty  is  given  in  Jeannin,  ii.  457,  458. 


522  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHA.    LII. 

For  the  period  of  the  truce  the  Spanish  commissioners 
pledged  the  faith  of  the  king  and  of  his  successors  that  his 
Majesty  would  cause  no  impediment,  whether  by  sea  or  land, 
to  the  States  nor  their  subjects,  in  the  traffic  that  thereafter 
might  be  made  in  the  countries  of  all  princes,  potentates, 
and  peoples  who  might  permit  the  same,  in  whatever  place 
it  might  be,  even  without  the  limits  designated,  and  every 
where  else,  nor  similarly  to  those  carrying  on  such  traffic 
with  them,  and  that  the  king  and  his  successors  would  faith 
fully  carry  into  effect  everything  thus  laid  down,  so  that  the 
said  traffic  should  be  free  and  secure,  consenting  even,  in 
order  that  the  clause  might  be  the  more  authentic,  that  it 
should  be  considered  as  inserted  in  the  principal  treaty, 
and  as  making  part  thereof.14 

It  will  be  perceived  that  the  first  article  of  all,  and  the 
last  or  secret  article,  contained  the  whole  marrow  of  the 
treaty.  It  may  be.  well  understood,  therefore,  with  what 
wry  faces  the  Spanish  plenipotentiaries  ultimately  signed 
the  document. 

After  two  years  and  a  quarter  of  dreary  negotiation,  the 
republic  had  carried  all  its  points,  without  swerving  a  hair's 
breadth  from  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  beginning. 
The  only  concession  made  was  that  the  treaty  was  for  a  truce 
of  twelve  years,  and  not  for  peace.  But  as  after  all,  in  those 
days,  an  interval  of  twelve  years  might  be  almost  con 
sidered  an  eternity  of  peace,  and  as  calling  a  peace  per 
petual  can  never  make  it  so,  the  difference  was  rather  one 
of  phraseology  than  of  fact. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  States  had  extorted  from  their 
former  sovereign  a  recognition  of  their  independence. 

They  had  secured  the  India  trade. 

They  had  not  conceded  Catholic  worship. 

Mankind  were   amazed  at  this  result — an  event  hitherto 
unknown  in  history.     When  before  had  a  sovereign  acknow 
ledged  the  independence  of  his  rebellious  subjects,  and  signed 
a  treaty  with  them  as  with  equals  ?     When  before  had  Spain, 
14  Jeannin,  ii.  457,  458. 


1609. 


RECOGNITION  OF  DUTCH  FREEDOM. 


523 


expressly  or  by  implication,  admitted  that  the  East  and 
West  Indies  were  not  her  private  property,  and  that  naviga 
tors  to  those  regions,  from  other  countries  than  her  own, 
were  not  to  be  chastised  as  trespassers  and  freebooters  ? 

Yet  the  liberty  of  the  Netherlands  was  acknowledged  in 
terms  which  convinced  the  world  that  it  was  thenceforth  an 
established  fact.  And  India  was  as  plainly  expressed  by  the 
omission  of  the  word,  as  if  it  had  been  engrossed  in  large 
capitals  in  Article  IV.15 

The  King's  Government  might  seek  solace  in  syntax 
They  might  triumph  in  Cardinal  Bentivoglio's  subtleties,  and 
persuade  themselves  that  to  treat  with  the  republic  as  a  free 
nation  was  not  to  hold  it  for  a  free  nation  then  and  for  ever. 
But  the  whole  world  knew  that  the  republic  really  was  free, 
and  that  it  had  treated,  face  to  face,  with  its  former  sove 
reign,  exactly  as  the  Kings  of  France  or  Great  Britain,  or 
the  Grand  Turk,  might  treat  with  him.  The  new  common 
wealth  had  taken  its  place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Other  princes  and  potentates  made  not  the  slightest  difficulty 
in  recognising  it  for  an  independent  power  and  entering  into 
treaties  and  alliances  with  it  as  with  any  other  realm. 

To  the  republic  the  substantial  blessing  of  liberty  :  to  his 
Catholic  Majesty  the  grammatical  quirk.  When  the  twelve 
years  should  expire,  Spain  might  reconquer  the  United  Pro 
vinces  if  she  could ;  relying  upon  the  great  truth  that 
an  adverb  was  not  a  preposition.  And  France  or  Great 
Britain  might  attempt  the  same  thing  if  either  felt  strong 
enough  for  the  purpose.  Did  as  plausible  a  pretext  as  that 
ever  fail  to  a  state  ambitious  of  absorbing  its  neighbours  ? 

Jeannin   was   right   enough   in   urging   that   this   famous 


15  The  words  too  of  the  certificate 
signed  by  the  ambassadors  of  France 
and  England  were  very  explicit : — 
"Certifion  aussi  les  deputes  des 
archiducs  avoir  consenty  et  accorde 
tout,  ainsi  que  les  sieurs  estats  et  leurs 
sujets  ne  pourront  trafiquer  aux  ports, 
lieux  et  places  que  tiennent  les  dits 
sieurs  estats  es  dites  Indes  si  ce  n'est 
ftvec  leur  permission.  Et  outre  ce  que 


les  deputes  des  dits  sieurs  ont  declare 
plusieurs  fois  en  notre  presence  et  des 
deputes  des  archiducs,  si  onentreprend 
sur  leurs  amis  et  allies  es  dits  pays 
qu'ils  entendent  les  secourir  et  assister 
sans  qu'on  puisse  pretendre  la  trefve 
estre  enfreinte  et  violee  a  cette  occa 
sion.  "— Anvers,  9  Avril,  1609.  Nego 
tiations  de  Jeannin,  ii.  458,  459. 


524  THE  tf  NltED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  Lit 

clause  of  recognition  ought  to  satisfy  both  parties.  If  the 
United  Provinces,  he  said,  happened  not  to  have  the  best 
muskets  and  cannons  on  their  side  when  it  should  once  more 
come  to  blows,  small  help  would  they  derive  from  verbal 
bulwarks  and  advantages  in  the  text  of  treaties.16 

Richardot  consoled  himself  with  his  quibbles  ;  for  quibbles 
were  his  daily  bread.  "  Thank  God  our  truce  is  made,"  said 
he,  "  and  we  have  only  lost  the  sovereignty  for  twelve  years, 
if  after  that  we  have  the  means  or  the  will  to  resume  the 
war — whatever  Don  Pedro  de  Toledo  may  say."  17 

Barneveld,  on  his  part,  was  devoutly  and  soberly  pleased 
with  the  result.  "  To-day  we  have  concluded  our  negotia 
tions  for  the  truce,"  he  wrote  to  Aerssens.  "We  must  pray 
to  the  Lord  God,  and  we  must  do  our  highest  duty  that  our 
work  may  redound  to  his  honour  and  glory,  and  to  the 
nation's  welfare.  It  is  certain  that  men  will  make  their 
criticisms  upon  it  according  to  their  humours.  But  those 
who  love  their  country,  and  all  honest  people  who  know  the 
condition  of  the  land,  will  say  that  it  is  well  done."  18 

Thus  modestly,  religiously,  and  sincerely  spoke  a  states 
man,  who  felt  that  he  had  accomplished  a  great  work,  and 
that  he  had  indeed  brought  the  commonwealth  through  the 
tempest  at  last. 

The  republic  had  secured  the  India  trade.  On  this  point 
the  negotiators  had  taken  refuge  in  that  most  useful  figure 
of  speech  for  hard-pressed  diplomatists  and  law-makers — the 
ellipsis.  They  had  left  out  the  word  India,  and  his  Catholic 
Majesty  might  persuade  himself  that  by  such  omission  a 
hemisphere  had  actually  been  taken  away  from  the  Dutch 
merchants  and  navigators.  But  the  whole  world  saw  that 
Article  IV.  really  contained  both  the  East  and  West  Indies. 
It  hardly  needed  the  secret  clause  to  make  assurance  doubly 
sure. 

President  Eichardot  was  facetiously  wont  to  observe  that 
this  point  in  the  treaty  was  so  obscure  that  he  did  not 
understand  it  himself.19  But  he  knew  better.  He  under- 
16  Bentivoglio,  576.  17  Deventer,  ill  308.  18  Ibid.  309.  19  Bentivoglio,  576. 


1609.  FREEDOM  OF  COMMERCE  WITH  INDIA.  525 

stood  it  very  well.  The  world  understood  it  very  well.  The 
United  Provinces  had  throughout  the  negotiations  ridiculde 
the  idea  of  being  excluded  from  any  part  of  the  old  world  or 
the  new  by  reason  of  the  Borgian  grant.  All  the  commis 
sioners  knew  that  the  war  would  be  renewed  if  any  attempt 
were  to  be  seriously  made  to  put  up  those  famous  railings 
around  the  ocean,  of  which  the  Dutch  diplomatists  spoke 
in  such  bitter  scorn.  The  Spanish  plenipotentiaries,  therefore, 
had  insisted  that  the  word  itself  should  be  left  out,  and  that 
the  republic  should  be  forbidden  access  to  territories  subject 
to  the  crown  of  Spain. 

So  the  Hollanders  were  thenceforth  to  deal  directly  with 
the  kings  of  Sumatra  and  the  Moluccas,  and  the  republics  of 
Banda,  and  all  the  rich  commonwealths  and  principalities  of 
nutmegs,  cloves,  and  indigo,  unless,  as  grew  every  day  more 
improbable,  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  could  exclude  them 
from  that  traffic  by  main  force.  And  the  Orange  flag  of  the 
republic  was  to  float  with  equal  facility  over  all  America, 
from  the  Isle  of  Manhattan  to  the  shores  of  Brazil  and  the 
Straits  of  Magellan,  provided  Philip  had  not  ships  and 
soldiers  to  vindicate  with  the  sword  that  sovereignty  which 
Spanish  swords  and  Spanish  genius  had  once  acquired. 

As  for  the  Catholic  worship,  the  future  was  to  prove 
that  liberty  for  the  old  religion  and  for  all  forms  of  religion 
was  a  blessing  more  surely  to  flow  from  the  enlightened 
public  sentiment  of  a  free  people  emerging  out  of  the  most 
tremendous  war  for  liberty  ever  waged,  than  from  the  stipu 
lations  of  a  treaty  with  a  foreign  power. 

It  was  characteristic  enough  of  the  parties  engaged  in  the 
great  political  drama  that  the  republic  now  requested  from 
France  and  Great  Britain  a  written  recognition  of  its  inde 
pendence,  and  that  both  France  and  England  refused*20 

It  was  strange  that  the  new  commonwealth,  in  the  very 

moment  of  extorting  her  freedom  from  the  ancient  tyranny, 

should  be  so  unconscious  of  her  strength  as  to  think  free 

papers  from  neutral  powers  a  boon.     As  if  the  sign-manual 

99  Wagenaar,  ix.  445.    Jeaunin,  vol.  ii. 


526  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LII, 

of  James  and  Henry  were  a  better  guarantee  than  the  tro 
phies  of  the  Nassaus,  of  Heemskerk,  of  MateliefF,  and  of 
Olden- Barn eveld  ! 

It  was  not  strange  that  the  two  sovereigns  should  decline 
the  proposition  ;  for  we  well  know  the  secret  aspirations  of 
each,  and  it  was  natural  that  they  should  be  unwilling  to 
sign  a  formal  quit-claim,  however  improbable  it  might  be 
that  those  dreams  should  ever  become  a  reality. 

Both  powers,  however,  united  in  a  guarantee  of  the  truce. 
17  June,  This  was  signed  on  the  17th  June,  and  stipulated 
"  that,  without  their  knowledge  and  consent,  the  States 
should  make  no  treaty  during  the  period  of  truce  with  the 
King  of  Spain  or  the  archdukes.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
case  of  an  infraction  of  the  truce  by  the  enemy,  the  two 
kings  agreed  to  lend  assistance  to  the  States  in  the  manner 
provided  by  the  treaties  concluded  with  the  republic  pre 
viously  to  the  negotiation  of  the  truce.21 

The  treaty  had  been  at  once  ratified  by  the  States-General, 
assembled  for  the  purpose  with  an  extraordinary  number  of 
deputies  at  Bergen-op-Zoom.  It  was  also  ratified  without 
delay  by  the  archdukes.  The  delivery  of  the  confirmation 
by  his  Catholic  Majesty  had  been  promised  within  three 
months  after  the  signatures  of  the  plenipotentiaries. 

It  would  however  have  been  altogether  inconsistent  with 
the  dignity  and  the  traditions  of  the  Spanish  court  to  fulfil 
this  stipulation.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  "I  the 
King  "  could  be  written  either  by  the  monarch  himself,  or  by 
his  alter  ego  the  Duke  of  Lerma,  in  so  short  a  time  as  a 
quarter  of  a  year. 

Several  weeks  accordingly  went  by  after  the  expiration  of 
the  stated  period.  The  ratification  did  not  come,  and  the 
Netherlander  began  to  be  once  more  indignant.  Before  the 
storm  had  risen  very  high,  however,  the  despatches  arrived. 
The  king's  signature  was  ante-dated  7th  April,  being  thus 
brought  within  the  term  of  three  months,  and  was  a  thorough 
confirmation  of  what  had  been  done  by  his  plenipotentiaries. 

81  Jeannin,  ii  536,  538.     Wagenaar,  ix.  446. 


1609.  JEANNIN'S  APPEAL  FOR  TOLERATION.  527 

His  Majesty,  however,  expressed  a  hope  that  during  the 
truce  the  States  would  treat  their  Catholic  subjects  with 
kindness.22 

Certainly  no  exception  could  he  taken  to  so  reasonable  an 
intimation  as  this.  President  Jeannin,  too,  just  before  his 
departure,  handed  in  to  the  States-General  an  eloquent 
appeal  on  behalf  of  the  Catholics  of  the  Netherlands  ;  a  paper 
which  was  not  immediately  made  public.23 

"Consider  the  great  number  of  Catholics/'  he  said,  "in 
your  territory,  both  in  the  cities  and  the  country.  Eemember 
that  they  have  worked  with  you,  spent  their  property,  have 
been  exposed  to  the  same  dangers,  and  have  always  kept 
their  fidelity  to  the  commonwealth  inviolate  as  long  as  the 
war  endured,  never  complaining  that  they  did  not  enjoy 
liberty  o'f  religious  worship,  believing  that  you  had  thus 
ordained  because  the  public  safety  required  such  guaranty. 
But  they  always  promised  themselves,  should  the  end  of  the 
war  be  happy,  and  should  you  be  placed  in  the  enjoyment  of 
entire  freedom,  that  they  too  would  have  some  part  in  this 
good  fortune,  even  as  they  had  been  sharers  in  the  inconve 
niences,  the  expenses,  and  the  perils  of  the  war. 

"  But  those  cannot  be  said  to  share  in  any  enjoyment  from 
whom  has  been  taken  the  power  of  serving  God  according  to 
the  religion  in  which  they  were  brought  up.  On  the  contrary, 
no  slavery  is  more  intolerable  nor  more  exasperates  the  mind 
than  such  restraint.  You  know  this  well,  my  lords  States  ; 
you  know  too  that  it  was  the  principal,  the  most  puissant 
cause  that  made  you  fly  to  arms  and  scorn  all  dangers,  in 
order  to  effect  your  deliverance  from  this  servitude.  You 
know  that  it  has  excited  similar  movements  in  various  parts 
of  Christendom,  and  even  in  the  kingdom  of  France,  with 
such  fortunate  success  everywhere  as  to  make  it  appear  that 
God  had  so  willed  it,  in  order  to  prove  that  religion  ought  to 
be  taught  and  inspired  by  the  movements  which  come  from 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not  by  the  force  of  man.  Thus  kings 

22  Meteren,  xxx.  579™.     Wagenaar,  ix.  467. 

23  Jeannin,  ii.  589-597,  giv^  the  whole  text  of  his  address  on  this  occasion, 


528  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI1 

and  princes  should  be  induced  by  the  evils  and  ruin  which 
they  and  their  subjects  have  suffered  from  this  cause,  as  by  a 
sentiment  of  their  own  interest,  to  take  more  care  than  has 
hitherto  been  taken  to  practise  in  good  earnest  those  reme 
dies  which  were  wont  to  be  used  at  a  time  when  the  church 
was  in  its  greatest  piety,  in  order  to  correct  the  abuses  and 
errors  which  the  corruption  of  mankind  had  tried  to  intro 
duce  as  being  the  true  and  sole  means  of  uniting  all  Chris 
tians  in  one  and  the  same  creed." 

Surely  the  world  had  made  progress  in  these  forty  years  of 
war.  Was  it  not  something  to  gain  for  humanity,  for  intel 
lectual  advancement,  for  liberty  of  thought,  for  the  true 
interests  of  religion,  that  a  Roman  Catholic,  an  ex-leaguer, 
a  trusted  representative  of  the  immediate  successor  of  Charles 
IX.  and  Henry  III.,  could  stand  up  on  the  blood-stained  soil 
of  the  Netherlands  and  plead  for  liberty  of  conscience  for 
all  mankind  ? 

"Those  cannot  be  said  to  share  in  any  enjoyment  from 
whom  has  been  taken  the  power  of  serving  God  according  to 
the  religion  in  which  they  have  been  brought  up.  No  slavery 
is  more  intolerable  nor  more  exasperating  to  the  mind  than 
such  restraint." 

Most  true,  0  excellent  president !  No  axiom  in  mathe 
matics  is  more  certain  than  this  simple  statement.  To  prove 
its  truth  William  the  Silent  had  lived  and  died.  To  prove  it 
a  falsehood,  emperors,  and  kings,  and  priests,  had  issued 
bans,  and  curses,  and  damnable  decrees.  To  root  it  out  they 
had  butchered,  drowned,  shot,  strangled,  poisoned,  tortured, 
roasted  alive,  buried  alive,  starved,  and  driven  mad,  thou 
sands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  their  fellow  creatures.  And 
behold  there  had  been  almost  a  century  of  this  work,  and  yet 
the  great  truth  was  not  rooted  out  after  all  ;  and  the  devil- 
worshippers,  who  had  sought  at  the  outset  of  the  great  war 
to  establish  the  Holy  Inquisition  in  the  Netherlands  upon 
the  ruins  of  religious  and  political  liberty,  were  overthrown 
at  last  and  driven  back  into  the  pit.  It  was  progress  ;  it 
was  worth  all  the  blood  and  treasure  which  had  been  spilled, 


1609.  THE  TOLERATION  QUESTION.  529 

that,  instead  of  the  Holy  Inquisition,  there  was  now  holy 
liberty  of  thought. 

That  there  should  have  been  a  party,  that  there  should  have 
been  an  individual  here  and  there,  after  the  great  victory  was 
won,  to  oppose  the  doctrine  which  the  Catholic  president 
now  so  nobly  advocated,  would  be  enough  to  cause  every 
believer  in  progress  to  hide  his  face  in  the  dust,  did  we 
not  know  that  the  march  of  events  was  destined  to  trample 
such  opposition  out  of  existence,  and  had  not  history  proved 
to  us  that  the  great  lesson  of  the  war  was  not  to  be  rendered 
nought  by  the  efforts  of  a  few  fanatics.  Religious  liberty  was 
the  ripened  and  consummate  fruit,  and  it  could  not  but  be 
gathered. 

"  Consider  too,"  continued  the  president,  "  how  much 
injury  your  refusal,  if  you  give  it,  will  cause  to  those  of  your 
religion  in  the  places  where  they  are  the  weakest,  and  where 
they  are  every  day  imploring  with  tears  and  lamentations  the 
grace  of  those  Catholic  sovereigns  to  whom  they  are  subject, 
to  enable  them  to  enjoy  the  same  religious  liberty  which  our 
Jdng  is  now  demanding  in  favour  of  the  Catholics  among  you. 
Do  not  cause  it  to  come  again  into  the  minds  of  those  sove 
reigns  and  their  peoples,  whom  an  inconsiderate  zeal  has 
often  driven  into  violence  and  ferocity  against  protestants, 
that  a  war  to  compel  the  weakest  to  follow  the  religion  of  the 
strongest  is  just  and  lawful." 

Had  not  something  been  gained  for  the  world  when  this 
language  was  held  by  a  Catholic  on  the  very  spot  where  less 
than  a  half  century  before  the  whole  population  of  the 
Netherlands,  men,  women,  and  children,  had  been  con 
demned  to  death  by  a  foreign  tyrant,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  it  was  just,  legal,  and  a  Christian  duty  to  punish  the 
weak  for  refusing  to  follow  the  religion  of  the  strong  ? 

"As  for  the  perils  which  some  affect  to  fear/'  said  Jeannin, 
further,  "if  this  liberty  of  worship  is  accorded,  experience 
teaches  us  every  day  that  diversity  of  religion  is  not  the 
cause  of  the  ruin  of  states,  and  that  a  government  does  not 
cease  to  be  good,  nor  its  subjects  to  live  in  peace  and  friend- 
VOL.  iv, — 2  M. 


530  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIL 

ship  with  one  another,  rendering  due  obedience  to  the  laws 
and  to  their  rulers  as  well  as  if  they  had  all  been  of  the 
same  religion,  without  having  another  thought,  save  for  the 
preservation  of  the  dignity  and  grandeur  of  the  state  in  which 
God  had  caused  them  to  be  born.  The  danger  is  not  in  the 
permission,  but  in  the  prohibition  of  religious  liberty." 

All  this  seems  commonplace  enough  to  us  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
but  it  would  have  been  rank  blasphemy  in  New  England  in 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth,  many  years  after  Jeannin 
spoke.  It  was  a  horrible  sound,  too,  in  the  ears  of  some  of 
his  audience. 

To  the  pretence  so  often  urged  by  the  Catholic  persecutors, 
and  now  set  up  by  their  Calvinistic  imitators,  that  those  who 
still  clung  to  the  old  religion  were  at  liberty  to  depart  from 
the  land,  the  president  replied  with  dignified  scorn. 

"  With  what  justice/'  he  asked,  "  can  you  drive  into  exile 
people  who  have  committed  no  offence,  and  who  have  helped 
to  conquer  the  very  country  from  which  you  would  now 
banish  them  ?  If  you  do  drive  them  away,  you  will  make 
solitudes  in  your  commonwealth,  which  will  be  the  cause  of 
evils  such  as  I  prefer  that  you  should  reflect  upon  without 
my  declaring  them  now.  Although  these  reasons,"  he  con 
tinued,  "  would  seem  sufficient  to  induce  you  to  accord  the 
free  and  public  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion,  the  king, 
not  hoping  as  much  as  that,  because  aware  that  you  are 
not  disposed  to  go  so  far,  is  content  to  request  only  this 
grace  in  behalf  of  the  Catholics,  that  you  will  tolerate  them, 
and  suffer  them  to  have  some  exercise  of  their  religion 
within  their  own  households,  without  interference  or  inquiry 
on  that  account,  and  without  execution  of  the  rigorous  de 
crees  heretofore  enforced  against  them." 

Certainly  if  such  wholesome,  moderate,  and  modest  counsels 
as  these  had  been  rejected,  it  would  have  been  sound  doctrine 
to  proclaim .  that  the  world  did  not  move.  And  there  were 
individuals  enough,  even  an  influential  party,  prepared  to 
oppose  them  for  both  technical  and  practical  reasons,  And 


THE  TOLERATION  QUESTION  531 

the  cause  of  intolerance  derived  much  warmth  and  comfort 
at  this  juncture  from  that  great  luminary  of  theology  and 
political  philosophy,  the  King  of  Great  Britain.  Direful 
and  solemn  were  the  warnings  uttered  by  James  to  the  re 
public  against  permitting  the  old  religion,  or  any  religion 
save  his  own  religion,  to  obtain  the  slightest  foothold  within 
her  borders. 

"Let  the  religion  be  taught  and  preached  in  its  purity 
throughout  your  provinces  without  the  least  mixture,"  said 
Sir  Kalph  Win  wood,  in  the  name  of  his  sovereign. 

"  On  this  foundation  the  justice  of  your  cause  is  built. 
There  is  but  one  verity.  Those  who  are  willing  to  tolerate 
any  religion,  whatever  it  may  be,  and  try  to  make  you  believe 
that  liberty  for  both  is  necessary  in  your  commonwealth, 
are  paving  the  way  towards  atheism." 24 

Such  were  the  counsels  of  King  James  to  the  united  States 
of  the  Netherlands  against  harbouring  Catholics.  A  few 
years  later  he  was  casting  forth  Calvinists  from  his  own 
dominions  as  if  they  had  been  lepers  ;  and  they  went  forth 
on  their  weary  pilgrimage  to  the  howling  wilderness  of  North 
America,  those  exiled  Calvinists,  to  build  a  greater  republic 
than  had  ever  been  dreamed  of  before  on  this  planet ;  and 
they  went  forth,  not  to  preach,  but  in  their  turn  to  denounce 
toleration  and  to  hang  heretics.  "He 'who  would  tolerate 
another  religion  that  his  own  may  be  tolerated,  would  if  need 
be,  hang  God's  bible  at  the  devil's  girdle."  So  spoke  an 
early  Massachusetts  pilgrim,  in  the  very  spirit,  almost  the 
very  words  of  the  royal  persecutor,  who  had  driven  him  into 
outer  darkness  beyond  the  seas.  He  had  not  learned  the 
lesson  of  the  mighty  movement  in  which  he  was  a  pioneer, 
any  more  than  Gomarus  or  Uytenbogaart  had  comprehended 
why  the  Dutch  republic  had  risen. 

Yet  the  founders  of  the  two  commonwealths,  the  United 
States  of  the  seventeenth  and  of  the  nineteenth  centuries, 
although  many  of  them  fiercely  intolerant,  through  a  natural 
instinct  of  resistance,  not  only  to  the  oppressor  but  to  the 

84  Cited  in  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  264. 


532  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS  CHAP.  LIL 

creed  of  the  oppressor,  had  been  breaking  out  the  way,  not 
to  atheism,  as  King  James  believed,  but  to  the  only  garden 
in  which  Christianity  can  perennially  flourish — religious 
liberty. 

Those  most  ardent  and  zealous  path-finders  may  be  forgiven, 
in  view  of  the  inestimable  benefits  conferred  by  them  upon 
humanity,  that  they  did  not  travel  on  their  own  road.  It 
should  be  sufficient  for  us,  if  we  make  due  use  of  their  great 
imperishable  work  ourselves  ;  and  if  we  never  cease  rendering 
thanks  to  the  Omnipotent,  that  there  is  at  least  one  great 
nation  on  the  globe  where  the  words  toleration  and  dissenter 
have  no  meaning  whatever. 

For  the  Dutch  fanatics  of  the  reformed  church,  at  the 
moment  of  the  truce,  to  attempt  to  reverse  the  course  of 
events,  and  to  shut  off  the  mighty  movement  of  the  great 
revolt  from  its  destined  expanse,  was  as  hopeless  a  dream  as 
to  drive  back  the  Rhine,  as  it  reached  the  ocean,  into  the 
narrow  channel  of  the  Rheinwald  glacier  whence  it  sprang. 

The  republic  became  the  refuge  for  the  oppressed  of  all 
nations,  where  Jews  and  Gentiles,  Catholics,  Calvinists,  and 
Anabaptists  prayed  after  their  own  manner  to  the  same  God 
and  Father.  It  was  too  much,  however,  to  hope  that  passions 
which  had  been  so  fiercely  bubbling  during  fifty  years  would 
subside  at  once,  and  that  the  most  intense  religious  hatreds 
that  ever  existed  would  exhale  with  the  proclamation  of 
truce.  The  march  of  humanity  is  rarely  rapid  enough  to 
keep  pace  with  the  leaders  in  its  most  sublime  movements, 
and  it  often  happens  that  its  chieftains  are  dwarfed  in  the 
estimation  of  the  contemporaneous  vulgar,  by  the  very  dis 
tance  at  which  they  precede  their  unconscious  followers.  But 
even  if  the  progress  of  the  human  mind  towards  the  truth  is 
fated  to  be  a  spiral  one,  as  if  to  remind  us  that  mankind 
is  of  the  earth,  earthy — a  worm  in  the  dust  while  inhabiting 
this  lower  sphere — it  is  at  least  a  consolation  to  reflect  upon 
the  gradual  advancement  of  the  intellect  from  age  to  age. 

The  spirit  of  Torquemada,  of  Charles,  of  Philip,  of  Titel- 
mann,  is  even  now  not  extinct  on  this  globe,  but  there  are 


160d  ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  THE  TRUCE.  533 

counter  forces  at  work,  which  must  ultimately  blast  it  into 
insignificance.  At  the  moment  of  the  great  truce,  that  evil 
spirit  was  not  exorcised  from  the  human  breast,  but  the 
number  of  its  victims  and  the  intensity  of  its  influence  had 
already  miraculously  diminished. 

The  truce  was  made  and  announced  all  over  the  Nether 
lands  by  the  ringing  of  bells,  the  happy  discharge  of  inno 
cent  artillery,  by  illuminations,  by  Te  Daums  in  all  the 
churches.  Papist  and  Presbyterian  fell  on  their  knees  in 
every  grand  cathedral  or  humblest  village  church,  to  thank 
God  that  what  had  seemed  the  eternal  butchery  was  over. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  united  and  of  the  obedient  Netherlands 
rushed  across  the  frontiers  into  a  fraternal  embrace,  like  the 
meeting  of  many  waters  when  the  flood-gates  are  lifted.  It 
was  pity  that  the  foreign  sovereignty,  established  at  Brussels, 
could  not  then  and  there  have  been  for  ever  swept  away, 
and  self-government  and  beneficent  union  extended  over  all 
the  seventeen  Netherlands,  Walloon  and  Flemish,  Catholic 
and  reformed.  But  it  hardly  needs  a  word  to  show  that 
the  course  of  events  had  created  a  deeper  chasm  between 
the  two  sections  than  the  gravest  physical  catastrophe  could 
have  produced.  The  opposing  cliffs  which  religious  hatred 
had  rent  asunder,  and  between  which  it  seemed  destined 
to  flow  for  ever,  seemed  very  close,  and  yet  eternally  sepa 
rated. 

The  great  war  had  established  the  republic,  and  apparently 
doomed  the  obedient  Netherlands  to  perpetual  servitude. 

There  were  many  details  of  minor  importance  to  be 
settled  between  the  various  governments  involved  in  these 
great  transactions  ;  but  this  history  draws  to  its  predestined 
close,  and  it  is  necessary  to  glide  rapidly  over  matters  which 
rather  belong  to  a  later  epoch  than  the  one  now  under  con 
sideration. 

The  treaty  between  the  republic  and  the  government  of 
Great  Britain,  according  to  which  each  was  to  assist  the  other 
in  case  of  war  with  four  thousand  troops  and  twenty  ships 
of  war,  was  confirmed  in  the  treaty  of  truce.  The  debt  of 

VOL.  11—17* 


534  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LI1. 

the  United  Provinces  to  the  Crown  of  England  was  definitely 
reckoned  at  8, 184,080  florins,  and  it  was  settled  by  the  truce 
that  200,000  florins  should  be  paid  semi-annually,  to  begin 
with  the  year  1611,  until  the  whole  debt  should  be  dis 
charged.25 

The  army  establishment  of  the  republic  was  fixed  during 
the  truce  at  thirty  thousand  infantry  and  three  thousand 
horse.  This  was  a  reduction  from  the  war  footing  of  fifteen 
thousand  men.  Of  the  force  retained,  four  thousand  were 
a  French  legion  maintained  by  the  king,  two  thousand 
other  French  at  the  expense  of  the  States,  and  distributed 
among  other  troops,  two  thousand  Scotch,  three  thousand 
English,  three  thousand  Germans.  The  rest  were  native 
Netherlanders,  among  whom,  however,  were  very  few  Hol 
landers  and  Zeelanders,  from  which  races  the  navy,  both  pub 
lic  and  mercantile,  was  almost  wholly  supplied. 

The  revenue  of  the  United  Provinces  was  estimated  at 
between  seven  and  eight  millions  of  florins. 

It  is  superfluous  to  call  attention  again  to  the  wonderful 
smallness  of  the  means,  the  minuteness  of  the  physical  enginry, 
as  compared  with  more  modern  manifestations,  especially  in 
our  own  land  and  epoch,  by  which  so  stupendous  a  result  had 
been  reached.  In  the  midst  of  an  age  in  which  regal  and 
sacerdotal  despotism  had  seemed  as  omnipotent  and  irrever 
sible  as  the  elemental  laws  of  the  universe,  the  republic  had 
been  reproduced.  A  commonwealth  of  sand-banks,  lagoons, 
and  meadows,  less  than  fourteen  thousand  square  miles  in 
extent,  had  done  battle,  for  nearly  half  a  century,  with  the 
greatest  of  existing  powers,  a  realm  whose  territory  was 
nearly  a  third  of  the  globe,  and  which  claimed  universal 
monarchy.  And  this  had  been  done  with  an  army  averaging 
forty-six  thousand  men,  half  of  them  foreigners  hired  by  the 
job,  and  by  a  sea-faring  population,  volunteering  into  ships 
of  every  class  and  denomination,  from  a  fly-boat  to  a  galleot 
of  war. 

And  when  the  republic  had  won  its  independence,  after  this 

Meteren.  614™. 


1609. 


SALARY   OF  PRINCE  MAURICE. 


535 


almost  eternal  warfare,  it  owed  four  or  five  millions  of  dollars, 
and  had  sometimes  an  annual  revenue  of  nearly  that  amount. 

It  was  estimated  by  Barneveld,  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
truce,  that  the  interest  on  the  public  debt  of  Spain  was  about 
thrice  the  amount  of  the  yearly  income  of  the  republic,  and 
it  was  characteristic  of  the  financial  ideas  of  the  period,  that 
fears  were  entertained  lest  a  total  repudiation  of  that  burthen 
by  the  Spanish  Government  would  enable  it  to  resume  the  war 
against  the  provinces  with  redoubled  energy 26 

The  annual  salary  of  Prince  Maurice,  who  was  to  see  his 
chief  occupation  gone  by  the  cessation  of  the  war,  was  fixed 
by  the  States  at  120,000  florins.27  It  was  agreed,  that  in 
case  of  his  marriage  he  should  receive  a  further  yearly  sum 
of  25,000  florins,  and  this  addition  was  soon  afterwards 
voted  to  him  outright,28  it  being  obvious  that  the  prince 
would  remain  all  his  days  a  bachelor. 

Count  Frederic  Henry  likewise  received  a  military  salary 
of  25,000  florins,29  while  the  emoluments  of  Lewis  William 
were  placed  at  36,000  florins  a  year.30 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  republic  was  grateful. 
70,000  dollars  a  year,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  not  only 
for  life,  but  to  be  inherited  afterwards  by  his  younger  brother, 
Frederic  Henry,  was  surely  a  munificent  sum  to  be  accorded 
from  the  puny  exchequer  of  the  States-General  to  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  nation. 

The  mighty  transatlantic  republic,  with  its  population  of 
thirty  or  forty  millions,  and  its  revenue  of  five  hundred 
millions  of  dollars,  pays  25,000  dollars  annually  for  its  presi 
dent  during  his  four  years  of  office,  and  this  in  the  second 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  a  dollar  is  worth  scarcely 
one-fifth  of  its  value  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 

Surely  here  is  improvement,  both  in  the  capacity  to  produce 
and  in  the  power  to  save. 


86  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  223. 
97  Van  der  Kemp  (from  the  Sec.  Res. 
Stat.-Gen.)  iii.  250,  251. 
28  Ibid.   251,  252.     "No  one  thing 
been  of  greater  trouble  to  us," 


wrote  Spencer  and  Winwood,  "  than 
the  craving  humour  of  Count  Mau 
rice."—  Winwood's  Memorials,  iii.  1  2, 

29    bid.  255, 

80  Ibid, 


536  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIL 

ID  the  year  1609,  died  John,  the  last  sovereign  of  Cleves 
and  Juliers,  and  Jacob  Arminius,  Doctor  of  Divinity  at 
Leyden.  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  two  more  entirely 
dissimilar  individuals  of  the  human  family  than  this  lunatic 
duke  and  that  theological  professor.  And  yet,  perhaps,  the 
two  names,  more  concisely  than  those  of  any  other  mortals, 
might  serve  as  an  index  to  the  ghastly  chronicle  over  which  a 
coming  generation  was  to  shudder.  The  death  of  the  duke 
was  at  first  thought  likely  to  break  off  the  negotiations  for 
truce.  The  States-General  at  once  declared  that  they  would 
permit  no  movements  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  party  to 
seize  the  inheritance  in  behalf  of  the  Catholic  claimants. 
Prince  Maurice,  nothing  loth  to  make  use  of  so  well-timed  an 
event  in  order  to  cut  for  ever  the  tangled  skein  at  the  Hague, 
was  for  marching  forthwith  into  the  duchies. 

But  the  archdukes  gave  such  unequivocal  assurances  of 
abstaining  from  interference,  and  the  desire  for  peace  was  so 
strong  both  in  the  obedient  and  in  the  United  Provinces, 
that  the  question  of  the  duchies  was  postponed.  It  was  to 
serve  as  both  torch  and  fuel  for  one  of  the  longest  and  most 
hideous  tragedies  that  had  ever  disgraced  humanity.  A 
thirty  years'  war  of  demons  was,  after  a  brief  interval,  to 
succeed  the  forty  years'  struggle  between  slaves  and  masters, 
which  had  just  ended  in  the  recognition  of  Dutch  indepen 
dence. 

The  gentle  Arminius  was  in  his  grave,  but  a  bloody  harvest 
was  fast  ripening  from  the  seeds  which  he  had  sown.  That 
evil  story  must  find  its  place  in  the  melancholy  chapter 
where  the  fortunes  of  the  Dutch  republic  are  blended  with 
the  grim  chronicle  of  the  thirty  years'  war.  Until  the  time 
arrives  for  retracing  the  course  of  those  united  transactions 
to  their  final  termination  in  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  it  is 
premature  to  characterize  an  epoch  which,  at  the  moment 
with  which  we  are  now  occupied,  had  not  fairly  begun. 

The  Gromarites  accused  the  Arminians  of  being  more  lax 
than  Papists,  and  of  filling  the  soul  of  man  with  vilest 
arrogance  and  confidence  in  good  works  ;  while  the  Ar- 


1609.  THEOLOGICAL  CONTENTION.  537 

minians  complained  that  the  God  of  the  Gomarites  was  an 
unjust  God,  himself  the  origin  of  sin.31 

The  disputes  on  these  themes  had  been  perpetual  in  the 
provinces  ever  since  the  early  days  of  the  Reformation.  Of 
late,  however,  the  acrimony  of  theological  conflict  had  been 
growing  day  by  day  more  intense.  It  was  the  eternal  struggle 
of  religious  dogma  to  get  possession  of  the  State,  and  to  make 
use  of  political  forces  in  order  to  put  fetters  on  the  human 
soul  ;  to  condemn  it  to  slavery  where  most  it  requires  freedom. 
The  conflict  between  Gomarus  and  Arminius  proceeded  with 
such  ferocity  in  Leyden,  that,  since  the  days  of  the  memorable 
siege,  to  which  the  university  owed  its  origin,  men's  minds 
had  never  been  roused  to  such  feverish  anxiety.  The  theo 
logical  cannonades,  which  thundered  daily  from  the  college 
buildings  and  caused  all  Holland  to  quake,  seemed  more  ap 
palling  to  the  burghers  than  the  enginry  of  Yaldez  and 
Boisot  had  ever  seemed  to  their  fathers. 

The  Goinarite  doctrine  gained  most  favour  with  the  clergy, 
the  Arminian  creed  with  the  municipal  magistracies.  The 
magistrates  claimed  that  decisions  concerning  religious  mat 
ters  belonged  to  the  supreme  authority.  The  Gomarites 
contended  that  sacred  matters  should  be  referred  to  synods 
of  the  clergy.32  Here  was  the  germ  of  a  conflict  which  might 
one  day  shake  the  republic  to  its  foundations. 

Barneveld,  the  great  leader  of  the  municipal  party,  who 
loved  political  power  quite  as  well  as  he  loved  his  country, 
was  naturally  a  chieftain  of  the  Arminians ;  for  church 
matters  were  no  more  separated  from  political  matters  in 
the  commonwealth  at  that  moment  than  they  were  in  the 
cabinets  of  Henry,  James,  or  Philip. 

It  was  inevitable  therefore  that  the  war  party  should 
pour  upon  his  head  more  than  seven  vials  of  theological 
wrath.  The  religious  doctrines  which  he  espoused  were 
odious  not  only  because  they  were  deemed  vile  in  themselves, 
but  because  he  believed  in  them. 

Arminianism  was  regarded  as  a  new  and  horrible  epidemic, 

81  Grotius,  xvii.  790-792.  «  Grotius,  xvii.  791. 


538  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIL 

daily  gaining  ground,  and  threatening  to  destroy  the  whole 
population.  Men  deliberated  concerning  the  best  means  to 
cut  off  communication  with  the  infected  regions,  and  to  ex 
tirpate  the  plague  even  by  desperate  and  heroic  remedies,  as 
men  in  later  days  take  measures  against  the  cholera  or  the 
rinderpest. 

Theological  hatred  was  surely  not  extinct  in  the  Nether 
lands.  It  was  a  consolation,  however,  that  its  influence  was 
rendered  less  noxious  by  the  vastly  increased  strength  of 
principles  long  dormant  in  the  atmosphere.  Anna  van  der 
Hoven,  buried  alive  in  Brussels,  simply  because  her  Cal- 
vinistic  creed  was  a  crime  in  the  eyes  of  the  monks  who 
murdered  her,  was  the  last  victim  to  purely  religious  perse 
cution.  If  there  were  one  day  to  be  still  a  tragedy  or  two 
in  the  Netherlands  it  was  inevitable  that  theological  hatred 
would  be  obliged  to  combine  with  political  party  spirit  in  its 
most  condensed  form  before  any  deadly  effect  could  be  pro 
duced. 

Thus  the  year  1609  is  a  memorable  one  in  the  world's 
history.  It  forms  a  great  landmark  in  human  progress.  It 
witnessed  the  recognition  of  a  republic,  powerful  in  itself,  and 
whose  example  was  destined  to  be  most  influential  upon  the 
career  of  two  mighty  commonwealths  of  the  future.  The 
British  empire,  just  expanding  for  wider  flight  than  it  had 
hitherto  essayed,  and  about  to  pass  through  a  series  of  vast 
revolutions,  gathering  strength  of  wing  as  it  emerged  from 
cloud  after  cloud  ;  and  the  American  republic,  whose  frail 
and  obscure  beginnings  at  that  very  instant  of  time  scarcely 
attracted  a  passing  attention  from  the  contemporaneous 
world — both  these  political  organisms,  to  which  so  much  of 
mankind's  future  liberties  had  been  entrusted,  were  deeply 
indebted  to  the  earlier  self-governing  commonwealth. 

The  Dutch  republic  was  the  first  free  nation  to  put  a  girdle 
of  empire  around  the  earth.  It  had  courage,  enterprise,  in 
telligence,  perseverance,  faith  in  itself,  the  instinct  of  self- 
government  and  self-help,  hatred  of  tyranny,  the  disposition 
to  domineer,  aggressiveness,  greediness,  inquisitiveness,  in- 


1609.  TURKISH  AND  ROMAN  EMPIRES.  539 

science,  the  love  of  science,  of  liberty,  and  of  money — all  this 
in  unlimited  extent.  It  had  one  great  defect, — it  had  no 
country.  Upon  that  meagre  standing  ground  its  hand  had 
moved  the  world  with  an  impulse  to  be  felt  through  all  the 
ages,  but  there  was  not  soil  enough  in  those  fourteen  thousand 
square  miles  to  form  the  metropolis  of  the  magnificent  empire 
which  the  genius  of  liberty  had  created  beyond  the  seas. 

That  the  political  institutions  bequeathed  by  the  United 
States  of  the  seventeenth  century  have  been  vastly  improved, 
both  in  theory  and  practice,  by  the  United  States  of  the 
nineteenth,  no  American  is  likely  to  gainsay.  That  the  elder 
Kepublic  showed  us  also  what  to  avoid,  and  was  a  living 
example  of  the  perils  besetting  a  Confederacy  which  dared  not 
become  a  Union,  is  a  lesson  which  we  might  take  closely 
to  heart. 

But  the  year  1609  was  not  only  memorable  as  marking  an 
epoch  in  Dutch  history.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  great  and 
universal  pause.  The  world  had  need  of  rest.  Disintegra 
tion  had  been  going  on  too  rapidly,  and  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  that  there  should  be  a  new  birth,  if  civilization 
were  not  to  vanish. 

A  twenty  years'  truce  between  the  Turkish  and  Holy 
Koman  empires  was  nearly  simultaneous  with  the  twelve 
years'  truce  between  Spain  and  the  United  Provinces.  The 
Emperor  Kudolph  having  refused  to  ratify  the  treaty  which 
his  brother  Matthias  had  made,  was  in  consequence  partially 
discrowned.  The  same  archduke  who,  thirty  years  before, 
had  slipped  away  from  Vienna  in  his  nightgown,  with  his 
face  blackened,  to  outwit  and  outgeneral  William  the  Silent 
at  Brussels,  was  now  more  successful  in  his  manoeuvres 
against  his  imperial  brother.  Standing  at  the  head  of  his 
army  in  battle  array,  in  the  open  fields  before  the  walls 
of  Prague,  he  received  from  the  unfortunate  Rudolph 
the  crown  and  regalia  of  Hungary,  and  was  by  solemn 
treaty  declared  sovereign  of  that  ancient  and  chivalrous 
kingdom.33 

33  Meteren,  600,  601. 


540  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIL 

His  triumphal  entrance  into  Vienna  succeeded,  where, 
14  July,  surrounded  by  great  nobles  and  burghers,  with  his 

1608.  brother  Maximilian  at  his  side,  with  immense 
pomp  and  with  flowers  strewn  before  his  feet,  he  ratified  that 
truce  with  Ahmed  which  Kudolph  had  rejected.  Three 

19  Oct.    months  later  he  was  crowned  at  Pressburg,  having 

1608.  first  accepted  the  conditions  proposed  by  the  estates 
of  Hungary.     Foremost  among  these  was  the  provision  that 
the  exercise  of  the  reformed  religion  should  be  free  in  all 
the  cities  and  villages  beneath  his  sceptre,  and  that  every 
man  in  the  kingdom  was  to  worship  God  according  to  his 
conscience. 

In  the  following  March,  at  the  very  moment  accordingly 
12  March,  when  the  conclusive  negotiations  were  fast  ripening 

1609.  at  Antwerp,  Matthias  granted  religious  peace  for 
Austria  likewise.     Great  was  the  indignation  of  his  nephew 
Leopold,  the  nuncius,  and  the  Spanish  ambassador  in  conse 
quence,  by  each  and  all  of  whom  the  revolutionary  mischief- 
maker,  with  his  brother's  crown  on  his  head,  was  threatened 
with  excommunication.34 

As  for  Ferdinand  of  Styria,  his  wrath  may  well  be  imagined. 
He  refused  religious  peace  in  his  dominions  with  scorn  inef 
fable.  Not  Gomarus  in  Leyden  could  have  shrunk  from 
Arminianism  with  more  intense  horror  than  that  with  which 
the  archduke  at  Gratz  recoiled  from  any  form  of  Protes 
tantism.  He  wrote  to  his  brother-in-law  the  King  of  Spain 
and  to  other  potentates — as  if  the  very  soul  of  Philip  II.  were 
alive  within  him — that  he  would  rather  have  a  country  without 
inhabitants  than  with  a  single  protestant  on  its  soil.35  He 
strongly  urged  upon  his  Catholic  Majesty — as  if  such  urging 
were  necessary  at  the  Spanish  court — the  necessity  of  extir 
pating  heresy,  root  and  branch. 

Here  was  one  man  at  least  who  knew  what  he  meant,  and 
on  whom  the  dread  lessons  of  fifty  years  of  bloodshed  had 
been  lost.  Magnificent  was  the  contempt  which  this  pupil 
of  the  Jesuits  felt  for  any  little  progress  made  by  the  world 

34  Meteren,  600,  601,  *5  Ibi4, 


1609.  FUTURE  PROSPECTS.  541 

since  the  days  of  Torquemada.  In  Ferdinand's  view  Alva 
was  a  Christian  hero,  scarcely  second  to  Godfrey  of  Bouillon, 
Philip  II.  a  sainted  martyr,  while  the  Dutch  republic  had 
never  been  born. 

And  Ferdinand  was  one  day  to  sit  on  the  throne  of  the 
holy  Roman  Empire.  Might  not  a  shudder  come  over  the 
souls  of  men  as  coming  events  vaguely  shaped  themselves  to 
prophetic  eyes  ? 

Meantime  there  was  religious  peace  in  Hungary,  in  Austria, 
in   Bohemia,  in  France,  in   Great   Britain,  in   the    5  juiy) 
Netherlands.       The   hangman's   hands   were   for  a     1609- 
period  at  rest,  so  far  as  theology  had  need  of  them.     Butchery 
in  the  name  of  Christ  was  suspended  throughout  Christendom. 
The  Cross  and  the  Crescent,  Santiago  and  the  Orange  banner, 
were  for  a  season  in  repose. 

There  was  a  vast  lull  between  two  mighty  storms.  The 
forty  years'  war  was  in  the  past,  the  thirty  years'  war  in  the 
not  far  distant  future. 


542  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIIL 


CHAPTER    LIIL 

CONCLUSION. 

FORTY-THREE  years  had  passed  since  the  memorable  April 
morning  in  which  the  great  nobles  of  the  Netherlands  pre 
sented  their  "Request"  to  the  Regent  Margaret  at  Brussels. 

They  had  requested  that  the  holy  Spanish  Inquisition 
might  not  be  established  on  their  soil  to  the  suppression  of 
all  their  political  and  religious  institutions. 

The  war  which  those  high-born  "beggars"  had  then 
kindled,  little  knowing  what  they  were  doing,  had  now  come 
to  a  close,  and  the  successor  of  Philip  II.,  instead  of  planting 
the  Inquisition  in  the  provinces,  had  recognised  them  as  an 
independent,  sovereign,  protestant  republic. 

In  the  ratification  which  he  had  just  signed  of  the  treaty  of 
truce  the  most  Catholic  king  had  in  his  turn  made  a  Request. 
He  had  asked  the  States-General  to  deal  kindly  with  their 
Catholic  subjects. 

That  request  was  not  answered  with  the  axe  and  faggot ;  with 
the  avenging  sword  of  mercenary  legions.  On  the  contrary, 
it  was  destined  to  be  granted.  The  world  had  gained  some 
thing  in  forty-three  years.  It  had  at  least  begun  to  learn  that 
the  hangman  is  not  the  most  appropriate  teacher  of  religion. 

During  the  period  of  apparent  chaos  with  which  this 
history  of  the  great  revolt  has  been  occupied,  there  had  in 
truth  been  a  great  re-organization,  a  perfected  new  birth. 
The  republic  had  once  more  appeared  in  the  world. 

Its  main  characteristics  have  been  indicated  in  the  course 
of  the  narrative,  for  it  was  a  polity  which  gradually  unfolded 
itself  out  of  the  decay  and  change  of  previous  organisms. 

It  was,  as  it  were,  in  their  own  despite  and  unwittingly 
that  the  United  Provinces  became  a  republic  at  all. 


CONCLUSION.  543 

In  vain,  after  originally  declaring  their  independence  of 
the  ancient  tyrant,  had  they  attempted  to  annex  themselves 
to  France  and  to  England.  The  sovereignty  had  been 
spurned.  The  magnificent  prize  which  France  for  centuries 
since  has  so  persistently  coveted,  and  the  attainment  of  which 
has  been  a  cardinal  point  of  her  perpetual  policy — the  Low 
Countries  and  the  banks  of  the  Rhine — was  deliberately 
laid  at  her  feet,  and  as  deliberately  refused. 

It  was  the  secret  hope  of  the  present  monarch  to  repair  the 
loss  which  the  kingdom  had  suffered  through  the  imbecility 
of  his  two  immediate  predecessors.  But  a  great  nation 
cannot  with  impunity  permit  itself  to  be  despotically  governed 
for  thirty  years  by  lunatics.  It  was  not  for  the  Bearnese, 
with  all  his  valour,  his  wit,  and  his  duplicity,  to  obtain 
the  prize  which  Charles  IX.  and  Henry  III.  had  thrown 
away.  Yet  to  make  himself  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands 
was  his  guiding  but  most  secret  thought  during  all  the 
wearisome  and  tortuous  negotiations  which  preceded  the 
truce  ;  nor  did  he  abandon  the  great  hope  with  the  signature 
of  the  treaty  of  1609. 

Maurice  of  Nassau  too  was  a  formidable  rival  to  Henry. 
The  stadholder-prince  was  no  republican.  He  was  a  good 
patriot,  a  noble  soldier,  an  honest  man.  But  his  father  had 
been  offered  the  sovereignty  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  and  the 
pistol  of  Balthasar  Gerard  had  alone,  in  all  human  probability, 
prevented  the  great  prince  from  becoming  constitutional 
monarch  of  all  the  Netherlands,  Batavian  and  Belgic. 

Maurice  himself  asserted  that  not  only  had  he  been  offered 
a  million  of  dollars,  and  large  estates  besides  in  Germany,  if 
he  would  leave  the  provinces  to  their  fate,  but  that  the  arch 
dukes  had  offered,  would  he  join  his  fortunes  with  theirs,  to 
place  him  in  a  higher  position  over  all  the  Netherlands  than 
he  had  ever  enjoyed  in  the  United  Provinces,  and  that  they 
had  even  unequivocally  offered  him  the  sovereignty  over  the 
whole  land.1 

Maurice  was  a  man  of  truth,  and  we  have  no  right  to 

1  Jeannin,  i.  174, 175, 


544  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIU. 

dispute  the  accuracy  of  the  extraordinary  statement.  He 
must  however  have  reflected  upon  the  offer  once  made  hy 
the  Prince  of  Darkness  from  the  mountain  top,  and  have 
asked  himself  by  what  machinery  the  archdukes  proposed  to 
place  him  in  possession  of  such  a  kingdom. 

There  had,  however,  been  serious  question  among  leading 
Dutch  statesmen  of  making  him  constitutional,  hereditary 
monarch  of  the  United  Netherlands.  As  late  as  1602  a  secret 
conference  was  held  at  the  house  of  Olden-Barneveld,  in 
which  the  Advocate  had  himself  urged  the  claims  of  the 
prince  to  the  sovereignty,  and  reminded  his  guests  that 
the  signed  and  sealed  documents — with  the  concurrence 
of  the  Amsterdam  municipality  alone  lacking — by  which 
William  the  Silent  had  been  invited  to  assume  the  crown 
were  still  in  the  possession  of  his  son.2 

Nothing  came  of  these  deliberations.  It  was  agreed 
that  to  stir  in  the  matter  at  that  moment  would  be  pre 
mature,  and  that  the  pursuit  by  Maurice  of  the  monarchy 
in  the  circumstances  then  existing  would  not  only  over- 
burthen  him  with  expense,  but  make  him  a  more  conspi 
cuous  mark  than  ever  for  the  assassin.  It  is  certain  that 
the  prince  manifested  no  undue  anxiety  at  any  period  in 
regard  to  those  transactions. 

Subsequently,  as  Olden-Barneveld's  personal  power  in 
creased,  and  as  the  negotiations  for  peace  became  more 
and  more  likely  to  prove  successful,  the  Advocate  lost  all 
relish  for  placing  his  great  rival  on  a  throne.  The  whole 
project,  with  the  documents  and  secret  schemes  therewith 
connected,  became  mere  alms  for  oblivion.  Barneveld  him 
self,  although  of  comparatively  humble  birth  and  station,  was 
likely  with  time  to  exercise  more  real  power  in  the  State 
than  either  Henry  or  Maurice  ;  and  thus  while  there  were 
three  individuals  who  in  different  ways  aspired  to  supreme 
power,  the  republic,  notwithstanding,  asserted  and  established 
itself. 

*  Van  der  Kemp,  ii.  100-102,  and  390-395.     Leven  van  Olden-Barneveld 
156.     Wagenaar,  ix.  454. 


CONCLUSION.  545 

Freedom  of  government  and  freedom  of  religion  were,  on 
the  whole,  assisted  by  this  triple  antagonism.  The  prince, 
so  soon  as  war  was  over,  hated  the  Advocate  and  his  daily 
increasing  power  more  and  more.  He  allied  himself  more 
closely  than  ever  with  the  Gomarites  and  the  clerical  party 
in  general,  and  did  his  best  to  inflame  the  persecuting  spirit., 
already  existing  in  the  provinces,  against  the  Catholics  and 
the  later  sects  of  Protestants. 

Jeannin  warned  him  that  "by  thus  howling  with  the 
priests"  he  would  be  suspected  of  more  desperately  ambitious 
designs  than  he  perhaps  really  cherished.3 

On  the  other  hand,  Barneveld  was  accused  of  a  wil 
lingness  to  wink  at  the  introduction,  privately  and  quietly,  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  worship.  That  this  was  the  deadliest 
of  sins,  there  was  no  doubt  whatever  in  the  minds  of  his 
revilers.  When  it  was  added  that  he  was  suspected  of  the 
Arminian  leprosy,  and  that  he  could  tolerate  the  thought 
that  a  virtuous  man  or  woman,  not  predestined  from  all  time 
for  salvation,  could  possibly  find  the  way  to  heaven,  language 
becomes  powerless  to  stigmatize  his  depravity.  Whatever 
the  punishment  impending  over  his  head  in  this  world  or  the 
next,  it  is  certain  that  the  cause  of  human  freedom  was  not 
destined  on  the  whole  to  lose  ground  through  the  life-work 
of  Barneveld. 

A  champion  of  liberties  rather  than  of  liberty,  he  defended 
his  fatherland  with  heart  and  soul  against  the  stranger ;  yet 
the  government  of  that  fatherland  was,  in  his  judgment,  to 
be  transferred  from  the  hand  of  the  foreigner,  not  to  the 
self-governing  people,  but  to  the  provincial  corporations. 
For  the  People  he  had  no  respect,  and  perhaps  little  affection. 
He  often  spoke  of  popular  rights  with  contempt.  Of  popular 
sovereignty  he  had  no  conception.  His  patriotism,  like  his 
ambition,  was  provincial.  Yet  his  perceptions  as  to  eternal 
necessity  in  all  healthy  governments  taught  him  that  com 
prehensible  relations  between  the  state  and  the  population  were 
needful  to  the  very  existence  of  a  free  commonwealth.  The 

3  Van  der  Kemp,  iii.  72.    Jeannin. 
VOL.  IV. — 2  N 


546  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIII. 

United  Provinces,  he  maintained,  were  not  a  republic,  but  a 
league  of  seven  provinces  very  loosely  hung  together,  a  mere 
provisional  organization  for  which  it  was  not  then  possible  to 
substitute  anything  better.  He  expressed  this  opinion  with 
deep  regret,  just  as  the  war  of  independence  was  closing,  and 
added  his  conviction  that,  without  some  well-ordered  govern 
ment,  no  republic  could  stand. 

Yet,  as  time  wore  on,  the  Advocate  was  destined  to  ac 
quiesce  more  and  more  in  this  defective  constitution.  A 
settled  theory  there  was  none,  and  it  would  have  been 
difficult  legally  and  historically  to  establish  the  central 
sovereignty  of  the  States-General  as  matter  of  right. 

Thus  Barneveld,  who  was  anything  but  a  democrat,  be 
came,  almost  unwittingly,  the  champion  of  the  least  venerable 
or  imposing  of  all  forms  of  aristocracy — an  oligarchy  of 
traders  who  imagined  themselves  patricians.  Corporate 
rights,  not  popular  liberty,  seemed,  in  his  view,  the  precious 
gains  made  by  such  a  prodigious  expenditure  of  time,  money, 
and  blood.  Although  such  acquisitions  were  practically  a 
vast  addition  to  the  stock  of  human  freedom  then  existing 
in  the  world,  yet  torrents  of  blood  and  millions  of  treasure 
were  to  be  wasted  in  the  coming  centuries  before  mankind 
was  to  convince  itself  that  a  republic  is  only  to  be  made 
powerful  and  perpetual  by  placing  itself  upon  the  basis  of 
popular  right  rather  than  on  that  of  municipal  privilege. 

The  singular  docility  of  the  Dutch  people,  combined  with 
the  simplicity,  honesty,  and  practical  sagacity  of  the  earlier 
burgher  patricians,  made  the  defects  of  the  system  tolerable 
'for  a  longer  period  than  might  have  been  expected  ;  nor  was 
it  until  theological  dissensions  had  gathered  to  such  intensity 
as  to  set  the  whole  commonwealth  aflame  that  the  grave 
defects  in  the  political  structure  could  be  fairly  estimated. 

It  would  be  anticipating  a  dark  chapter  in  the  history  of 
the  United  Provinces  were  the  reader's  attention  now  to  be 
called  to  those  fearful  convulsions.  The  greatest  reserve  is 
therefore  necessary  at  present  in  alluding  to  the  subject. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  an  imperious,  energetic 


CONCLUSION.  547 

but  somewhat  limited  nature  like  that  of  Barneveld  should 
at  that  epoch  thoroughly  comprehend  the  meaning  of  reli 
gious  freedom.  William  the  Silent  alone  seems  to  have 
risen  to  that  height.  A  conscientious  Calvinist  himself,  the 
father  of  his  country  would  have  been  glad  to  see  Protestant 
and  Papist,  Lutheran,  Presbyterian,  and  Anabaptist  living 
together  in  harmony  and  political  equality.  This  was  not 
to  be.  The  soul  of  the  immortal  prince  could  not  inspire  the 
hearts  of  his  contemporaries.  That  Barneveld  was  disposed 
to  a  breadth  of  religious  sympathy  unusual  in  those  days, 
seems  certain.  It  was  inevitable,  too,  that  the  mild  doctrines 
of  Arminius  should  be  more  in  harmony  with  such  a  cha 
racter  than  were  the  fierce  dogmas  of  Calvin.  But  the 
struggle,  either  to  force  Arminianism  upon  the  Church 
which  considered  itself  the  established  one  in  the  Nether 
lands,  or  to  expel  the  Calvinists  from  it,  had  not  yet  begun  ; 
although  the  seeds  of  religious  persecution  of  Protestants 
by  Protestants  had  already  been  sown  broadcast. 

The  day  was  not  far  distant  when  the  very  Calvinists,  to 
whom,  more  than  to  any  other  class  of  men,  the  political 
liberties  of  Holland,  England,  and  America  are  due,  were  to 
be  hunted  out  of  churches  into  farm-houses,  suburban  hovels, 
and  canal-boats  by  the  arm  of  provincial  sovereignty  and  in 
the  name  of  state-rights,  as  pitilessly  as  the  early  reformers 
had  been  driven  out  of  cathedrals  in  the  name  of  emperor 
and  pope  ;  and  when  even  those  refuges  for  conscientious 
worship  were  to  be  denied  by  the  dominant  sect.  And  the 
day  was  to  come,  too,  when  the  Calvinists,  regaining  ascen 
dency  in  their  turn,  were  to  hunt  the  heterodox  as  they  had 
themselves  been  hunted ;  and  this,  at  the  very  moment  when 
their  fellow  Calvinists  of  England  were  driven  by  the  Church 
of  that  kingdom  into  the  American  wilderness. 

Toleration — that  intolerable  term  of  insult  to  all  who  love 
liberty — had  not  yet  been  discovered.  It  had  scarcely  oc 
curred  to  Arminian  or  Presbyterian  that  civil  authority  and 
ecclesiastical  doctrine  could  be  divorced  from  each  other. 
As  the  individual  sovereignty  of  the  seven  states  established 


£48  THE   UNITED   NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.LIII 

itself  more  and  more  securely,  the  right  of  provincial  power 
to  dictate  religious  dogmas,  and  to  superintend  the  popular 
conscience,  was  exercised  with  a  placid  arrogance  which 
papal  infallibility  could  scarcely  exceed.  The  alternation 
was  only  between  the  sects,  each  in  its  turn  becoming 
orthodox,  and  therefore  persecuting.  The  lessened  intensity 
of  persecution  however,  which  priesthood  and  authority  were 
now  allowed  to  exercise,  marked  the  gains  secured. 

Yet  while  we  censure — as  we  have  a  right  to  do  from  the 
point  of  view  which  we  have  gained  after  centuries — the 
crimes  committed  by  bigotry  against  liberty,  we  should  be 
false  to  our  faith  in  human  progress  did  we  not  acknowledge 
our  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  hot  gospellers  of  Holland  and 
England. 

The  doctrine  of  predestination,  the  consciousness  of  being 
chosen  soldiers  of  Christ,  inspired  those  puritans,  who  founded 
the  commonwealths  of  England,  of  Holland,  and  of  America, 
with  a  contempt  of  toil,  danger,,  and  death  which  enabled 
them  to  accomplish  things  almost  supernatural. 

No  uncouthness  of  phraseology,  no  unlovely  austerity  of 
deportment,  could,  except  to  vulgar  minds,  make  that  sublime 
enthusiasm  ridiculous,  which  on  either  side  the  ocean  ever 
confronted  tyranny  with  dauntless  front,  arid  welcomed  death 
on  battle-field,  scaffold,  or  rack  with  perfect  composure. 

The  early  puritan  at  least  believed.  The  very  intensity 
of  his  belief  made  him — all  unconsciously  to  himself,  and 
narrowed  as  was  his  view  of  his  position — the  great  instru 
ment  by  which  the  widest  human  liberty  was  to  be  gained 
for  all  mankind. 

The  elected  favourite  of  the  King  of  kings  feared  the 
power  of  no  earthly  king.  Accepting  in  rapture  the  decrees 
of  a  supernatural  tyranny,  he  rose  on  mighty  wings  above 
the  reach  of  human  wrath.  Prostrating  himself  before  a 
God  of  vengeance,  of  jealousy,  and  of  injustice,  he  naturally 
imitated  the  attributes  which  he  believed  to  be  divine.  It 
was  inevitable,  therefore,  that  Barneveld,  and  those  who 
thought  with  him,  when  they  should  attempt  to  force  the 


CONCLUSION.  549 

children  of  Belial  into  the  company  of  the  elect  and  to  drive 
the  faithful  out  of  their  own  churches,  should  be  detested 
as  bitterly  as  papists  had  ever  been. 

Had  Barneveld's  intellect  been  broad  enough  to  imagine 
in  a  great  republic  the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  he 
would  deserve  a  tenderer  sympathy,  but  he  would  have  been 
far  in  advance  of  his  age.  It  is  not  cheerful  to  see  so  power 
ful  an  intellect  and  so  patriotic  a  character  daring  to  entrust 
the  relations  between  man  and  his  Maker  to  the  decree  of  a 
trading  corporation.  But  alas  !  the  world  was  to  wait  for 
centuries  until  it  should  learn  that  the  State  can  best  defend 
religion  by  letting  it  alone,  and  that  the  political  arm  is  apt 
to  wither  with  palsy  when  it  attempts  to  control  the  human 
conscience. 

It  is  not  entirely  the  commonwealth  of  the  United  Nether 
lands  that  is  of  importance  in  the  epoch  which  I  have 
endeavoured  to  illustrate.  History  can  have  neither  value 
nor  charm  for  those  who  are  not  impressed  with  a  conviction 
of  its  continuity. 

More  than  ever  during  the  period  which  we  call  modern 
history  has  this  idea  of  the  continuousness  of  our  race,  and 
especially  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  and  America,  become 
almost  oppressive  to  the  imagination.  There  is  a  sense 
of  immortality  even  upon  earth  when  we  see  the  succes 
sion  of  heritages  in  the  domains  of  science,  of  intellectual 
and  material  wealth  by  which  mankind,  generation  after 
generation,  is  enriching  itself. 

If  this  progress  be  a  dream,  if  mankind  be  describing  a 
limited  circle  instead  of  advancing  towards  the  infinite,  then 
no  study  can  be  more  contemptible  than  the  study  of  history. 

Few  strides  more  gigantic  have  been  taken  in  the  march 
of  humanity  than  those  by  which  a  parcel  of  outlying  pro 
vinces  in  the  north  of  Europe  exchanged  slavery  to  a 
foreign  despotism  and  to  the  Holy  Inquisition  for  the  posi 
tion  of  a  self-governing  commonwealth,  in  the  front  rank  of 
contemporary  powers,  and  in  many  respects  the  foremost 
of  the  world.  It  is  impossible  to  calculate  the  amount  of 


550  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIIL 

benefit  rendered  to  civilization  by  the  example  of  the  Dutch 
republic.  It  has  been  a  model  which  has  been  imitated,  in 
many  respects,  by  great  nations.  It  has  even  been  valuable 
in  its  very  defects ;  indicating  to  the  patient  observer  many 
errors  most  important  to  avoid. 

Therefore,  had  the  little  republic  sunk  for  ever  in  the  sea 
so  soon  as  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed  at  Antwerp,  its 
career  would  have  been  prolific  of  good  for  all  succeeding 
time. 

Exactly  at  the  moment  when  a  splendid  but  decaying 
despotism,  founded  upon  wrong — upon  oppression  of  the 
human  body  and  the  immortal  soul,  upon  slavery,  in  short, 
of  the  worst  kind — was  awaking  from  its  insane  dream  of 
universal  empire  to  a  consciousness  of  its  own  decay,  the  new 
republic  was  recognised  among  the  nations. 

It  would  hardly  be  incorrect  to  describe  the  Holland  of  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  as  the  exact  reverse  of 
Spain.  In  the  commonwealth  labour  was  most  honourable  ; 
in  the  kingdom  it  was  vile.  In  the  north  to  be  idle  was 
accounted  and  punished  as  a  crime.  In  the  southern  penin 
sula,  to  be  contaminated  with  mechanical,  mercantile,  com 
mercial,  manufacturing  pursuits,  was  to  be  accursed.  Labour 
was  for  slaves,  and  at  last  the  mere  spectacle  of  labour 
became  so  offensive  that  even  the  slaves  were  expelled  from 
the  land.  To  work  was  as  degrading  in  the  south  as  to  beg 
or  to  steal  was  esteemed  unworthy  of  humanity  in  the  north. 
To  think  a  man's  thought  upon  high  matters  of  religion  and 
government,  and  through  a  thousand  errors  to  pursue  the 
truth,  with  the  aid  of  the  Most  High  and  with  the  best  use  of 
human  reason,  was  a  privilege  secured  by  the  commonwealth, 
at  the  expense  of  two  generations  of  continuous  bloodshed. 
To  lie  fettered,  soul  and  body,  at  the  feet  of  authority  wielded 
by  a  priesthood  in  its  last  stage  of  corruption,  and  monarchy 
almost  reduced  to  imbecility,  was  the  lot  of  the  chivalrous, 
genial,  but  much  oppressed  Spaniard. 

The  pictures  painted  of  the  republic  by  shrewd  and  caustic 
observers,  not  inclined  by  nature  or  craft  to  portray  freedom 


CONCLUSION. 


551 


in  too  engaging  colours,  seem,  when  contrasted  with  those 
revealed  of  Spain,  almost  like  enthusiastic  fantasies  of  an 
ideal  commonwealth. 

During  the  last  twenty  years  of  the  great  war  the  material 
prosperity  of  the  Netherlands  had  wonderfully  increased. 
They  had  become  the  first  commercial  nation  in  the  world, 
They  had  acquired  the  supremacy  of  the  seas.  The  popula 
tion  of  Amsterdam  had  in  twenty  years  increased  from 
seventy  thousand  to  a  hundred  and  thirty  thousand,  and  was 
destined  to  be  again  more  than  doubled  in  the  coming  decade.* 
The  population  of  Antwerp  had  sunk  almost  as  rapidly  as  that 
of  its  rival  had  increased  ;  having  lessened  by  fifty  thousand 
during  the  same  period.5  The  commercial  capital  of  the 
obedient  provinces,  having  already  lost  much  of  its  famous 
traffic  by  the  great  changes  in  the  commercial  current  of 
the  world,  was  unable  to  compete  with  the  cities  of  the 
United  Provinces  in  the  vast  trade  which  the  geographical 
discoveries  of  the  preceding  century  had  opened  to  civiliza 
tion.  Freedom  of  thought  and  action  were  denied,  and 
without  such  liberty  it  was  impossible  for  oceanic  commerce 
to  thrive.  Moreover,  the  possession  by  the  Hollanders 
of  the  Scheld  forts  below  Antwerp,  and  of  Flushing  at  the 
river's  mouth,  suffocated  the  ancient  city,  and  would  of  itself 
have  been  sufficient  to  paralyze  all  its  efforts. 

In  Antwerp  the  exchange,  where  once  thousands  of  the 
great  merchants  of  the  earth  held  their  daily  financial  parlia 
ment,  now  echoed  to  the  solitary  footfall  of  the  passing 
stranger.  Ships  lay  rotting  at  the  quays  ;  brambles  grew 
in  the  commercial  streets.  In  Amsterdam  the  city  had 
been  enlarged  by  two-thirds,  and  those  who  swarmed  thither 
to  seek  their  fortunes  could  not  wait  for  the  streets  to  be  laid 
out  and  houses  to  be  built,  but  established  themselves  in  the 


4  Tomaso  Contarini  ritornato  Ambre 
dalli  Signori  Stati  di  Fiandra  (anno 
1610).— (MS.  Archives  of  Venice.)  An 
tonio  Donato  in  1618  puts  the  number 
of  inhabitants  at  300,000,  and  de 
scribes  the  city  as  "  the  very  image  of 
Venice  in  its  prime."  The  streets  and 


public  places  were  so  thronged  and 
bustling  that  "the  scene  looked  to 
him  like  a  fair  to  end  in  one  day." — 
Kelazione,  MS. 

5  Ibid.      Antwerp  had    sunk   from 
150,000  to  80,000. 


552 


THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS. 


CHAP.  LIU 


environs,  building  themselves  hovels  and  temporary  resi 
dences,  although  certain  to  find  their  encampments  swept 
away  with  the  steady  expanse  of  the  city.6  As  much  land 
as  could  be  covered  by  a  man's  foot  was  worth  a  ducat  in 
gold.7 

In  every  branch  of  human  industry  these  republicans  took 
the  lead.  On  that  scrap  of  solid  ground,  rescued  by  human 
energy  from  the  ocean,  were  the  most  fertile  pastures  in  the 
world.  On  those  pastures  grazed  the  most  famous  cattle  in 
the  world.  An  ox  often  weighed  more  than  two  thousand 
pounds.8  The  cows  produced  two  and  three  calves  at  a 
time,  the  sheep  four  and  five  lambs.9  In  a  single  village  four 
thousand  kine  were  counted.10  Butter  and  cheese  were  ex 
ported  to  the  annual  value  of  a  million,  salted  provisions  to 
an  incredible  extent.  The  farmers  were  industrious,  thriving, 
and  independent.  It  is  an  amusing  illustration  of  the  agri 
cultural  thrift  and  republican  simplicity  of  this  people  that 
on  one  occasion  a  farmer  proposed  to  Prince  Maurice  that  he 
should  marry  his  daughter,  promising  with  her  a  dowry  of 
a  hundred  thousand  florins.11 

The  mechanical  ingenuity  of  the  Netherlander,  already 
celebrated  by  Julius  Caesar  and  by  Tacitus,  had  lost  nothing 
of  its  ancient  fame.  The  contemporary  world  confessed  that 
in  many  fabrics  the  Hollanders  were  at  the  head  of  mankind. 
Dutch  linen,  manufactured  of  the  flax  grown  on  their  own 
fields  or  imported  from  the  obedient  provinces,  was  esteemed 
a  fitting  present  for  kings  to  make  and  to  receive.  The  name 
of  the  country  had  passed  into  the  literature  of  England  as 
synonymous  with  the  delicate  fabric  itself.  The  Venetians 
confessed  themselves  equalled,  if  not  outdone,  by  the  crystal 


6  Contarini,  Relazione,  MS. 

7  Ibid.     "  All'  habitation!  di  questa 
citta  concorrono  i   popoli  con  tanto 
ardore  che  non  ostante  la  proibitione 
di  alloggiarsi    per    certo    spatio  all' 
incontro  si  fabbrice  non  di  meno  ogni 
anno  con  allegro  animo  ogni  giorno 
case  di  legni  ben  che    sia  certo  di 
vederse  le  distruggere  in  breve   tanto 


etimano  il  poter  cominciare  a  metier  il 
loro  nido  almeno  vicino  se  non  dentro 
a  quella  citta  nelle  quale  per  il  sem- 
plice  fondo  si  paga  un  ducato  d'oro 
tanto  terreno  quanto  pud  coprire  un 
huomo  con  la  pianta  del  piede." 

8  Contarini,  Relazione,  MS. 

»  Ibid.  10  Ibid.  »  Ibid 


CONCLUSION.  553 

workers  and  sugar  refiners  of  the  northern  republic.12  The 
tapestries  of  Arras — the  name  of  which  Walloon  city  had 
become  a  household  word  of  luxury  in  all  modern  languages — 
were  now  transplanted  to  the  soil  of  freedom,  more  congenial 
to  the  advancement  of  art.  Brocades  of  the  precious  metals  ; 
splendid  satins  and  velvets  ;  serges  and  homely  fustians  ;  laces 
of  thread  and  silk  ;  the  finer  and  coarser  manufactures  of  clay 
and  porcelain ;  iron,  steel,  and  all  useful  fabrics  for  the 
building  and  outfitting  of  ships  ;  substantial  broadcloths  manu 
factured  of  wool  imported  from  Scotland — all  this  was  but 
a  portion  of  the  industrial  production  of  the  provinces. 

They  supplied  the  deficiency  of  coal,  not  then  an  article 
readily  obtained  by  commerce,  with  other  remains  of  antedi 
luvian  forests  long  since  buried  in  the  sea,  and  now  recovered 
from  its  depths  and  made  useful  and  portable  by  untiring 
industry.  Peat  was  not  only  the  fuel  for  the  fireside,  but  for 
the  extensive  fabrics  of  the  country,  and  its  advantages  so 
much  excited  the  admiration  of  the  Venetian  envoys  that 
they  sent  home  samples  of  it,  in  the  hope  that  the  lagunes  of 
Venice  might  prove  as  prolific  of  this  indispensable  article  as 
the  polders  of  Holland.13 

But  the  foundation  of  the  national  wealth,  the  source 
of  the  apparently  fabulous  power  by  which  the  republic  had 
at  last  overthrown  her  gigantic  antagonist,  was  the  ocean. 
The  republic  was  sea-born  and  sea-sustained. 

She  had  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  sailors,  and  three 
thousand  ships.14  The  sailors  were  the  boldest,  the  best 
disciplined,  and  the  most  experienced  in  the  world,  whether 
for  peaceable  seafaring  or  ocean  warfare.  The  ships  were 
capable  of  furnishing  from  out  of  their  number  in  time  of 
need  the  most  numerous  and  the  best  appointed  navy  then 
known  to  mankind. 


12  Contarini,  Relazione,  MS. 

13  Contarini,    Relazione,  MS.      "  E 
perche  pare  quasi  questa  cosa  incre- 


Signore  Dio  che  in  quest!  contorni  si 
trovasse  terreno  simile  potesse  il  pub- 
blico  ricevere  due  gran  benefitii  ;  uno 


dibile  ho  fatto  mettere  qualche  pezzi  di  cavare  il  terreno  che  riempe  lo 
di  queste  turbe  con  le  mie  robbe  che  lagune ;  Paltro  di  abondar  la  citta  di 
vengono  per  mare  accio  si  piacesse  al  materia  per  abbrucciare."  14  Ibid. 


554  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIIL 

The  republic  had  the  carrying  trade  for  all  nations. 
Feeling  its  very  existence  dependent  upon  commerce,  it  had 
strode  centuries  in  advance  of  the  contemporary  world  in  the 
liberation  of  trade.  But  two  or  three  per  cent,  ad  valorem 
was  levied  upon  imports  ;  foreign  goods  however  being  sub 
ject,  as  well  as  internal  products,  to  heavy  imposts  in  the 
way  of  both  direct  and  indirect  taxation. 

Every  article  of  necessity  or  luxury  known  was  to  be  pur 
chased  in  profusion  and  at  reasonable  prices  in  the  ware 
houses  of  Holland. 

A  swarm  of  river  vessels  and  fly-boats  were  coming  daily 
through  the  rivers  of  Germany,  France  and  the  Netherlands, 
laden  with  the  agricultural  products  and  the  choice  manu 
factures  of  central  and  western  Europe.  Wine  and  oil,  and 
delicate  fabrics  in  thread  and  wool,  came  from  France,  but  no* 
silks,  velvets,  nor  satins;  for  the  great  Sully  had  succeeded 
in  persuading  his  master  that  the  white  mulberry  would  not 
grow  in  his  kingdom,  and  that  silk  manufactures  were  an 
impossible  dream  for  France.  Nearly  a  thousand  ships  were 
constantly  employed  in  the  Baltic  trade.15  The  forests  of 
Holland  were  almost  as  extensive  as  those  which  grew  on 
Norwegian  hills,  but  they  were  submerged.  The  founda 
tion  of  a  single  mansion  required  a  grove,  and  wood  was 
extensively  used  in  the  superstructure.  The  houses,  built  of 
a  framework  of  substantial  timber,  and  filled  in  with  brick 
or  rubble,  were  raised  almost  as  rapidly  as  tents,  during 
the  prodigious  expansion  of  industry  towards  the  end  of  the 
war.16  From  the  realms  of  the  Osterlings,  or  shores  of  the 
Baltic,  came  daily  fleets  laden  with  wheat  and  other  grains 
so  that  even  in  time  of  famine  the  granaries  of  the  re 
public  were  overflowing,  and  ready  to  dispense  the  mate 
rial  of  life  to  the  outer  world. 

Eight  hundred   vessels   of  lesser  size   but   compact   build 

were  perpetually  fishing  for  herrings  on  the  northern  coasts. 

These    hardy   mariners,   the  militia    of  the   sea,    who   had 

learned    in  their  life  of   hardship   and  daring  the  art  of 

w  Contarini,  Relazjpjie,  MS.  M  Ibid. 


CONCLUSION. 


555 


destroying  Spanish  and  Portuguese  armadas,  and  confronting 
the  dangers  of  either  pole,  passed  a  long  season  on  the  deep. 
Commercial  voyagers  as  well  as  fishermen,  they  salted  their 
fish  as  soon  as  taken  from  the  sea,  and  transported  them  to 
the  various  ports  of  Europe,  thus  reducing  their  herrings 
into  specie  before  their  return,  and  proving  that  a  fishery  in 
such  hands  was  worth  more  than  the  mines  of  Mexico  and 
Peru. 

It  is  customary  to  speak  of  the  natural  resources  of  a 
country  as  furnishing  a  guarantee  of  material  prosperity0 
But  here  was  a  republic  almost  without  natural  resources, 
which  had  yet  supplied  by  human  intelligence  and  thrift 
what  a  niggard  nature  had  denied.  Spain  was  overflowing 
with  unlimited  treasure,  and  had  possessed  half  the  world 
in  fee  ;  and  Spain  was  bankrupt,  decaying,  sinking  into  uni 
versal  pauperism.  Holland,  with  freedom  of  thought,  of 
commerce,  of  speech,  of  action,  placed  itself,  by  intellectual 
power  alone,  in  the  front  rank  of  civilization. 

From  Cathay,  from  the  tropical  coasts  of  Africa,  and  from 
farthest  Ind,  came  every  drug,  spice,  or  plant,  every  valuable 
jewel,  every  costly  fabric,  that  human  ingenuity  had  dis 
covered  or  created.  The  Spaniards,  maintaining  a  frail 
tenure  upon  a  portion  of  those  prolific  regions,  gathered  their 
spice  harvests  at  the  point  of  the  sword,17  and  were  frequently- 
unable  to  prevent  their  northern  rivals  from  ravaging  such 
fields  as  they  had  not  yet  been  able  to  appropriate.18 

Certainly  this  conduct  of  the  Hollanders  was  barbarism 
and  supreme  selfishness,  if  judged  by  the  sounder  political 
economy  of  our  time.  Yet  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that 
the  contest  between  Spain  and  Holland  in  those  distant 
regions,  as  everywhere  else,  was  war  to  the  knife  between 
superstition  and  freedom,  between  the  spirits  of  progress  and 
of  dogma.  Hard  blows  and  foul  blows  were  struck  in  such 
a  fight,  and  humanity,  although  gaining  at  last  immense 


17  "Tengono  qua  Hollandesi  la 
maggior  parte  di  detta  Isola  (Ternat) 
jrimanendo  la  minore  a  Spagnuoli  che 


raccolgono  i  loro  pochi  garofani  con 
la  punta  della  spada,"  &c.  &c.  &c.— 
Contarini,  MS.  18  Ibid. 


556  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIII. 

results,  had  much  to  suffer  and  much  to  learn  ere  the  day 
was  won. 

But  Spain  was  nearly  beaten  out  of  those  eastern  regions, 
and  the  very  fact  that  the  naval  supremacy  of  the  republic 
placed  her  ancient  tyrant  at  her  mercy  was  the  main  reason 
for  Spain  to  conclude  the  treaty  of  truce.  Lest  she  should 
lose  the  India  trade  entirely,  Spain  consented  to  the  treaty 
article  by  which,  without  mentioning  the  word,  she  conceded 
the  thing.  It  was  almost  pathetic  to  witness,  as  we  have 
witnessed,  this  despotism  in  its  dotage,  mumbling  so  long 
over  the  formal  concession  to  her  conqueror  of  a  portion  of 
that  India  trade  which  would  have  been  entirely  wrested  from 
herself  had  the  war  continued.  And  of  this  Spain  was  at 
heart  entirely  convinced.  Thus  the  Portuguese,  once  the 
lords  and  masters,  as  they  had  been  the  European  dis 
coverers,  of  those  prolific  regions  and  of  the  ocean  highways 
which  led  to  them,  now  came  with  docility  to  the  republic 
which  they  had  once  affected  to  despise,  and  purchased  the 
cloves  and  the  allspice,  the  nutmegs  and  the  cinnamon,  of 
which  they  had  held  the  monopoly ;  or  waited  with  patience 
until  the  untiring  Hollanders  should  bring  the  precious  wares 
to  the  peninsula  ports.19 

A  Dutch  Indiaman  would  make  her  voyage  to  the  anti 
podes  and  her  return  in  less  time  than  was  spent  by  a 
Portuguese  or  a  Spaniard  in  the  outward  voyage.20  To 
accomplish  such  an  enterprise  in  two  years  was  accounted  a 
wonder  of  rapidity,  and  when  it  is  remembered  that  inland 
navigation  through  France  by  canal  and  river  from  the  North 
Sea  to  the  Mediterranean  was  considered  both  speedier  and 
safer,  because  the  sea  voyage  between  the  same  points  might 
last  four  or  five  months,  it  must  be  admitted  that  two  years 
occupied  in  passing  from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other 
and  back  again  might  well  seem  a  miracle. 

The  republic  was  among  the  wealthiest  and  the  most 
powerful  of  organized  States.  Her  population  might  be 
estimated  at  three  millions  and  a  half,  about  equal  to  that  of 

10  Contarini,  Relazione,  MS.  20  Ibid. 


CONCLUSION.  557 

England  at  the  same  period.  But  she  was  richer  than  England. 
Nowhere  in  the  world  was  so  large  a  production  in  proportion 
to  the  numbers  of  a  people.  Nowhere  were  so  few  unpro 
ductive  consumers.  Every  one  was  at  work.  Vagabonds, 
idlers,  and  do-nothings,  such  as  must  be  in  every  community, 
were  caught  up  by  the  authorities  and  made  to  earn  their 
bread.21  The  devil's  pillow,  idleness,  was  smoothed  for  no 
portion  of  the  population. 

There  were  no  beggars,  few  paupers,  no  insolently  luxurious 
and  ostentatiously  idle  class.  The  modesty,  thrift,  and  simple 
elegance  of  the  housekeeping,  even  among  the  wealthy,  was 
noted  by  travellers  with  surprise.22  It  will  be  remembered 
with  how  much  amused  wonder,  followed  by  something  like 
contempt,  the  magnificent  household  of  Spinola,  during  his 
embassy  at  the  Hague,  was  surveyed  by  the  honest  burghers 
of  Holland.  The  authorities  showed  their  wisdom  in  per 
mitting  the  absurd  exhibition,  as  an  example  of  what  should 
be  shunned,  in  spite  of  grave  remonstrances  from  many  of 
the  citizens.  Drunken  Helotism  is  not  the  only  form  of  erring 
humanity  capable  of  reading  lessons  to  a  republic. 

There  had  been  monasteries,  convents,  ecclesiastical  esta 
blishments  of  all  kinds  in  the  country,  before  the  great  war 

81  Contarini.  I  cioli  ed  humili  abitationi  non  meno 

2i  "  In    somma    sono    quei    popoli  !  che  nelle  case  de'  grand!  risplende  una 
cosi    inchinati     all'    industria   et    al  |  politia   singolare    onde  riducono    da 

tutte  le  parti  et  sono  tutti  cosi  inimici 
del  mal  governo  et  dell'  otio  che  si  sono 
luoghi  particolari  nelle  citta  fabbricata 
di  ordine  pubblico  ove  quei  del  gover 
no  fanno  serrar  le  genti  vagabonde  et 
otiosi  o  che  non  governano  bene  le 
cose  loro  bastando  che  o  le  moglie  o 
altre  dei  lor  congionti  se  ne  querelino 
al  magistrate  et  in  quei  luoghi  sono 
costretti  di  lavorare  et  guadagnarsi  le 
spese  ancorche  non  vogliano." — Con 
tarini  Relazione  MS. 

"  Li  popoli  di  questo  paese  sono  nati 
al  travaglio  ed  al  stentare  e  tutti  tra- 
vagliano,  chi  per  una  via,  chi  per 

1'altra Non  s'usa  servitori,  non 

si  veste  diseta,  no  a  si  tapezza  le  case, 
tutto  e  menaggio  molto  sottile  e  limi- 
tato." — Ant°,  Donat.  Kelazione,  MS, 


negotio  che  niuna  cosa  e  tanto  diffi 
cile  che  non  ardiscono  di  superarla. 
....  Sopra  tutte  le  cose  invigli- 
arano  a  questo  di  mantenere  il  negotio 
et  favorirlo  in  modo  libero  da  sover- 
chie  gravezze  che  cessi  ogni  occasione 
di  divertirlo  e  secarlo.  Abbondano  di 
richezze  e  di  commodi  con  tal'misura 
che  non  si  vede  nei  piu  ricchi  lusso  o 
pompe  estraordinarie  servando  tutti  et 
in  casa  et  fuori  nell'  habito  e  nel  rima- 
nente  la  vera  mediocrita  di  una  mo- 
desta  fortuna  senza  che  si  vedano  ne 
additamenti  ne  argenterie  ne  forni- 
menti  ne  cadreghe  de  sete  come  apunto 
non  si  vedevano  ne  anco  in  questa 
citta  (Venezia)  nei  tempi  de  Vos- 
tri  Antecessori.  Nei  poveri  non  si 
conosce  mancamento  di  cdcuna  dette 
pose  neceswrie  anzi  nelle  loro  pic- 


558  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIII. 

between  Holland  and  the  Inquisition.  These  had,  as  a  mat 
ter  of  course,  been  confiscated  as  the  strife  went  on.  The 
buildings,  farms,  and  funds,  once  the  property  of  the  Church, 
had  not,  however,  been  seized  upon,  as  in  other  Protestant 
lands,  by  rapacious  monarchs,  and  distributed  among  great 
nobles  according  to  royal  caprice.  Monarchs  might  give 
the  revenue  of  a  suppressed  convent  to  a  cook,  as  reward  for 
a  successful  pudding;  the  surface  of  Britain  and  the  continent 
might  be  covered  with  abbeys  and  monasteries  now  converted 
into  lordly  palaces — passing  thus  from  the  dead  hand  of  the 
Church  into  the  idle  and  unproductive  palm  of  the  noble;  but 
the  ancient  ecclesiastical  establishments  of  the  free  Nether 
lands  were  changed  into  eleemosynary  institutions,  admirably 
organized  and  administered  with  wisdom  and  economy,  where 
orphans  of  the  poor,  widows  of  those  slain  in  the  battles  for 
freedom  by  land  and  sea,  and  the  aged  and  the  infirm,  who 
had  deserved  well  of  the  republic  in  the  days  of  their  strength, 
were  educated  or  cherished  at  the  expense  of  the  public,  thus 
endowed  from  the  spoils  of  the  Church.23 

In  Spain,  monasteries  upon  monasteries  were  rising  day  by 
day,  as  if  there  were  not  yet  receptacles  enough  for  monks 
and  priests,  while  thousands  upon  thousands  of  Spaniards 
were  pressing  into  the  ranks  of  the  priesthood,  and  almost 
forcing  themselves  into  monasteries,  that  they  might  be 
privileged  to  beg,  because  ashamed  to  work.  In  the  United 
Netherlands  the  confiscated  convents,  with  their  revenues, 
were  appropriated  for  the  good  of  those  who  were  too  young 
or  too  old  to  labour,  and  too  poor  to  maintain  themselves 

83  "  Si  vedono  in  quelle  citta  chiese  1  politia  ne  quali  nutriscono  allevano 
antiche  bellissime  parte  distrutte  et  I  et  mantengono  i  vecchi  impotenti ,  i 


parte  senza  imagini  ridotti  per  i  loro 
esercitii  che  non  consistono  in  altro 
che  all'  ascoltar  le  domeniche  e  pochi 
altri  giorni  le  prediche  da'  loro  pre- 
dicatori.  Dell'  entrate  di  queste 
chiese  ch'  erano  gia  dei  prelati,  dei 
monasteri,  e  dei  sacerdoti  mantengono 
un  buon  numero  de  hospital!  nelle 


figli  orfani  ed  altri  de'  benemeriti  dello 
Stato  che  hanno  spesi  i  migliori  anni 
o  perso  le  vite  nei  loro  servitii.  Et  a 
questi  hospital!  si  applicheranno  an- 
cora  1'entrate  di  quei  pochi  monasterii 
et  collegi  Teutonic!  che  si  rimangono, 
morti  che  siano  quelli  che  le  godono  al 
presente." — Contarini,  MS.  Antonio 


principale  citta  del  paese  fabbrichati  !  Donato,  too,  speaks  of  these  hospitals 


con  molte  spese,  governati  con  bellis- 
simi    ordini    et    custoditi    con    gran 


as  model  institutions. — Relazione,  MS 


CONCLUSION.  559 

without  work.  Need  men  look  further  than  to  this  simple 
fact  to  learn  why  Spain  was  decaying  while  the  republic  was 
rising  ? 

The  ordinary  budget  of  the  United  Provinces  was  about 
equal  to  that  of  England,  varying  not  much  from  four  mil 
lions  of  florins,  or  four  hundred  thousand  pounds.  But  the 
extraordinary  revenue  was  comparatively  without  limits,  and 
there  had  been  years,  during  the  war,  when  the  citizens  had 
taxed  themselves  as  highly  as  fifty  per  cent,  on  each  indivi 
dual  income,  and  doubled  the  receipts  of  the  exchequer/4 
The  budget  was  proposed  once  a  year,  by  the  council  of 
state,  and  voted  by.the  States-General,  who  assigned  the  quota 
of  each  province  ;  that  of  Holland  being  always  one-half  of 
the  whole,  that  of  Zeeland  sixteen  per  cent.,  and  that  of  the 
other  five  of  course  in  lesser  proportions.  The  revenue  was 
collected  in  the  separate  provinces,  one-third  of  the  whole 
being  retained  for  provincial  expenses,  and  the  balance  paid 
into  the  general  treasury.25  There  was  a  public  debt,  the 
annual  interest  of  which  amounted  to  200,000  florins.  During 
the  war,  money  had  been  borrowed  at  as  high  a  rate  as 
thirty-six  per  cent.,  but  at  the  conclusion  of  hostilities  the 
States  could  borrow  at  six  per  cent.,  and  the  whole  debt 
was  funded  on  that  basis.  Taxation  was  enormously  heavy, 
but  patriotism  caused  it  to  be  borne  with  cheerfulness,  and 
productive  industry  made  it  comparatively  light.  Kents  were 
charged  twenty-five  per  cent.  A  hundred  per  cent,  was 
levied  upon  beer,  wine,  meat,  salt,  spirits.  Other  articles 
of  necessity  and  luxury  were  almost  as  severely  taxed.26  It 
is  not  easy  to  enumerate  the  tax-list,  scarcely  anything 
foreign  or  domestic  being  exempted,  while  the  grave  error 
was  often  committed  of  taxing  the  same  article,  in  different 
forms,  four,  five,  and  six  times. 

The  people  virtually  taxed  themselves,  although  the  super 
stition  concerning  the  State,  as  something  distinct  from  and 
superior  to  the  people,  was  to  linger  long  and  work  infinite  mis 
chief  among  those  seven  republics  which  were  never  destined 

24  Contarini,  MS.  !5  Ibid.  6  Ibid, 


560  THE   UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIII. 

to  be  welded  theoretically  and  legally  into  a  union.  The 
sacredness  of  corporations  had  succeeded,  in  a  measure,  to 
the  divinity  which  hedges  kings.  Nevertheless,  those  corpora 
tions  were  so  numerous  as  to  be  effectively  open  to  a  far 
larger  proportion  of  the  population  than,  in  those  days,  had 
ever  dreamed  before  of  participating  in  the  Government. 
The  magistracies  were  in  general  unpaid  and  little  coveted, 
being  regarded  as  a  burthen  and  a  responsibility  rather  than 
an  object  of  ambition.  The  jurisconsults,  called  pensionaries, 
who  assisted  the  municipal  authorities,  received,  however,  a 
modest  salary,  never  exceeding  1500  florins  a  year. 

These  numerous  bodies,  provincial  and .  municipal,  elected 
themselves  by  supplying  their  own  vacancies.  The  magis 
trates  were  appointed  by  the  stadholder,  on  a  double  or 
triple  nomination  from  the  municipal  board.  This  was 
not  impartial  suffrage  nor  manhood  suffrage.  The  germ 
of  a  hateful  burgher-oligarchy  was  in  the  system,  but,  as 
compared  with  Spain,  where  municipal  magistracies  were 
sold  by  the  crown  at  public  auction  ;  or  with  France,  where 
every  office  in  church,  law,  magistrature,  or  court  was  an  object 
of  merchandise  disposed  of  in  open  market,  the  system  was 
purity  itself,  and  marked  a  great  advance  in  the  science  of 
government. 

It  should  never  be  forgotten,  moreover,  that  while  the 
presidents  and  judges  of  the  highest  courts  of  judicature  in 
other  civilized  lands  were  at  the  mercy  of  an  irresponsible 
sovereign,  and  held  office — even  although  it  had  been  paid 
for  in  solid  specie — at  his  pleasure,  the  supreme  justices 
of  the  high  courts  of  appeal  at  the  Hague  were  nominated 
by  a  senate,  and  confirmed  by  a  stadholder,  and  that  they 
exercised  their  functions  for  life,27  or  so  long  as  they  con 
ducted  themselves  virtuously  in  their  high  office — quamdiu  se 
bene  gesserint. 

If  one  of  the  great  objects  of  a  civilized  community  is  to 
secure  to  all  men  their  own — ut  sua  tenerent — surely  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  republic  was  in  advance  of  all  contem- 

57  Contarini,  MS. 


CONCLUSION.  561 

porary  States  in  the  laying  down  of  this  vital  principle,  the 
independence  of  judges. 

As  to  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  Provinces,  enough 
has  been  said,  in  earlier  chapters  of  these  volumes,  to  indicate 
the  improvements  introduced  by  Prince  Maurice,  and  now 
carried  to  the  highest  point  of  perfection  ever  attained  in 
that  period.  There  is  no  doubt  whatever,  that  for  discipline, 
experience,  equipment,  effectiveness  of  movement,  and  gene 
ral  organization,  the  army  of  the  republic  was  the  model 
army  of  Europe.28  It  amounted  to  but  thirty  thousand  in 
fantry  and  two  thousand  five  hundred  cavalry,  but  this 
number  was  a  large  one  for  a  standing  army  at  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  composed  of  a  variety  of 
materials,  Hollanders,  Walloons,  Flemings,  Scotch,  English, 
Irish,  Germans,  but  all  welded  together  into  a  machine  of 
perfect  regularity.  The  private  foot-soldier  received  twelve 
florins  for  a  so-called  month  of  forty-two  days,  the  drummer 
and  corporal  eighteen,  the  lieutenant  fifty-two,  and  the  captain 
one  hundred  and  fifty  florins.29  Prompt  payment  was  made 
every  week.30  Obedience  was  implicit ;  mutiny,  such  as  was 
of  periodical  recurrence  in  the  archduke's  army,  entirely 
unknown.  The  slightest  theft  was  punished  with  the  gallows,31 
and  there  was  therefore  no  thieving. 

The  most  accurate  and  critical  observers  confessed,  almost 
against  their  will,  that  no  army  in  Europe  could  compare 
with  the  troops  of  the  States.  As  to  the  famous  regiments 
of  Sicily,  and  the  ancient  legions  of  Naples  and  Milan,  a  dis 
tinguished  Venetian  envoy,  who  had  seen  all  the  camps  and 
courts  of  Christendom,  and  was  certainly  not  disposed  to 
overrate  the  Hollanders  at  the  expense  of  the  Italians,  i£  any 
rivalry  between  them  had  been  possible,  declared  that  every 
private  soldier  in  the  republic  was  fit  to  be  a  captain  in  any 

28  "Ma  tutta  gente  esquisita  per  la  I  sendo  tenuti  in  continua  esercitatione 
propria  conditione  per  1'  babito  gia  I  de'  capitani  es  oggetti  di  gran  qualita." 
fermo  al  patire  et  al  combattere  per  |  — Contarini,  MS. 
tanti  anni  di  guerra  et  per  la  singolare 


obbedienza  accompagnata  da  tutti  gli 
ordini  della  vera  mill  tare  disciplina  es- 

VOL.  IV. — 2  0 


29  Ibid.  8°  Ibid. 

31  Ibid.      "Ogni    minimo  furto  si 
castiga  con  la  forca." 


562  THE  UNITED  NETHERLAND&  CHAP.  LIIJ 

Italian  army ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was  scarcely 
an  Italian  captain  who  would  be  accepted  as  a  private  in  any 
company  of  the  States.*2  So  low  had  the  once-famous  soldiery 
of  Alva,  Don  John,  and  Alexander  Farnese  descended. 

The  cavalry  of  the  republic  was  even  more  perfectly 
organized  than  was  the  infantry.  "  I  want  words  to  describe 
its  perfection,"  said  Contarini.33  The  pay  was  very  high, 
and  very  prompt.  A  captain  received  four  hundred  florins 
a  month  (of  forty- two  days),  a  lieutenant  one  hundred  and 
eighty  florins,  and  other  officers  and  privates  in  proportion.34 
These  rates  would  be  very  high  in  our  own  day.  When 
allowance  is  made  for  the  difference  in  the  value  of  money 
at  the  respective  epochs,  the  salaries  are  prodigious  ;  but 
the  thrifty  republic  found  its  account  in  paying  well  and 
paying  regularly  the  champions  on  whom  so  much  depended, 
and  by  whom  such  splendid  services  had  been  rendered.35 

While  the  soldiers  in  the  pay  of  Queen  Elizabeth  were 
crawling  to  her  palace  gates  to  die  of  starvation  before  her 
eyes  ;  while  the  veterans  of  Spain  and  of  Italy  had  organized 
themselves  into  a  permanent  military,  mutinous  republic,  on 
the  soil  of  the  so-called  obedient  Netherland,  because  they 
were  left  by  their  masters  without  clothing  or  food;  the  cavalry 
and  infantry  of  the  Dutch  commonwealth,  thanks  to  the 
organizing  spirit  and  the  wholesome  thrift  of  the  burgher 
authorities,  were  contented,  obedient,  well  fed,  well  clothed, 
and  well  paid  ;  devoted  to  their  Government,  and  ever  ready 
to  die  in  its  defence. 

Nor  was  it  only  on  the  regular  army  that  reliance  was 

che  servono  in  questi  Stati  sono  senza 
dubbio  le  migliori  di  Europa  e  del 
Mondo,"  says  Antonio  Donato,  adding 
that  among  them  "  the  first  place  is 


82  Posso  affirmar  a  Vostra  Serenita 
che  qual  si  voglia  fante  private  fra 
quelle  militie  si  stimarebbe  qui  buono 

ncomandare  una  compagnia  tanto 
Bclinato  in  Italia  e  1'uso  et  1'antico 
splendore  della  militar  disciplina  che 
ci  bisogna  impararla  dalle  nationi 
stranierechepur  1'appriessero  daquelle 
di  questa  provincia.  Et  a  tale  sono 
arrivati  i  gradi  della  militia  che  molti 
presso  di  noi  capitani  difficilmente 
presso  di  loro  sarebbono  admessi  per 
buoni  soldati." — Contarini,  MS. 
"Le  qualita  delle  militie  terrestri 


pac 
,  best 


held  by  the  English  infantry,  best  be. 
loved  by  the  natives,  brave,  patient 
veterans,  whose  habits  and  character 
are  in  conformity  with  the  country."  — 
Relazione,  MS. 

33  Ibid.     "Della  Cavalleria  debbo 
dire  poco  poiche  poco  si  puo  dire  che 
arrivi  ad  esprimerela  sua  perfezione." 

34  Ibid,  »  Ibid- 


CONCLUSION. 


563 


placed.  On  the  contrary,  every  able-bodied  man  in  the 
country  was  liable  to  be  called  upon  to  serve,  at  any  moment, 
in  the  militia.  All  were  trained  to  arms,  and  provided  with 
arms,  and  there  had  been  years  during  this  perpetual  war  in 
which  one  man  out  of  three  of  the  whole  male  population 
was  ready  to  be  mustered  at  any  moment  into  the  field.36 

Even  more  could  be  said  in  praise  of  the  navy  than  has 
been  stated  of  the  armies  of  the  republic  ;  for  the  contem 
porary  accounts  of  foreigners,  and  of  foreigners  who  were  apt 
to  be  satirical,  rather  than  enthusiastic,  when  describing 
the  institutions,  leading  personages,  and  customs  of  other 
countries,  seemed  ever  to  speak  of  the  United  Provinces  in 
terms  of  eulogy.  In  commerce,  as  in  war,  the  naval  supre 
macy  of  the  republic  was  indisputable.  It  was  easy  for  the 
States  to  place  two  thousand  vessels  of  war  in  commission,  if 
necessary,  of  tonnage  varying  from  four  hundred  to  twelve 
hundred  tons,  to  man  them  with  the  hardiest  and  boldest 
sailors  in  the  world,  and  to  despatch  them  with  promptness 
to  any  quarter  of  the  globe.37 

It  was  recognised  as  nearly  impossible  to  compel  a  war- 
vessel  of  the  republic  to  surrender.38  Hardly  an  instance  was 


36  "  Si  dimostrano  tutti  quei  popoli 
cosi  inchinati  alia  militia  per  la  difesa 
commune  che  si  piacesse  a'  Serenissimi 
Stati  di   ricercare  il   terzo   uomo  da 
tutto  il  paese  offerirano  essi  che  pochi  si 
sarebbono  i  quali  non  desiderassero  che 
a  loro  ne  toccasse  la  sorte  tanto  si  rende 
piacevole  all'  orecchie  di  quelle  gentiil 
nome  della  guerra." — Contarini,  MS. 

37  Contarini,  MS.      "Le  forze  del 
mare  dei  Serenissimi  Stati  sono  vera- 
mente  stimate  le  maggiori  clie  posse 
havere  altro  Principe  per  la  copia  dei 
/ascelli  et  per  il  numero  di  marinari 
et    per    la    qualita,  degli   uomini  di 
comando.      Tenendosi  per  cosa  certa 
che  possan  essere  in  quelle  Provincie 
aettanta  mille  marinari  buoni  et  intel 
ligent!  non  solo  per  1'uso  delle  navi 
gation!  ma  insieme    ancora    per    le 
battaglie  navali  nelle  quali  si  adope- 
rano  per  soldati  et  ognuno  di   essi 
per  la  singolare  attitudine  et  ordinaria 
assuefattione  e  solito  di  far  piu  che 
naolti  soldati  insieme.     Et  ogm  volta 


che  volessero  fare  un  sforzo  per 
qualunque  occasione  potrebbono  met- 
ter  insieme  il  numero  di  due  mille 
vaecelli  sufficient!  per  ogni  fattione 
senza  far  in  essi  spese  di  momento 
per  la  prontezza  et  delle  genti  e  dei  va 
ecelli  medesimi  sempre  apparrechiate 
in  mano  de  particolari."  Antonio  Do- 
nato  puts  the  number  of  Dutch  vessels 
of  all  classes  at  nearly  6,000.  Eela- 
zione,  MS.  "  This  fury  for  dominion 
upon  the  sea,"  he  says,  "  increases 
every  day,  and  is  sustained  by  such 
assiduity,  intelligence,  and  interest  as 
to  show  that  it  is  the  business  of  all, 
and  the  whole  business,  strength,  and 
security  of  the  States." 

38  "  Mentre  sono  certi  che  gli  Hoi- 
landesi  piu  tosto  che  lasciarsi  vincere 
darebbero  fuoco  al  proprio  vascello  per 
abbruciare  con  se  medesimi  1'inimico 
insieme.  Onde  con  questi  due  ter 
mini  della  clemenza  (agli  inimici) 
e  del  ftommo  rigore  sono  fatti  padroni 
del  mar." — Contarini,  MS, 


564  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIII. 

on  her  naval  record  of  submission,  even  to  far  superior  force, 
while  it  was  filled  with  the  tragic  but  heroic  histories  of 
commanders  who  had  blown  their  ships,  with  every  man  on 
board>  into  the  air,  rather  than  strike  their  flag.  Such  was  the 
character,  and  such  the  capacity  of  the  sea-born  republic. 

That  republic  had  serious  and  radical  defects,  but  the 
design  remained  to  be  imitated  and  improved  upon,  cen 
turies  afterwards.  The  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
Dutch  republic  is  a  leading  chapter  in  the  history  of  human 
liberty. 

The  great  misfortune  of  the  commonwealth  of  the  United 
Provinces,  next  to  the  slenderness  of  its  geographical  propor 
tions,  was  the  fact  that  it  was  without  a  centre  and  with 
out  a  head,  and  therefore  not  a  nation  capable  of  unlimited 
vitality.  There  were  seven  states.  Each  claimed  to  be 
sovereign.  The  pretension  on  the  part  of  several  of  them 
was  ridiculous.  Overyssel,  for  example,  contributed  two  and 
three-quarters  per  cent,  of  the  general  budget.  It  was  a 
swamp  of  twelve  hundred  square  miles  in  extent,  with  some 
heath-spots  interspered,  and  it  numbered  perhaps  a  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  doughty  Count  of  Embden  alone 
could  have  swallowed  up  such  sovereignty,  have  annexed  all 
the  buckwheat  patches  and  cranberry  marshes  of  Overyssel 
to  his  own  meagre  territories,  and  nobody  the  wiser. 

Zeeland,  as  we  have  seen,  was  disposed  at  a  critical  moment 
to  set  up  its  independent  sovereignty.  Zeeland,  far  more 
important  than  Overyssel,  had  a  revenue  of  perhaps  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars, — rather  a  slender  budget  for  an 
independent  republic,  wedged  in  as  it  was  by  the  most  power 
ful  empires  of  the  earth,  and  half  drowned  by  the  ocean,  from 
which  it  had  scarcely  emerged. 

There  was  therefore  no  popular  representation,  and  on  the 
other  hand  no  executive  head.  As  sovereignty  must  be  ex 
ercised  in  some  way,  however,  in  all  living  commonwealths, 
and  as  a  low  degree  of  vitality  was  certainly  not  the  defect 
of  those  bustling  provinces,  the  supreme  functions  had  now 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  Holland. 


CONCLUSION.  565 

While  William  the  Silent  lived,  the  management  of  war, 
foreign  affairs,  and  finance,  for  the  revolted  provinces,  was  in 
his  control.  He  was  aided  by  two  council  boards,  but  the 
circumstances  of  history  and  the  character  of  the  man  had 
invested  him  with  an  inevitable  dictatorship. 

After  his  death,  at  least  after  Leicester's  time,  the  powers 
of  the  state-council,  the  head  of  which,  Prince  Maurice,  was 
almost  always  absent  at  the  wars,  fell  into  comparative 
disuse.  The  great  functions  of  the  confederacy  passed  into 
the  possession  of  the  States-General.  That  body  now  came 
to  sit  permanently  at  the  Hague.  The  number  of  its 
members,  deputies  from  the  seven  provinces — envoys  from 
those  seven  immortal  and  soulless  sovereigns — was  not  large. 
The  extraordinary  assembly  held  at  Bergen-op-Zoom  for  con 
firmation  of  the  truce  was  estimated  by  Bentivoglio  at  eight 
hundred.  Bentivoglio,  who  was  on  the  spot,  being  then  nuncius 
at  Brussels,  ought  to  have  been  able  to  count  them,  yet  it  is 
very  certain  that  the  number  was  grossly  exaggerated. 

At  any  rate  the  usual  assembly  at  the  Hague  rarely 
amounted  to  one  hundred  members.  The  presidency  was 
changed  once  a  week,  the  envoy  of  each  province  taking  his 
turn  as  chairman. 

Olden-Barneveld,  as  member  for  Holland,  was  always 
present  in  the  diet.  As  Advocate-General  of  the  leading 
province,  and  keeper  of  its  great  seal,  more  especially  as 
possessor  of  the  governing  intellect  of  the  whole  common 
wealth,  he  led  the  administration  of  Holland,  and  as  the 
estates  of  Holland  contributed  more  than  half  of  the  whole 
budget  of  the  confederacy,39  it  was  a  natural  consequence  of 
the  actual  supremacy  of  that  province,  and  of  the  vast  legal 
and  political  experience  of  the  Advocate,  that  Holland  should 

39  Gelderland  contributed  4|  per  cent. 
Utrecht  5f       „ 

Friesland 
Overyssel 
Groningen 
Zeeland 
Holland 

VOL.  II—i8* 


566  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIU. 

govern  the  confederacy,  and  that  Barneveld  should  govern 
Holland. 

The  States-General  remained  virtually  supreme,  receiving 
envoys  from  all  the  great  powers,  sending  abroad  their  diplo 
matic  representatives,  to  whom  the  title  and  rank  of  ambas 
sador  was  freely  accorded,  and  dealing  in  a  decorous  and 
dignified  way  with  all  European  affairs.  The  ability  of  the 
republican  statesmen  was  as  fully  recognised  all  over  the 
earth,  as  was  the  genius  of  their  generals  and  great  naval 
commanders. 

The  People  did  not  exist ;  but  this  was  merely  because,  in 
theory,  the  People  had  not  been  invented.  It  was  exactly 
because  there  was  a  People — an  energetic  and  intelligent 
People — that  the  republic  was  possible. 

No  scheme  had  yet  been  devised  for  laying  down  in  pri 
mary  assemblies  a  fundamental  national  law,  for  distributing 
the  various  functions  of  governmental  power  among  selected 
servants,  for  appointing  representatives  according  to  popu 
lation  or  property,  and  for  holding  all  trustees  responsible  at 
reasonable  intervals  to  the  nation  itself. 

Thus  government  was  involved,  fold  within  fold,  in  succes 
sive  and  concentric  municipal  layers.  The  States- General 
were  the  outer  husk,  of  which  the  separate  town-council 
was  the  kernel  or  bulb.  Yet  the  number  of  these  execu 
tive  and  legislative  boards  was  so  large,  and  the  whole 
population  comparatively  so  slender,  as  to  cause  the  original 
inconveniences  from  so  incomplete  a  system  to  be  rather 
theoretic  than  practical.  In  point  of  fact,  almost  as  large  a 
variety  of  individuals  served  the  State  as  would  perhaps  have 
been  the  case  under  a  more  philosophically  arranged  demo 
cracy.  The  difficulty  was  rather  in  obtaining  a  candidate  for 
the  post  than  in  distributing  the  posts  among  candidates. 

Men  were  occupied  with  their  own  affairs.  In  proportion 
to  their  numbers  they  were  more  productive  of  wealth  than 
any  other  nation  the  a  existing.  An  excellent  reason  why 
the  people  were  so  well  governed,  so  productive,  and  so  en 
terprising,  was  the  simple  fact  that  they  were  an  educated 


CONCLUSION.  567 

people.  There  was  hardly  a  Netherlander — man,  woman,  or 
child — that  could  not  read  and  write.  The  school  was  the 
common  property  of  the  people,  paid  for  among  the  municipal 
expenses.  In  the  cities,  as  well  as  in  the  rural  districts,  there 
were  not  only  common  schools  but  classical  schools.  In  the 
burgher  families  it  was  rare  to  find  boys  who  had  not  been 
taught  Latin,  or  girls  unacquainted  with  French.  Capacity 
to  write  and  speak  several  modern  languages  was  very 
common,  and  there  were  many  individuals  in  every  city, 
neither  professors  nor  pedants,  who  had  made  remarkable 
progress  in  science  and  classical  literature.^0  The  position, 
too,  of  women  in  the  commonwealth  proved  a  high  degree  of 
civilization.  They  are  described  as  virtuous,  well-educated, 
energetic,  sovereigns  in  their  households,  and  accustomed  to 
direct  all  the  business  at  home.  "  It  would  be  ridiculous," 
said  Donato,  "  to  see  a  man  occupying  himself  with  domestic 
house-keeping.  The  women  do  it  all,  and  command  abso 
lutely."  The  Hollanders,  so  rebellious  against  Church  and 
King,  accepted  with  meekness  the  despotism  of  woman. 

The  great  movement  of  emancipation  from  political  and 
ecclesiastical  tyranny  had  brought  with  it  a  general  ad 
vancement  of  the  human  intellect.  The  foundation  of  the 
Leyden  university  in  memory  of  the  heroism  displayed  by 
the  burghers  during  the  siege  was  as  noble  a  monument  as  had 
ever  been  raised  by  a  free  people  jealous  of  its  fame.  And 
the  scientific  lustre  of  the  university  well  sustained  the  no 
bility  of  its  origin.  The  proudest  nation  on  earth  might  be 
more  proud  of  a  seat  of  learning,  founded  thus  amidst  car 
nage  and  tears,  whence  so  much  of  profound  learning  and 
brilliant  literature  had  already  been  diffused.  The  classical 
labours  of  Joseph  Scaliger,  Heinsius  —  father  and  son  — 
the  elder  Dousa,  almost  as  famous  with  his  pen  in  Latin 
poetry  as  his  sword  had  made  him  in  the  vernacular  chro 
nicle  ;  of  Dousa  the  son,  whom  Grotius  called  "  the  crown 
and  flower  of  all  good  learning,  too  soon  snatched  away  by 

40  Antonio  Donato,  Relazione,  MS.  Grot.  Paralell.  Rer.  publ.  ed.  Meenuan, 
iii.  51.  Tan  Kampen,  i.  608,  609. 


568  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIIL 

envious  death,  than  whom  no  man  more  skilled  in  poetry, 
more  consummate  in  acquaintance  with  ancient  science  and 
literature,  had  ever  lived ; " 41  of  Hugo  Grotius  himself,  who 
at  the  age  of  fifteen  had  taken  his  doctor's  degree  at  Leyden, 
who  as  a  member  of  Olden-Barneveldt's  important  legation 
to  France  and  England  very  soon  afterwards  had  excite^ 
the  astonishment  of  Henry  IV.  and  Elizabeth,  who  had 
already  distinguished  himself  by  editions  of  classic  poets, 
and  by  original  poems  and  dramas  in  Latin,  and  waa 
already,  although  but  twenty-six  years  of  age,  laying  the 
foundation  of  that  magnificent  reputation  as  a  jurist,  a  philo 
sopher,  a  historian,  and  a  statesman,  which  was  to  be  one  of 
the  enduring  glories  of  humanity, — all  these  were  the  precious 
possessions  of  the  high  school  of  Leyden. 

The  still  more  modern  university  of  Franeker,  founded 
amid  the  din  of  perpetual  warfare  in  Friesland,  could  at  least 
boast  the  name  of  Arminius,  whose  theological  writings  and 
whose  expansive  views  were  destined  to  exert  such  influence 
over  his  contemporaries  and  posterity. 

The  great  history  of  Hoofd,  in  which  the  splendid  pictures 
and  the  impassioned  drama  of  the  great  war  of  independence 
were  to  be  preserved  for  his  countrymen  through  all  time, 
was  not  yet  written.  It  was  soon  afterwards,  however,  to 
form  not  only  a  chief  source  of  accurate  information  as  to 
the  great  events  themselves,  but  a  model  of  style  never 
since  surpassed  by  any  prose  writer  in  either  branch  of  the 
German  tongue. 

Had  Hoofd  written  for  a  wider  audience,  it  would  be  diffi 
cult  to  name  a  contemporary  author  of  any  nation  whose 
work  would  have  been  more  profoundly  studied  or  more 
generally  admired. 

But  the  great  war  had  not  waited  to  be  chronicled  by 
the  classic  and  impassioned  Hoofd.  Already  there  were 
thorough  and  exhaustive  narrators  of  what  was  instinctively 
felt  to  be  one  of  the  most  pregnant  episodes  of  human  his- 

«  Van  Kampen,  i.  608.    Grot.  Paralell.  Rer.  pub.  iii.  49. 


CONCLUSION.  569 

tory.  Bor  of  Utrecht,  a  miracle  of  industry,  of  learning,  of 
unwearied  perseverance,  was  already  engaged  in  the  pro 
duction  of  those  vast  folios  in  which  nearly  all  the  great 
transactions  of  the  forty  years'  war  were  conscientiously 
portrayed,  with  a  comprehensiveness  of  material  and  an 
impartiality  of  statement,  such  as  might  seem  almost  im 
possible  for  a  contemporary  writer.  Immersed  in  attentive 
study  and  profound  contemplation,  he  seemed  to  lift  his 
tranquil  head  from  time  to  time  over  the  wild  ocean  of  those 
troublous  times,  and  to  survey  with  accuracy  without  being 
swayed  or  appalled  by  the  tempest.  There  was  something 
almost  sublime  in  his  steady,  unimpassioned  gaze. 

Emanuel  van  Meteren,  too,  a  plain  Protestant  merchant 
of  Antwerp  and  Amsterdam,  wrote  an  admirable  history  of 
the  war  and  of  his  own  times,  full  of  precious  details,  espe 
cially  rich  in  statistics — a  branch  of  science  which  he  almost 
invented — which  still  remains  as  one  of  the  leading  authori 
ties,  not  only  for  scholars,  but  for  the  general  reader. 

Reyd  and  Burgundius,  the  one  the  Calvinist  private  secre 
tary  of  Lewis  William,  the  other  a  warm  Catholic  partisan, 
both  made  invaluable  contemporaneous  contributions  to  the 
history  of  the  war. 

The  trophies  already  secured  by  the  Netherlander  in  every 
department  of  the  fine  arts,  as  well  as  the  splendour  which 
was  to  enrich  the  coming  epoch,  are  too  familiar  to  the  world 
to  need  more  than  a  passing  allusion. 

But  it  was  especially  in  physical  science  that  the  republic 
was  taking  a  leading  part  in  the  great  intellectual  march  of 
the  nations. 

The  very  necessities  of  its  geographical  position  had  forced 
it  to  pre-eminence  in  hydraulics  and  hydrostatics.  It  had 
learned  to  transform  water  into  dry  land  with  a  perfection 
attained  by  no  nation  before  or  since.  The  wonders  of  its 
submarine  horticulture  were  the  despair  of  all  gardeners  in 
the  world. 

And  as  in  this  gentlest  of  arts,  so  also  in  the  dread  science 
of  war,  the  republic  had  been  the  instructor  of  mankind. 


570  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  Llli 

The  youthful  Maurice  and  his  cousin  Lewis  William  had  so 
restored  and  improved  the  decayed  intelligence  of  antique 
strategy,  that  the  greybeards  of  Europe  became  docile  pupils 
in  their  school.  The  mathematical  teacher  of  Prince  Maurice 
amazed  the  contemporary  world  with  his  combinations  and 
mechanical  inventions  ;  the  flying  chariots  of  Simon  Stevinus 
seeming  products  of  magical  art. 

Yet  the  character  of  the  Dutch  intellect  was  averse  to 
sorcery.  The  small  but  mighty  nation,  which  had  emanci- 
pated  itself  from  the  tyranny  of  Philip  and  of  the  Holy 
Inquisition,  was  foremost  to  shake  off  the  fetters  of  super 
stition.  Out  of  Holland  came  the  first  voice  to  rebuke  one 
of  the  hideous  delusions  of  the  age.  While  grave  magis 
trates  and  sages  of  other  lands  were  exorcising  the  devil  by 
murdering  his  supposed  victims,  John  Wier,  a  physician  of 
Grave,  boldly  denounced  the  demon  which  had  taken  posses 
sion,  not  of  the  wizards,  but  of  the  judges. 

The  age  was  lunatic  and  sick,  and  it  was  fitting  that  the 
race  which  had  done  so  much  for  the  physical  and  intellec 
tual  emancipation  of  the  world,  should  have  been  the  first  to 
apply  a  remedy  for  this  monstrous  madness.  Englishmen 
and  their  descendants  were  drowning  and  hanging  witches 
in  New  England,  long  after  John  Wier  had  rebuked  and 
denounced  the  belief  in  witchcraft. 

It  was  a  Zeelander,  too,  who  placed  the  instrument  in  the 
hand  of  Galileo  by  which  that  daring  genius  traced  the 
movements  of  the  universe,  and  who,  by  another  wondrous 
invention,  enabled  future  discoverers  to  study  the  infinite 
life  which  lies  all  around  us,  hidden  not  by  its  remoteness 
but  its  minuteness.  Zacharias  Jansens  of  Middelburg,  in 
1590,  invented  both  the  telescope  and  the  microscope 

The  wonder-man  of  Alkmaar,  Cornelius  Drebbel,  who  per 
formed  such  astounding  feats  for  the  amusement  of  Kudolph 
of  Germany  and  James  of  Britain,  is  also  supposed  to  have 
invented  the  thermometer  and  the  barometer.  But  this 
claim  has  been  disputed.  The  inventions  of  Jansens  are 
proved. 


CONCLUSION  571 

Willebrod  Snellius,  mathematical  professor  of  Leyden, 
introduced  the  true  method  of  measuring  the  degrees  of 
longitude  and  latitude,  and  Huygens,  who  had  seen  his 
manuscripts,  asserted  that  Snellius  had  invented,  before 
Descartes,  the  doctrine  of  refraction. 

But  it  was  especially  to  that  noble  band  of  heroes  and 
martyrs,  the  great  navigators  and  geographical  discoverers  of 
the  republic,  that  science  is  above  all  indebted. 

Nothing  is  more  sublime  in  human  story  than  the  endur 
ance  and  audacity  with  which  those  pioneers  of  the  six 
teenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  confronted  the  nameless 
horrors  of  either  pole,  in  the  interests  of  commerce,  and  for 
the  direct  purpose  of  enlarging  the  bounds  of  the  human 
intellect. 

The  achievements,  the  sufferings,  and  the  triumphs  of 
Barendz  and  Cordes,  Heemskcrk,  Van  der  Hagen,  and  many 
others,  have  been  slightly  indicated  in  these  pages.  The 
contributions  to  botany,  mineralogy,  geometry,  geography, 
and  zoology,  of  Linschoten,  Plancius,  Wagenaar,  and  Hout- 
mann,  and  so  many  other  explorers  of  pole  and  tropic,  can 
hardly  be  overrated. 

The  Netherlander  had  wrung  their  original  fatherland  out 
of  the  grasp  of  the  ocean.  They  had  confronted  for  centuries 
the  wrath  of  that  ancient  tyrant,  ever  ready  to  seize  the  prey 
of  which  he  had  been  defrauded. 

They  had  waged  fiercer  and  more  perpetual  battle  with  a 
tyranny  more  cruel  than  the  tempest,  with  an  ancient  super 
stition  more  hungry  than  the  sea.  It  was  inevitable  that  a 
race,  thus  invigorated  by  the  ocean,  cradled  to  freedom  by 
their  conflicts  with  its  power,  and  hardened  almost  to  invin 
cibility  by  their  struggle  against  human  despotism,  should 
be  foremost  among  the  nations  in  the  development  of  poli 
tical,  religious,  and  commercial  freedom. 


The  writer  now  takes  an  affectionate  farewell  of  those 
who  have  followed  him  with  an  indulgent  sympathy  as  he 
has  attempted  to  trace  the  origin  and  the  eventful  course 


572  THE  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  CHAP.  LIIL 

of  the  Dutch  commonwealth.  If  by  his  labours  a  generous 
love  has  been  fostered  for  that  blessing,  without  which 
everything  that  this  earth  can  afford  is  worthless — freedom 
of  thought,  of  speech,  and  of  life — his  highest  wish  has  been 
fulfilled. 


INDEX. 


The  Roman  numerals  indicate  the  volumes,  the  Arabic  numerals  the  pages.    Names  baring 
the  prefix  of  De,  or  Van,  are  generally,  but  not  invariably,  placed  under  their  prefix. 


AARDENBURG. 


ALBERT. 


AARDENBTJRG,  disgraceful  surrender 
of,  iv,  206. 

ABDULZAMA.R,  chief  of  the  Sumatran 
legation,  his  death,  iv,  111. 

ACHIM,  Atchen,  Astgen  or  Atsgen, 
Sumatra,  embassy  sent  to  Holland 
from,  iv,  110,  111.  244.  Profiting  by 
its  Dutch  experiences  and  repulsing 
the  Spaniards,  419,  420.  422. 

ACQS,  bishop  of,  counselling  his  king 
in  vain,  i,  123. 

AERSSENS,  Cornelius,  States'  Recorder, 
his  conferences  with  the  Archdukes' 
emissaries  on  negotiations  for  peace, 
iv,  301—303.  309.  Offers  of  gifts  to 
him,  and  troubles  he  got  into  there 
about,  390—392.  What  became  of 
the  gifts,  397.  His  aspiration  for  his 
friend  Barneveldt,  503.  Denounced 
as  a  traitor,  506. 

AERSSENS,  Francis,  on  Elizabeth's  in 
tentions  towards  the  States,  iii,  486. 
On  a  rumour  relative  to  the  marriage 
of  Henry  IV,  593  note.  His  fears 
turned  into  rejoicings,  iv,  48  note. 
On  Henry's  insincerity  towards  the 
States,  104,  105,  notes.  An  aphorism 
from  Henry's  lips,  150.  151  note.  Re 
sult  of  his  experiences  at  the  French 
Court,  200,  201.  His  reply  to  a  query 
of  Henry's,  221  note.  On  Henry's  re 
joicings  at  the  capture  of  Sluys,  224. 
On  Henry's  indignation  at  the 
"  shortcomings  "  of  the  republic,  268. 
Conferring  and  reporting  on  the  Eng 
lish  and  French  schemes  for  annex 
ing  the  States,  283—287.  On  Hen 
ry's  secret  views  as  to  a  truce,  468. 
Taxing  Henry  with  the  same,  469. 
Denounced  as  a  traitor,  506.  Barne- 
veldt's  congratulations  to  him,  524. 
See  iii,  502  note,  iv,  383,  384. 

AHMED,  or  Ahmet,  Sultan,  iv,  218. 
278.  540. 

AISMA,  or  Aitzma,  Frisian  councillor, 
i,  313.  406. 

ALACCON,  Don  Martin,  with  his  monks 
in  the  Armada,  ii,  466. 

ALBERT,  Cardinal  Archduke,  Viceroy 
of  Portugal,  subsequently  called  in 
conjunction  with  his  wife  "  the  Arch 


dukes."  Designated  to  succeed  Far- 
nese  as  governor  of  the  Netherlands, 
iii,  220.  His  processional  entry  upon 
his  office,  352,  353.  His  birth,  per 
sonal  appearance,  manners,  &c.,  357 
—359.  His  investment  of  Hulst,  and 
alleged  sacrifice  of  his  soldiers  there, 
394—396.  A  throne  thought  of  for 
him,  415.  Objections  to  the  scheme, 
416.  His  present  to  Henry  IV,  419. 
Philip's  quixotic  request  to  him,  421, 
Attack  on  and  defeat  of  his  forces  at 
T  urnhout,  422—432.  His  reply  to 
Maurice's  letter  as  to  giving  quarter, 
432  note.  Consequences  to  him  of  his 
king's  repudiation  of  his  debts,  440. 

443.  His  recipe  for  Antwerp's  ills, 

444.  Beaten  out  of  Amiens  :  disap 
pointed  in  his  intended  relic-robbery, 
452,  453.  Wife  and  sovereignty  pro 
vided  for  him,  473.  501. 502  note.  His 
marriage,  503.  Reception  of  the  pair 
in  Brussels :  his  extravagant  house 
keeping  :  character  of  his  court,  587 
— 589.     Project  for  dissolving  his 
marriage,  593.  His  dominions  threat 
ened,  iv,  2.  5.  Gathering  and  harang 
uing  his  forces,  12, 13.  Acting  on  the 
offensive :   his  successes,  14.  19,  20. 
His  promise   of  glory  to    himself, 
humiliation  and  annihilation  to  his 
foe,  22,  23.  Impatience  of  his  troops, 
24,  25.     His  conspicuous  equipment 
and  bearing  on  the  eve  of  the  Nieu- 
port  battle,  29.  His  imminent  danger, 
discomfiture,  and  escape,  41,  42.  45. 
His  and  his  wife's  chargers  changing 
masters,  46,  47.     His  consolation  in 
defeat,  55.     Temptations  offered  to 
him  to  besiege  Ostend,  62.    Begin 
ning  the  siege :    his  forces,  63,   64. 
Problem  he  had  to  solve :  his  "  sau 
sages,"  70.     His  men's  chief  induce 
ments,  71.  His  small  regard  for  their 
lives,  74.  In  holiday  trim  and  high 
anticipation  once  more,  84.    Growl 
ing  and  furious,  86.  Waiting  for  vic 
tory,  and  disappointed,  88.     Taking 
the  wrong  course  with  his  mutinous 
soldiers,  100.     Their  sarcastic  reply 
to  his  threats,  101 — 103.     Reprisals 


574 


ALDEGONDE. 


INDEX. 


ANTONIO. 


caused  by  his  killing  his  prisoners, 
125,  126.  Result  of  his  excommuni 
cation  of  the  mutineers,  129,  130. 
In  doubt  about  his  bargain :  com 
pelled  to  make  terms  with  his  ve 
terans,  209,  210.  Ostend  given  up  to 
him  ;  condition  and  cost  (in  human 
life)  of  his  prize,  215—217.  In  treaty 
with  King  James,  219.  Levying 
troops  in  England,  228.  Guy  Faux 
one  of  his  old  soldiers,  257.  Sending 
peace  negotiators  to  the  States,  296. 
Conferences,  blunders,  travellings  to 
and  fro,  and  ultimate  result,  300 — 
317.  Desires  of  himself  and  his  wife, 
381,  382.  Their  powerlessness  to 
treat  with  the  States,  387.  Scolding 
Philip  III,  392.  Direction  taken  by 
his  hopes,  416.  Objections  of  the 
States  to  the  titles  claimed  for  him 
and  his  wife,  435,  436.  His  demand 
in  return  for  giving  up  the  titles, 
438,  439,  His  hypocrisy,  440V  Dis 
covery  and  publication  of  his  secret 
instructions,  488—491.  Object  of  his 
confessor's  mission  to  Spain,  514, 515. 
Terms  of  truce  agreed  on  with  the 
States,  516.  519.  His  tempting  offers 
to  Maurice,  543.  Seeii,  463. 465. 556. 
iii,  293.  362.  417.  422.  457.  460.  iv, 
403.  410.  416.  461.  483.  536.  See  also 
Austria,  House  of. 

ALDEGONDE,  See  Sainte  Aldegonde. 

ALENCON,  Duke  of,  a  reminiscense  of, 
iii,  347. 

ALEXANDER  of  Macedon  and  Alexan 
der  of  Parma,  i,  258. 

ALLAN,  or  Allen,  Dr,  his  pamphlet  or 
"Admonition  "  against  Elizabeth,  ii, 
400,  401.  403—406.  484.  A  disap 
pointed  candidate  for  the  papacy,  iii, 
89. 

ALTERAS,  Laurenz,  vice-admiral  of 
Zeeland,  iv,  320.  324.  His  exploit,  326. 

ALVA,  regular  accompaniments  of  the 
victories  of,  i,  252.  Parma's  conduct 
contrasted  with  his,  253.  Number  of 
religious  murders  boasted  of  by  him, 
ii,  291.  See  ii,  381.  iii,  43.  168.  284. 
354.  447.  iv,  13.  229. 

AMAZON  defenders  of  Sluys,  ii,  264. 

AMBOISE,  Renee  of;  condition  of  her 
marriage  with  Balagny,  iii,  347.  Her 
heroism  at  the  siege  of  Cambray  and 
resolute  death,  350,  351. 

AMBOYNA  captured  by  the  Dutch,  iv, 
244. 

AMERICA,  popular  belief  as  to  the  ha 
bits  of  the  natives  of,  iv,  300.  Ar 
tillery  operations  in  the  recent  civil 
war  73. 


AMIENS  captured  by  a  Spanish  artifice, 
iii,  434 — 436.  Measures  resolved  on 
to  regain  it,  437.  440.  Besieged  and 
recaptured,  451—453.  See  460. 

AMSTERDAM,  festival  in  honour  of  Lei 
cester  at,  ii,  15.  Plot  of  his  partisans 
to  seize  the  city,  332.  Prospering,  iii, 
23.  25.  Sharing  in  an  arctic  voyage, 
561 .  Trade  monopolies,  iv,  433— 451 . 
Wavering  in  its  opposition  to  a 
truce,  504.  Accepting  it,  513.  Rapid 
extension  of  the  city,  551.  See  iii, 
174  note. 

AMURATH,  Sultan  of  Turkey,  German 
dread  of:  his  presents  to  Philip  II,  i, 
30,  31.  His  liking  for  Henry  IV,  iii, 
48.  His  magnificent  letter  to  Henry, 
48.  49  notes.  Knocking  at  the  im 
perial  gates,  315.  His  death  :  terrible 
doings  of  his  successor,  329. 

ANABAPTISTS,  how  treated  by  Eliza 
beth  and  William  the  Silent,  i,  25, 26. 

ANCEL,  mission  confided  by  Henry  IV 
to,  iii,  411.  414.  417. 

ANDERSON,  Claas,  Dutch  Arctic  navi 
gator,  iii,  572.  573. 

ANDRADA,  the  famous  Portuguese  poi 
soner,  iii,  295. 

ANGIERS,  reception  of  the  Dutch  en 
voys  at,  iii,  479,  480. 

ANHALT,  prince  of,  iv,  30.  201. 

ANJOU,  Duke  of,  his  treachery,  i,  8. 10. 
62.93.  His  death,  11.  His  wife-hunt 
ings,  30.  55.  Change  of  policy 
brought  about  by  his  death,  36.  Step 
taken  by  the  States-General  on  his 
death,  55.  Catherine  de  Medici's 
claim  under  his  will,  136.  Tearing 
down  of  his  arms  at  Antwerp,  253. 
Queen  Elizabeth's  aspiration  for  his 
soul,  321.  Sidney's  protest  against 
the  queen's  marriage  with  him,  i, 
360.Tournamental  honours  rendered 
to  him  by  Sidney,  361.  Lesson  taught 
to  Holland  by  his  conduct,  ii,  119. 

ANNE  of  Denmark,  queen  of  James  I., 
a  bribed  partizan  of  Spain,  iv,  144. 
Her  husband's  subservience  to  her, 
157. 

ANTONIO,  Don,  pretender  of  Portugal ; 
price  set  on  his  head :  his  escape, 
privations,  and  ambition,  i,  67.  Re 
newed  effort  sof  Philip  to  kidnaphim: 
makes  himself  of  use  to  England,  68. 
Resolve  of  the  English  court  as  to 
how  he  "  might  be  induced  to  offend" 
the  king  of  Spain,  84.  At  Leicester's 
banquet  at  Utrecht,  ii,  16.  Abortive 
Anglo-Dutch  expedition  in  his  be 
half,  554—557. 

ANTONIO,  Don  Matteo,  see  Serrano. 


ANTWERP. 


INDEX. 


ARENBERG. 


573 


ANTWERP,  siege  and  fall  of,  i,  23,  24. 
112.  Compared  with  other  European 
cities,  53.  Feelings  towards  France 
and  England,  75  note.  Occasion  of  the 
proverb  "  If  we  get  to  Antwerp : " 
Farnese  preparing  for  its  siege,  137. 
Illustrations  military  and  political 
afforded  by  the  siege,  139.  Scientific 
and  mechanical  appliances  resorted 
to  by  besiegers  and  besieged,  140. 
Situation  of  the  city :  capacity  of  its 
harbour,  ibid.  Plan  of  defence  urged 
by  William  the  Silent,  and  results  of 
its  nonobservance,  141 — 143.  Conse 
quences  of  the  absence  of  a  gov 
erning  head :  anarchical  results  of 
a  conflict  of  authorities,  144,  145. 
Rejection  of  William's  plans :  the 
butchers  in  the  ascendant,  151 — 153. 
Unwise  abandonment  of  Herenthals: 
the  loss  of  Liefkenshoek,  153—155. 
Repulse  of  the  Spaniards  at  Lillo, 
156.  Suicidal  results  of  regulations 
imposed  upon  the  bringers-in  of  corn, 
159,  160.  Scene  produced  by  the 
opening  of  the  Saftingen  sluices,  160. 
Too  late  perception  by  its  opponents 
of  the  value  of  Orange's  plan,  161. 
The  key  to  its  fate,  162.  Incredulity 
as  to  the  possibility  of  Parma  bridg 
ing  the  Scheldt,  163.  Reply  of  its 
authorities  to  Parma's  attempts  to 
subdue  them  by  arguments  and  pro 
mises,  167 — 170  Commercial  panic: 
flight  of  its  wealthy  citizens,  171. 
Opportunity  lost  by  the  failure  at 
Bois-le-Duc,  179,  179.  Consternation 
at  the  completion  of  Parma's  bridge : 
"  demons  "  fancied  and  real,  182, 183. 
Treatment  of  their  spy  by  Parma, 

184.  Message  brought  home  by  him, 

185.  Preparing  for  action  :  Liefken 
shoek  regained,  187, 188.  Gianibelli's 

Elan  for  destroying  Parma's  bridge, 
ow  carried  out,  and  its  results,  190 
— 198.  Advantage  lost  through  Ja- 
cobzoon's  neglect  or  incompetency, 
198.  200.  Fears  engendered  in  the 
enemy  by  the  fireships,  202, 203.  The 
destructive  skill  of  its  citizens  how 
characterized  by  Parma,  203,  204. 
Their  tactics  while  preparing  to 
attack  the  Kowenstyn  Dyke,  205. 
Incidents  of  their  capture  of  it  and 
of  its  recapture  by  the  Spaniards,  206 
—224.  Folly  of  their  leaders  in  not 
remaining  to  make  victory  sure,  215. 
Celebrating  an  unsecured  conquest : 
reaction  thereon,  225,  226.  Effect  of 
the  Kowenstyn  failure  upon  the  ulti 
mate  fate  of  the  city,  22. 7.  Construc 


tion  and  fate  of  a  new  marine  mon 
ster,  "  the  war's  end : "  only  mischief 
done  to  the  enemy  by  it,  227—229. 
Thwarting  effects  of  municipal 
shortsightedness  upon  the  burgo 
master's  efforts,  229,  230.  Encourag 
ing  assurances  sent  by  Queen  Eliza 
beth  :  increasing  despair  of  the  ci 
tizens:  La  No ue's  opinion  231,232. 
Last  hope  gone :  tumults  and  insults 
to  the  burgomaster,  234,  235.  238. 
242.  244.  Negotiations  for  and  ulti 
mate  acceptance  of  terms  of  capitu 
lation  :  extremes  in  the  conduct  of 
the  populace,  242 — 253.  Conditions 
insisted  on  by  the  victors,  254.Trium- 
phal  entry  of  Parma:  pageantry  and 
feastings  thereupon,  258 — 260.  Re- 
erection  of  the  citadel:  consequences 
of  "  the  heretics  having  all  left "  the 
city,  261.  A  curb  more  efficacious 
than  the  citadel,  262.  Sense  in  which 
"religious  affairs"  improved,  263. 
490.  Drying  up  of  the  source  of  the 
city's  vitality,  264.  269.  iv,  451.  551. 
Consequences  of  Gilpin's  ill-timed 
message  to  England,  i,  298,  299. 
Desperate  state  of  the  place,  and 
hard  conditions  imposed  on  the 
burghers,  i,  489,  4tJO.  504.  iii,  24. 
Spanish  memories  of  the  sack  of  the 
city,  ii,  489.  Jesuit  recipe  for  its  re 
vival,  iii,  23.  Auto  da  fe  consum 
mated  in  the  city,  443—445.  Rebel 
lion  in  the  citadel,  457.  Abortive 
enterprise  of  the  States  against  it, 
iv,  232.  See  i,  323.  325.  332.  334.  ii, 
128.  370.  iii,  115.  286.  287,  419,  iv, 
113.  451.  517. 

AQUII  A,  Don  Juan  d',  marching  to  the 
rescue  of  the  Kowenstyn,  i,  217.  His 
dispute  with  Capizucca  for  the  post 
of  danger,  217,  218.  In  the  thick  of 
the  fight  together,  220.  221.  Com 
mended  by  Parma  to  Philip,  224. 225. 
227.  At  Parma's  attack  on  Grave,  ii. 
12.  See  iii,  122.  His  invasion  of  Ire 
land  and  its  result,  iv,  94,  95. 

"ARCHDUKES,"  the,  see  Albert,  and 
Clara  Isabella. 

ARCTIC  voyages  of  the  Dutch  naviga 
tors  and  their  results  narrated,  iii, 
555—576. 

ARDRES,  surrender  of,  iii,  393.  Re 
stored,  500. 

AREMBERG,  gunpowder  accident  to,  i, 
229.  See25S. 

ARENBERG,  Count,  iii,  280.  321.  322. 
His  character  and  disposition,  361. 
On  special  mission  to  England,  iv, 
137, 154,  James's  opinion  pf  him,  \§%, 


576 


ARMADA. 


INDEX. 


BAUER. 


ARMADA  of  Spain,  ii,  103. 113. 315. 322 
Incredulity  of  English  and  French 
statesmen  regarding  it,  434 — 436 
Dutch  preparations  against  it,  445 
Howard's  impatience  and  com 
plaints,  448 — 450.  457.  Ceremonies 
on  setting  sail :  number  and  arma 
ment  of  the  vessels,  daily  expense, 
plan  of  operations,  &c,  465—468.  A 
necessity  unprovided  for :  effects  of 
a  tempest,  468 — 470.  David  Gwynn's 
successful  exploit,  471 — 473.  Off  the 
English  coast,  473.  Preliminary  en- 
gagementsand  their  result,  474 — 482 
Both  fleets  off  Calais :  English  fire- 
ship  project,  483—492.  Boarding  of 
a  great  galeasse,  493—496.  General 
engagement  of  both  fleets :  flight  of 
the  Spaniards :  Howard's  "  brag 
countenance,"  497 — 503.  Dispersal 
of  the  Spanish  fleet :  summing-up  of 
its  disasters,  506,  507.  Joint  sharers 
in  the  honours,  511. 527.  Premature 
rejoicings  in  Paris,  529.  See  ii,  514. 
515.  518.  521.  523.  532—536. 

ARMINIUS,  Jacob,  death  of,  iv,  536. 
Consequences  due  to  the  spread  of  his 
doctrines,  536—538.  547.  548.  568. 

ARRAGON,  admiral  of,  see  Mendoza, 
Francis. 

ARRAGON,  revenue  of  Philip  II  from, 
iii,  520. 

ARRAS  tapestries,  iv,  553. 

ARSCHOT,  Duke  of,  and  his  battlings 
for  place,  iii,  280.  321,  322.  His  end, 
323.  His  son,  see  Chimay,  prince  of. 

ARTOIS,  iii,  266.  290.  313. 

ARUNDEL  House,  De  Rosny's  resi 
dence  and  conferences  at,  iv,  156. 158. 
160.  170. 

ASCOLI,  Prince  of,  sent  on  a  vain  mis 
sion,  iii,  70. 

ASSONLEVILLE,  counsellor,  setting  an 
assassin  to  work,  iii,  300. 

ATCHEN,  or  Atsgen,  see  Achim. 

AVYE,  Leicester's  private  secretary,  ii, 
110.  Strange  story  told  to  and  by 
him,  235.  246. 

AUDLEY,  ii,  48. 

AUGUSTUS,  Duke  of  Saxony,  sees  "  in 
to  the  sect  of  the  Jesuits,"  i,  32. 

AUM  VLB,  Henry  of  Navarre's  danger 
ous  skirmish  at,  iii,  139—142. 

AUMALE,  Duke  of,  iii,  55.  63.  139.  '353. 
iv,  41. 

AUSTRIA,  house  of,  to  be  humbled,  iv, 
152.  157.179.  Extending  its  relation 
with  King  James,  219.  Result  of  the 
"humbling"  project,  278.  Religious 
peace,  540.  See  Albert,  Archduke. 
Matthias.  Rudolph. 


AUSTRIA,  Don  John  of,  "  Soldier  ot  L,e- 
panto,"  i,  358.  359.  ii,  541. 

AVALOS,  hostage  with  the  Spanish 
mutineers,  iv,  210. 

AXEL,  surprised  and  captured  by  the 
Dutch  and  English,  ii,  34—36. 

AZORES,  claim  of  the  Netherlander  re 
lative  to  the  discovery  of  the,  iii,  551. 

BABINGTON  conspiracy,  ii,  104.  189. 

BACON,  Francis  Lord,  on  the  policy  ot 
the  Cecils  towards  able  men,  i,  358. 

BALAFR^,  Le,  See  Guise. 

BALAGNY,  Seigneur  de,  petty  sover 
eignty  established  by,  i,  8.  100.  His 
"most  excellent  milch-cow,"  136. 
Submits  to  the  king's  authority : 
his  recompense,  iii,  313.  His  despi 
cable  character,  347.  His  city  cap 
tured  by  the  Spaniards,  348—350. 
His  after-career,  351.  His  heroic  wile: 
See  Amboise. 

BALEN'S  own  at  Nieuport,  iv,  38.  His 
successful  onset,  39. 

BALFOUR,  Scottish  volunteer,  fighting 
at  the  Kowenstyn,  i,  223. 

BALLONO,  Juan,  his  estimate  of  the 
killed  at  Ostend,  iv,  216  note. 

BALTIC,  trade,  number  of  ships  in  the, 
iv,  554. 

BALVENA,  Spanish  envoy,  conferring 
on  peace  with  Henry  IV,  iii,  417 — 
419.  459,  460. 

BANDA,  nutmeg  monopoly  ratified  at, 
iv,  109. 

BANTAM,  repulse  of  the  Spanish  squad 
ron  at,  iv,  106,  107. 

BARBERINI,  papal  envoy,  trying  his 
persausive  powers  on  Henry  IV,  iv, 
368,  369. 

BARDESIUS,  unwelcome  task  imposed 
on,  ii,  326. 

BARENZ,  William,  his  first  arctic 
voyage,  iii,  555 — 557.  His  second 
attempt,  559, 560.  His  third  venture, 
561,  563.  His  astronomical  experi 
ments,  569,  570.  His  quiet  heroism 
and  death,  571—573.  Results  of  his 
enterprise,  576. 

BARNEVELDT,  See  Olden-Barneveldt. 

BASKERVILLE,  English  captain,  his 
bravery  at  Sluys,  ii,  263.  Parma's 
compliment  to  him,  274.  At  Bergen- 
op-Zoom,  539.  Knighted,  544.  See  562. 

BASTI,  George,  Albanian  chief,  iii,  140. 
His  death  blow,  145. 

BATAVIA,  Betuwe,  "  Good  Meadow," 
island  of,  ii,  19.  23.  iii,  111.  113.  Its 
oriental  namesake,  iv,  107. 

BAUER  :  primary  and  secondary  mean 
ing  of  the  world,  iii,  172  note. 


BAX. 


INDEX. 


BOURBON. 


577 


BAX,  Paul  and  Marcellus,  iii,  338,  339. 
Narrow  escape  of  Marcellus,  340.  A 
suggestion  of  his  and  its  brilliant 
results,  423 — 433.  Marcellus  at  Nieu- 
port,  iv,  30.  34.  Paul  wounded  at 
Sluys,  206.  At  Mulheim,  235,  236. 
His  prompt  action  at  Bergen-op- 
Zoom,  250,  251. 

BEALE,  Mr,  Leicester's  curt  eulogium 
on,  ii,  327. 

BEAUFORT,  Duchess  of,  See  Gabrielle. 

BELIN,  Count,  threats  of  Sega  against, 
iii,  125.  Wounded  and  captured, 
333.  His  surrender  of  Ardres,  393, 
394. 

BELLIEVRE,  Pomponne  de ;  purport  of 
his  "  long  oration  "  to  the  Dutch  en 
voys,  i,  290.  Greed  of  his  wife,  iv, 
375.  See  ii,  305.  iii,  126.  234. 

BENITES,  his  command  at  the  Kowen- 
styn,  i,  207. 

BENTIVOGLIO,  Cardinal,  point  whereon 
he  was  in  error,  ii,  57  note.  On  taxa 
tion  in  the  Netherlands,  iii,  375.  On 
the  Infanta's  character,  588.  See  iv, 
368.  395.  523.  565. 

BENTIVOGLIO,  nephew  of  the  above,  a,t 
the  rescue  of  the  Kowenstyn,  i,  220. 
Wounded,  iii,  148. 

BERENDRECHT,  Jacques  van  der  Meer, 
Baron  of,  commandant  of  Ostend,  the 
man  for  his  post,  iv,  190.  Foiling 
the  enemy,  191.  Killed,  194. 

BERGEN-OP-ZOOM,  Leicester's  halt  at, 
ii,  35.  Situation  of  the  city,  537. 
Result  of  Parma's  attempt  to  carry 
it  by  siege,  538.  541—544.  Du  Tor- 
rail's  double  attack  upon  it,  iv,  250. 
Prompt  course  of  Governor  Bax  and 
heroism  of  the  women,  251.  Peace 
conferences  with  Spain  carried  en 
here,  517—519.  526.  Extraordinary 
assembly,  565. 

BERLAYMONT,  bishop  of  Cambray,  iii, 
335. 

BERLAYMONT,  Count,  nickname  given 
to  the  patriots  by,  i,  176. — Hiring  an 
assassin  to  kill  Maurice,  iii,  297,  298. 
299  note.  Maurice  in  pursuit  of 
him,  iv,  208. 

BERLOT,  Claude,  command  assigned 
to,  ii,  45. 

BEVILACQUA,  at  the  rescue  of  the  Ko 
wenstyn,  i,  220. 

BIEVRY,  Captain  Jacques  de,  hazardous 
exploit  shared  by,  iii,  262,  263.  Ap 
pointed  commandant  at  Ostend,  iv, 
189.  Wounded  and  hors  de  combat, 
ibid.  Fellow  sufferers,  194. 

BILLY.  See  Robles. 

,  Armand,  French  marshal,  at 
VOL.  IV. — 2  P 


the  battle  of  Ivry,   iii,  51.  54,  55. 
Rescued  by  his  king,  90.  See  58.  66. 

BIRON,  Charles,  Baron,  son  of  the 
above,  iii,  121.  Rescued  by  his  king, 
344.  His  stupendous  treachery,  and 
its  result,  iv,  104,  105.  His  object, 
104  note.  150.  See  iii,  139.  140.  143. 
iv,  149.  164.  377. 

BLAEUW,  or  Blaauw,  William,  the 
Amsterdam  printer,  his  geographical 
publications,  iii,  549.  558.  Party  use 
made  of  his  types,  iv,  477.  An  ety 
mological  query,  478  note. 

BLOUNT,  Christopher,  and  his  brother, 
spying  upon  Leicester,  i,  375,  376. 

BLOUNT,  Thomas,  reporting  result  oi 
inquest  on  Amy  Robsart,  i,  369. 

BOBADIL,  Spanish  officer,  ii,  12. 

BODLEY,  Sir  Thomas,  iii,  32.  Defects 
in  his  character  and  their  results, 
33,  34.  See  172.  181. 

BODMAN,  William,  volunteer  diplo 
matist  between  Parma  nnd  Eliza 
beth,  i,  480.  491.  Reporting  pro 
gress,  493,  494.  Condoling  with 
Grafigny,  511,  512.  In  secret  con 
clave  with  English  statesmen,  513 — 
517.  See  500.  509. 510.  519.  520.  524. 

Bois-LE-Duc,  Brabant,  its  importance 
to  the  Spaniards,  i,  174.  Attacked 
by  the  States  troops  :  Their  subse 
quent  repulse,  175 — 177.  A  blow 
from  a  dead  man's  hand,  177.  Hair 
breadth  escapes  of  some  of  the 
leaders,  178.  What  success  would 
have  produced,  178,  179.  Effect  of 
a  frost  upon  a  renewed  attempt  to 
besiege  it,  iv,  66.  Embargo  laid  on 
the  town  by  the  Spanish  mutineers, 
128.  See  iii,  103,  104. 

BONE-FLOUR  bread  and  its  effects  dur 
ing  Paris  famine,  iii,  65. 

BONN  captured  by  Schenk,  ii,  348. 
421.  Retaken  by  the  Spaniards,  549. 

BOR  of  Utrecht :  character  of  his  his 
tory  of  his  own  times,  iv,  569. 

BORGIA,  Pope  of  Rome,  his  paternal 
allocation  of  the  new  world,  iv,  105 
note.  Respect  paid  by  the  Dutch 
thereto,  130. 

BORY,  Antwerp  clockmaker,  associated 
with  Gianibelli  in  his  project  against 
Parma's  bridge,  i,  191. 

BOTSCHKAY,  Stephen,  position  achiev 
ed  by,  iv,  218.  Poisoned :  his  death 
bed  recommendation,  278. 

BOUCHER,  father,  the  one-eyed,  iii,  63. 

BOUILLON,  Duke  of,  See  Turenne. 

BOURBON,  Charles,  cardinal,  called  also 
Charles  X,  put  forward  by  the  Guises 
as  heir  to  the  Crown  :  his  character, 


578 


BOURBOURG. 


INDEX. 


BURGHLEY. 


&c,  i,  113,  114.  Discarding  his  eccle 
siastical  costume  :  his  sanity  doubt 
ed,  117.  Manifesto  of  the  League 
issued  under  his  name,  119,  120 
Mourning  the  death  of  Joyeuse,  ii 
340.  Thrown  into  prison,  558.  A 
puppet-king,  560.  iii,  1. 415.  Dead,  69 

BOURBOURG,  that  "miserable  little 
hole,"  ii,  393.  iv,  440. 

BOURGES,  archbishop  of,  repudiates 
the  pope  and  the  League,  iii,  234. 

BOURTANGER  Morass,  famous  pass 
over  the,  iv,  234.  Spinola's  blunder 
241. 

BRABANT,  unfaithful  to  its  allies,  i,  19 
Condition  of  its  cities  after  their 
subjugation  by  Spain,  i,  269.  489.  ii, 
128.  Its  circle  of  protection,  ii,  10 
See  iii,  201.  432.  iv.  99. 

BRANDENBURG,  Elector  of,  iv,  389, 494 

BRANDSCHATZUNG,  nature  of  the  irre 
gular  impost  so  called,  i,  32,  ii,  5. 

BREAUTE,  mad  combat  snared  in  by, 
iii,  589. 

BREDA,  saved  by  Schenk,  ii,  7.  Strata 
gem  whereby  the  States  regained  it, 
iii,  6—15. 

BREDERODE,  Dutch  councillor,  i,  406. 
ii,  140.  iv,  138.  434. 

BREVOORT  stormed  and  burnt,  iii,  456. 

BRIGANDS,  Maurice's  plan  for  the  ex 
tirpation  of,  iii,  337. 

BRISSAC,  Count  de,  iii,  67.  Opens  Paris 
gates  to  Henry  IV,  244. 

BRISSON,  president  of  Parliament, 
wounding  the  pride  of  a  legate,  iii, 
47.  His  character,  simple  request, 
and  fatal  end,  126,  127.  130. 

BRITTANY,  claimed  by  Philip,  iii,  46. 
Beginning  of  war:  soldier-chroni 
clers  there,  iii,  122 — 125.  Need  for 
driving,  out  the  Spaniards,  135.  For 
tunes  of  the  French  troops,  151 — 
153.  English  aid  sent,  164.  181. 
The  province  how  disposed  of  by 
Philip,  201,  202.  See  209. 

BRIZUELA,  Inigo,  his  mission  to  Spain, 
iv,  514.  Convincing  the  king,  515. 

BROECK,  Count  of,  and  his  garrison 
murdered,  iii,  582.  Effect  produced 
by  the  act,  iv,  14. 

BRUGES,  the  Netherland  States  desert 
ed  by,  i,  19.  Its  desperate  condition, 
489.  504.  Dante's  simile,  ii,  260. 

BRULART,  secretary  to  Henry  III,  and 
the  Dutch  envoys,  i,  56,  57.  96. 

BRUNSWICK,  Eric  of,  at  Ivry,  iii,  54. 
Wounded,  55.  His  escape,  57. 

BBUSSELS,  i,  23. 136.  Privations  under 
which  it  held  out  against  Farnese, 
139.  Forced  to  capitulate,  186.  Its 


pageant  in  honour  of  a  new  gover 
nor,  iii,  286—289.  In  a  fright  about 
the  Spanish  mutineers,  291.  Another 
governor  and  another  pageant :  the 
lost  returned,  353—357.  A  rebuke 
to  its  burghers,  396.  One  more  pa 
geant,  587.  See  iv,  296.  308.  416. 

BUCKHORST,  Thomas  Sackville  Lord, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Dorset  and  Lord 
Treasurer,  i,  493.  Terms  of  peace 
with  Spain  suggested  by  him,  499, 
In  Leicester's  black  books,  ii,  149. 
150.  Mission  to  the  Hague  confided 
to  him,  213,  214.  His  antecedents, 
personal  bearing,  &c.,  216.  His  land 
ing  :  interceding  lor  the  troops,  217. 
218.  First  conference  with  the 
States-General,  218,  219.  Defending 
Leicester  :  his  reception  at  Utrecht, 
220.  Views  forced  upon  him  fry 
actual  circumstances,  229.  230.  Ef. 
forts  made  to  turn  his  visit  to  ill 
account,  233.  Purport  oi  a  letter  in 
cipher  from  the  queen  to  him ;  hia 
resolve  thereon,  235,  236.  His  so 
lemn  appeal  to  her  for  money  lor 
her  troops,  238,  239.  Bearing  of  the 
queen  and  Leicester  towards  him ; 
angry  letter  from  the  latter,  243 — 
246.  Peace  instructions  he  was  or 
dered  to  carry  out,  247  note.  His 
remonstrances  with  the  queen  there 
on  :  perplexing  effect  of  her  rejoin 
der,  248—250.  Deceitful  course  of 
Leicester  towards  him  :  his  counsel 
to  the  queen  at  this  juncture,  256- 
25 ).  His  reward  for  doing  his  duty ; 
ultimate  recognition  of  his  services, 
277—280.  His  peace  views  and  dis 
cussion  with  Barneveldt  thereon, 
iii,  491.  492.  495,  496.  See  ii,  226 
231.  237.  251—255.  2W  note.  324 
352.  493.  iii,  486. 

BUCQUOY,  Count,  iii,  582.  His  work 
at  Ostend,  iv,  71.  Futility  of  his 
efforts,  72,  73.  91.  Falling  into  a 
trap,  92.  Livishing  money  and 
lives,  117.  Mischief  done  from  his 
batteries,  118.  With  his  troops  al 
Mook,  259.  Result  of  his  efforts  to 
cross  the  Waal,  261,  262.  See  iv. 
185.  210.  233.  235. 

BUDA,  iv,  57.  58.  104.  218. 

BURGH,  Lord,  his  insubordination  at 
Doesburg,  ii,  43. 

BURGHLEY,  William  Cecil,  Lord, 
pamphlet  sent  over  Europe  by.  i,  81. 
Effect  produced  by  it,  32.  Character 
of  his  statesmanship,  80,  81.  Hia 
language  in  council,  and  summing- 
up  relative  to  the  Dutch  Provinces 


BURGRAVE. 


INDEX. 


CALVINISTS. 


579 


and  England's  course  with  regard  to 
them,  82.  84,  85.  His  cunctative 
policy  and  over-cautiousness :  his 
puzzling  instructions  to  Davison,  86, 
87,  88.  In  conference  with  the 
Dutch  envoys,  294.  298.  Reason  for 
his  cautious  policy,  303.  His  phy 
siognomy  and  personal  appearance, 
317.  Communicates  his  queen's 
ultimatum  to  the  Dutch  envoys, 
321.  324.  Comforting  Leicester,  352. 
Policy  of  his  family  towards  able 
men,  358.  On  Amy  Robsart's  death, 
368.  On  the  need  for  standing  by 
Holland,  380  note.  Hinting  the 
queen's  anger  to  Leicester,  412.  413. 
Taking  refuge  in  bed  from  her 
curses,  418.  458.  "  Wishing  to  wash 
his  hands  of  shame  and  peril,"  456. 
Comforting  Leicester,  457.  458. 
Complimented  on  his  share  in  bring 
ing  the  queen  to  reason,  466.  Point 
on  which  he  and  the  queen  were 
best  informed,  468.  Direction  in 
which  he  was  not  true,  491.  Par 
leying  with  a  Spanish  agent,  495. 
507.  Issue  involved  in  the  course 
he  was  taking,  496.  His  attitude 
towards  Leicester,  508.  519.  Bring 
ing  the  Spanish  agents  to  book,  and 
step  taken  thereon,  512 — 518.  On 
the  intent  of  the  Babington  conspi 
rators,  ii,  105.  Why  "  weary  of  his 
miserable  life,"  192.  Parleying  with 
the  Dutch  envoys  from  his  bed,  202 
— 205.  Out  of  favour  with  the  queen, 
212.  His  sagacity  at  fault,  300—302. 
320.  322.  Deceiving  the  Pope,  461. 
His  discussions  with  Noel  de  Caron, 
iii.  177.  179.  183,  184.  Conferring 
with  envoys  from  Henry  IV  sent  to 
ask  for  aid,  398—403.  405.  Taunting 
Caron  relative  to  the  Hollanders 
trading  with  their  own  foes,  463, 
See  i,  119.  313.  353.  415,  419.  428. 
429.  444.  483.  493.  501.  509.  519. 
520.  521.  ii,  77.  296.  403.  448.  iii, 
486.  493. 

BURGRAVE,  Daniel  de,  ii.  68.  His  an 
tecedents,  services  to  Leicester,  &c., 
69.  106. 

BURGUNDIUS,  Dutch  historian,  iv,  569. 

BURGUNDY,  iii,  209.  344.  502. 

BUSBECQ,  German  ambassador  in  Pa 
ris,  on  the  attitude  of  Spain  and  Tur 
key,  i,  31.  His  estimate  of  Mendoza, 
the  Spanish  ambassador,  66.  Throws 
down  his  office  in  disgust,  80.  On  the 
progress  of  the  League  and  the  va 
garies  of  the  Due  d'Epergnon,  117. 

BUYS,  Paul,  advocate  of  Holland,  stre 


nuous  in  his  efforts  towards  an  alli 
ance  with  England,  i,  72. 75. 311, 312. 
Plan  of  military  aid  indicated  by 
him,  76.  Character  given  by  him  to 
De  Griyse,  77.  289.  His  successor  as 
advocate,  211.  Sidney's  pun  on  him, 
399  note,  ii,  37.  Offer  from  Leicester 
spurned  by  him,  ii,  71.  Change  in 
the  latter's  attitude  towards  him,  75. 
Why  so  much  abused  and  threatened 
by  Leicester,  76 — 80.  His  alleged  in 
triguing  with  Denmark,  81  and  note. 
Thrown  into  prison,  82.  Released, 
142.  "  Bolsterer  of  papists,  atheist, 
devil,"  127.  What  he  and  his  friends 
saw  no  wrong  in,  553.  See  i,  401. 
406.  ii.  83.  84.  85.  108.  168.  182.  223. 
350.  408.  409.  410.  413.  417. 
BUZANVAL,  Paul  Chouart  Seigneur  de, 
his  speech  to  the  States-General,  as 
envoy  from  Henry  of  Navarre,  iii, 
131 — 134.  Rebukes  and  counter-re 
bukes,  313. 461.  His  conferences  with 
the  Dutch  statesmen  and  report 
thereon  to  his  king,  iv,  221.  288 — 
291.  See  iii,  477.  481,  590.  591  note. 

CADIZ  in  1584,  i,  7.  Attack  of  Drake's 
squadron,  ii,  282,  283.  New  Anglo- 
Dutch  expedition  :  destruction  of  the 
Spanish  fleet  and  sack  of  the  city, 
iii,  384—388.  Results  of  the  expe 
dition:  possible  achievements  un 
wisely  neglected,  391. 

CADZAND,  see  Kadzand. 

CALAIS,  iii,  365,  surrendered  to  tne 
Spaniards,  367.  Responses  of  Mau 
rice  and  Elizabeth  to  Henry's  appeal 
for  help,  368.  Result  of  efforts  to 
turn  the  fortune  of  the  day,  373 — 
375.  Apprehended  consequence  of 
the  fall  of  the  city,  391.  Negotia 
tions  and  conferences  about  its  pos 
session,  397,  398.  460.  499,  500. 

CALDERON,  Rodrigo,  iv,  458. 

CALVAERT,  Netherlands  envoy, his  mis 
sion  to  Henry  of  Navarre  and  subse 
quent  conference  with  Henry  III,  i, 
108 — 110.  On  the  secret  negotiations 
of  Henry  IV  with  Philip  II,  iii,  306 
— 308.  310  note.  His  sudden  journey 
to  England  on  Henry's  importunity, 
397,  398.  405.  His  reproach  to 
France  and  the  king's  reply,  459, 460. 
His  warnings  to  the  States  and 
death,  462.  See  iii,  372.  373. 

CALVINISTS,  i,  25.  26.  ii,  31.  67.  Their 
patriotism  and  intolerance,  ii,  120, 
121.  Their  efforts  for  supremacy  at 
Leyden,  and  result  thereof,  333 — 338. 
Their  hatred  of  Barneveldt,  iv,  478. 


580 


CAMBRAY. 


INDEX. 


CECIL. 


Debt  due  to  Calvinism,  iii  383.  Its 
tyranny  when  in  the  ascendant,  iv, 
531.  See  iv,  530.  547. 

CAMBRAY,  actors  in  and  objects  of  the 
truce  of,  i,  8.  100.  101.  Ground  of 
Catherine  de  Medici's  claim  to  it, 
136.  Fuentes  at  its  walls,  334.  Its 
aspect:  heroic  conduct  of  the  princess 
Renee :  fall  of  the  city,  346—351. 

CAMDEN,  William,  English  historian, 
facts  suppressed  by,  iii,  390  note. 

CAMICIATAS,  or  shirt  attacks,  iii  167. 

CAMPAGNOLO,  governor  of  Boulogne, 
iii,  373. 

CANDIA,  Duchess  of,  banished  from  the 
Spanish  court,  iv,  347.  351. 

CANDY,  King  of,  entering  into  trade 
relations  with  the  Dutch,  iv,  108. 
Murder  through  his  treachery,  243. 

CANNIBALISM  practised  during  the 
Paris  famine  and  justified  on  theo 
logical  grounds,  iii,  65. 

CAPIZUCCA,  Bias,  ii,  456. 

CAPIZUCCA,  Camillo,  his  heroic  pro 
posal  i,216.  Contending  for  the  post 
of  danger,  217.  An  active  participant 
in  the  rescue  of  the  Kowenstyn,  218. 
220. 221. 222.  Parma's  grateful  recog 
nition  of  his  services,  and  commenda 
tion  thereof  to  Philip,  224.  225.  227. 

CARDONA  at  the  rescue  of  the  Kowen 
styn,  i.  217. 

CAREY,  Edmund,  refuses  to  join  in 
Stanley's  treason,  ii,  174. 

CARON,Noel  de,Seigneur  deSchoneval, 
agent  of  the  States-General,  i,  55. 
WhyStafford  was  annoyed  with  him, 
68.  His  conferences  and  complaints 
on  the  plunder  of  Dutch  vessels  by 
English  pirates,  iii,  177 — 184.  And 
also  on  alleged  secret  negotiations  of 
France  and  England  with  Spain,  377 
—379.  465—  437.  594—598.  Called 
over  the  coals  by  Burghley,  463,  464. 
Coveting  and  obtaining  the  title  of 
ambassador,  iv,  221,  222.  Anger  of 
the  Spanish  ambassador  thereat,  222. 
His  colloquy  with  King  James  on 
the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  223 
note.  On  the  English  dislike  of 
peace  with  Spain,  223,  224.  See  ii, 
125.  iii,  486.  496,  497. 

CASTEL,  see  Chastel. 

CASTILE, Philip's  revenue  from,  iii,  520. 

CASTILLO,  commander  of  Hulst,  be 
headed,  iii,  115. 

CATEAU  CAMBRESIS,  treaty  of,  its  pro 
visions  and  character,  iii,  500.  542. 

CATELET,  Le,  siege  and  reduction  of, 
iii,  324.  825.  327. 

CATHERINE  de  Medici,  queen  mother, 


of  France,  i,  19.  Her  systematic  de 
moralization  of  her  children  and 
Machiavellian  plottings,  44.  Tactics 
of  Guise  towards  her,  45.  Her  son 
murder  proposal,  48.  Her  treatmem 
of  the  envoys  from  the  States-Gene 
ral,  56.  58.  Misapprehension  of  her 
character  by  the  Provinces  and  Eng 
land,  66.  Project  of  marriage  be 
tween  her  and  Philip  II,  69.  Her 
sine  qua  non  relative  to  the  Pro 
vinces,  71.  How  her  diplomacy  might 
have  been  neutralized,  80.  Presen 
tation  of  the  Dutch  envoys  to  her, 

96.  Her  tearful  parting  with  them, 

97.  Rebuking  the  Spanish  ambassa 
dor:   her  real  object  in  coquetting 
with  the  envoys,  100.  105.   Her  pre 
tensions  to  the  crown  of  Portugal, 
and  own  account  of  her  talk  with 
Mendoza  thereon,  101—104.     What 
Philip  thought  of  her  proposed  in 
vasion  of  England,  107.     Ground  of 
her  claim  upon  Cambray,  136.  Sub 
ject   for  her  bitter  lament,  ii,  340. 
Consulting  her  talisman  :  her  per 
plexity,  426, 427.   Opposite  causes  of 
her  reproaches  to  her  son,  430.  559. 
Her  end,  559.     See  i,  118.  123.  131. 

CATHERINE  of  Navarre's  cook,  iii,  306. 
Gift  sent  to  her  by  the  States,  482. 

CATHOLICS,  see  Roman  Catholics. 

CATHDLLE,  Lewis  van  der,  silencing  a 
vain-glorious  challenger,  iii,  108. 

CATRICI,  or  Catrice,  Italian  colonel, 
killed,  iv,  74,  188. 

CAUDEBEC,  iii,  136.  Besieged  and  cap. 
tured  by  Parma,  147—149. 

CAUX,  the  land  of,  iii,  149. 

CAVENDISH,  Richard,  onthewealth  and 
naval  strength  of  Holland,  i,  388.  On 
the  pitiable  state  of  the  English 
troops  there,  393  note.  His  estimate 
of  Leicester's  services  in  the  State? 
452.  Exulting  over  the  reconcilia 
tion  of  Elizabeth  and  Leicester,  466. 
His  congratulatory  letter  to  Burgh- 
ley,  467  note.  On  the  effect  of  the 
Anglo-Spanish  intrigues,  522  note. 
His  opinions  as  to  the  queen's  as 
sumption  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States,  ii,  62  note,  89.  What  he  re 
garded  as  the  enemy's  sheet  anchor, 
65  note.  On  the  need  for  financial  re 
form  in  the  States,  70  note.  On  Eliza 
beth's  popularity  there,  73  note.  89. 
His  suspicion  of  Buys,76  note.  See  522, 

CECIL,  Edward,  contributing  to  the  de 
cisive  action  at  Nieuport.  iv,  30,  39. 

CECIL,  Sir  Robert,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Salisbury,  his  personal  appearance, 


CECIL. 


INDEX. 


CLARA. 


581 


&c. :  Elizabeth's  nickname  for  him,  ii, 
359.  Replying  diplomatically  to  a  di 
plomatist;  what  he  prayed  for,  361. 
His  report  of  the  state  of  Ostend,  363. 
Amenities  of  his  journey  to  Ghent, 
364—366.  Attributes  of  which  he 
deemed  peace  to  be  the  mother,  367. 
On  to  Antwerp  :  refreshing  sights  by 
the  way,  370.  What  he  heard  at  his 
Antwerp  host's  table.  371.  His  recep 
tion  at  Bergen-op-Zoom  and  Brielle  : 
his  impressions  of  Prince  Maurice, 
372,  37<5.  On  the  exchange  of  civilities 
between  Parma  and  the  English  com 
missioners,  385.  On  the  French  king's 
neglect  of  Rouen,  iii,  136  note.  Prime 
minister  of  England,  iv,  139.  His 
supremacy  in  the  government,  143, 
144.  Unbribeable :  his  wealth  and  in 
fluence,  145.  His  views  relative  to 
Spain  and  the  States,  157.  Master 
spirit  of  the  Spanish  party,  167.  His 
conferences  with  Barneveldt  and  De 
Rosny,  170 — 172.  Lectured  by  his 
king,  177.  See  iii,  183.  479.  481.  483. 
496.  497.  iv,  47,  169. 174.  200,  221.  283. 

CECIL,  Sir  Thomas,  Dutch  governorship 
conferred  on,  i,  353.  Inference  drawn 
from  his  departure  on  sick  leave,  449. 
Volunteer  at  Doesburg,  ii,  43.  Not  in 
favour  with  Leicester,  87.  See  ii,  372. 

CECILS,  the,  their  policy  towards  able 
men,  i,  358. 

CERRALBO,  Marquis  of,  sent  to  supersede 
Parma,  iii,  218—220.  Superseded  him 
self,  221. 

CEYLON,  Dutch  relations  with,  iv,  108. 
243. 

CHALIGNY,  Count,  at  the  siege  of  Rouen, 
iii.  138.  139.  Beaten,  captured,  and 
freed  by  the  king's  fool,  143,  144. 

CHALONS  parliament  decrees,  burnings 
of  and  by,  iii,  231. 

CHAMPAGNY,  avenging  himself  upon  the 
patriots:  his  character,  i,  21.  More 
active  than  ever,  22.  His  reward,  23. 
Appointed  governor  of  Antwerp,  260. 
Result  of  his  "  rhetoric  and  clever 
management,"  261.  Giving  out  myste 
rious  and  mischievous  hints,  449.  450. 
452.  Characterizing  the  English  court, 
473.  Intrigue  directed  by  him,  491. 
How  Madame  de  Bours  jilted  him,  ii, 
180.  Making  merry  thereafter,  299. 
"  Chopping  in  "  at  the  conference  with 
the  English  envoys,  390,  391.  396. 
His  recipe  for  resuscitating  Antwerp, 
iii,  23.  On  the  "  consummate  wisdom  " 
of  the  "  rebels,"  and  the  peculiar  pro 
vince  of  heresy,  24.  26.  Afraid  of  his 


head  :  used  as  a  tool  against  Farnese, 
222.  His  calumnies  against  Farnese, 
225  note.  See  i,  480.  495.  506.  517.  ii, 
297.  305.  359.  360.  397. 

CHAMPEKNOUN,  captain,  reporting  on 
the  result  of  Leicester's  resignation, 
ii,  411.  412. 

CHARLEMAGNE,  his  scheme  of  universal 
empire  why  a  failure,  iii,  383. 

CHARLES  of  Sweden,  iv,  277. 

CHARLES  V.  of  Spain,  ii,  225.  His  sal* 
of  the  Spice  islands,  iv,  246. 

CHARLES  IX.  of  France,  i.  42.  Argu 
ments  by  which  he  made  Henry  of 
Navarre  a  catholic,  47.  See  i.  359. 

CHARLES  X,  see  Bourbon. 

CHARTRES,  ceremony  over  the  holy 
bottle  at,  iii,  243,  244. 

CHASTEL,  or  Castel,  John,  his  attempt 
on  the  life  of  Henry  IV,  iii.  317.  De 
molition  of  the  memorial  of  his  in 
famy,  iv.  221. 

CHATILLON,  grandson  of  Coligny,  at 
Nieuport,  iv,  30.  His  command  at 
Ostend,  64.  Killed,  74. 

CHICOT,  king's  jester,  taking  a  noble 
prisoner :  his  death  of  his  wounds,  iii, 
143,  144. 

CHIMAY,  Prince  of,  afterwards  duke  of 
Arschot,  event  due  to  his  adroitness, 
i,  21.  Sent  to  retake  Bonn,  ii,  421. 
His  success,  549.  Accommodates  him 
self  to  a  new  state  of  things,  iii,  323. 
Evil  elements  in  his  character,  360. 
See  i,  258.  iii,  353. 

CHIMAY,  princess,  revenging  herself 
upon  an  indiscreet  Bcandal-monger, 
ii,  143—145. 

CHINCHON,  Count  of,  cause  of  his  dis 
grace,  iv,  354. 

CHIVALRY  in  Spain,  iv,  340. 

CHRISTIAN  III  of  Denmark,  see  Den 
mark. 

CLARA  Isabella,  infanta  of  Spain,  dsfugh- 
ter  of  Philip  II,  called  in  conjunction 
with  her  husband  "  the  archdukes." 
Marriage  proposals  and  collateral  pro 
jects  relating  to  her,  iii,  128.  191.  199. 
202.  233.  237.  278.  304,  305.  307.  312. 
416,  417.  473.  Alleged  desire  of  her 
father  to  marry  her  himself,  193. 
Her  claims  to  the  thrones  of  France 
and  England,  192.  195. 198. 491.  Mar 
ried  to  the  cardinal  archduke  Albert, 
501 — 503.  Her  father's  dying  injunc 
tions  regarding  her,  and  gift  to  and 
parting  with  her,  507,  508.  510.  Her 
personal  appearance,  character,  en 
dowments,  &c.,  588.  Absurd  rumour, 
593.  At  Nieuport,  iv,  12.  Her  harangue 


582 


CLAUDE. 


INDEX. 


CROFT. 


to  the  troops,  13.  Triumph  promised 
to  her,  22.  The  picture  reversed,  42 
At  Ostend :  her  artillery  labours,  72 
Again  indulging  in  anticipations  ot 
victory,  84.  Protestations  and  pil- 
grimagas,  182,  183.  The  triumph 
achieved,  215.  Her  emotions  thereat 
216.  A  fling  at  her  from  the  muti 
neers,  251.  See  iv,  435.  519. 

CLAUDE  Mathieu  the  Jesuit,  iii,  127. 130 

CLEMENT  VIII,  Pope,  his  dread  of  Philij 
of  Spain :  threats  of  the  latter  against 
him,  iii,  195.  230.  Refusing  to  grant 
and  ultimately  granting  absolution  to 
Henry  IV,  241,  242.  345,  346.  A 
tempting  prospect,  458.  His  assur 
ances  to  Henry,  461.  Arranging  terms 
of  peace  between  Spain  and  Prance, 
499, 500.  Comforting  the  dying  Philip 
with  relics,  506.  See  iv,  59. 

CLEMENT,  Jacques,  Henry  of  Valois 
murdered  by,  ii,  560.  Political  results 
of  the  crime,  iii,  1.  194. 

CLERK,  Dr.  Bartholomew,  punned  on  by 
Sidney  and  summed  up  by  Leicester,  i, 
399.  Measuring  himself  with  the  "big 
fellows,"  411.  Praying  to  be  recalled, 
ii,  89.  Confiding  a  secret  to  the  wrong 
man,  236.  246.  See  i,  446,  447. 

CLEVES,  the  mad  duke  of,  Spanish  de 
signs  relative  to  his  territories,  iii, 
454.  582.  iv.  176.  Supposed  foul  death 
of  his  duchess,  iii,  454. 

CLIFFORD,  Sir  Conyers,  reinforcements 
promised  by,  iii,  267. 

CLOTH  trade  disputes  between  England 
and  Holland,  iv,  433,  434. 

CLOVE  islands,  the  only  five,  iv,  245. 
Sanguinary  fights  for  their  possession, 
245,  246. 

COBHAM,  Lord,  parleying  on  behalf  of  the 
queen  with  Spanish  agents,  493.  495. 
507.  511.  512.  513.  On  the  Embassy  to 
Farnese,  ii,  358—361.  See  i,  514. 515. 
517.  518.  521.  524.  ii,  299.  iii,  399. 

COEWORDEN,  or  Koeworden,  iii,  5.  Its 
importance  in  a  military  point  of 
view,  physical  features,  &c.,  161,  162. 
Besieged  by  Maurice :  confidence  of 
the  Spaniards,  162,  163.  Progress  of 
the  work  and  triumph  of  the  Dutch 
men,  164.  166—169.  Abortive  efforts 
of  the  Spaniards  to  retake  it,  266.  269. 
iv,  234,  235. 

COLIGNY,  Louisa  de,  see  Louisa. 

COLOSNE,  effects  of  party-warfare  in  the 
electorate  of,  i,  32,  ii,  2.  See  iv,  427. 

COLOGNE,  archbishops  of,  See  Ernest  of 
Bavaria  ;  Truchsess,  Gebhard. 

COLOMA,  don  Carlos,  soldier  and  histo 


rian,  iii,  148.  On  the  loss  of  life  at  the 
siege  of  Steenwyck,  158  note.  160  note. 
Sent  to  seize  de  Gomeron,  325.     His 
services  at  Dourlens,  332. 
CONTARINI  on   the   habits  of  English 
nobles  temp.  James  I,  iii,  171  note.   On 
the  cavalry  of  the  Dutch  republic,  iv, 
562. 
CONTI,  Prince,  iii,  151. 

OONTRERAS,  settling  a  dispute  imparti 
ally,  iii,  332. 

CONWAY,  Sir  John,  on  the  prosperous 
condition  of  Holland,  i,  385.  On  the 
condition  of  the  English  troops  there, 
391.  Perturbed  by  a  visit  from  Parma's 
Secretary,  ii,  361,  362.  Insulted  by 
Croft,  386. 

CORBEIL  captured  by  Farnese,  iii,  86. 
Retaken  by  the  French,  90,  91. 

CORDES,  admiral  Simon  Ealthasar  de, 
his  voyage  of  discovery,  iii,  578.  Order 
of  knighthood  founded  by  him,  579. 
See  iv.  438. 

CORDOVA,  Gasparo  de,  adopting  a  course 
best  suited  to  his  interests,  iv,  352. 

CORNWALLIS,  Sir  Charles,  English  am 
bassador  in  Spain,  iv,  280.  His  report 
on  the  state  of  Spain,  ibid,  note.  On 
the  need  of  the  two  kings  for  each 
other's  help,  281.  Spanish  bribe  offered 
to  him,  282.  His  indignation,  ibid, 
note  1.  Hinting  how  the  States  should 
be  dealt  with,  ibid,  note  9.  On  the  ini 
quities  of  the  Spanish  court,  350,  351, 
notes.  Hisjeu-de-mot  on  the  proposed 
peace,  515  note. 

CORSE,  Alphonse,  deed  of  blood  volun 
teered  by,  ii,  427,  428.  558.  Warning 
Henry  IV  of  his  danger,  iii,  90. 

CORUNA  sacked  by  the  English  and 
Dutch,  iii,  555. 

COURTRAY,  munity  of  Spanish  troops  at, 
iii,  70.  72. 

COUTRAS,  victory  of  Henry  of  Navarre 
at,  ii,  315.  340,  341. 

Cox,  English  correspondent,  on  the  rela 
tions  between  Denmark  and  Holland, 
ii,  82  note. 

CRACOW  captured  by  Spinola,  iv,  239. 

CRAON,  Brittany,  lost  to  Henry  IV ;  con-  ] 
duct  of  the  English  troops,  iii,  151, 152. 

CRESCIA,  George,  Epirote  chief,  ii,  47 
note,  50.  Unhorsed  by  Willoughby,  51.  • 

CREVECCEUR    recovered    by    Maurice,    ; 
iii,  589,  iv,  1. 

CROFT,  Sir  James,  comptroller,  a  go-be 
tween  in  certain  underhand  negotia 
tions,  i,  480,  491.  No  match  for  the 
opposite  side,  509.  Confronted  with 
one  of  Parma's  agents,  515 — 518.  \ 


CROME. 


INDEX. 


DE  LOO. 


583 


Mischief  done  by  his  intermeddlings, 
520,  521.  His  inspirer  therein,  ii,  287. 
Taking  farce  for  reality,  298.  299.  His 
facility  for  getting  into  trouble :  de 
precating  his  queen's  anger,  386,  387. 
Completely  hoodwinked  by  the  Span 
iards,  398.  407.  Moved  almost  to  tears, 
403.  See  i,  493.  499.  500.  501.  524,  ii, 
360.  362. 

CKOME,  one  of  the  sixteen  tyrants  of 
Paris,  iii,  126.  131. 

CRUWEL,  Werner,  introducing  a  secret 
negotiator  to  the  Dutch  statesmen,  iv, 
301—303. 

OUBIERA,  Pedro,  his  miserable  end,  iv, 
230. 

DALE,  Robert,  ii,  141.     See  Otheman. 

DALE,  Dr.  Valentine,  English  commis 
sioner,  ii,  358.  His  scholastic  acquire 
ments,  359,  330.  Parma's  estimate  of 
him,  373.  380.  In  conference  with  the 
Spanish  commissioners,  389 — 392. 394, 
395.  397.  Exchanging  "  quintuplica- 
tions  "  with  them,  396.  Recommending 
a  rhetoric  of  another  style  than  his 
own,  398.  Where  more  and  where  less 
than  a  match  for  the  enemy,  398, 399. 
On  a  bootless  journey:  "  pangs  of  cho- 
lic  "  and  "  verses  out  of  Virgil,"  401 — 
403.  Catechising  Parma  concerning 
Allen's  book  against  the  queen,  403 — 
407.  See  ii,  362.  369.  374. 412. 441. 452. 

D'ALLAYIMES,  French  general,  i,  164. 

DANVILLIERS  castle,  Mondragon's  sin 
gular  escape  at,  iii,  342. 

D'AUBIGNE,  Agrippa,  Huguenot  officer 
of  Henry  IV,  discomfiting  of  an  intri 
guer,  i,  49.  69.  Occasion  of  Henry's 
design  against  his  life,  51.  Seeiv,  377. 

D'AviLA,  Don  Juan  Alvarez,  admiral  of 
the  Spanish  fleet  at  Gibraltar,  iv,  322. 
Holding  his  assailants  too  cheaply ,324. 
In  action  with  them,  325.  Killed,  326. 

DAVISON,  William,  sent  on  an  embassy  to 
the  States-General,  i,  85.  Adoption  of 
a  course  suggested  by  him,  86.  Diffi 
culties  put  upon  him  by  Burghley's  in 
structions,  88,  89.  On  the  feeling  of 
the  provinces  relative  to  the  French 
king's  offers,  91 .  Encouraging  instruc 
tions  sent  to  him  by  the  queen,  92.  On 
Treslong's  misconduct  and  imprison 
ment,  150.  On  Hohenlo's  self-re 
proaches  at  his  failure  at  Bois-le-Duc, 
179.  His  reports  concerning,  and  bear 
ing  towards  SainteAldegonde,  270. 271 
—274. 275.  Words  of  Elizabeth  carried 
back  to  the  States  by  him,  334.  An 
noyances  experienced  by  him:  value  of 


his  advice,  336,  337.  Prince  Maurice's 
eulogium  upon  him,  342.  His  services. 
pecuniarysacrifices,and  personal  vexa 
tions,  343—345.  353.  His  complaints 
against  the  Norrises,  354.  Value  of 
his  co-operation  to  Leicester,  399, 400. 
His  part  in  the  conferences  on  the  offer 
of  the  States  governorship  toLeicester, 
402—405.  Ticklish  mission  confided  to 
him  by  Leicester:  weather  hindrances 
to  his  progress,  409, 410.  416. 417.  419. 
Arrives  in  England :  his  preliminary 
call  on  Walsingham,  423.  Braving  the 
queen's  wrath  in  defence  of  Leicester, 
424—428.  Reporting  progress  to  Lei 
cester,  429. 431,  432.  Turned  upon  by 
Leicester:  insinuations  of  the  latter 
against  him,  440 — 443.  His  comments 
thereon,  443  notes.  Taking  the  earl's 
disfavour  grievously,  458.  Result  of 
his  faithful  obedience  to  royal  orders, 
ii,  195.  204,  205.  See  i,  338.  491. 

DE  BETHUNE,  see  Sully. 

DE  CASTRO,  Don  Alphonso,  his  attack 
on  and  repulse  at  Atchen,  Sumatra, 
iv,  419,  420.  Destruction  of  his  fleet 
by  the  Dutch,  420—422. 

DE  CASTRO,  Gonzales,  at  the  rescue  of 
the  Kowenstyn,  i,  217. 

DE  DIEU,  Daniel,  Netherlands  commis 
sioner,  in  conference  with  the  queen, 
ii,  439.  440.  Report  of  their  conversa 
tion,  442 — 444. 

DEEST,  Roelke  van,  Netherlands  officer; 
his  disfiguring  wounds,  i,  224. 

DE  GOMERON,  his  treachery  and  fate,  iii, 
324—326. 

DE  GORDAN,  or  Gourdon,  ii,  488.  See 
Gourdon. 

DE  GRIYSE,  or  de  Gryze,  Jacques,  Dutch 
envoy  in  England,  how  characterised 
by  Paul  Buys,  i,  77.  289.  Mission  on 
which  he  accompanied  Ortel  to  Eng 
land,  and  transactions  in  which  he 
took  part,  289.  292—295.  Letters 
carried  home  by  him,  295,  296. 

DE  LA  NOUE,  see  La  Noue. 

DE  LA  RIVIERE,  physician  to  Henry  IV, 
his  main  occupation,  iii,  295. 

DELFT,  "  another  London  almost,"  i,  375. 
Its  attitude  on  the  question  of  a  truce 
with  Spain,  iv,  504.  513. 

DELFZYL,  iii,  100.  Captured  by  Maurice, 
111. 

DEL  MONTE,  Camillo  Bourbon,  fort  on 
the  Kowenstyn  commanded  by,  i,  206. 
In  action  against  the  patriots,  213. 219. 

DE  Loo,  Andrea,  secret  agent  in  Eng 
land  for  Spain,  i,  491.  494.  Example 
of  his  regard  for  conscientiousness, 


584 


DE  MAISSE. 


INDEX. 


DIEPPE. 


495,  496.  Reporting  the  results  of  hi 
intrigues  498—500.  ii,  290.  293  note 
294,  295.  Much  depressed :  in  spirits 
again,  ii,  296.  Credulous  himself,  and 
inoculating  English  statesmen  with 
his  credulity,  297,  298.  301.  See  i,516 
519.  521.  522. 

DE  MAISSE,  Hurault,  envoy  from  Henry 
IV  to  Elizabeth,  iii,  467.  His  confer 
ence  with  her,  468—471.  Difference 

•  between  his  report  and  hers,  481 
482. 

DE  MASIERES,  governor  of  Gertruyden 
berg,  killed,  iii,  262. 

DE  MEXIA,  Ardres  besieged  and  cap 
tured  by,  iii,  393. 

DEMOCRACY,  tendency  of  mankind  to 
wards,  iii,  513. 

DE  MORLA.NS,  envoy  from  Henry  IV 
iii,  254.  Results  of  his  eloquence,  31C 
-312. 

DENDERMONDE,  treachery   of  the 
vernor  of,  i,  21.  Capitulated,  139.   ', 
136.  138. 

DENMARK,sovereignty  of  Holland  offered 
to  the  king  of,  ii,  81,  82.  Surmised 
effect  of  Indian  gold,  248.  His  offer 
of  mediation  to  Philip,  and  advice  o1 
Parma  thereon,  303,  304.  Sending 
envoys  to  the  States,  iv,  389.  459. 489 
494.  See  ii,  447.  500.  iv,  138. 

DERBY,  Henry  Stanley,  Earl  of,  taking 
farce  for  reality,  ii,  299.  One  in  an 
embassy  to  Parma,  358.  No  match  for 
the  latter  and  his  agents,  360.  His 
spirited  reply  to  a  threat  of  invasion 
395.  See  ii,  385.  393.  452.  iv,  160. 

DE  RONSOY,  Count,  slain,  iii,  334. 

DE  ROSNES,  see  Rosnes. 

DE  ROSNY,  see  Sully. 

DE  RUSSY,  French  envoy  at  the  Hague, 
iv,  368. 

DE  SANCY,  French  minister,  on  the 
shilly-shallying  of  England,  iii,  314, 
315  note.  His  arrival  in  England,  372. 
397.  His  interviews  with  Elizabeth  and 
Burghley,  and  dignified  rebuke  to  the 
'atter,  398,  399. 

DBS  PRUNE  AUX,  French  envoy  to  the 
States-General,  i,  56.  His  extravagant 
professions  relative  to  the  cavalier 
treatment  of  the  Dutch  agents,  57.  His 
character,  58.  Result  of  his  eloquence 
upon  the  deliberations  of  the  States- 
General,  60,  61.  63,  64.  Compliment 
ary  gift  to  him,  64.  Rebuking  both 
his  own  court  and  the  States-General 
for  neglected  promises,  94.  95.  His 
pronunciation  on  the  articles  of  an 
nexation,  96.  His  emotions  and  pro 


verb  utterances  on  parting  with  the 
Dutch  envoys,  97. 

DE  VARENNE,  sent  by  Henry  IV  toSpain: 
alleged  object  of  his  mission,  iii,  304. 
His  real  name  and  degrading  antece 
dents,  ^05,  306.  306  note.  Opposite 
views  as  to  his  errand :  CalvaerVs  re 
port,  307,  308.  Mendoza's  reply  to  a 
request  of  his,  309.  His  own  report  of 
his  Spanish  mission,  and  subsequent 
mission  to  Elizabeth,  309  note. 

DE  VEER,  Gerrit,  diarist  of  the  Arctic 
expedition,  on  the  egg- tree  tradition, 
iii,  562,  563.  On  the  vicissitudes  of 
the  voyage,  564.  566.  569.  573,  574. 

DE  VEGA,  Parma's  life  saved  by,  i,  195. 

DEVENTER,  Leicester's  protege,  see  Pro- 
ninck. 

DEVENTER,  the  historian,  value  of 
work  of,  iii,  306  note. 

DEVENTER,  city  of,  its  importance:  seized 
by  the  English,  ii,  153,  154.  Conse 
quences  of  Stanley's  appointment  to  its 
governorship,  155 — 161.  Treacherous 
surrender  of  the  city  to  the  Spaniards, 
169 — 172.  Conditions  imposed  on  the 
citizens,  173.  Fate  of  the  chief  traitors, 
177,  178.  Results  of  the  treason,  181. 
186.  206.  210.  Invested  by  Maurice, 
and  recaptured  for  the  States,  iii,  105 — • 
110.  Again  taken  by  the  Spaniards, 
iv,  234.  See  iii,  73,  102.  iv,  241.  261. 

DE  VICH,  a  good  soldier,  but  only  half 
a  man,  iii,  348,  349. 

DE  VIDOSAN,  responsible  post  inherited 
by,  iii,  367.  Evidences  of  his  incom- 
petency,  367,  368.  His  fatal  mistake, 
373.  Killed,  374. 

DE  VILLARS,  admiral  of  France, boasting 
of  his  successes  at  Rouen,  iii,  142, 143. 
Beseeching  help,  145.  Goes  over  to 
Henry  IV,  331.  Terms  of  the  bargain, 
ibid  note.  His  equipment  and  fate  at 
the  siege  of  Dourlens,  331, 332.  Short 
sightedness  of  his  murderer  :  censure 
passed  on  him,  333.  See  233. 

DEXTER,  Ralph,  English  engineer  at  Os- 
tend,  iv,  191. 

D'HDMIERES,  killed  at  Ham,  iii,  325. 
Grief  of  the  king,  326. 

DIALYN,  Paul,  Polish  envoy,  his  oration 
to  and  reception  by  the  States-General, 
iii,  448,  449.  Thence  to  England: 
how  set  down  by  Elizabeth,  450,  451. 

DIEGO  DE  YEPES,  Philip's  confessor,  an 
nounces  his  master's  approaching  end 
and  receives  his  confession,  iii,  504, 
505.  509,  510. 

DIEPPE,  gallant  victory  of  the  English 
at,  iii,  122  note.  See  135.  147. 148. 47a 


DIGGES. 


INDEX. 


DUTCH. 


585 


DIGGES,  muster-master  of  the  English 
forces  in  Holland,  on  the  state  of  his 
men,  i,  392,  393.  ii,  62  note. 

DIGIUERES,  Marshal  des,  iii,  121. 

DIJON,  siege  and  surrender  of,  iii,  345. 

DINANT,  Count  de,  slain,  iii,  334. 

D'lNCHY,  Gavre,  surrender  of  Cambray 
by,  iii,  347.  Exhumation  and  treat 
ment  of  his  remains,  351. 

DIPLOMACY  of  the  Elizabethan  epoch, 
its  character,  i,  286. 

DIRKZOON,  Adrian,  admiral  of  the  Dun 
kirk  pirate  fleet,  captured,  iv,  251. 

DISTRUST  the  only  citadel  against 
tyrants,  ii,  301. 

DOES,  see  Van  der  Does. 

DOESBURG,  attacked  by  Leicester,  ii,  23. 
Captured  and  partly  sacked,  41 — 44. 

DOMBES,  Prince  of,  iii,  121.  Raises  the 
sieges  of  Lamballe  andCraon,  124, 151. 

DONATO,  Antonio,  on  the  excellence  of 
the  English  infantry,  iv,  562  note.  On 
woman's  position  in  Holland,  567. 

DORIA,  John  Andrew,  his  scheme  against 
Marseilles,  iii,  366. 

DORIA,  Prince,  his  threat  against  Moreo, 
iii,  206.  • 

DORP,  Colonel,  "  would  sing  his  song 
whose  bread  he  has  eaten,"  ii,  410. 
His  fitness  for  his  post  at  Ostend,  iv, 
93.  At  a  burning  fort,  119.  Finding 
the  impossible  true,  120.  Broken  in 
health,  126.  Laying  about  with  his 
broad  sword,  211.  Wounded  to  the 
death,  212.  See  iv,  116. 

D'ORVILLE,  his  share  in  the  traffickings 
for  surrendering  Ham  and  result 
thereof,  iii.  324—326. 

D'OssAT  and  Perron,  their  succesful  mis 
sion  to  Rome,  iii,  345. 

DOURLENS,  its  site  and  surroundings,  iii, 
323.  Besieged  by  i^uentes,  327.  In 
cidents  during,  and  bloody  end  to  the 
siege,  331—334. 

DOUSAS,  the,  father  and  son,  their  emi 
nence  in  learning,  iv,  567. 

DOVER,  interview  between  Elizabeth  and 
de  Bethune  at,  iv,  151 — 153. 

DRAKE,  Sir  Francis,  i,  362.  Revelation 
begun  by  his  famous  expedition,  387. 
Inaugurating  his  career  of  victory,  494. 
Effect  of  his  successes  ;  "  a  fearful  man 
to  Spain,"  502,  503.  Complexion  put 
upon  his  exploits  at  home,  507.  Ef 
fect  of  home  intrigues  upon  the  eclat 
thereof,  522.  A  description  of  him  ; 
his  parental  mansion,  ii,  100.  Golden 
results  of  his  "furrow  round  the 
earth,"  101.  Two-faced  policy  of  the 
Queen  towards  him  ;  issue  of  his  next 


voyage,  102.  His  visit  to  the  Nether 
lands  and  its  upshot,  103.  Sailing  for 
Spain :  scattering  and  capturing  ships 
and  treasure,  281 — 285.  Repudiated  by 
his  queen,  285  notes.  309.  His  equip 
ment  at  and  participation  in  the  fight 
with  the  Armada,  455.  474.  475.  His 
ship  "  the  Revenge "  and  her  equip 
ment,  455.  Surrender  of  a  Spanish  ad 
miral  to  him,  476,  477.  His  delight  at 
the  flight  of  the  Armada,  504, 505.  508. 
Foul-mouthedaccusationsofFrobisher 
against  him,  525  and  note.  His  part  in 
the  Anglo-Dutch  expedition  to  Spain, 
554,  555.  Dead,  iii,  381.  See  i,  449. 
455.  ii,  18.  142.  294.  450.  474.  479.481. 
483.  485.  487.  496.  501.  503.  520. 

DRAYTON,  Alice,  an  alleged  victim  of 
Leicester's,  i,  368. 

DREBBEL,  Cornelius,  the  wonder-man  of 
Alkmaar,  iv,  570. 

DREUX,  abandonment  of  the  siege  of,  iii, 
50.  Its  successful  renewal,  235. 

DRURY,  Sir  Robert,  saving  Sir  Francis 
Vere,  iv,  38. 

Du  BAN,  captain,  put  to  death,  ii,  25. 

Du  Bois,  Warner,  defending  the  Waal, 
iv,  261,  262. 

DUDLEY,  John,  his  service  to  one  king 
and  reward  from  another,  i,  366. 

DUDLEY,  Thomas,  contradicting  a  report 
prejudicial toLeicester,  i,  419.  ibid,note. 

Du  FOUR,  Pierre,  hired  assassin,  tricked 
by  religious  mummeries ;  his  fate,  ii, 
299,  300. 

DUIVERNWOORD,  Admiral,  iii,  389.  See 
Warmond. 

Du  MAURIER,  Chevalier,  anecdote  re 
lated  by,  iii,  171  note. 

DUNKIRK,  a  nest  of  pirates,  iii,  374.  Re 
sult  of  their  doings  on  the  commerce 
of  the  Netherlands,  iv,  2.  Resolve  of 
the  States  with  regard  to  the  place,  3. 
Result  of  their  efforts,  59.  A  question 
as  to  the  legality  of  the  pirates'  pro 
ceedings,  252.  See  iv.  230. 

DupLsssis-MoRNAY,  on  the  holy  league, 
i,  5.  Manifesto  against  it  drawn  up  by 
him,  123.  His  estimate  of  and  bearing 
towards  Sainte  Aldegonde,  283,  284. 
Mourning  over  his  country,  ii,  341, 342. 
On  the  conduct  of  Elizabeth  toHolland, 
409.  His  wail  over  Henry  the  Fourth's 
conversion  to  Romanism,  iii,  252  note. 
On  Henry's  proposal  for  the  Infanta's 
hand,  304.  See  iii,  45. 187. 377. 391, 392. 

DURANGO,  marshal  of  the  archduke's 
camp,  slain,  iv,  91. 

DUTCH  East  India  Company,  iii,  577. 
Occasion  of  its  foundation  and  terms 


586 


DUTCH. 


INDEX. 


ELIZABETH. 


of  its  charter,  iv,  132—135.  Its  third 
fleet,  244.  English  opposition  to  its 
monopolies,  2  ±7,  248.  Result  of  its 
victory  at  Tydor,  249,  250.  See  iv, 
380.  444,  445. 

DUTCH,  West  India  Company's  charter, 
its  conditions,  &c.  iv,  298—300.  388. 

Du  TERRAIL,  his  attack  on  and  repulse 
at  Bergen-op-Zoom,  iv,  250, 251.  Cause 
of  his  animosity  to  the  States,  251. 
Result  of  his  attempt  upon  Sluys,  257, 
258. 

EAST  India  Companies,  iii,  577.  See 
Dutch  East  India  Company. 

FDICTS:  of  Nemours,  i,  131.  Of  Nantes, 
iii,  500. 

EDMONDES,  English  envoy,  iii,  242  note. 
On  La  Varenne's  mission  to  Spain,  309 
note.  What  the  States  thought  and 
the  queen  said  on  his  reception  in  the 
Netherlands,  595,  596. 

EGMONT,  Lamoral,  Count,  cruelty  of  his 
execution,  i,  355.  An  ungrateful  agent 
in  the  crime,  ii,  68.  See  iii,  29.  71. 
203.  318.  361,  362. 

EGMO IN  T,  Count  Philip,  son  of  the  above, 
sacrificing  dignity  for  the  sake  of  li 
berty,  i,  232.  A  foremost  man  in  the 
Spanish  army,  iii,  29.  Boasting  at 
Ivry,  53.  His  successful  first  and  fatal 
second  charge,  54,  55.  See  i.  258. 

ELIZABETH,  Queen :  Frustration  of  her 
intended  assassination,  i,  2.  Warnings 
sent  to  her  from  the  continent,  3.  Her 
advice  to  the  provinces  relative  to 
Anjou,  11.  30.  Her  harsh  treatment  of 
sectaries,  and  comparative  tolerance 
towards  papists,  25,  26.  Her  alleged 
ground  for  putting  papists  to  death, 
27.  Her  refusal  to  recognize  Mary 
Stuart  as  her  successor,  28.  How  re 
garded  by  the  prince  of  Orange :  her 
conduct  towards  the  Dutch  provinces,  | 
29,  30.  French  caricatures  upon  her, 
42.  Causes  of  timidity  in  her  councils 
relative  to  Spain  and  the  Netherlands: 
course  favoured  by  her,  65.  66.  Device 
to  set  France  and  Spain  by  the  ears 
alleged  against  her,  70.  Her  position 
in  the  esteem  of  Dutch  statesmen,  72, 
73.  Idea  to  which  she  still  clung,  81. 
86.  Her  tantalizing  course  towards  the 
Provinces,  82.  Deliberations  and  ulti 
mate  resolve  of  her  council,  82 — 84. 
Her  perplexities  relative  to  the  nature 
of  the  French  king's  offers  to  the  pro 
vinces,  86.  Real  object  contemplated 
by  her  government  as  between  tbePro- 
vinces  and  the  French  king,  87.  Over- 


subtlety  of  her  lord-treasurer,  87,  88. 
Walsingham's  comment  on  the  impo 
licy  of  her  proceedings,  89.  Instructing 
Davison  to  encourage  theDutch  people 
to  rely  upon  her,  92.  Their  appeal 
through  him  to  her,  93.  Her  true  in 
tentions  towards  the  Netherlanders, 
106.  107.  Eloquence  of  a  Spanish  am 
bassador  upon  her  "abominations," 
124.  Her  persecution  of  her  catholic 
subjects,  its  causes  and  its  conse 
quences,  127, 128.  Compliment  paid  to 
her  by  Sixtus  V,  133.  Result  of  her  in 
tercession  for  Treslong,  150.  Her  en 
couraging  assurances  to  the  Antwerp- 
ers,  231.  Mutual  distrust  between 
herself  and  Sainte  Aldegonde,  264. 265. 
266.  271.  Anxiety  of  the  latter  to  set 
himself  right  with  her,  280, 281 .  Shape 
determined  to  be  given  by  her  to  her 
alliance  with  the  Hollanders :  her  di- 
plomatic  coquettings,  286 — 288.  Con 
ferences  of  her  ministers  and  herself 
with  the  Dutch  envoys,  290—295. 297. 
Ill  effects  of  her  holding  her  hand  at  a 
critical  moment,  299.  Chaffering  atti 
tude  taken  up  both  by  herself  and  the 
Dutch  States:  the  bone  of  contention, 
299 — 301.  Financial  reasons  forcaution 
on  the  part  of  her  advisers,  303.  What 
she  wanted  from  Holland,  304.  Affec 
tion  of  the  Pope  and  Philip  of  Spain 
towards  her,  305.  What  in  her  appre 
hensions  Mary  Stuart  embodied,  306. 
Her  personal  appearance,  costume,  and 
linguistic  acquirements,  317,  318.  Her 
conferences  with  and  replies  to  a  new 
Dutch  deputation:  ultimatum  insisted 
on  by  her,  320,  321.  323.  325.  326— 
329.  329—331.  Her  attitude  on  learn 
ing  of  the  fall  of  Antwerp,  332.  Her 
encouraging  letters  to  the  States,  333. 
334.  Still  in  a  chaffering  humour,  335. : 
Motive  from  which  her  parsimony 
sprang,  33  8.  A  truth  thoroughly  com 
prehended  by  her,  338.  Becoming 
furious:  upbraiding  the  Dutch  envoys: 
terms  at  length  agreed  on  339 — 341. 
Frank  submission  of  Prince  Maurice  to^ 
the  conditions  required  by  her,  341 — $ 
343.  Perplexing  effect  of  her  caprices, 
345.  352.  Her  conduct  towards  Leices 
ter  in  money  matters,  346 — 351.  Her 
manifesto  on  espousing  the  Dutch 
cause,  and  charges  againstSpain  there 
in,  354—357.  Her  animus  towards  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  358.  360.  Appointment 
she  ultimately  gave  him,  362.  HeT 
unwavering  affection  for  Leicester,  370. 
Why  she  made  common  cause  with 


ELIZABETH. 


INDEX. 


ELIZABETH. 


587 


Holland,  374.  "  Protectress  "  or  pro 
tected?  383..  Affection  of  the  Hollan 
ders  for  her,  389.  Condition  of  her 
troops  in  Holland  :  their  composition 
and  antecedents,  391—394.  441.  448 
note.  Her  weakness  and  her  strength, 
408.  Her  emotions  on  learning  Leices 
ter's  aggrandisement  by  the  Hollan 
ders,  412.417.  Incitements  to  her  jeal 
ousy,  418.  Her  angry  manifestoes  to 
the  earl  and  to  the  States,  419—423. 
Her  reception  of  Davison's  pleadings 
on  behalf  of  the  earl,  424—438.  Her 
dialogues  with  Shirley  on  same  sub 
ject,  433 — 436.  Effect  of  her  penny- 
wise  economy  :  her  reprimand  read  to 
the  States'  council,  446, 447.  Suspected 
of  plotting  for  peace  :  Champagny's 
hints,  448,  449.  Vavasour's  advice  to 
her  as  to  the  best  road  to  that  end, 
455.  Still  parsimonious:  disgusting 
her  lord  treasurer,  456.  Magic  effect 
of  a  letter  from  Leicester,  457 — 459. 
Her  comforting  letters  to  him  and  to 
the  States,  460—463.  Substance  of 
same  and  of  her  instructions  to  Hene- 
age  thereon,  461 — 464  notes.  Unhappy 
results  of  her  conduct  in  reference  to 
the  earl,  464.  Again  in  a  fury,  467. 
Her  duplicity  towards  Walsingham 
and  injustice  to  Heneage,  468—471. 
Again  gracious  to  Leicester,  478.  481. 
Sends  a  "  paper-plaister  "  to  Heneage, 
479.  "  Contented  with  him  and  his 
mission,"  484.  Explaining  her  "  mis 
take"  to  the  States,  493  note.  Juncture 
brought  about  by  her  tergiversation 
and  wayward  course,  486.  Her  indif 
ference  to  the  condition  of  her  troop? 
in  Holland,  488.  Trap  into  which  she 
fell :  her  bearing  towards  Walsing 
ham,  490—492,  Lord  Cobham's  pro 
mise  on  her  behalf,  493.  Her  "  both 
hard  and  soft  "  condition,  497.  Suspi 
cions  of  her  intentions  in  the  French 
quarter,  498.  Conditions  of  peace  with 
Spain  proposed  by  her:  their  character, 
499.  Her  views  as  represented  by  the 
Spanish  agent,  500.  Her  robes  not 
quite  unsullied,  501.  Her  secret  let 
ter  to  Parma,  509,  510.  Another,  in 
an  altered  tone,  518.  Consequences 
of  her  listening  to  Philip's  agents, 
521,  522.  What,  according  to  Parma, 
the  Lord  intended  for  her,  527. 
A  supplicant  to  her  for  alms,  ii,  3.  Still 
ungracious  towards  Sidney,  39.  Con 
siderations  touching  her  refusal  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  States,  61 — 65.  88 
— 90.  134.  141.  A  strange  mistake  of  j 


hers,  65  note.  Her  letter  to  Leicester 
commending  some  of  her  veterans  to 
him,  91,  92.  Her  double-facedness  in 
regard  to  Drake's  expedition,  102. 
Sum  of  her  policy  in  1587,  135.  281. 
Communicating  a  Dutch  victory  to  a 
Dutch  envoy,  146.  Still  deaf  to  the 
needs  of  her  troops  in  Holland,  183. 
185.  189.  239.  Consequences  of  her 
persecution  of  the  Catholics,  190. 
Orders  the  execution  of  Mary  Stuart, 
191.  Effect  of  her  self-willed  course 
upon  her  councillors,  192.  194,  195. 

211.  Her  reception  of  and  stormy  con 
ferences  with  an   embassy  from  the 
Netherlands,  196—200.  210.   Her  con 
tinued  parsimony  towards  Leicester, 

212.  213  note.   Contingent  required  of 
her  by  the  States  220.    Her  order  for 
the  seizure  of  Hohenlo,  235—237.  330. 
Occasion  of  her  anger  with  him,  241. 
Refusing  money   to  the   States  and 
rating  Buckhurst,  237—240.  243.  249. 
Amende  made  by  her  to  Buckhurst 
after  Leicester's  death,  280.     At  odds 
with  her  people  on  the  Spanish  quar 
rel,  281.  Repudiating  Drake's  dealings 
with  the  Spaniards,   285.   309.     Her 
secret  treating  with  Spain  :  effects  on 
the  States  of  their  knowledge  of  it, 
286 — 289.     Her  tyranny  in  religious 
matters ;  radical  difference  between 
her  persecutions  and  those  of  Philip, 
290, 291.  Her  contention  for  toleration 
to  the  Dutch,  202.     Sincere  towards, 
and  a  believer  in  the  sincerity  of  Par 
ma,  293,  294.  300—302.  310,  311.  329. 

346.  366.  384.     Negotiations  of  her 
agent  with  Parma,  295—299.    Parma 
at  fault  in  his  views  of  her  policy. 
305—307.     Effect  of  Leicester's  flat 
teries  and   solicitations  ;  relations  of 
the  two,  324,  325.  345.  349.  352.     Her 
scolding  letter  to  the  States  on  recall 
ing  Leicester,  342—344.   Condition  of 
her  home-returned  troops,  345.    Her 
silly  suggestion   relative  to  Ostend, 

347.  Sending  her  Peace  Commission 
ers  to  Parma :  their  names  and  char 
acters,  358—360.      Their  interviews 
with  him  and  his  agents,  367 — 369. 
373—382.  387—392.  394—397.    Find 
ing  fault  with  envoy   Rogers,    383. 
Misled  by  Spanish  dissimulations,  393. 
The  Pope's  bull  and  Allen's  pamphlet 
against  her,  399,  400. 403—436.  Envoy 
Dale  comforting  her  with  Virgil,  402. 
Scolding  Prince  Maurice,  and  getting 
a  reply  and  acting  on  it,   418 — 420. 
Noble  bearing  of  her  ambassador  in 


588 


ELIZABETH. 


INDEX. 


ENGLAND. 


Paris,  432.  Warned  of  the  real  in 
tention  of  Spain :  her  statesmen 
sharers  in  her  delusions,  433, 434.  437. 
Cutting  short  an  oration,  440.  Her 
interview  with  the  Dutch  envoys,  441 
— 444.  Awake  to  Spanish  falsehoods, 
446.  Her  visit  to  Tilbury  fort :  enthu 
siasm  on  the  occasion,  453.  512.  513. 
523.  Her  economic  grief  at  Leicester's 
death,  562. 

Her  representatives  in  the  States'  coun 
cils  and  their  bickerings,  iii,  31 — 33. 
Dealings,  exchanges  of  courtesies, 
counsels,  &c,  between  her  and  Henry 
IV,  48.  49.  88.  132.  134—136.  362— 
365.  372.  408.  418.  Her  emotions,  and 
letter  to  him,  on  his  conversion  to 
Romanism,  253,  254.  Congratulating 
Maurice  on  a  victory,  117.  Her  ad 
miration  for  him,  584.  Her  insulter 
challenged  by  Umton,  141  note.  Her 
mistaken  estimate  of  the  capture  of 
Coeworden,  169.  Homage  accorded  to 
her  by  her  statesmen,  171.  Raleigh's 
flatteries  to  her  in  her  sixtieth  year, 
ibid  note.  Occasional  value  of  her 
high-handed  method  of  treating  sub 
jects,  177.  Her  answers  to  the  States' 
complaints  of  withdrawal  of  her  troops 
and  piracy  by  her  subjects,  180 — 183. 
Her  characteristic  letter  to  "  Ned '' 
Norris,  268.  Her  estimate  of  Fuentes, 
282  note.  321.  Attempt  of  Lopez  to 
poison  her,  295,  296. 303.  Her  conduct 
in  reference  to  Henry's  solicitation  of 
aid  for  defence  of  Calais,  368—371. 397. 
Her  explanation-,  398.  See  460.  472. 
Her  protestations  relative  to  her  al 
leged  renewal  of  negotiations  with 
Spain,  377 —379.  Thanking  the  Dutch 
Admiral  Warmond,  381.  Text  of  her 
letter  to  him,  389.  Conferences  of  her 
statesmen  and  herself  with  the  French 
envoys,  and  alliance  consequent  there 
on,  398 — 405.  The  sham  and  the  real 
contract,  406.  Religious  ceremony  on 
the  ratification,  407, 408.  Her  reception 
of,  and  summary  dealing  with  a  Polish 
envoy,  450,  451.  Refusing  to  aid  in 
the  reduction  of  Amiens,  460.  In  an 
ill  humour  with  the  States,  463.  Her 
views  on  the  peace  question,  and  dis 
cussions  with  the  Dutch  and  French 
envoys  thereon.  464—472.  486—493. 
494—497.  590.  594.  595—598. 

ffer  manifestations  at  the  victory  of 
the  States  at  Nieuport,  iv,  47,  48.  49. 
Sending  troops  to  Ostend,  69.  Her 
last  hours  and  death,  136—138.  Her 
parsimony  contrasted  with  her  suc 


cessor's  prodigality,  140.  Her  ward 
robe,  ibid.  Her  anxietv  for  a  personal 
conference  with  the  French  king,  151. 
Her  interview  with  his  ambassador 
and  scheme  propounded  by  her,  151 — 
153.  Her  name  and  memory  banished 
from  Court,  160.  Her  recognition  of 
the  chief  bulwark  to  her  throne,  200. 
See  i.  119.  312.  ii,  11.  14.  55.  111.  113. 
138.  143.  202.  276.  iii,  98. 122. 123  note. 
312.  314.  iii,  166.  220.  562. 

ELMONT,  Governor  of  Bois-le-Duc,  flying 
to  its  rescue,  i.  176.  Pursuing  the 
plunderers,  177. 

EMILIA  of  Nassau  and  Emmanuel  of 
Portugal,  their  loves  and  their  mar 
riage,  iii,  455. 

ENGLAND,  her  position  among  the  States 
of  Europe  in  Elizabeth's  days,  i,  28, 29. 
53.  Dilatory  policy  towards  the  Dutch 
provinces,  80.  War  against  her  pro 
posed  by  the  French  king  to  Philip  II, 
107.  A  game  at  which  she  was  sure  to 
be  beaten  by  Spain  and  France,  108. 
Feeling  of  the  nation  relative  to  Sainte 
Aldegonde,  270.  Awaking  to  the  need 
of  helping  the  Netherlands,  285.  Con 
sequence  of  refusing  help  to  Antwerp 
at  a  critical  moment,  299.  Difficulty 
of  forming  an  idea  of  the  England  of 
Elizabeth's  days,  305.  Descriptions 
of  the  people  by  foreign  sojourn ers, 
307—310.  Importance  of  Holland  to 
England,  375.  Spanish  invasion  pre 
paring,  376.  Who  shall  reign  after 
Philip  has  conquered  ?  378—380.  Con 
stitutional  safeguards  against  tyranny: 
mercantile  spirit  of  the  age  and  its 
tendencies,  381,  382.  True  nature  of 
the  impending  contest  withSpain,  383. 
ii,  281.  What  might  have  resulted 
from  a  union  with  Holland,  ii,  61,  62. 
The  nation  losing  its  character  with 
the  Hollanders,  181.  Miserable  flight 
of  its  troops  in  Holland,  183.  Invasion 
of  the  country  proposed  by  the  Pope 
to  Philip,  311.  Philip's  plan  and  anti 
cipations,  312,  313.  315.  317.  319.  321. 
One  English  statesman  awake  to  the 
plot,  322,  323.  National  enthusiasm 
on  the  expectation  of  the  Armada, 
446.  Naval  preparations  for  its  recep 
tion,  447 — 450.  464.  Military  prepara 
tions,  in  figures  and  in  fact,  451,  452. 
513_519.  The  fight  with  the  Armada, 
[866  Armada.]  Chief  elements  in  the 
saving  of  the  nation,  527.  Result  of 
the  triumph  upon  our  relations  with 
Holland,  544.  Occasion  of  new  misun 
derstandings,  544—547.  553  Inter- 


ENTRAIGUES. 


INDEX. 


FESSERUS. 


589 


dependence  between  this  kingdom  and 
the  States,  iii,  170.  284.  496.  Cross- 
complaints  between  them  as  to  piracy, 
trading  with  the  enemy,  and  the  like, 
173—175. 181—184.  463.  New  Spanish 
project  for  invading  the  country,  293. 
The  experiment  made,  and  its  result, 
419 — 421.  Direction  in  which  this 
kingdom  was  taking  the  lead  among 
the  nations,  iv,  139.  Its  scant  revenue: 
relations  of  its  people  with  their  new 
king,  141.  142.  Recipients  among  its 
nobles  of  Spanish  gold,  144.  One  ex 
ception,  145.  Its  contempt  for  com 
plaints  of  the  depredations  of  its  cor 
sairs,  146, 147.  262.  The  French  king's 
personal  fear  of  them,  151.  Odd  col 
lision  between  its  ships  and  those  of 
France,  154.  Character  given  by 
Sully  to  its  people,  156.  Restrictions 
relative  to  the  Netherlands  laid  upon 
its  subjects,  220.  Popular  feeling  on 
the  Spanish  treaty  and  the  fall  of 
Sluys,  223,  224.  227, 228.  Cannonading 
a  Dutch  squadron,  230.  Commercial 
and  State  animosity  towards,  and 
schemes  against  the  Netherlands,  247, 
248.  278—281.  433  Eulogium  on  the 
nation'  s  soldiery  by  a  foreign  writer, 
562  note. 

ENTRAIGUES,  Mdlle,  Henry  the  Fourth's 
new  mistress,  iii,  591. 

EPERNON,  Duke  of,  chief  minion  of 
Henry  III  of  France,  his  lucky  escape, 
i,  40*  Learning  manners,  117.  A 
common  jest  regarding  him,  118.  His 
accusation  against  Villeroy,  ii,  339 
note.  See  ii,  424,  425.  558. 

ERNEST  of  Bavaria,  catholic  elector, 
archbishop  of  Liege  and  Cologne,  i, 
32  [not  Albert,  as  printed  in  the  text] 
ii,  2.  3.  In  difficulties :  his  visit  in 
disguise  to  Parma,  4,  26,  27.  His  re 
vengeful  demand,  30.  See  iv,  235. 

ERNEST,  Archduke,  a  possible  husband 
for  the  Infanta,  iii,  194.  233.  His  esti 
mate  of  and  relations  towards  Ma- 
yenne,  248,  249,  249  note.  His  disap 
pointed  ambition,  poverty,  &c,  278, 
279.  Pestered  by  office-seekers,  280. 
His  prejudice  against  the  Spaniards  : 
apropos  anecdote,  281.  His  capacity 
for  weeping,  and  incapacity  for  busi 
ness.  282,  283.  Pageant  on  his  entry 
upon  the  Netherlands-governorship, 
285 — 289.  His  compromise  with  the 
Spanish  mutineers,  292.  His  alleged 
complicity  in  plots  to  poison  Maurice, 
298.  300.  His  peace  propositions  to  the 
States,  301,  304,  His  death,  govern 


ment,  personal  peculiarities,  319, 
320. 

ERNEST  of  Nassau,  or  Ernest  Casimir,  at 
the  relief  of  Grol,  iii,  338.  Taken 
prisoner,  340.  Ransomed,  341.  His 
command  at  Nieuport,  iv,  8.  Receiv^ 
ing  unwelcome  news,  15.  Course 
taken  by  him,  18,  19.  Panic  and 
havoc  among  his  troops,  20,  21.  Re 
sult  of  his  devotion  to  his  work,  26. 
48.  The  infanta's  horse  given  to  him, 
47.  Race  whose  feathers  he  hoped  to 
pluck,  128.  His  abortive  attempt  on 
Antwerp,  212. 

ESPINOY,  Prince  of,  patriotic  Nether 
lander,  i.  95  note.  His  estates  confis 
cated,  201. 

ESPINOY,  Count  de  Ligne,  prince  of,  his 
wealth,  character,  iii,  361.  Sully 's  po 
sition  with  regard  to  him,  iv,  200. 

ESSEX,  Robert  Devereux,  Earl  of,  ban- 
quetting  and  tilting  at  Utrecht,  ii,  16, 
17.  His  command  under  Leicester,  40. 
44.  48.  67.  Joining  surreptitiously  the 
Anglo-Dutch  expedition  to  Spain,  554, 
555.  Rebuked  for  his  headlong  gal 
lantry,  iii,  152.  Indignant  at  rumours 
of  peace  with  Spain,  378.  Commander 
of  the  land  forces  in  the  Cadiz  expe 
dition,  381.  384—389.  His  subsequent 
Spanish  venture  and  its  results,  453, 
454.  See  ii,  24  282.  iii,  368.  372.  408. 
494.  iv,  105.  372. 

ESSEX,  Walter  Devereux,  Earl  of,  and 
Lady,  accusations  against  Leicester 
concerning,  i,  367.  368. 

FAIRFAX,  Captain,  delivered  as  a  hostage 
to  the  Spaniards,  iv,  78.  81. 

FALCK,  envoy  from  Zeeland,  character 
ised  by  Lord  Leicester,  i,  311.  His 
feeling  towards  England,  312.  Line 
of  argument  to  which  he  was  open, 
313.  See  398.  406.  iv,  138. 

FAMARS,  governor  of  Mechlin,  why  put 
under  arrest,  i,  265.  Killed,  iii,  162. 

FARNESE,  see  Parma. 

FAWKES,  GUIDO,  iv,  229.  257.  283.  381. 

FAZARDO,  Don  Luis,  Spanish  Admiral, 
hanging  and  drowning  his  prisoners, 
iv,  252.  293.  Action  between  his  fleet 
and  a  few  Dutch  ships,  271—273. 

FERDINAND  of  Styria,  his  intense  hatred 
of  protestantism,  iv,  540.  541. 

FERIA,  Duke  of,  secretly  at  work  for 
Philip,  iii,  202.  232.  233.  237.  Taking 
himself  off,  246.  No  stranger  to  May- 
enne's  character,  249.  His  intercepted 
letter,  and  quarrel  with  Mayenne,  250. 

de  Gama,  accomplice  in  a 


590 


FESSERUS. 


INDEX. 


FRIESLAND. 


poison-plot  against  Elizabeth,  iii.  296, 
297. 

FESSERUS,  of  Oppenheim,  and  "forty 
other  rascals"  murdered  by  Parma, 
ii,  31. 

FLANDERS,  acceptance  of  terms  from 
Spain  by  the  cities  of,  and  result  of 
same,  i.  19 — 23.'  Cause  of  the  defec 
tion  of  its  nobles  from  the  National 
cause,  86.  Condition  of  its  cities  after 
their  subjugation,  269.  489.  Value  of 
the  province  to  Spain,  iv.  1,  2.  Its 
invasion  resolved  on  by  the  States,  4, 
5.  Effect  of  the  war  on  the  western 
powers,  56.  See  iii,  205. 

FLEMING,  Philip,  auditor  of  Ostend,  his 
character  and  his  diary,  iv,  68.  87  note. 
Opening  the  sluice  on  the  enemy,  90. 
His  registry  of  the  dead,  92.  Com 
municating  unwelcome  news,  119. 
Rareness  of  his  holidays :  an  intrusive 
cannon-ball,  126,  127.  His  polyglot 
letters,  192.  Saving  the  governor,  196. 
See  188. 

FLUSHING,  why  a  bone  of  contention  in 
the  negotiation  between  England  and 
the  Netherlands,  i,  301,  302.  Surren 
dered  to  England  as  a  guaranty,  342. 
Illustrious  Englishman  appointed  to 
its  governorship,  342.  353.  357.  Mili 
tary  and  commercial  importance  of 
the  place,  363.  Its  garrison,  364.  Effect 
of  its  being  held  by  England,  489. 
Need  for  strongly  garrisoning  it,  iii, 
165  note.  267.  See  ii,  1.  iii,  24. 

FONTANUS,  John,  his  apostrophe  on  the 
brutalities  of  the  Spaniards  in  Ger 
many,  iii,  584. 

FORCADE,  Jaques,  burning  of  the  daugh 
ters  of,  ii,  431. 

FRANCE,  her  policy  towards  the  Dutch 
Republic,  i,  25.  How  regarded  by  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  28,  29.  36.  Effect  of 
the  misrule  and  profligacies  of  Henry 
III.  and  his  court,  37 — 41.  Treatment 
of,  and  conditions  required  from,  en 
voys  sent  by  the  States-General  on 
Anjou's  death,  55 — 59.  61.  Results  of 
negotiation,  62 — 64.  Suspicions  enter 
tained  by  England  and  the  provinces 
as  to  the  king's  bona  fides,  90 — 93. 
Reception  of  a  new  embassy  from  the 
States-General,  and  its  results,  95— 
97.  Bloody  intentions  of  Philip  of 
Spain  towards  the  nation,  378/505. 
Protesting  against  an  Anglo-Dutch 
alliance :  reception  of  the  king's  agent 
at  the  Hague,  407.  Results  of  the 
king's  irresolution,  and  of  the  machi 
nations  of  Philip  and  the  Guises,  ii, 


303.  318.  339.  342.  354.  422.  557.  558. 
Misery  due  to  Spanish  tyranny,  iii, 
39.  Terrible  state  of  the  kingdom, 
44.  Machinations  of  the  League  :  dis 
membering  designs  of  ambitious  no 
bles,  45,  46.  Battle  of  Ivry,  50—57. 
Siege  of  Paris,  58—60.  62—69.  125— 
127.  Contest  for  the  throne,  and 
character  of  the  claimants,  188—191. 
194—201.  209.  Hatred  of  the  people 
for  Philip,  210.  State  of  affairs,  212, 
213.  Jesuitical  counsels,  227—229. 
Arrangements  for  electing  a  king : 
assembly  of  the  estates  of  the  realm. ' 
Philip's  order,  231—239.  Scene  on 
Henry's  conversion  to  Romanism,  239 
—241.  His  entry  into  Paris,  244— 246. 
Philip's  would-be  king,  278.  318.  Sug 
gested  alliance  with  England,  362. 
Attack  on  Calais,  367.  Proposed  dis 
memberment  of  the  kingdom,  and  re 
ply  of  the  king,  391—393.  Treaty  of 
Alliance  agreed  on  with  England  and 
the  States,  397 — 409. 466.  Negotiating 
with  Spain,  498 — 500.  Mutual  jealou 
sies  of  France  and  England,  590.  Sul 
ly 's  stab  at  his  country's  trade,  iv,  131. 
Project  against  piracy,  147.  Singular 
collision  with  English  ships,  152.  Its 
capabilities  for  silk  manufacture  de 
nied,  231. 554.  Common  bond  of  union 
with  England,  278.  Proportion  of 
fighting  men  in  its  population: 
strength  of  the  Huguenots  :  corruption 
in  church,  law,  and  state,  373 — 377. 
Treaty  with  the  Republic,  432.  See 
Amiens.  Calais.  Catharine  de  Medici. 
Henry  III.  Henry  IV.  Jeannin.  Paris 
Rouen. 

FRANEKER  University  founded :  its  li 
beral  ordinances,  ii,  9,  10.  iv.  568. 

FRANGIPANI'S  futile  mission  to  the  mu 
tineers,  iv.  100. 

FRANKFORT,  financial  panic  at,  iii.  443. 

FRANQUEZA,  Don  Pedro  de,  his  origin 
and  influence  in  the  Spanish  Court, 
iv,  354. 

FREDERICK  Henry  of  Nassau,  his  christ 
ening,  i.141.  Assassination  plot  against 
him.  iii.  299.  First  appearance  as  a 
soldier,  455.  479.  589.  Praying  for 
leave  to  fight,  iv,  30.  Made  governor 
of  Sluys,  213.  At  Mulheim :  panic 
among,  and  flight  of  his  troops,  235 — 

237.  His  own  danger  and  rescue,  237, 

238.  At  Rheinberg,  264.     At  Venlo, 
265.     His  military  salary,  535. 

FRIESLAND,  iii,  70.  72.  103.  iv,  233.  234. 
254.  434.  473.  Its  contribution  to  the 
States'  budget,  565  note. 


FBOBISHER. 


INDEX. 


GIANlBELLt. 


591 


FROBISHER,  Sir  Martin,  ii.  282.  407.  His 
ship  the  Triumph,  454.  His  attack 
upon  the  Spanish  galleons,  481. 
Knighted,  482.  Censures  upon  Drake, 
525  Account  of  a  witness,  ibid  note. 
See  ii,  475.  477.  481.  483.  496.  503. 504. 
520.  iii,  173  note.  174. 

FRUIN'S  exposition  of  the  Netherland 
polity,  iv,  35  note. 

FUENTES,  Count,  threatening  to  hang  a 
trumpeter,  ii,  556.  Sent  to  supersede 
Parma,  iii,  221.  On  the  intrigues  of 
the  French  dukes,  231.  Regent  of  the 
Netherlands,  258.  His  squabbles  with 
the  Mansfelds  :  sick  of  his  life,  259. 
266.  277.  280.  His  influence  over 
Ernest,  282.  Elizabeth's  estimate  of 
him,  282  note.  321.  His  poison-plots 
and  poisoners,  294—297. 301.  Declared 
governor-general:  his  personal  appear 
ance,  valour,  love  of  money,  320,  321. 
Besieges  Le  Catelet :  his  revenge  on 
being  outwitted  in  a  treacherous  bar- 
gam,  324 — 327.  Besieges  Dourlens, 
327.  331.  Courtesies  to  the  dead,  333. 
Profiting  by  his  relationship  to  Alva, 
334.  His  attack  on  Cambray,  346.  348 
— 351.  Kept  in  retirement,  iv,  353. 
Ordered  to  levy  troops,  364.  See  iii, 
322.323.357. 

FURTADO,  Andrew,  iv,  417,  418. 

GABRIELLE  d'Estrees,  afterwards  Duch 
ess  of  Beaufort,  mistress  of  Henry  IV, 
iii,  241.  351.  An  English  ambassador's 
report  of  her,  363,  364.  A  present 
from  the  States,  482.  A  lying-in  visit 
to  her,  485,  486.  Dead :  her  successor 
in  the  king's  affections,  591. 

GAETANO,  legate  from  Sixtus  V,  his  cha 
racter,  iii,  47.  Doing  his  work,  61.  See 
67.  505. 

GALEASSES  in  the  Armada,  their  con 
struction,  armament,  &c,  ii,  467. 

G  ALINDO,  Generals  Alonzo  de,  and  Gane- 
vaye,  their  treasure-fleet,  iv,  274,  275. 

GAM  A,  Ferrara  de,  iii,  296,  297. 

GAMA,  Vasco  de,  iv,  105.  293. 

GAMBOA,  Captain,  fortontheKowenstyn 
commanded  by,  i,  207.  Wounded,  214. 

GARNIEX,  secretary  to  Parma,  taking 
advantage  of  a  visit  to  Ostend,  ii,  360. 
His  engineer-valet,  360.  362.  Tour 
urged  by  him  on  Robert  Cecil,  361. 
362.  See  ii,  364.  365.  394. 

GAUCIER,  captain,  his  slaughterous 
boast,  iii,  269. 

GELDERLAND,  iv,  434.  473.  Percentage 
of  the  general  States'  fund  contributed 
by  it,  565  note. 


GELDERS  betrayed  into  Parma's  hands, 
ii,  178—180. 

GEND,  Cornelius  van,  delegate  for  Gel- 
derland  at  the  peace  conference  with 
Spain,  iv,  434. 

GERARD,  Balthazar,  murderer  of  Wil 
liam  the  Silent,  i,  2.  Value  to  Farnese 
of  his  successful  commission  of  the 
crime,  138.  Philip's  proposal  to  levy  a 
pension  for  his  heirs  on  his  victim's 
son,  iii,  355.  See  iv,  399. 

GERBRANTZON,  rear-admiral,  at  the  fight 
with  the  Dunkirk  pirates,  iv,  251. 

GERMANY,  its  dread  of  Spain  andTurkey, 
i,  30,  31.  Apathy  of  its  Protestant 
princes  and  people,  33.  Enmity  be 
tween  its  Lutherans  and  the  Dutch 
Calvinists,  34.  English  notions  on  the 
subject,  34  note.  Indignation  of  the 
Netherlander* :  La  Noue's  denuncia 
tion,  35, 36.  A  Netherlander's  prophecy 
verified  by  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  146. 
Habit  of  its  petty  sovereigns  to  hire  out 
their  subjects,  ii,  422.  Occupations  of 
its  grandees  in  a  time  of  danger,  iii, 
315,  316.  411.  Its  fighting  men  hired 
out  by  their  rulers,  iv,  56.  Wholesale 
consumption  of  their  lives,  57. 

GERTRUYDENBERG,  a  quarrelsome  sup 
per  party  at,  ii,  92 — 97.  Mutiny  in  the 
garrison,  358.  410.  544.  Attacked  by 
Maurice  and  surrendered  to  Parma, 
545.  Authors  of  the  disaster,  546. 
Maurice  determined  to  regain  it,  iii, 

103.  His  preliminary  demonstrations, 

104.  118.    Its  aspect,  site,  importance, 
&c,  255,  256.     Incidents  of  the  siege : 
surrender    of   the    place,   256  —  264. 
Effects  of  the  surrender,  265,  266.  See 
598,  599. 

GEVAERTS,  doctor,  feeling  the  Dutch 
pulse  as  to  a  desire  for  peace,  iv,  296. 

GEVAERTS,  skipper,  laughed  at  for  hint 
ing  the  truth,  iv,  324. 

GHENT,  its  surrender  to  Spain,  i,  19.  21. 
Terms  guaranteed  to  its  citizens,  22. 
Disastrous  results  of  its  submission,  23. 
The  surrender  how  brought  about,139. 
Rights  secured  by  the  "  pacification," 
ii,  248.  The  garrison  in  revolt,  iii, 
458.  See  i,  489.  ii,  364—366.  370.  iv, 
12, 13.  97. 

GHENT,  Viscount  of,  See  Richebourg. 

GHOST  of  a  dead  commander  leading  his 
troops  to  victory,  i,  222. 

GIANIBELLI,  provident  measure  suggest 
ed  to  the  Antwerpers  by,  i,  189.  His 
engineering  and  chemical  skill,  and 
threat  against  the  Spaniards,  190.  His 
plan  for  destroying  Parma's  bridge : 


592 


GIBRALTAR 


INDEX. 


GUISE. 


details  thereof,  190—192.  Same  put 
into  action  :  its  murderous  effects,  193 
— 198.  His  wrath  at  Jacobzoon's 
neglect  of  orders,  199.  At  military 
engineering  in  London,  ii,  486.  His 
devil-ships  not  forgotten  by  the 
Spaniards,  491.  See  ii,  371. 

GIBRALTAR,  the  Dutch  fleet  lying  in 
wait  for  the  Spanish  galleons  at,  iv, 
320,  321.  Origin  of  its  name,  322. 
The  flight:  commanders  on  both  sides 
killed,  323—329.  Effect  produced  by 
the  victory  of  the  Dutch,  364.  388. 389. 
417.  441. 

GIESELLES,  Peter  van,  indomitable  go 
vernor  of  Ostend,  iv,  187.  Killed  at 
his  post,  188.  Fate  of  his  successors,194. 

GILPLN,  English  agent  in  Zeeland ;  his 
superfluous  advice  to  the  queen,  i, 
287.  On  the  character  of  the  Zee- 
landers,  288.  Pernicious  effect  of  a 
despatch  of  his  at  a  critical  moment, 
298,299.  Seem. 

GIRONO,  Don  Fernando,  object  of  his 
mission  to  King  James,  iv,  456,  457. 

GIUSTINIANI,  Pompeio,  Italian  engineer, 
his  floating  battery  that  would  not 
float,  iv,  184.  See  261. 

GIVRY,  officer  of  Henry  IV,  iii,  140 
Wounded  in  rescuing  the  king,  141 
See  403. 

GOA,  capital  of  the  Portuguese  East  In 
dies,  iv,  244.  Its  importance  as  a 
mart :  hatred  of  the  natives  for  their 
European  masters,  246,  247. 

GODESBERG,  defeat  of  Truchsess  at,  ii,  3. 

GOMARITES  and  Arminians,  their  theo 
logical  animosities,  iv,  536,  537. 

GONDY,  Cardinal,  iii,  66.  Henry  the 
Fourth's  retort  to  him,  67. 

GONZAGA,  Hannibal,  Spanish  captain  at 
Zutphen,  ii,  47. 50.  Mortally  wounded, 
52. 

GOURDON  or  Gordan,  M.  de,  governor  of 
Calais,  his  warning  to  Medina  Sidonia, 
ii,  488.  Depriving  English  seamen  of 
their  prize,  495,  496.  His  incapable 
legatee,  iii,  367.  See  De  Vidosan. 

GRAFIGNY,  Agostino,  i,  480.  His  debut 
as  a  volunter  diplomatist,  491.  Mes 
sage  confided  to  him  by  Parma  ;  his 
interview  with  Lord  Cobham,  492, 493. 
Reporting  "  both  hard  and  soft,"  497. 
Imparting  pleasant  intelligence  to 
Parma,  507.  In  low  spirits,  511.  Cause 
of  his  discomforts,  512.  In  secret  con 
clave  with  the  queen's  ministers,  514. 
Effect  of  his  babbling ;  his  present  to 
Leicester,  522— 524.  Seei,  480.  518. 
519.  521.  524.  ii,  65. 


GRANVELLE,  Cardinal,  i,  21.  491. 497.  ii, 
68.  73.  458. 

GRAVE  its  reduction  determined  on  by 
Parma,  ii,  10.  March  of  forces  to  pro 
tect  it,  11.  Fierce  fighting:  repulse  of 
the  Spaniards,  12 — 14.  Their  renewed 
attack  and  repulse,  18 — 20.  Treachery 
of  the  governor  and  fate  of  himself 
and  his  captains,  20,  21.  23—25.  Mau-' 
rice's  preparation  for  besieging  it,  iv, 
97.  Visitors  at  the  camp,  Oriental  and 
European,  110,  111.  Result  of  the 
siege,  112.  Granted  to  the  Spanish 
mutineers,  129,  130,  210. 

GRAY,  Lord,  why  not  the  best  man  to 
send  to  the  Netherlands,  i,  335. 

GREENWICH,  diplomatic  conferences  at 
the  royal  palace  at,  i,  311. 317.  iii,  399. 
407. 

GREGORY  XIII,  Pope,  opposed  to  the 
League,  i,  132. 

GREGORY  XIV  (Sfondrato),  evidences  of 
his  earnestness  against  heresy,  iii,  89. 
Dead,  145.  195. 

GREVILLE,  Fulke,  on  Sidney's  quarrel 
with  Oxford,  i,  360.  On  the  outward 
bearing  of  William  the  Silent,  371 . 

GRIMSTONE,  Lieutenant,  his  daring  trick 
upon  Parma,  ii,  541,  542. 

GROENEVELT,  Arnold  de,  commandant 
of  Sluys,  his  scanty  forces,  ii,  262.  Plan 
vainly  urged  by  him  on  Leicester,  269. 
See  295. 

GKOENLO  or  Grol,  besieged  by  Maurice, 
iii,  335.  Ambush  and  counter-ambush 
and  their  slaughterous  results,  337 — 
341.  Spinola's  march  to  its  relief,  iv, 
233.  266.  Retirement  of  Maurice,  267. 

GRONINGEN,  Schenk's  service  to  Philip 
at,  ii,  7.  Besieged  by  Maurice,  iii,  110 
—113.  Wealth,  site,  and  historical 
associations  of  the  city,  270,  271.  Per- 
fectness  of  its  fortifications,  272.  Mad 
pranks  and  hair-breadth  escapes,  273. 
Result  of  the  siege  and  of  the  victor's 
clemency,  274—276.  See  iii,  275  note. 
iv,  233.  234,  434.  473.  565  note. 

GROTIUS,  Hugo,  a  youthful  attache,  iii, 
480.  A  strange  belief  of  his,  563.  Cha 
racterising  Dousa,  iv,  567.  Laying  the 
foundation  of  his  future  eminence, 
568.  See  iv,  230  note. 

GUERRERA,  negotiating  with  the  muti 
neers,  iv,  210. 

GUIDICCIONI,  Cesar,  his  exploit  at  Neusz 
and  reward,  ii,  9. 

GUISE,  Henry  of  Lorraine,  Duke  of  ("  Le 
Balafre,"  "Mucio"\  i,  37.  His  phy 
siognomy:  causes  of  his  popularity,  41, 
42.  Outdone  in  craft  by  Henry  of 


GUISE. 


INDEX. 


HELMICHUS. 


593 


Navarre :  his  designs,  43.  Spy  and 
agent  of  Philip  of  Spain,  44.  His  rela 
tions  with  the  queen-mother  and  tac 
tics  towards  her,  44,  45.  Becoming 
daily  more  dangerous,  67.  An  under 
taking  in  which  he  failed,  68.  Warned 
by  Philip,  107.  His  movements  and 
their  instigator  truly  indicated  by 
Henry  of  Navarre,  109.111.  Threats  of 
Henry  III  against  him  :  subsidized  by 
Philip:  how  he  employed  Philip's  dol 
lars,  111,  112.  Holy  League  concluded 
between  his  faction  and  Philip,  113, 
114  [see  Holy  League].  Indiscreet: 
talking  and  not  doing:  admonished  by 
Philip,  116, 117.  Spiriting  away  Par 
ma's  supplies,  505.  520.  Still  dunning 
for  money:  need  for  his  being  supplied 
therewith,  ii,  306—308.  316.  318.  Pur 
suing  Henry  III  to  the  death,  340.  His 
victories :  enthusiasm  for  him  in  Paris, 
341.  425.  Emblematic  gift  to  him  by 
the  pope,  422.  His  entry  incognito 
into  Paris :  how  discovered  :  his  tri 
umphal  progress,  426 — 430.  Named 
Generalissimo  of  France,  431.  The 
English  ambassador's  retort  on  his 
offers  of  protection,  431,  432.  His  end, 
558.  Sir  Henry  Umton's  challenge  to 
him,  in,  141  note.  See  ii,  307. 339.  423. 
iv,  370. 

GUISE,  Duke  of,  successor  to  the  above, 
see  Joinville,  prince  of. 

GUNPOWDER  Plot,  iv,  282.    See  Fawkes. 

GUZMAN,  Henriquez  de,  false  proclama 
tion  by,  ii,  556. 

GWYNN,  David,  his  heroic  exploit  in  the 
Armada,  ii,  471—473. 

GYSANT,  Captain,  governor  of  Gertruy- 
denberg,  killed,  iii,  263. 

HAEN,  Captain,  bold  feat  of,  iii,  262, 263. 
HAGUE,  the,  its  aspect  and  environs,  i, 

410.     Its  old  palace  and  banquetting 

hall  411.    See  Holland.    Netherlands. 
HAKKIUS,   Dutch  preacher,  his  brutal 

conduct,  i,  16. 
HAM,  treacherous  surrender  of,  and  fate 

of  the  traitor,  iii,  324—326.     Spanish 

memory  of  the  event,  334. 
HAMART,  the  traitor  at  Grave,  iv,  97. 

See  HEMART. 
HANS,  Maurice's  trumpeter,  killed,  iv, 

206.     His  murder  avenged,  ibid. 
HARLEM,  iii,  102. 
HART,  Captain,  his  swimming  feats  at 

Sluys,  ii,  264.  270. 
HART,  Lieutenant,  his  bravery,  iv,  122, 

123. 
HATTON,   Sir  Christopher,   Elizabeth's 

VOL.  iv. — 2  Q 


vice-chamberlain;  value  of  his  leg  to 
him,  i,  370.  His  sound  advice  to  Lei 
cester,  418.  His  volunteer  son,  ii,  35. 
Consequence  of  his  dealing  "  plainly 
and  dutifully  "  with  the  queen,  211. 

HAULTAIN,  Admiral,  governor  ofWal- 
cheren,  his  untoward  fate,  i,  210.  223. 

HAULTAIN,  Vice- Admiral,  iv,  123.  On 
the  watch  for  Spanish  troops  afloat, 
227.  His  attack  on  the  ships  and  deal 
ings  with  their  living  cargoes,  229. 252. 
His  affair  with  Fazardo's  squadron, 
270 — 272.  Returning  with  a  crack  in 
his  reputation,  274.  See  273.  318. 

HAULTEPENNF,  Seigneur  de,  his  oppor 
tune  aid  at  the  rescue  of  Bois-le-Duc, 
i,  176 — 178.  Commended  by  Parma  to 
Philip's  grateful  notice,  i,  179.  Go 
vernorship  conferred  on  him  to 
Schenk's  disgust,  ii,  7.  Opposed  to  and 
beaten  by  Schenk  at  Werll,  8,  9.  Re 
called  from  Neusz,  18.  26.  Gelder  be 
trayed  to  him,  180.  His  end,  267.  See 
ii,  32. 

HAVRE,  Marquis  of,  hungry  for  office,  iii, 
280.  His  hatred  of  Fuentes,  321,  322. 
Evil  elements  in  his  character,  361. 
Characterising  Elizabeth  and  Olden 
Barneveldt,  464.  599. 

HAWKINS,  Sir  John,  the  navigator,  ii, 
101. 282.  Impatient  to  be  at  the  Span, 
iards,  447,  448.  His  ship  the  Victory 
in  action  with  the  Armada,  476.  479. 
481.483.  485.  487.  496.  503.  Angry 
with  Drake,  477.  525.  Knighted,  482. 
Dead,  iii,  381.  See  ii,  475.  492.  520. 

HEEMSKERK,  Jacob,  Dutch  arctic  navi 
gator,  iii,  561.  563.  Manreuvringwith 
the  bears,  564.  567.  Unexpected  meet 
ing  with  friends,  574, 575.  His  oriental 
adventures:  capture  of  a  rich  carrack, 
iv,  108,  109.  His  origin,  various  ven 
tures,  personal  appearance,  manners, 
318,  319.  Fleet  put  under  his  com 
mand,  320.  His  preparations  and  anti 
cipations,  320,  321.  His  harangue  to 
his  comrades,  and  plan  of  operations, 
322—324.  Alongside  the  Spanish  ad 
miral  :  mortally  wounded ;  his  last 
moments,  325,  326.  Honour  paid  to 
his  remains,  329.  Effect  of  his  victory, 
364.  See  iii,  569—572.  576,  577.  iv, 
133.  323  note.  327,  328. 

HEINRICHZOON,  Lambert,  See  Lambert. 

HELD,  Matthew,  joining  in  a  perilous 
adventure,  iii,  7.  His  tell-tale  catarrh, 
10.  Among  the  faithless  faithful  only 
he,  395. 

HELMICHIUS  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  ii, 
443. 


594 


HELPEN. 


INDEX. 


HENRY  IV. 


HELPEN,  Koender  van,  Groningen  dele 
gate,  iv,  434. 

HEMART,  of  Hamart,  Baron,  surrenders 
Grave  to  Parma,  ii,  20,  21.23.  Interest 
made  to  save  him :  his  end,  24,  25. 
See  iv,  97. 

HENCHMAN,  Captain,  his  replies  to  a  re 
negade's  traitorous  proposals,  ii,  174. 

HENEAGE,  Sir  Thomas,  instructed  by  the 
queen  to  reprimand  and  supersede 
Leicester,  i,  419—421.  423.  His  embar 
rassments,  429.  Information  furnished 
byDavison  to  him,  430,431,  notes.  Off 
on  his  mission,  431.  Delivers  the 
queen's  message  to  the  States,  444. 
Doing  as  much  hurt  with  honesty  as 
others  with  naughtiness,  446.  His  ora 
tion  to  the  council,  447.  Text  of  the 
queen's  instructions  on  her  relenting 
towards  Leicester  and  the  States,  461, 
462  notes.  Relieved  and  perplexed  at 
once:  his  remonstratory  comments  on 
the  queen's  conduct,  465,  466.  The 
queen's  new  accusation  against  him, 
469.  470.  471.  Distressing  effect  of 
her  "  so  contrarious  directions  "  upon 
him,  472—475.  A  "paper  plaister" 
for  him :  his  aspiration  thereon,  479. 
In  England :  effect  of  his  original 
mission,  484.  486.  See  440.  441.  443. 
445.  457.  467.  468.  478.  481.  491.  500. 
508.  526. 

HENRY  III,  of  France  (Valois),  i,  28,  29. 
Offer  of  the  Netherlands  sovereignty  to 
him,  36.  55.  64.  His  character,  un- 
masculine  vagaries,  hatred  of  the  Hu 
guenots,  37,  38.  Extravagances  of  his 
minions;  an  Englishman's  picture  of 
their  doings,  39,  40.  His  fratricidal 
proposal  to  Henry  of  Navarre,  48.  Re 
sult  of  his  attempt  to  seduce  the  latter 
back  to  Paris  and  popery,  49.  At  nat 
tering  estimate  of  him,  59.  Another 
side  to  the  picture,  61.  Return  from 
Lyons :  "  in  a  great  dump,"  69.  Plot 
for  setting  him  and  Philip  II  by  the 
ears,  ascribed  to  queen  Elizabeth,  70. 
His  longings,  and  tempting  offers  to 
William  of  Orange  for  the  Netherlands 
sea-board,  71.  "  Seeking  to  blear  the 
eyes  of  the  world,"  91.  His  reception 
of  the  envoys  from  the  States-General 
and  sentimental  parting  with  them,96, 
97.  Prize  rejected  by  him  on  the  oc 
casion,  98.  Taken  to  task  by  the  Span 
ish  ambassador,  99,  100.  His  true  ob 
ject  in  entertaining  the  Netherlands 
embassy,  100,  101  104.  105.  107.  His 
own  account  of  what  passed  between 
himself  anc}  Mendoza,  102.  Under 


standing  between  himself  and  Parma 
relative  to  the  provinces,  106.  Pro 
poses  war  against  England  to  Philip 
II,  107.  Forbids  Henry  of  Navarre  to 
aid  the  provinces,  110.  Muttering 
vengeance  against  the  Guises :  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  real  author  of  his  own 
troubles,  111.  His  position  in  regard 
to-the  parties  to  the  Holy  League,  114. 
115.  Contempt  of  Guise  for  him,  116. 
His  governor,  117.  Denounced  in  the 
League's  manifesto,  120.  Effect  of 
those  denunciations  upon  him,  121. 
Helpless  in  the  hands  of  his  mother 
and  prime  minister:  extirpatory  decree 
demanded  of  him  by  the  League,  123. 
Choosing  between  league  and  counter- 
league  :  his  choice,  130,  131.  Action 
taken  by  England  on  his  refusal  to  aid 
the  Dutch,  289.  His  duplicity  beyond 
the  ken  of  the  English  queen,  300. 
Affronted  by  Elizabeth,  ii,  194.  Atti- 
,tude  of  Philip  and  Guise  towards  him; 
his  helpless  position,  317.  318.  339— 
341.  423,  424.  326.  Anathematized  in 
the  pulpits,  422.  Plot  of  the  League 

r'nst  him,  425.     Sparing  when  he 
ild  have  struck,  426—428.    Rated 
by  his  mother :  his  flight  from  Paris, 
430.     Formally  reconciled  to  Guise ; 
virtually  deposed,  431,  432.  Deadly  re 
quirements  for  his  future  tranquillity; 
results  of  the  murder  of  the  Guises, 
558,  559.    His  own  end,  560.    See  i,j 
167.  313.  ii,  461.  469.  iii,  1.  132.  185. 
HENRY  IV  of  France  and  Navarre,  (t 
"  Bearnese  Huguenot ")  i.  28.  37. 
sailed  from  the  pulpit,  42.  Too  clev< 
for  Henry  of  Guise,  43.     His  persoi 
appearance;  prominence  in  history, 
Incidents  of  his  birth :  his  early  trail 
ing,  46,  47.    His  marriage,  and  for 
espousal  and  subsequent  abjuration 
the  popish  faith,  47.  48.     His  profli- 
gacies,    his  wife  and  her  maids 
honour,  48.  Result  of  Segur's  attemj 
to  win   him  back  to  popery,  49. 
Temptations  offered  by  Philip  II, 
Next  to  the  throne :  his  Huguenots 
his  virtues,  vices,  peculiarities  of  chf 
racter,  50,  51.  His  heroism,  and  caj 
city  for  king-craft,  52.    Resolve  of  i 
English  court  as  to  how  he  "  might 
induced  to  offend  the  king  of  Spain/ 
84.    Secret  mission  sent  by  the  Stat 
to  him,  108.   His  advice  and  generoi 
offer :  prohibition  put  upon  the  latter, 
109,  110.    A  well-founded  suspicion 
his,  111.  His  right  of  succession  to  tl 
crown,  how  disposed  of  by  Philip  anc 


HENRY  IV. 


INDEX. 


HENRY  IV. 


595 


the  Guises,  113.  Glancing  into  the 
future,  119.  His  manifesto  in  reply  to 
that  of  the  League,  and  challenge  to 
Guise,  121—123.  Effect  of  the  promul 
gation  of  the  edict  of  Nemours  upon 
his  mustachio,  132.  Excommunicated 
by  Sixtus  V :  his  satirical  retort,  132, 
133.  His  victory  at  Coutras,  ii,  340. 
Rewarding  a  bold  Welshman,  473. 
His  protection  sought  by  Henry  III, 

559.  Proclaimed  king  as  Henry  IV, 

560.  Stand  taken  by  him  in  regard 
to  religious  matters,  561,  562.  iii.  45. 
47.  Paradoxical  elements  in  his  char 
acter:   seeming  doubtfulness  of  his 
chances,  iii.  48.  49.    His  battle  with 
and  victory  over  the  League  at  Ivry, 
50 — 57.     His  possible  motives  for  not 
marching  instanter  on  Paris,  58,  59. 
Receiving  and  answering  a  League  de 
putation,  66 — 68.  Meeting  Parma  face 
to  face  :  differences  between  the  mili 
tary  tactics  of  the  two,  77.  91.  142. 
Advancing  on  Paris ;  composition  of 
his  forces,  78,  79.     Out-generalled  by 
Parma  :  his  troops  disbanded,  82 — 84. 
His  attempted  escalade,  and  blamable 
boldness,   85,   86.     His  real  road  to 
Paris :  an  attitude  unsuspected  by  the 
protestant  leaders,  88,  89.     Rescuing 
his  old  marshal  (Biron)  :  on  Farnese's 
flank,  91.  His  envoy's  mission  to  the 
Hague  and  its  result,  131—134.     In 
vests  Rouen :    Elizabeth's  advice  to 
him,  134—136.  Divided  counsels,  139. 
Rushing  into  peril :  lives  self-sacrificed 
to  save  him,  140,  141.     His  wound  on 
the  occasion,   141  note.  142.     Combat 
between  his  jester  and  a  scion  of  Lor 
raine,   144.     Cautious  for  once,  146. 
Again  outgeneralled :  taking  counsel 
with  the  English  ambassador,  151 — 
153.  Policy  involved  in  his  anticipated 
recognition  by  the  Pope  :  efforts  of  his 
foes  to  prevent  it,  and  exclude  him 
from  his  throne,  194—200.209,210.214. 

232.  Attitude  of  Pope  Clement  VIII 
towards  him,  195.  230.  240,  241.  The 
cardinal-legate's    manifesto    against 
him,  232,  233.  Replying  to  his  "  poli 
tical  "  friends'  importunities :  confer 
ence  between  them  and  the.  Leaguers, 

233,  234.  Preserving  his  attitude:  his 
assembly  for  "instruction,"  conversion 
to  Romanism  and  consecration,  234 — 
236.  239,  240.  242—244.     An  "  aside  " 
to  his  mistress,  241.      His  entry  into 
Paris,  244,  245.  Principle  represented 
by  him  :  epoch  marked  by  his  so-called  | 
conversion,  245,  246.  393.  His  bargain. 


with  and  comical  revenge  upon  a  cor 
pulent  conspirator,  250,  251.  Effect  of 
his  conversion  on  his  Dutch  and  Eng 
lish  friends :  Elizabeth's  letter  to  him, 
252 — 254.  Poison  and  other  plots 
against  his  life,  295.  317.  His  secret 
mission  to  Spain :  apprehensions  ex 
cited  by  it :  his  proposal  for  the  In 
fanta's  hand,  304—309.  His  mission  to 
England  and  the  States-General,  and 
plan  of  military  operations  against 
Spain,  310—313.  Warming  more  to 
wards  the  States  and  cooling  towards 
England,  314,  315.  His  declaration 
of  war  against  Spain,  and  confessed 
error  of  style  therein,  317,  318.  Again 
rescuing  Biron,  344.  Captures  Dijon, 
345.  His  mission  to  Rome  for  absolu 
tion  and  its  results,  345, 346.  His  visit 
to  Cambray :  loss  of  the  city,  348.  His 
triple  jest,  359.  Flattering  Elizabeth 
and  striving  to  cajole  her  ambassador, 
362 — 365.  Success  of  his  champions 
at  Marseilles,  366.  His  perils  at  Calais : 
military  and  diplomatic  transactions 
concerning  it,  and  their  results,  366 — 
374.  [See  Calais.]  His  reply  to  pro 
posals  for  dismembering  his  kingdom, 
391—393.  His  treaty  of  alliance  with 
England  and  Holland  :  fraud  practised 
on  the  latter,  397— 409.  458.  461,  462. 
In  a  false  position,  410.  Mission  con 
fided  by  him  to  Ancel,  411.  414.  417. 
Intriguing  with  a  Spanish  agent ;  the 
archduke's  gift  to  him,  41 7— 419.  459, 
460.  His  consternation  at  the  loss  of 
Amiens,  437.  His  measures  for  retak 
ing  it,  and  their  result,  440.  452.  Ros- 
ny's  plan  for  recruiting  his  finances ; 
its  morality,  438 — 440.  Communicates 
his  peace  negotiations  with  Spain  to 
Elizabeth:  his  duplicity,  468,  469. 
Call  upon  him  by  the  States :  his  com 
plaint  against  Elizabeth,  475, 476.  His 
reception  of  and  conferences  with  the 
Dutch  envoys  on  the  peace  question, 
480—486.  Signs  a  treaty  of  peace 
with  Spain :  its  terms,  498—500.  Hig 
payments  to  the  nobles  of  France  as 
the  price  of  their  allegiance,  501 .  His 
political  schemes  and  his  new  mistress: 
turns  his  back  on  the  Huguenots,  591. 
592.  His  marriage  projects  probable 
and  improbable,  593.  His  disposal  of 
the  Biron  plot  against  him  and  mock 
indignation  on  the  occasion,  iv,  104 
note.  Head  of  the  conspiracy,  149. 
His  rebuke  to  ambassador  Tassis  rela 
tive  thereto,  149,  150.  Inglorious  ob 
stacles  to  his  crossing  the  Channel  to 


536 


HENRY. 


INDEX. 


HOHENLO. 


visit  Elizabeth,  151.  His  epigrammatic 
estimate  of  James  1, 158.  His  tactics  re 
lative  to  Spain,  England,  and  the  Pro 
vinces,  169  note.     His  great  political 
scheme :   effect  of   his  ambassador's 
flatteries  on  James,  172 — 177.  His  ad- 
rice  to  the  Dutch  States,  and  its  effects, 
199.     His  receptions  of,  and  compli 
mentary  gift  to,  Spinola,  225.  254.  256, 
Quarrel  with  De  Bouillon,  257.     Ex 
asperated  with  the  Dutch  in  regard  to 
their  attitude  towards  Spinola,  259 
268.  270.  His  designs  upon  the  Repu 
blic,  279.  283—289.  371.  373.  379.  His 
special  mission  to  the  Hague,  317. 368 
Arguments  urged  on  him  by  Barberi 
ni,  369.  His  estimate,  and  selection  for 
his   purposes,  of   Jeannin,  370,  371 
Alive  to  the  circumstances  of  his  times 
371—373.  His  boast  as  to  the  military 
strength  of  his  kingdom :  qualifying 
influences  of  the  Huguenot  element 
373,  374,  376.  State  of  things  at  which 
he  winked,  375.  His  intrigues  against 
Protestantism,  377.  Deaf  to  his  finance 
minister's  lectures :  result  desired  by 
both,  378.   Conferences  of  his  envoys 
with  the  Dutch  statesmen,  383—389. 
409.  415.  511—513.    His  new  Spanish 
marriage  plot,  and  duplicity  towards 
the  States,  464—466.  468.     Detected 
in  his  double  game  :  his  bullying  reply 
to  his  accuser,  468,  469.  His  attempts 
upon  the  fidelity  of  Maurice  and  Barne- 
veld  and  their  results,  476.  479—481. 
507.  Offence  given  to  him  by  Maurice's 
secret  emissary,  505, 506.  His  scolding 
letter  to  Maurice  thereon,  507 — 509. 

HENRY  of  Lorraine,  see  Guise. 

HENRY  of  Nassau,  Breda  fortified  by,  iii, 
6.  On  a  diplomatic  mission,  iv,  138. 
158.  161.  In  Flanders,  201. 

HENRY  VIII  of  England,  character  of 
his  religious  persecutions,  i,  25. 

HENRY,  Prince  of  Wales,  marriage  pro 
ject  regarding,  iv.  281.  283.  380. 

£!ENTZNER,  Paul,  on  the  manners  of  the 
English,  temp.  Eliz.  i.  309. 

HERAUGIERE,  Captain  Charles  de,  at  the 
Kowenstyn  fight,  i,  221.  Heading  a 
perilous  venture :  its  result,  iii,  7 — 13. 
His  successful  stroke  at  Huy,  319. 
Pretending  to  be  accessible  to  corrupt 
offers,  357.  See  ii,  262.  334. 

HERETICS,  treaty  for  the  extermination 
of,  i,  114.  116.  Philip  of  Spain's  rooted 
determination  against  them,  256 — 258. 
Value  of  heresy  to  navigators,  iii,  26. 
Executions  by  la  Motte,  329:  Last  and 
worst  murder  for  heresy,  446. 


HERLE,  William,  warning  Queen  Eliza 
beth  of  dangers  threatening  her,  i,  3 
note.  On  the  death  of  William  the 
Silent,  and  its  effect  on  his  country 
men,  13  note.  On  Maurice  of  Holland, 
15  note.  His  visit  to  William's  widow, 
17  note.  On  the  effect  produced  by 
Burghley's  pamphlet,  32.  On  Philip's 
attempt  to  win  over  Henry  of  Navarre, 
49  note.  On  the  longings  of  the  French 
king  for  a  footing  on  Dutch  ground. 
71.  Text  of  his  letter  to  Queen  Eliza 
beth  thereon,  ibid,  note  3.  On  the  zeal 
of  the  Dutch  princes  and  people  in  fa 
vour  of  an  English  alliance,  73.  74.  76. 
HERMANN,  Wolfert,  his  gallant  defeat 
of  the  Portuguese  fleet,  iv,  106,  107. 
Carrying  the  Achim  envoys  to  Hol 
land,  110. 

HISTORY,  point  of  view  from  which  man 
is  judged  by,  i,  6.  Facilities  of  obtain 
ing  information  according  to  modern 
historians,  54.  Historical  chymistry 
how  rendered  possible,  348.  Historical 
events  as  modified  by  material  agen 
cies,  iii,  476.  See  iii.  20, 513. 
HOBOKEN,  representative  of  the  arch 
duke  in  London,  avowing  his  master's 
duplicity,  iv,  440. 

HOHENLO,  Count  ("  Count  d'Oloc,"  "  Hoi- 
lach,"  and  "  Hollock," )  general-in- 
chief  under  Prince  Maurice :  i,  13. 
"  Wholly  French,"  73.  Would  obey 
Queen  Elizabeth  "  more  than  any 
earthly  prince,"  74.  Dangerous  ele 
ments  in  his  character,  151,  163.  His 
ill-managed  attack  upon  and  repulse 
from  Bois-le-duc,  175—178.  His 
remorse  upon  the  occasion,  179.  Re 
trieves  his  reputation  at  Liefkenshoek, 
188.  Command  assigned  to  him  at  the 
Kowenstyn,  208.  209.  210.  211.  His 
fatal  blunder,  premature  feastings, 
and  disgrace,  215.  225,  226.  230.  Re, 
monstance  addressed  to  him  by  Saint 
Aldegonde,  269,  270.  His  threat 
against  Villiers  and  position  in  LeL 
cester's  esteem,  395,  396.  His  daring 
bravery  at  Grave,  ii,  11 — 14.  Pleading 
for  a  traitor,  24.  In  bad  odour  with 
his  English  comrades,  37.  His  self- 
denying  conduct  when  dangerously 
wounded,  56.  Out  of  favour  with  Lei 
cester,  80.  Carouse  at  his  quarters : 
his  assault  upon  Edward  Norris  and 
its  consequences,  92—98.  146—151. 
His  threat  against  the  English  caval 
ry,  183.  His  charge  against  Leicester : 
orders  of  the  queen  thereon,  234 — 237. 
241,  242.  Charges  of  the  Leiceetriang 


HOLLAND. 


INDEX. 


IDIAQUEZ. 


>97 


against  him,  265.  275.  His  foray  into  I 
Brabant,  267.  His  report  on  the  cap- 1 
ture  of  Breda,  iii,  15.  Knuckling  under 
to  his  old  pupil,  261.  His  marriage  and 
its  accompaniments,  319.  Hunting  bri 
gands,  337.  Quarrelling  with  Maurice: 
King  Philip's  attempt  upon  his  fideli 
ty,  356.  At  the  siege  of  Turnhout,  426. 
429.  Affair  from  which  he  was  ex 
cluded,  iv,  5.  His  death :  summing  up 
of  his  character,  275.  See  i,  200.  424. 
520  ii  39.  79.  86.  91.  137.  157.  158. 
188.  215,  216.  243.  257.  325.  327.  350. 
355.  413.  iii,  7. 

HOLLAND,  its  physical  features,  popula 
tion,  &c.,  i,  8.  Medal  emblematic  of 
its  forlorn  condition,  18.  Charge 
against  it  and  Iceland  of  indifference 
to  the  fate  of  Antwerp,  171.  Their 
bearing  in  reference  to  a  reconciliation 
with  Spain,  267,  268.  Influence  on 
their  prosperity  of  the  subjugation  of 
the  Belgian  cities,  269.  England's  stake 
in  the  safety  of  the  Islands,  374—376. 
381.  Era  inaugurated  by  England  and 
Holland,  382.  State  of  the  Islands  af 
ter  twenty  years'  war  :  pictures  drawn 
by  Leicester  and  his  suite,  383—386. 
Naval  strength,  and  contempt  for 
Philip's  intended  armada,  386—388. 
Its  complaint  as  to  its  share  in  the 
State  Council,  iii,  34.  Ever  ready  to 
bear  its  quota  of  taxation,  375,  376. 
Its  dealing  with  the  users  of  starch  in 
a  time  of  scarcity,  377.  Its  progress  in 
silk  manufacture,  iv,  231.  Omnipo 
tence  of  Advocate  Barneveldt,  300. 
Cities  opposed  to  a  truce,  504,  505. 
Their  submission,  514.  Its  per  centage 
of  contribution  to  general  fund,  559. 
565  note.  See  Netherlands.  Zeeland. 

HOLY  League,  scheme  contemplated  by 
the,  i,  5.  'Madam  League,'  41.  Its 
chief,  45.  Conclusion  of  the  treaty 
whereon  it  was  based :  its  parties  and 
objects,  113,  114.  Its  progress,  116, 
117.  Position  of  European  rulers  and 
peoples  at  its  advent,  118,  119.  Its 
manifesto  issued :  scope  thereof,  119, 
120.  Henry  of  Valois  its  plaything 
ii,  341.  Its  intents  with  regard  to  Eng 
land,  346.  Its  head,  and  its  chief 
commander,  400.  Pursuing  its  objects 
in  Paris:  Guise's  triumphs:  its  first 
victims  at  the  stake,  422—431.  More 
papist  than  Pope  Sixtus,  iii,  45.  61. 
Bent  on  dismembering  France,  46. 
Defeat  of  its  forces  at  Ivry,  52—58.  Its 
envoys  in  conference  with  Henry  IV 
and  his  representatives,  66—68.  233— 
VOL.  II— 19* 


237.  Triumphant  in  Paris,  84,  85.  89. 
125—127.  Burnt  in  effigy,  242.  Out- 
generalled  by  Henry,  245.  Departure 
of  its  garrison,  247.  Costly  and  useless 
to  Philip,  290.  305.  315.  Dead  and  bur 
ied,409.  See.m,  139—144.  147.  iv,  57. 

HOOFD'S  great  history  of  the  War  of  In 
dependence,  iv,  568. 

HOOGSTRAATEN,  seized  and  fortified  by 
the  Spanish  mutineers,  iv,  92;  100. 102. 
Their  reception  of  Maurice  there  and 
delivery  of  the  town  to  him,  129,  130. 

HOUTMANN  brothers,  pioneer  Dutch  na 
vigators,  iii,  577. 

HOUTMANN,  Frederick,  governor  of  Am- 
boyna,  iv,  423. 

HOUWAERTS,  John  Baptist,  description 
of  his  pageant,  vision,  &c.  in  honour 
of  Archduke  Ernest,  iii,  285—289. 

HOWARD  of  Effingham,  Charles  Lord, 
Lord  Admiral,  ii,  204.  407.  445.  A 
trinity  he  trusted  never  to  be  saved  by, 
448.  His  defiant  bearing  and  his  com 
plaints,  449 — 451.  Complement  of  his 
fleet :  his  chief  officers,  454,  455.  His 
prayer  to  the  queen,  457.  His  fleet  at 
sea :  the  fight  with  the  Armada,  474. 
479 — 505.  Neglect  of,  and  ravages  of 
sickness  among  his  sailors  afterwards : 
his  griefs  thereat,  524.  Heading  a  new 
attack  on  Spain,  iii,  384.  Result  of 
his  over-cautiousness,  388. 

HUGUENOTS,  characteristic  utterances  of 
an  old  leader  of  the,  i.  £5.  Hatred  of 
Henry  of  Valois  towards  them,  38. 
Their  conduct  before  battle:  their  royal 
chieftain,  50.  Their  views  as  to  the 
results  of  an  alliance  between  France 
and  the  States-General,  59,  60.  Pro 
mulgation  of  the  edict  of  Nemours 
against  them,  131.  Fighting  at  Ivry, 
iii,  55.  Hanging  their  heads  in  despair, 
245.  252.  Their  leaders  denounced  by 
Henry  IV,  591,  592.  Their  numbers, 
strength,  and  influence  in  France,  iv, 
373,  374.  376.  Efforts  of  Henry  to  set 
them  against  each  other,  377. 

HULST,  iii,  100.  Captured  by  Maurice, 
115.  Subsequent  surrender  to  the 
Spaniards :  alleged  slaughter  on  the 
occasion,  394 — 396. 

HUMAN  fat,  why  esteemed  by  the  Dutch 
surgeons,  iv,  74. 

HUNGARY,  iv.  104. 

HUNSDON,  Henry  Lord,  ii,  204.  His 
army  a  fiction,  451., 515.  Grumbled  at 
by  Leicester,  520. 

HUY,  captured  and  recaptured,  iii,  319. 

IDIAQUEZ,  Don  Juan  de,  secretary  of  state 


598 


IMBEC. 


INDEX. 


JEANNIN. 


to  Philip  II,  ii.  308.  458.  A  ticklish 
moment,  534,  535.  Need  of  Philip  III 
for  his  services,  iv,  353.  His  submis 
sion  to  the  new  state  of  things,  354 
Giving  up  a  point,  458.  See  iii,  71.  508. 

IMBEC,  Count,  killed  by  his  captor,  iv,  91. 

IMBIZE,  or  Imbyze,  John  van,  governor  of 
Dendermonde,  beheaded,  i,  21.  ii,  156. 

INDIA  and  the  Dutch  navigators,  iii,  546 
—549.  iv,  105. 319.  Admiral  Matelieff  s 
exploits,  417 — 425.  Exclusive  claims 
of  Spain,  219.  379.  439.  460.  462. 
Efforts  to  deprive  the  provinces  of 
their  trade  with  India,  380.  381.  438. 
Conferences  thereon, 442— 450.  Result 
of  same,  518.  522—524.  See  Dutch 
East  India  Company. 

INFANTA  of  Spain,  daughter  of  Philip 
II.  See  Clara  Isabella, 

INFANTA,  daughter  of  Philip  III,  mar 
riage  projects  regarding  her,  iv,  281. 
283.  284.  380. 

INNOCENT  IX,  pope,  cause  of  his  death, 

_  iii,  195. 

INQUISITION,  cause  of  the  fight  of  the 
Dutch  provinces  against  the,  i,  10. 
Established  in  France  by  the  League, 
ii,  423.  431.  Warred  against  by  the 
States,  iii,  39.  Philip's  efforts  to 
establish  its  supremacy,  121.  128.  183. 
Paramount  in  Spain,  536, 537.  543.  iv, 
331,  332.  See  ii,  290.  iv,  528,  529. 

IKELAND  in  relation  to  England  and 
Spain,  i,  29,  305.  355.  ii,  303.  346.  468. 
Stanley's  threatened  game,  ii,  174. 176. 
Spanish  fleet  destined  for  its  coast,  iii, 
39.  419,  420.  The  invasion  and  its  re 
sult,  iv,  94, 95.  Always  rebellious,  139, 
140.  342.  381. 

IBISH  kernes  in  Holland,  their  costumes 
and  customs,  ii,  38. 155.  160. 165.  170. 

ISLE  of  Wight,  Spanish  intentions 
against  the,  ii,  468,  481. 

IVRY,  preliminaries  to  the  battle  of,  iii, 
50—53.  The  battle,  54—57. 

JACOBZOON,  Jacob  ("  Koppen  Loppen," 
"  Run-away  Jacob")  his  cowardice  and 
its  consequences,  i,  162.  New  enter 
prise  entrusted  to  him,  192.  How  he 
followed  out  his  instructions,  193. 197. 
Irreparable  results  of  his  neglect,  198. 
200.  At  the  attack  on  the  Kowenstyn, 
211.  All  his  blunders  expiated,  223. 
224  note. 

JAMES  I  of  England  and  VI  of  Scotland,  a 
presumed  tool  in  Spanish  hands,  ii, 
248.  303.  346.  448.  Fears  on  Spain's 
part,  436.  A  confirmed  heretic,  468,  iii, 
43.  Ground  of  Philip's  hope  of  help 


from  him,  419.  His  accession  to  the 
English  throne,  and  irruption  thereon 
of  his  countrymen  into  England,  iv, 
138. 139.  His  reckless  prodigality,  140. 
Expenses  of  his  household,  141.  His 
religious  intolerance,  love  of  preroga 
tive,  pedantic  habits,  &c.  141—143. 
His  reply  to  the  complimentary  ha 
rangue  of  the  Dutch  envoy,  148.  His 
dread  of  his  queen :  Henry  IV's  joke 
upon  him,  157, 158.  His  prohibition  of 
the  usual  marks  of  respect  to  the  late 
queen  Elizabeth,  160.  His  conferences 
with  and  hospitalities  towards  the 
French  embassy,  161—167.  173—176. 
Effect  of  De  Rosny's  eloquence  upon 
him,  177 — 180.  His  anti-Spanish,  anti- 
Austrian  arrangement  with  France, 
and  contemporaneous  treaty  with 
Spain,  219, 220.  248.  Conceding  a  point 
to  the  Dutch  envoy  and  silencing  the 
Spaniard ,  221,  222.  His  colloquy  with 
and  efforts  to  reassure  the  Dutch  am 
bassador,  223  note.  Triumph  of  Spa 
nish  policy  in  his  councils,  227.  Effect 
of  the  Guy  Fawkes  discovery  upon  his 
marriage  schemes  and  plottings  with 
Spain,  257.  279—283.  His  epithets  for 
the  Netherlanders,  279.  His  designs 
upon  their  country,  380,  381.  Sending 
special  envoys  to  them,  389.  Suprem- 
est  object  of  his  love,  465.  Plain  truths 
spoken  against  him  by  Maurice,  492 
— 494.  His  religious  counsels  to  the 
States,  531,  532.  See  iv,  414.  440. 456, 
457.  521.  See  also  Scotland. 

JAMES,  captain  Thomas,  fighting  at,  and 
writing  home  about,  the  attack  on  the 
Kowenstyn,  i,  211  note.  214.  223,  224 
note. 

JANSENS,  Zacharias,  inventor  of  the  tele 
scope  and  microscope,  iv,  570. 

JANSZOON,  captain,  "Long  Harry,"  at  the 
attack  on  Gibraltar,  iv,320.  Killed.  326 

JAVA,  iv,  106. 

JEANNIN,  Pierre,  president  of  the  parlia 
ment  of  Burgundy,  his  mission  from 
Mayenne  to  Philip  II,  iii,  129.  On  a 
mission  from  Henry  IV  to  the  States, 
iv,  368.  His  league  antecedents :  occa- 
sion  of  his  taking  service  under  Henry; 
his  character,  369—371.  375.  His  ad 
dress  to  the  States,  383—385.  On  the 
determination  of  the  States  to  be  their 
own  masters,  402.  His  advice  to  them. 
407.  409.  437.  450.  His  sinister  purl 
poses,  450.  Catechised  by  Barneveldt, 
456.  Result  he  was  prepared  for,  464. 
His  relations  and  conferences  with 
Maurice,  473. 476.  479.  488.  And  with. 


JESUITS. 


KOEBOEKUM. 


599 


Barne veldt,  481.  His  estimate  of  both, 
504.  Foreseeing  a  storm,  483.  His 
arguments  in  favour  of  a  truce,  494 — 
499.511 — 513.  Denouncing  Lambert's 
falsehoods,  506  note.  Tricking  presi 
dent  Richardot,  518,  519.  Point  right 
ly  urged  by  him,  523.  His  appeal  on 
behalf  of  the  Catholics,  5^7—530. 
Warning  Maurice,  545.  See  iii,  234.  iv, 
415.  448.  453.  459.  460.  461.  466.  467. 
484.  489.  501.  505.  507.  514. 

JESUITS,  work  proposed  for  the,  iii,  22, 
23.  Work  done  by  them,  444—446. 
King  James's  horror  of  them,  iv,  219. 
257.  279.  Their  reappearance  and  do 
ings  in  France,  220,  221.  Animosity 
against  them  in  Venice,  256.  278. 

JOHN  Casimir,  duke  Casimir,  Elector  Pa 
latine,  complement  of  troops  promised 
to  the  States  by,  i,  76.  Diversion  he  was 
to  be  solicited  to  make,  84.  See  ii,  54. 

JOHN  of  Cleves  and  Juliers,  his  death, 
iv,  536.  See  Cleves. 

TOHN  of  Nassau's  denunciation  of  Ger 
man  apathy  in  the  Protestant  cause, 
i,  35.  Sole  survivor  of  the  five  Nassau 
brethren,  398.  His  far-seeing  estimate 
of  the  value  of  common  schools,  iii, 
119  note.  Louder  than  ever  in  his  jere 
miads,  411.  Still  ardent  in  the  cause, 
iv,8.  His  end,  275,  276. 

JOHN  of  Nassau,  the  young  count,  secret 
state  paper  found  by,  iv,  488. 

JOHORE,  sultan  of,  faithful  to  and  co 
operating  with  his  Dutch  allies,  iv,417. 
Direction  in  which  his  troops  distin 
guished  themselves,  419.  His  panic- 
struck  proceedings  on  the  departure 
of  his  protectors,  424. 

JOINVILLE,  secret  treaty  of,  i,  113.  See 
Holy  League. 

JOINVILLE,  prince  of,  afterwards  duke  ol 
Guise,  successor  to  Le  Balafre,  ii,  558. 
Suggested  as  a  husband  for  thelnfanta, 
iii,  128.  191.  194.  233.  Leader  of  the 
vanguard  at  Rouen,  139.  How  he 
escaped  from  prison,  191.  Orderrespect- 
ing  himself  and  the  Infanta  sent  by 
Philip  to  the  leaguers,  237.  Makes 
terms  with  Henry  IV,  251.  His  ser 
vice  to  the  latter  at  Marseilles,  366. 

JONGHE,  Matelieff  de,  see  Matelieff. 

JOYEUSE,  due  de,  news  brought  home 
by,  relative  to  the  duke  of  Savoy,  i, 
55.  His  broken  wrist,  69.  Killed  at 
Coutras,  ii,  340. 

JULIUS  Csesar's  Rhine  bridge  compared 
with  Parma's  Scheldt  bridge,  i,  182. 

JUNIUS,  Leicester's  secretary,  ii,  140. 255. 
Put  in  prison,  287, 


JUSTINUS  de  Nassau,  natural  son  of  Wil 
liam  the  Silent,  office  conferred  on,  i, 
151.  His  narrow  escape  at  Bois-le 
Due,  178.  Retrieves  his  reputation  at 
Liefkenshoek,  188.  At  the  attacks  on 
the  Kowenstyn,  209.  210.211.  Another 
narrow  escape,  224.  Representation 
sent  to  him  by  the  Zeeland  naval  offi 
cers,  233.  "Very  wise,  subtle,  and 
cunning,"  ii,  528.  Joined  with  Barne 
veldt,  in  missions  to  France  and  Eng 
land,  iii,  475.  Narrative  of  same,  477 
—497.  See  ii,  265.  271—273.  445.  iv, 
265. 

KAARDEN,  Paul  van,  Dutch  navigator, 
iv,  424. 

KABBELJAW,  captain,  killed  in  saving 
his  sovereign,  iv,  41. 

KADZAND,  or  Cadzand  Island,  in  Dante's 
Inferno,  its  situation  &c,  ii,  260,  261. 
Garrisoned  by  Parma,  262.  Occupied 
by  Maurice,  201—205.  Fight  for  its 
possession,  211,  212.  Further  manoeu 
vres,  232.  233.  241. 

KALLOO,  change  effected  by  Parma's 
operations  at,  i,  157,  158. 

KANT,  John,  Dutch  vice-admiral,making 
short  work  with  the  Spanish  galleys, 
iv,  115.  116. 

KANT,  Renier,  advocate  of  Holland,  i, 
211. 

KEMP,  Jacob,  one  of  Maurice's  engineers, 
iii,  161. 

KEVESTE,  battle  between  the  Turks  and 
Germans  at,  and  its  singular  sequel, 
iii,  413,  414. 

KHEVENHULLER,  Count,  confession  of 
the  Queen  of  Spain  to,  iv,  360  note. 

KILLIGREW,  Sir  Henry,  Leicester's  "  little 
Hal,"  i,  399.  446.  447.  ii,  89.  327.  420. 

KINSALE,  landing  and  defeat  of  Spanish 
troops  at,  iv,  94. 

KINSKI,  Count,  mortally  wounded,  iii, 
340. 

KLAASZOON,  Regnier,  vice-admiral,  iv, 
271.  His  resolute  battle  with  the  Span 
iards  and  heroic  self-sacrifice,  272,  273. 

KLEERHAGEN,  Captain,  his  night  entry 
into  Bois-le-Duc,  i,  175.  Wrongly  sus 
pected,  177.  His  narrow  escape,  178. 

KLOET,  Herman,  commander  at  Neusz,ii, 
26.  His  reply  to  an  invitation  to  capi 
tulate,  27.  His  convenient  sleep,  28. 
His  wounds  and  bravery,  29.  False 
and  true  account  of  his  death  at  the 
hands  of  his -captors,  30,  31. 

KNODSENBURG  Fort,  iii,  112.  Parma  re 
pulsed,  113.  See  116. 

KOEBOEKUM,  traitor,  put  to  death, 


600 


KOEWORDEN. 


INDEX. 


LEICESTER. 


KOEWORDEN,  iii,  5.     See  Coeworden. 

KOWENSTYN  and  Blawgaren  Dykes,  how 
proposed  to  be  dealt  with  by  William 
the  Silent,  i,  141—143.  Successful 
opposition  of  the  Antwerpers  to  his 
plans,  152.  Their  too-late  repentance, 
161.  The  Kowenstyn  taken  by  the 
Spaniards:  forts  erected  by  them  upon 
it,  161,  162.  Determination  of  the  pa 
triots  to  attempt  to  regain  it ;  their 
tactics  while  preparing  for  the  assault, 
205.  Its  extent :  labour  expended  by 
Parma  in  fortifying  it,  206,  207.  Inci 
dents  of  the  first  attack,  208, 209.  The 
like  of  the  second  attack,  209—213. 
Expulsion  of  the  Spaniards  and  pierc 
ing  of  the  Dyke,  213,  214.  Folly  of  the 
patriot  leaders  in  their  hour  of 
triumph,  215.  Heroism  and  final  vic 
tory  of  the  Spaniards,  215 — 225.  Blun 
der  upon  blunder,  299. 

KOWENSTYN,  Seigneur  de,  why  he  went 
over  to  the  Spaniards,  i,  161. 

LA  BOURLOTTE,  (not  Barlotte)  Colonel, 
iii,  582.  iv,  41,  killed  at  Nieuport,  49. 

LA  FERE,  town  of,  held  in  pledge  by 
Farnese,  iii,  138.  366.  see  391.  393. 

LA  FERTE,  iii,  319,  besieged  and  relieved, 
326. 

LAGNY,  iii,  78.  81.  Captured  by  Parma 
and  the  garrison  butchered,  81-83. 
Retaken  by  Henry  IV,  90. 

LAMBALLE,  Brittany,  fatal  accident  to 
La  Noue  at,  iii,  124. 

LAMBERT  Heinrichzoon,  "pretty  Lam 
bert,"  capturing  a  Dunkirk  pirate 
vessel,  iv,  251.  Comrade  with  Heems- 
kirk  at  the  attack  on  the  Spanish  fleet, 
324,  325.  Playing  the  ambassador  in 
a  way  to  give  offence,  505—508. 

LA  MOTTE,  Valentin  Pardieu  de,  Count 
of  Everbeck,  his  attempt  upon  Ostend: 
success  converted  into  failure,  i.  186, 
187.  His  fort  on  the  Kowenstyn,  207. 
His  cue  in  his  conference  with  Eliza 
beth's  representative,  495.  His  assu 
rance  to  Parma:  Fort  captured  by  him, 
ii,  262.  Outstripped  by  the  Duchmen, 
499.  His  command  at  the  relief  of 
Paris,  iii,  75,  76.  81.  In  a  mural  cari 
cature,  223.  Implicated  in  a  poison- 
plot,  300.  Recaptures  Huy,  319.  Oc 
casion  of  his  death ;  his  career,  bru 
talities,  &c.  327—329.  See  ii,  36. 

LANFRANCHI,  Antwerp  merchant,  on  the 
effect  of  Spanish  domination,  ii,  370. 

LA  NOUE,  "  Iron-armed,"  French  Hugue 
not  officer,  on  the  apathy  of  the  Ger 
man  princes,  35,  36.  Terms  of  his 


release  from  captivity :  his  views  on 
the  chances  of  Antwerp,  232,233.  His 
estimate  of  Sainte  Aldegonde,  283. 
His  advice  to  Henry  IV,  iii,  58.  His 
harangue  to  the  starving  Parisians,  68. 
Wounded,  85.  His  work  while  in 
captivity :  occasion  of  his  death,  123, 
124.  See  Teligny. 

LANUZA.  John  of, why  put  to  death,iii,534. 

LANZAVECCHIA.  Edward,  governor  of 
Breda  and  Gertruydenberg,  iii,  6.  On 
the  wrong  scent,  11.  Cashiered,  15. 

LARCHER,  Paris  magistrate,  put  to 
death  :  his  crime,  iii,  127. 

LAVARDIN,  French  general,  iii,  140. 
Wounded  while  rescuing  his  king,141. 

LEAGUE.    See  Holy  League. 

LEFFINGEN,  its  position,  &c,  iv,  11:  taken 
by  Maurice,  12.  Panic  and  rout  of  the 
Dutch,  18—22.  Dutch  and  Spanish 
writers  on  the  affair,  22  note.  See  41. 

LEICESTER,  Robert  Dudley  Earl  of,  ("the 
gipsy")  his  apprehensions  concern 
ing  Sainte  Aldegonde,  and  change  of 
opinions  thereon,  i,  266.  275.  280. 
Fillip  given  to  his  ambition  by  the 
refusal  of  France  to  aid  the  Nether 
lands,  289.  His  encouraging  assur 
ances  to  the  Dutch  envoys,  293,  294. 
Characterising  some  of  them,  311.  313. 
Desire  of  the  States  for  his  leadership, 
335.  Elizabeth's  regard  for  him,  340. 
Tender  of  service  to  him  from  Prince 
Maurice,  342,  343.  Nominated  to  the 
post  he  coveted,  345.  His  troubles  at 
the  outset ;  character  of  his  courtship 
of  the  queen,  346.  Financial  squabbles 
between  them:  his  complaints  and  her 
avarice,  347 — 351.  Rendering  thanks 
where  thanks  were  due,  352.  His 
entry  into  Flushing,  365.  His  imme 
diate  ancestors  and  their  fate  :  lavish 
bounty  df  the  queen  towards  him,  366. 
Romance  of  his  character :  his  Jesuit 
accuser,  367.  Monstrous  crimes  im 
puted  to  him,  368.  His  animus  against 
the  Queen  of  Scots,  369.  His  queen's 
firm  affection:  why  called  the  "  gipsy": 
his  magnificent  attire,  370  His  pro 
gress  through  Holland,  banquettings, 
pageants,  &c,  371,  372.  Indiscretions 
of  speech  :  spies  and  libellers  about 
him,  373,  374.  Vehement  in  his  advo 
cacy  of  the  alliance  with  Holland,  381 
note.  384.  On  the  naval  strength  of 
the  Hollanders  and  their  enthusiasm 
for  Elizabeth,  386. 388, 389.  On  Drake's 
expedition  and  Philip's  dread  of  it,  387. 
Nature  of  his  authority  in  Holland : 
his  queen's  instructions-  advice  of  the 


LEICESTER. 


INDEX. 


LEICESTER. 


601 


Netherland  envoys,  389—391. 896, 399 
Purport  of  his  "  pithy  and  honourable' 
oration  to  his  ragged  regiments,  392 
Spending  his  own  substance  on  them, 
392.  393,  394.  438.  454.  523  note.  De 
nouncing  Villiers :  in  love  with  and 
hoping  to  reform  Hohenlo,  395,  396. 
On  Count  Maurice's  character  and  in 
clinations,  397.  Summing  up  some  of 
the  notabilities  around  him,  398,  3f 
His  estimate  of  Davison,  400.  His 
conference  with  the  States'  magnates 
and  acceptance  of  their  governorship, 
40.1 — 406.  Powers  conferred  on  him, 
407.  Communicating  the  event  to  the 
Queen,  408 — 410.  His  installation  and 
its  attendant  ceremonies,  411.  Mut- 
terings  of  a  coming  storm :  his  mis 
taken  way  of  deprecating  the  Queen's 
anger,  412 — 416.  Hints  and  counsel 
from  his  friends,  418.  Wrathful  mis 
sives  from  the  Queen  against  and  to 
him,  419 — 421.  His  brother's  warn 
ing:  "false  boys"  about  him,  432, 
433.  Shirley  pleading  with  the  Queen 
for  him,  433 — 436.  Neutralization  of 
the  good  effected  by  him,  438.  Point 
up  to  which  he  had  maintained  his 
dignity,  439.  Makes  Davison  his  scape 
goat  :  his  insinuations  against  him, 
440,  441.  Royal  prohibition  concealed 
by  him  from  Davison  :  his  unmanly 
letter  to  him,  442,  443.  His  justifi 
catory  letter  to  Burghiey,  443 — 446. 
Mitigating  the  mischief  of  the  Queen's 
message  to  the  States,  447.  On  the 
consequences  of  a  breach  of  faith  with 
the  States :  suspecting  the  "  false 
boys,"  449,  450.  His  earnestness  in 
his  work,  effect  of  the  Queen's  cen 
sures  on  rumours  against  himself,  451. 
453.  The  most  cruel  blow  of  all: 
evils  staved  off  by  his  money,  454, 455. 
Magic  effect  of  a  letter  under  his  own 
hand  to  the  queen,  457,  458.  Congra 
tulations  from  friends,  457  note.  459. 
460.  Comfort  from  the  Queen's  pen, 
460,  461.  His  complaints  of  the  effects 
produced  meanwhile  by  her  conduct, 
462 — 465.  New  humiliations  in  store 
for  him,  475,  476.  His  propitiatory 
letters  to  the  Queen,  476—479.  Tone 
of  his  letters  to  his  friends,  481.  Re 
ceiving  and  answering  gracious  mis 
sives  from  his  mistress,  481,  482.  484, 
485.  Cooling  of  the  States'  enthusiasm 
towards  him  :  beginning  to  quarrel, 
485 — 487.  Duty  of  his  country  in 
sisted  on  by  him,  488.  Disingenuous- 
ness  of  the  Queen  and  her  counsellors, 


491.  508.  Use  made  by  Spanish  par 
tisans  of  the  Queen's  pique  against 
him,  493.  What  Parma  thought  his 
rivals  meant,  501.  508.  519.  Effect  of 
home  intrigues  upon  his  chances  of 
success,  508,  509.  521, 522.  Acknow 
ledging  a  gift  of  a  dish  of  plums,  523. 
His  views  as  to  the  best  way  to  a 
peace,  525,  526. 

Imploring  aid  for  Truchsess,  ii,  3.  79. 
His  estimate  of  him,  3  note.  Com 
mending  Schenk,  9.  His  elation  on 
the  transient  success  at  Grave,  14. 
His  extravagant  banquet  at  Utrech*, 
15 — 1 8.  His  rage  at  the  surrender  of 
Grave,  and  vengeance  on  the  traitors, 
21.  23—25.  Causes  of  his  inability  to 
preserve  Neusz  from  the  Spaniards,  32» 
33.  His  accusation  against  Treasurer 
Norris,  39.  Takes  the  field  in  person  : 
reduces  Doesburg,  40 — 44.  His  gene 
rosity  to  Pelham,  40  note.  Result  of 
his  attack  on  Zutphen :  his  grief  over 
Sidney,  44—60.  Effect  of  the  Queen's 
conduct  on  his  position,  64 — 66.  His 
quarrels  with  the  States :  his  three 
counsellors  and  result  of  their  counsels, 
67—74.  His  changed  estimate  of  Paul 
Buys,  and  threats  and  charges  against 
him,  75 — 81.  Throws  him  into  prison, 
82.  His  persecutions  of  the  papists  in 
the  States,  84.  His  bickerings  with 
and  accusations  against  the  Norrises, 
85—87.  Good  and  ill  points  in  his 
character,  88.  Good  counsel  to  him 
from  the  Queen,  91.  His  view  relative 
to  Mary  Stuart,  104.  191.  Resolves  to 
visit  England;  his  parting  words  with 
the  States,  106  —  110.  "Singular 
jewel  "  given  to  him  at  the  parting, 
110  note.  Principles  advocated  by  hi? 
party  in  the  States,  116.  Their  head 
quarters,  118.  Their  notions  of  reli 
gious  liberty,  120,  121.  His  own  no 
tions  thereon,  122.  Money  of  his  own 
spent  in  the  Netherlands,  138.  A  ne 
cessary  gift  of  which  he  was  deficient: 
his  capacity  for  hatred,  139.  His  main- 
stays  during  his  absence,  140,  141. 
His  secretary's  gossip  and  its  mischie 
vous  effects,  143 — 145.  His  share  in 
the  Norris  and  Hohenlo  squabble,  and 
increased  animosity  towards  the  Nor 
rises,  146 — 151.  His  own  account,  151, 
152,  notes.  His  illjudged  appointment 
of  a  papist  governor  for  Deventer  and 
its  consequences,  155 — 176.  His  unpro 
voked  vindictiveness  towards  Wilkes, 
186.  253.  note  278.  His  arrival  in 
England  and  reception  by  the  Queen, 


602 


LE  MAIRE. 


INDEX. 


LEWIS  WILLIAM. 


189.  Accusatory  letter  to  him  from 
the  States,  206—209.  His  letter  upon 
Elizabeth's  hard  terms  in  reference  to 
money  matters,  213  note.  Arguments 
of  Wilkes  with  the  States  in  his  be 
half,  221—224.  Insidious  counsels  of 
De venter,  231,  232.  Charge  brought 
against  him  by  Hohenlo :  effect  pro 
duced  by  it,  234—242.  His  attack  upon 
and  angry  letter  to  Buckhurst,  and 
wrath  relative  to  Hohenlo's  charges, 
243—246.  Returning  to  Holland :  his 
letter  to  his  secretary  and  the  queen's 
instructions  to  himself,  intercepted  by 
the  States,  252—258.  287.  His  own 
explanation  of  his  intentions,  and  com 
plaints  relative  to  the  interception  of 
his  letters,  259  note.  287,  288,  notes. 
Men  and  money  carried  by  him  to 
Holland,  267.  His  fire-ship  experiment 
at  Sluys :  result  of  his  effort  to  raise 
the  siege,  271—273.  275, 276.  Defend 
ing  his  proceedings,  276  note.  His 
treacherous  intentions  towards  the 
States,  289.  Text  thereof,  ibid,  notes. 
Difference  between  the  conduct  of 
himself  and  Buckhurst  to  the  queen, 

324.  His  dishonesty  towards  the  States, 

325,  326.     Sees  and  tells  the  truth  at 
last,  327,  328.  329  note.     His  alleged 
scheme  for  kidnapping  Maurice  and 
Barneveld,  330.     His  plot  for  seizing 
the  Dutch  cities,  331,  332.     Result  of 
his  attempt  upon  Leyden  and  fate  of 
his  chief  instruments,  333—338.     His 
game  played   out :    recalled  by   the 
queen:  medals  struck  upon  the  event, 
342—344.  In  the  sunshine  again,  345. 
Results  of  his  administration,  348 — 
352.    Conduct  of  his  partizan,  Sonoy, 
at    Medenblik,    355.   358.    409.   320. 
Vexation  of  his  Dutch  adherents  at 
his  resignation,  411.  417.  Commander 
in  chief  of  the  land  forces  against  the 
Armada,  451.  His  sanguine  assurances 
to  the  queen,  453.  His  forces:  his  lik 
ing  for  the  generals  under  him,  513, 
514.     Commissariat  deficiencies,  515, 
516.  Quarrelling  with  Norris  and  Wil 
liams,  517.     Unsatisfactory  condition 
of  his  troops,  518,  519.     Greedy  of  all 
the  honours,  520.   His  counsels  to  the 
queen  on  her  military  needs,  and  as 
to  putting  herself  at  the  head  of  her 
troops,  521—523,  523  note.  His  death: 
Elizabeth's     conduct     thereon,    562. 
Effects  of  his  intrigues  on  the  Dutch 
States'  council,  iii,  31.  93.     See  i,  341. 
344.  302.  467.  473. 

LE  MAIRE,   Isaac,  iv,  448.     His  plot 


against  the  Dutch  India  trade. 
450. 

LE  MARCHAND,  fortress  sold  to  Parma 
by,  ii,  178.  180. 

LEMOS,  countess  of,  mistress  of  the  robes 
to  the  queen  of  Spain,  iv,  347.  Mis 
tress  of  the  queen  herself,  359. 

LENNOX,  lady,  an  alleged  victim  of  Lei 
cester,  i,  368. 

LEONINUS,  Dutch  envoy,  haranguing  be 
fore  Henry  III,  and  Catherine  de  Me 
dici,  i,  96.  Characterised  by  Leicester, 
398.  See  i,  401.  402.  406.  412.  484,  ii, 
251. 

LE  PETIT,  historian  sent  on  a  secret  mis 
sion  for  help  to  Antwerp,  i,  230. 

LERMA,  duchess  of,  held  in  awe  by  her 
mistress,  iv,  347.  359. 

LERMA,  Duke  of,  formerly  Marquis  of 
Denia,  iv,  137.  163.  240.  241.  255. 
"  Generally  hated  by  his  own  country," 
280,  note  3.  His  personal  aspect,  accu 
mulated  wealth,  &c,  344.  Origin  of 
his  influence  with  Philip  III,  345.  His 
steady  pursuit  of  his  own  interests, 
family  aggrandisements,  &c,  346. 
Proofs  of  his  unlimited  sway  in  the 
State,  and  entire  mastery  over  his 
king,  347—352.  357.  358.  How  and 
why  he  punished  the  queen,  359,  360. 
See  396.  401.  457.  526. 

LE  SIETJR,  his  sneer  at  Morgan's  reg 
iment,  i,  77. 

LEWIS  GUNTHER  of  Nassau,  his  first  ap 
pearance  in  battle,  and  narrow  escape, 
iii,  338—340.  At  the  storming  of 
Cadiz,  384.  His  exploit,  385.  Knighted, 
386.  Commander  of  the  cavalry  at 
Nieuport,  iv,  8.  His  preparations  for 
action,  25,  26.  28.  Chafing  with  im 
patience,  32.  Plan  devised,  33,  34. 
His  two  charges  and  their  results,  35. 
37,  38.  Prisoner  assigned  to  him,  46. 
His  gift  to  Maurice,  ibid.  His  account 
of  the  action  contrasted  with  that  of 
Vere,  51 — 54.  His  self-sacrifice  rela 
tive  to  his  prisoner,  98.  His  death, 
213.  See  iv,  48.  201. 

LEWIS  WILLIAM  or  William  Lewis  of 
Nassau,  Stadholder  of  Friesland,  i,  13. 
33.  Opposing  the  Spaniards  in  Fries- 
land,  163.  His  peculiar  physiognomy: 
Leicester's  estimate  of  him,  398.  His 
conduct  relative  to  alleged  assassina 
tion  plots  against  himself,  242.  His 
proficiency  and  innovations  in  military 
science,  iii,  4,  98.  118.  On  the  turf- 
boat  experiment  at  Breda,  13  note. 
Convincing  his  cousin,  109.  Confes 
sion  of  two  assassins,  117.  [See  ii,  242J. 


LEYDEN. 


INDEX. 


MALDERE. 


603 


Made  governor  of  Groningen,  118.  His 
active  care  for  the  education  of  his 
younger  brothers,  119  note.  At  the 
siege  of  Steenwyck,  159, 160.  At  Coe- 
worden,  162.  His  wound  and  his  for 
titude  under  it,  168, 169.  His  letter  to 
Maurice  on  the  surrender  of  Gertruy- 
denberg,  264  note.  A  fortunate  pre 
caution,  269.  His  new  municipal 
office,  274.  On  the  defeat  at  Dourlens, 
333  note.  In  pursuit  of  Mondragon, 
342.  Movement  resolved  on  contrary 
to  his  advice,  iv,  4.  5.  Lifting  up  a 
warning  voice,  95.  In  peril :  fate  of  his 
rescuer,  211, 212.  Part  taken,  and  opin 
ions  held  by  him  relative  to  the  nego 
tiations  for  peace,  409.  414,  415,  429 
434.  453.  463.  468.  476.  501.  Emolu 
ments  secured  to  him,  535.  His  fame 
as  authority  in  military  matters,  570. 
See  ii,  45.  iii,  104.  112.  187.  276,  277. 
455.  586.  iv,  2.  8.  96.  201.  234.  403  413. 

LEYDEN,  reward  to  the  heroic  burghers 
of,  ii,  9.  Religious  toleration :  efforts 
of  the  Calvinists  for  supremacy  and 
result  thereof,  333—338.  Course  of 
study  established  by  Maurice  at  the 
University,  iii,  97.  See  102.  299.  Reli 
gious  controversies,  iv,  537.  Fame  oi 
the  university,  567. 

LEYVA,  Antonio  and  Alonzo  de,  Spanish 
commanders  in  the  Armada,  ii,  466. 
478,  479.  481. 

LEYVA,  Sancho  de,  ii,  541. 

LIBERTAS,  Petrus  of  Marseilles,  his  pa 
triotic  conduct,  iii,  366. 

LIEFKENSHOEK,  captured  by  the  Spani 
ards  :  slaughter  of  the  garrison,  i,  154, 
155.  Retaken  by  the  Antwerpers,  188. 

LIGNE,  Count  de,  Prince  of  Espinoy,  how 
to  be  kept  in  the  right  track,  iii,  361. 

LILLO,  defence  of :  repulse  of  the  Span 
iards,  i,  156,  157. 

LINGEN  captured  by  Maurice,  iii,  457. 
Surprised  by  the  Spaniards,  iv,  234. 
Garrisoned  by  them,  235. 

LINSCHOTEN,  John  Huygen  van,  his  In 
dian  travels  and  their  result  upon 
foreign  traffic,  iii,  547 — 549.  His  con 
victions  regarding  a  north-east  pas 
sage,  553.  His  expedition  and  its  re 
sults,  556—559. 

LIPPE  river,  iii,  337,  338.  456. 

LIPSIUS,  Justus,  bewailing  Maurice's 
successes,  iv,  207,  210.  His  changes  of 
creed  and  death,  275. 

LISBON,  fate  of  an  anti-Spanish  merchant 
of,  ii,  507.  Result  of  an  English-Dutch 
expedition  thither,  555,  556. 

LITTLE  Troy,  iv,  194,  195.  197.  214,  215. 


LOCHEM,  iv,  262,  263,  recaptured  by 
Maurice,  265. 

LOGIER,  Captain,  havoc  committed 
among  the  Spanish  galleys  by,  iv, 
123.  His  wound,  124. 

LONDON  in  Elizabeth's  days  as  compared 
with  some  continental  cities,  i,  53.  306. 
Its  site,  aspect,  chief  edifices,  310,  311. 
Its  doubled  contribution  of  ships  and 
men  to  fight  the  Armada,  ii,  454.  Lei 
cester's  contempt  for  its  military  men, 
518. 

LONGLE*E'S  beliefs  as  to  the  destination 
of  the  Armada,  il,  436,  437. 

LOON,  Colonel  John  van,  commandant 
of  Ostend,  his  fate,  iv,  189. 194. 

LOPEZ,  Dr.,  the  poisoner,  his  schemes 
and  his  end,  iii,  295—297. 

LORRAINE  princes,  iii,  127,  138.  202. 
See  Guise. 

LOUISA  de  Coligny,  widow  of  William 
the  Silent,  her  several  bereavements, 
privations,  &c,  i,  15. 16.  Regard  of  the 
Hollanders  for  her,  17.  William 
Herle's  visit  to  her,  17  note.  Her  al 
leged  feelings  towards  the  French 
king  and  the  English  queen,  72.  73-. 
Thirsting  for  vengeance  on  her  hus 
band's  murderers :  poverty  of  her 
family,  394, 395.  Conferring  with  the 
Dutch  envoys  to  France,  iii,  479,  480. 
482.  See  i,  342.  343. 

LOYASA,  Garcia  de,  Archbishop  of  Toledo, 
iii,  507.  His  last  duty  to  Philip,  508. 

LYLY,  William,  on  the  Battle  of  Ivry,  iii, 

54.  56,  notes. 
LYONS,  Archbishop  of,  iii,  66.  76. 233. 234. 

MAALZOON,  Francis,  Dutch  envoy  and 
councillor,  i,  313.  406.  His  studies  and 
theories  relative  to  the  Arctic  route  to 
India,  iii,  550.  553—556. 

MAAS,  Jacob,  commissioner  for  Parma, 
ii,  359,  360.  373. 

MACNEIL,  Shane,  Irish  rebel,  iv,  94. 

MADRID,  Lerma's  arbitrary  removal  of 
the  Spanish  court  from,  iv,  351.  Re 
turn  of  the  court.  352. 

MAHOMET  III,  the  "  Grand  Turk,"  rid 
ding  himself  of  his  nineteen  brothers, 
iii,  329.  His  campaign  of  1596,  its 
tragic  and  its  comic  sides,  411 — 414. 
His  bargain  with  the  mutineers  in 
Pappa,  iv,  57,  58. 

MAHU,  Admiral  Jacob,  Dutch  navigator, 
his  fate,  iii,  578. 

MALABAR,  iv.  244. 

MALACCA,  exploits  of  the  Dutch  at,  iv, 
417.  418.  420.  421. 

MALDERE,  delegate  from  Zeeland,  iv, 


604 


MALPIERRE. 


INDEX. 


MAURICE. 


434.   Bandy  ing  pro  verbs  with  Richar 
dot,  449. 

MALPIERRE,  French  envoy  in  Brussels, 
on  the  reticence  of  the  parties  to  the 
League,  i,  115. 

MANCICIDOR,  Don  Juan  de,  peace  com 
missioner  from  Spain  to  the  States,  iv, 
428.  431.  485. 

MANRIQUEZ  at  the  Kowenstyn  fight,  i, 
220.  His  legion  in  mutiny,  iii,  70. 

MANSELL,  Sir  Robert,  his  attack  on  the 
Spanish  galleys,  iv,  114. 

MA.NSFELD,  Agnes,  i,  32,  ii.  3.  372. 

MANSFELD,  Count  Charles,  message 
sent  by  his  father  to,  and  urged  on  him 
by  Parma,  i,  217.  218.  Why  he  re 
signed  his  post,  iii,  76.  His  hatred  of 
Parma,  216.  His  penchant  for  carica 
turing,  222.  223.  His  attempt  to  help 
the  League,  227.  In  the  wrong  place, 
258,  259.  His  tyranny  over  his  father, 
277.  "A  diabolical  genius,"  278.  Off  to 
the  Turkish  wars,  329.  His  reception 
at  Vienna,  330.  His  last  hours,  ibid. 

MANSFELD,  Count  Peter  Ernest,  station 
and  command  assigned  to,  i,  157.  His 
prompt  action  at  the  attack  on  the 
Kowenstyn,  215.  His  characteristic 
message  to  his  son,  217.  219.  Honour 
asked  by  Parma  for  him,  227.  Effect 
of  a  gunpowder  accident,  229.  Laying 
siege  to  Grave,  ii,  10.  11,  Captures 
Gertruydenberg,  545.  His  post  in  Par 
ma's  absence,  iii,  76. 163.  218.  His  ani 
mosity  to  Parma,,  216.  221,  222.  Get 
ting  the  worst  of  it  at  Gertruydenburg, 
258—260.  263.  An  apt  retort,  260.  In 
his  dotage ;  his  quarrels  with  his  son, 
277,  278.  Struggling  for  place,  280. 
Superfluous  in  the  Netherlands,  330. 
See  i,  258,  ii,  545.  iii,  265.  272.  359. 

MANSFIELD,  Captain,  pirate  as  well  as 
patriot,  iii,  174.  In  safe  keeping,  179. 

MARGARET,  Archduchess  of  Austria, 
married  to  the  Infante  (Philip  III)  iii, 
503.  Her  fear  of  her  attendants  and 
devotion  to  her  husband,  iv,  347.  358. 
Indignities  put  upon  her,  359,  360. 
Her  small  pleasures,  361. 

MARGARET  of  Valois,  wife  of  Henry  of 
Navarre,  i,  47.  Her  infidelities  and 
profligacy,  48. 

MARIA,  Empress  Dowager,  Lerma's  tac 
tics  towards,  iv,  351.  Her  relationship 
to  Philip  II  and  III,  ibid,  note. 

MARIE  de  Medicis.  iii,  593. 

MARMOUT IER,  miraculous  balsam  at,  iii, 
243. 

MARNIX,  Philip  de,  see  Sainte  Alde- 
gon4e, 


MAROTI,  Michael,  mutiny  of  his  men,  iv. 
57. 

MARQUETTE,  Daniel  de  Hartaing,  Lord 
of,  swearing  his  men  to  fidelity,  iv, 
32.  Doing  his  work  as  Commandant 
of  Ostend,  196,  197.  Result  of  coun 
cils  summoned  by  him,  214. 

MARSEILLES  wrested  from  the  hands  of 
the  League,  iii,  365,  366. 

MARTINI,  recorder  of  Antwerp,  i,  141. 
Why  put  under  arrest,  265.  Purport 
of  his  confession,  271. 

MARY  Stuart,  Queen  of  Scots,  "daughter 
of  debate,"  cause  identified  with :  Eliz 
abeth's  asseveration  relative  to  her.  i, 
28.  Interests  at  home  and  abroad  typi 
fied  by  her  name,  29.  306.  Cause  of 
Leicester's  animosity  to  wards  her,  369. 
Her  spies  about  Leicester,  374.  Hus 
band  proposed  for  her  by  Philip,  378. 
380.  Her  tragedy  approaching  its 
catastrophe,  ii,  104, 105.  189,  190.  The 
end,  191 — 193.  Designated  successor 
to  her  throne,  iii,  43.  See  419. 

MASSACRE  of  St.  Bartholomew,  compli 
city  of  Philip  II  in  the,  i,  15.  Its  ori 
ginator  and  chief,  42.  See  263.  259. 

MATELIEFF  de  Jonghe,  Dutch  admiral, 
iv,  244.  His  attack  upon  Malacca,  417 
—419.  His  battle  with  a  Spanish  fleet, 
420—422.  His  recovery  of  Ternate, 

423.  Eluding  a  Portuguese  squadron, 

424.  His  reception  on  his  return  home, 
ibid. 

MATTHES,  Joost,  his  engineering  servi 
ces  to  Maurice,  iii,  161. 

MATTHIAS,  Archduke,  declared  king  of 
Hungary,  iv,  539.  Feelings  of  the 
patriots  on  his  establishment  of  reli 
gious  freedom,  540. 

MAULDE,  Nicholas  de,  ii,  262.  Conspiracy 
joined  in  by  him,  334.  Flight,  arrest, 
confession,  and  sentence,  335 — 337. 
Ancient  custom  revived  in  his  case, 
337,  338. 

MAURICE  of  Nassau,  prince  of  Orange, 
his  character :  motto  assumed  by  him, 
i,  15.  Placed  at  the  head  of  the  State 
council :  watchfulness  of  the  estates 
over  his  youth,  17.  His  appeal  and 
warning  pending  negotiation  with 
France,  62.  Feelings  towards  the 
French  king  and  English  queen  as 
cribed  to  him,  72.  73.  Example  set 
him  by  his  lieutenant,  151.  Serving 
his  apprenticeship,  163.  His  debut  as  a 
soldier,  211.  Warning  sent  to  him  by 
Aldegonde,  270.  An  English  corre 
spondent's  report  of  him,  272  note.  His 
chief  territorial  possession,  301.  In- 


MAURICE. 


INDEX. 


MAURICE. 


605 


fluence  of  Villiers  over  him,  333.  395. 
His  submission  to  the  conditions  de 
manded  by  Elizabeth.  341—343.  Will 
ing  to  subordinate  himself  to  Leicester, 
394.  His  character  developing  itself: 
Leicester's  estimate  of  him,  397. 
His  earliest  military  achievement,  ii, 
34 — 36.  Apprehensions  and  schemes 
of  Leicester  respecting  him,  78,  79. 
108.  Chief  of  the  opposition  to  Lei 
cester,  80.  His  personal  aspect  and 
studies  :  mistaken  estimates  of  him  at 
this  epoch,  136,  137.  373.  413—415. 
Titles  and  authorities  conferred  on 
him,  187,  188.  215.  217.  234.  251.  252. 
355.  409.  Alleged  plot  to  kidnap  him, 
330.  Marching  against  Sonoy  :  Eng 
lish  soldiers  opposed  to  him,  409,  410, 
417.  End  of  the  affair,  420.  Reproached 
by  Elizabeth :  his  manly  reply,  418, 
419.  At  Bergen-op-Zoom,  538.  At  Ger- 
truydenburg,  545.  547.  Honouring 
Schenk's  remains,  553.  Preparing  for 
his  part  in  the  coming  struggles,  563. 
Realising  his  chosen  device,  iii,  2.  De 
voted  to  mathematics :  his  coadjutor  in 
his  military  studies,  3,  4.  The  Breda 
stratagem  matured  by  him,  6,  7.  Its 
success,  13.  15.  Effects  due  to  the 
condition  of  his  army,  70.  92.  Its  or 
ganization  and  equipment,  93 — 97. 
improvements  introduced  by  him:  his 
system  of  discipline,  amenability  to 
danger,  &c,  97 — 101.  Characteristics 
of  his  genius :  work  for  his  country  be 
fore  him,  102,  103.  Stratagem  by 
which  he  gained  Zutphen,  104,  105. 
His  attack  on  and  capture  of  Deventer, 
105—110.  Besieging  Groningen,  111. 
Intermediate  successes,  113 — 119.  Re 
sumption  of  the  siege,  270 — 272.  His 
narrow  escape,  273.  His  clemency  to 
the  vanquished,  275,  276.  His  assault 
on  Steenwyck  ;  results  of  his  engineer 
ing,  157—161.  The  like  at  Coeworden, 
161 — 169.  His  subsequent  relief  of  the 
place,  269.  His  operations  at  Gertruy- 
denburg,  255—258.  Teaching  his  old 
instructor,  261.  Victorious  without 
knowing  it,  262—263.  Housing  the 
Spanish  mutineers,  292.  Poison-plots 
against  him,  298—300.  His  attempt 
at  Grol :  out-manoeuvred  by  a  nona 
genarian,  335 — 342.  His  subsequent 
capture  of  the  place,  456.  His  effort 
to  relieve  Henry  IV  at  Calais,  368. 
Gratitude  of  the  king,  372.  His  vic 
tory  at  Hulst  reversed,  394,  395.  His 
march  upon  Turnhout  and  route  of  the 
Spaniards,  422—431.  Trophies  cap 


tured,  432.  Letters  between  himself 
and  the  archduke  on  a  "  no  quarter  " 
rumour,  ibid  note.  Moral  effect  of 
this  achievement,  433,  434.  Family 
troubles,  455.  His  military  successes  in 
1597  :  results  of  his  clement  policy, 
455 — 457.  Inducements  to  submit  to 
Spain  offered  to  him,  473.  On  the 
question  of  an  arctic  route  to  India, 
553.  On  the  defensive  against  the  ad 
miral  of  Arragon,  582.  Elizabeth's  eu 
logium  on  him,  584.  His  recovery  of 
Crevecoeur,  589. 

His  opinions  touching  the  States'  pro 
ject  for  invading  Flanders,  iv,  3.  Weak 
element  in  his  character,  4.  Bowing 
to  authority,  5.  His  armament  for  and 
embarkation  on  the  expedition,  6 — 8. 
March  on  and  arrival  before  Nieuport, 
9 — 11.  His  heroic  decision  on  learning 
of  Ernest's  failure,  27.  His  address  to 
his  troops,  31,  32.  His  outburst  of 
gratitude  on  his  success :  thanksgiv 
ings  on  the  occasion  42,  43.  His  sar 
casm  to  a  great  prisoner,  44.  Result 
due  to  his  heroism,  48 — 50.  Conflict 
ing  statements  of  his  kinsmen  and 
Vere,  51—54.  A  fable  and  its  corol 
lary,  55,  56.  His  siege  and  capture  of 
Rheinberg,  64,  65.  His  humane  way 
of  dealing  with  vanquished  foes,  65, 
66.  112.  212.  Again  on  his  march  into 
Flanders:  his  army  and  his  course; 
95, 96.  Besieging  Grave  :  his  elaborate 
engineering  works,  97 — 99.  Effect 
produced  by  them  on  his  visitors, 
oriental  and  occidental,  110,  111.  Sur 
render  of  the  place,  112.  His  dealings 
with  the  archduke's  mutineers,  103. 
129,  130.  His  proceedings  at  Ostend, 
117,  118.  181.  186.  191.  Reprisals 
forced  upon  him  by  the  enemy's  bar 
barities,  125,  126.  Progress  of  his 
Flemish  campaign;  debarkation  on 
and  preparations  at  Cadzand,  201, 
202.  At  issue  with  the  States-General : 
expectations  and  commands  of  the 
latter,  203.  213.  How  fort  St.  Catha 
rine  fell  into  his  hands,  203 — 205. 
Escaping  a  dilemma,  205.  Avenging 
the '  murder  of  his  trumpeter,  206. 
Clearing  the  way  to  Sluys,  206,  207. 
His  solemn  fast,  208.  Sitting  down  to 
the  siege,  209.  Surrender  of  the  place 
to  him,  213.  His  habit  of  obedience 
to  the  States-General,  213.  232.  Re 
ceiving  his  troops  after  their  abandon 
ment  of  Ostend,  215.  Waking  up  from 
a  dream  of  victory,  233.  His  encount 
ers  with  Spinola  and  their  untov.  ard 


606 


MAXIMILIAN. 


INDEX. 


MENDOZA. 


results,  234—239.  Grumblings  of  the 
States :  Policy  of  liis  Fabian  tactics, 
239,  240.  Points  of  contrast  between 
himself  and  Spinola,  241.  Growing 
disagreements  between  himself  and 
Advocate  Barneveldt,  256.  398—400. 
499.  503.  510.  545.  Watching  his  foe : 
disposition  of  his  troops  on  the  Waal, 
261—264.  Loss  of  Rheinberg :  recap 
ture  of  Lochem,  264,  265.  Censure 
passed  on  him  for  his  abandonment  of 
Groll,  266 — 269.  Considerations  on  his 
conduct,  269,  270.  French  designs 
upon  his  loyalty  to  the  States,  285. 
286.  Justice  done  to  him  by  the 
French  envoy,  291.  His  aversion  to 
peace  negotiations,  294,  295.  310.  414. 
435.  Popular  feelings  in  unison  there 
with,  398.  Taking  part  in  secret  inter 
views  and  other  conferences  prepara 
tory  to  a  peace,  301—304.  403.  429. 
453.  Supplementing  a  work  prayed 
and  fasted  for,  316.  Speaking  plainly 
to  a  negotiator,  393.  396.  Proof 
against  golden  inducements,  415.  479. 
Scene  on  the  occasion  oi  his  meeting 
with  Spinola,  430,  431,  487.  Reason 
ably  indignant,  467.  Boiling  over  with 
wrath,  468.  His  arguments  against 
negotiating  a  peace  with  Spain,  470. 
484—488.  Short-sighted  notions  of 
toleration,  471 — 475.  Suspicions  as  to 
his  motives  -.  possible  objects  of  his 
ambition,  475,  476.  481.  His  home- 
thrusts  against  king  James,  493. 
Amends  made  for  same,  494.  His  reply 
to  Jeannin's  discourse,  501.  Offensive 
conduct  of  his  secret  envoy  to  Henry 
IV,  and  scolding  administered  by  the 
latter,  505 — 509.  Perceiving  and  re 
conciling  himself  with  the  inevitable, 
and  acting  accordingly,  510.  513.  514. 
Yearly  allowance  granted  to  him  on 
the  conclusion  of  the  truce,  535.  His 
"  craving  humour,"  ibid  note.  What 
he  was  and  was  not :  sovereignties 
likely  and  unlikely,  543,  544.  Reli 
gious  party  with  which  he  allied  him 
self,  545.  A  bride  and  a  dowry  offered  | 
to  him,  552.  His  military  improve 
ments,  561—570.  See  i,  365.  4ll.  424. 
482.  ii,  37.  67.  91.  183.  267.  275.  335. 
337.  346.  445.  lii,  27.  34,  187.  313  343. 
344  484.  586.  iv,  409.  413.  437.  447. 
463.  492.  500.  504.  536  565. 

MAXIMILIAN,  archduke,  his  flight  from 
the  battle  of  Keveste,  ui,  413.  See  iv, 
57  540. 

MAYENNE,  duke  of,  lieutenant-general 
for  the  League,  mce  "  Mucio"  deceased, 


ii,  561.  563.  iii.  2.  Commanding  the 
League  army  at  Ivry,  50 — 52.  His 
defeat  and  night,  56,  57.  His  brag, 
57,  58.  Hinting  his  desires,  69.  Paris 
intriguers  against  him,  125.  127.  His 
own  capacity  for  intrigue,  128.  His 
bargainings  with  and  relationstowards 
Philip  II,  129.  137.  197.  202,  203.  207. 
209.  211.  213.  215.  217  229.  232.  247. 
Turning  the  tables  on  the  Sixteen, 
129 — 131.  At  the  siege  of  Rouen:  his 
advice  to  Parma,  139.  143.  His  dupli 
city  towards  the  latter,  147.  His  triple 
game-,  chief  elements  in  his  character, 
189,  190.  Keeping  his  own  counsel, 
191 ,  213.  Object  of  his  assembly  of  the 
estates  of  France,  231—234.  Offer  of 
Nemours  to  him,  236.  Dictating  his 
terms;  avoiding  the  Spanish  trap,  237 
— 239,  His  dissimulation  understood 
and  denounced  by  the  Spanish  agents, 
248—250.  282.  His  terms  with,  and 
game  played  upon  him  by,  Henry  IV, 
250,  251.  Sum  paid  him,  501.  See  iii, 
67.  74  76.  78.  80.  147.  194.  249  note. 
351  note,  iv,  370. 

MECHLIN,  i,  136.  138. 139. 

MEDENBLIK  held  by  mutinous  Leices- 
trians,  ii,  355.  358.  409.  Surrendered, 
420.  544. 

MEDINA  Sidonia,  duke  of,  captain-gen 
eral  of  the  Armada,  ii,  464.  His  plan  of 
operations,  &c,  465—469.  In  action, 
475,  476.  480.  482.  492.  496.  His  alter 
native  for  disobedient  captains,  478 
Amenities  of  the  Calais  governor,  488. 
Doubts  and  suspicions,  490.  A  baffled 
intention,  497.  Flying  before  the 
enemy,  501.  His  return  to  Spain,  507. 

•  Visions  dispelled  thereby,  534.  Burn 
ing  his  fleet  to  prevent  its  capture,  iii, 
386.  See  ii,  510.  511. 

MEDRADO,  don  Diego  de ;  squadron  un 
der  command  of,  ii,  466.  471. 

MEETKERK,  Adolph,  president  of  Flan 
ders,  his  character  and  experience,  i, 
77.  Treslong  at  enmity  with  him, 
149.  Joins  in  the  Leyden  conspiracy, 
ii,  333.  335.  Valour  and  fate  of  his 
four  sons,  ii,  262.  271.  iii,  107. 107, 108 
notes.  386.  See  i,  406.  iv,  88. 

MENDOZA,  Andreas  Hurtado  de,  Portu 
guese  admiral,  and  his  fleet,  put  to 
flight  by  skipper  Hermann,  iv,  106, 
107. 

MENDOZA,  don  Bernardino  de,  Spanish 
ambassador  in  Paris,  his  character  and 
capacity,  i,  66,  67.  His  attempt  to 
prevent  the  reception  of  the  Dutch 
envoys  and  its  result,  99,  100.  His 


MENDOZA. 


INDEX. 


MONDKAGON. 


607 


conferences  with  the  French  king  and 
his  mother  thereon,  and  on  her  claim 
to  Portugal,  101—108.  105.  His  sub 
sequent  conference  with  Guise,  119. 
Eloquent  upon  the  queen  of  England's 
"abominations,"  124.  In  conference 
with  Villeroy  on  his  proposed  joint  in 
vasion  of  England,  124—127.  Rsport- 
ing  to  his  master  and  indicating  course 
to  be  pursued,  127—129.  On  the  per 
secution  of  catholics  in  England,  129. 
Queen  Elizabeth's  complaint  against 
him  :  chief  in  a  plot  against  her,  355, 
356.  Frightening  the  French  king,  ii, 
423.  424.  His  bootless  boast,  529. 
Jokes  at  his  expense,  531.  Spreading 
news  he  wished  to  be  true,  iii,  58. 
Famine  food  recommended  by  him,  65. 
Reinstated  in  his  master's  favour,  305. 
His  dealings  with  the  French  secret 
envoy,  307—309.  309  note.  See  i,  118, 
ii,  305.  306.  431  435.  469. 
MENDOZA,  Francisco,admiral  of Arragon, 
canvassing  Germany  on  behalf  of 
Philip  II,  iii,  414—416.  Commander, 
pro  tern,  in  the  Netherlands,  503.  His 
expedition  to  the  Rhine,  581.  His 
brutality  and  bigotry,  582 — 584.  Re 
sult  of  his  operations  at  Bommel  and 
Crevecceur,  585,  586.  Commander  of 
the  cavalry  at  Nieuport :  his  homicidal 
fame,  iv,  13,  14.  Leading  the  van,  29. 


Eliz.  i,  307,  308.  His  mistake  relative 
to  the  reality  of  Elizabeth's  anger  with 
Leicester,  451  note.  On  York's  traitor 
ous  leanings,  ii,  49.  On  the  number 
of  catholics  killed  at  Ostend,  iv,  216 
note.  Value  of  the  history  written  by 
him,  569. 

MEUKS  or  Mceurs,  Count  de,  his  service 
at  Deventer,  ii,  2.  His  bargain  with 
Schenk,  7.  Town  captured  by  him,  26. 
An  executioner's  job  desired  by  him, 
144.  Cause  of  his  hostility  to  Leicester 
and  his  party,  145.  188.  216.  Exciting 
astonishment  by  his  sobriety,  220. 
Occasion  of  his  death,  553.  See  i,  424. 
482.  ii.  57. 142. 

MEURS,  city  of,  captured  by  Maurice,  iv, 
66. 

MEXIA,  governor  of  Antwerp  citadel,  iv, 
226. 

MICHELZOON,  Jacob,  and  his  "Black 
Galley,"  iv,  121 .  His  engagement  with 
Spanish  vessels,  122,  123.  Killed,  124. 

MIDDLEBURGH,  the  first  incorporated 
city  of  Holland,  ii,  227.  Ravages  of 
English  pirates  upon  its  merchants, 
iii,  174  note.  Trade  monopoly  enjoyed 
by  its  citizens,  iv,  433. 

MILFORD  Haven,  Philip  of  Spam's  de. 
sign  on,  iii,  420. 

MILITARY  engineering  brought  to  bear 
at  the  siege  of  Antwerp,  i,  140. 


Prisoner :  an  ugly  reminder  from  one  i  MILITARY  science,  temp.  1590 :  Maurice's 
of  his  captors,  40,  41.  Dining  with  the  i     innovations  and  improvements,  iii,  95 
States'  General,  43.     Rough  jokes  atj     —102.     See  iv,  6.  67.  561—563.  570. 
his  expense,  44.    Assigned  to  Lewis  j  MILLING,  papal  agent  at  Madrid,  iv,  368. 
Gunther,  46.    Encamped  at  Thienen  ; 


strength  of  his  position.  96,  97.  Mag 
nanimity  of  the  Nassaus  in  relation  to 
his  liberation,  97—99.  His  violation 
of  his  plighted  word,  387. 
MENIN,  Joos  de,  pensionary  of  Dort, 
characterised  by  Lord  Leicester,  i,311. 1 


371. 

MIRANDA'S  request,  and  Maurice's  re 
mark  on  granting  it,  iii,  456. 

MCEURS,  see  Meurs. 

MOL,  Peter,  Dutch  captain,  helping  to 
sink  the  Spanish  galleys,  iv,  114.  His 
heroic  assault  on  Tydor,  249. 


His  addresses  to  Elizabeth  on  offering  |  MOLUCCA   Isles,   establishment  by  the 
her  the    sovereignty  of    the    Dutch       Dutch    of   relations   with    the,    108. 

Strife  with  the  Spaniards  and  Portu 
guese  :  successes  of  the  Dutch,  244-— 
250.  422—424. 


nty 

States,  318—3207  322.  325,  326.  329. 
331.  His  oration  at  Leicester's  instal 
lation,  411.  Taking  a  leading  part  in 


new  mission  to  England :  ii,  196, 
197.  203.  205.  Attempting  a  service 
for  Leicester,  326.  See  i,  398.  406. 

MERCCEUR,  duke  of,  routing  the  French 
forces  in  Brittany,  iii,  151,  152.  His 
service  to  and  promised  reward  from 
Philip,  201,  202.  Marriage  of  his 
daughter,  480. 

MESA.  Alphonso  de,  his  heroism  and  its 
reward,  ii,  29. 

METEREN,  Emanuel  van,  i,  306  note.  His 
Jjrnnjngs  of  the  English  people,  temp. 


MONCADA,  Don  Hugo  de,  ii,  466.  Disaster 
to  his  ship:  his  fight  with  the  English 
men  and  heroic  death,  493,  494. 

MONDEJAR,  Marquis  of,  set  free  on  con 
dition,  iii,  507. 

MoNDRAGON,Christopher,  rejoicing  over 
the  death  of  Orange,  i,  154.  His  fail 
ure  and  great  loss  of  men  at  Lillo,  156, 
157.  Kowenstein  in  his  iron  grip,  162. 
185.  Fort  upon  it  commanded  by  him, 
206.  Vowing  revenge  upon  Maurice 
iu,  115,  110,  163.  Keeping  house  ft 


608 


MONGYN. 


INDEX. 


NETHERLANDS . 


Antwerp  castle,  259.  330.  Preparing  | 
for  action,  336.  Ambush  prepared  by 
Maurice  for  him,  337.  His  counter- 
ambush  and  its  result,  337—342.  Char 
acter  and  end  of  his  ninety-two  years'  j 
career,  342,  343.  Relic  of  him  at 
Vienna,  343  note.  See  ii,  11,  12. 

MONGYN,  Captain,  killed,  iii,  262. 

MONLEVET'S  colloquy  with  Balvena,  iii, 
418. 

MONTEMARCIANO,  Duke  of,  with  his 
Swiss  at  Rouen,  iii,  138.  139.  Disap 
pearing  with  them,  145. 

MONTJOY,  Lord,  making  short  work  with 
Spanish  invaders  in  Ireland,  iv,  95. 

MOINTPENSIER,  Duchess  of,  failure  of  her 
plot,  ii,  425.  Her  food  for  the  famine- 
stricken,  iii,  65. 

MONTPENSIER,  Duke  of,  set  down  by 
Henry  IV,  iii,  391,  392. 

MOOR,  Joost  de,  vice-admiral  of  Zeeland, 
ii,  445.  His  brilliant  affair  with  the 
Spanish  galleys,  iv,  121—124. 

MOORS,  uneasy  feeling  in  Spain  regard 
ing  the,  iv,  293.  Story  of  their  expul 
sion,  336—339. 

MORA,  Cristoval  di,  see  Moura. 

MOREO,  Commander,  iii,  197.  His  calum 
nies  against  Parma,  203 — 207.  217. 

MORGAN,  Papist  correspondent  and  in 
triguer,  i,  374.  ii,  435. 

MORGAN,  Colonel,  English  volunteer  in 
the  Netherlands;  Le  Sieur's  contempt 
uous  remark  on  his  troops,  i,  77  How 
he  restored  discipline,  145.  Takes  part 
in  the  defence  of  Lillo,  156.  The  last 
to  abandon  his  position  at  the  Kowen- 
Btyn  fight,  223.  His  report  of  a  con 
versation  between  himself  and  Sainte 
Aldegonde,  276 — 279.  In  command  at 
Bergen-op-Zoom,  ii,  538. 

MOURA,  or  Mora,  Don  Cristoval  di,  Phil 
ip's  chief  favourite  and  finance  min 
ister,  ii,  458.  459.  Breaks  the  news 
of  the  defeat  of  the  Armada  to  the 
king,  535.  Watching  the  Arch 
duke  Ernest,  iii,  282.  Receiving  his 
master's  dying  injunctions,  508 — 
511.  Made  viceroy  of  Portugal,  iv, 
353. 

Mocio,  see  Guise. 

MULBERRY  culture  opposed  in  France, 
iv,  327. 

MULDER,  Captain,  his  valuable  work  on 
Netherlands'  history,  iii,  94  note. 

MUTINIES  of  the  States'  troops,  ii,  358. 
410.  544.  Of  the  Spanish  troops,  iv,  2. 
99—103.  210. 

NAARDEN,  rebellious  demonstrations  in, 


ii,  410,  411,  412.  Reduced  to  obedi. 
ence,  544. 

NANTES,  Edict  of,  drawn  up,  iii,  500. 

NASSAU  and  Orange  Nassau  family:  See 
Emilia.  Ernest  of  Nassau.  Frederick 
Henry.  Henry  of  Nassau.  John  of  Nas 
sau.  Justinus.  Lewis  Gunther.  Lewis 
William.  Maurice.  Philip,  Count. 
Philip  William.  William  the  Silent. 

NAUNTON,  Sir  Robert,  on  Leicester's  pro 
ficiency  as  a  poisoner,  i,  368. 

NEK,  Captain,  making  treaties  with  the 
Orientals,  iv,  108. 

NEMOURS,  edict  of,  its  conditions  and 
object,  i,  131. 

NEMOURS,  Duchess  of,  iii,  60.  Her  rebuke 
to  a  famine-stricken  mother,  64. 

NEMOURS,  Duke  of,  in  flight  from  Ivry, 
iii,  57.  Earnest  in  an  unholy  cause, 

60.  63.  85.    His  offer  to  Mayenne,  236. 
NETHERLANDS,  the ;  issues  involved  in 

their  revolt  against  Spain,  5.  Pro 
vinces  in  Spanish  possession  as  distin 
guished  from  the  "  United  Provinces," 
8,  9.  Origin  and  object  of  the  war 
with  Spain  and  the  Inquisition,  9,  10. 
Sovereignty  and  constitution  of  the 
United  Provinces  collectively  and  in 
dividually,  11 — 13.  Measures  adopted 
by  the  "  Estates  "  after  the  murder  of 
William  the  Silent,  13, 14.  Their  con 
duct  towards  and  regard  for  his  widow, 
15.  17.  Constitution  and  powers  of 
their  counsel,  17, 18.  Medal  and  motto 
emblematic  of  the  country's  condition, 
18.  Result  of  the  Prince  of  Parma's 
attempt  to  win  their  allegiance  to 
Spain,  19.  Treacherous  conduct  of  the 
Flemish  cities,  and  result  of  same,  19 
— 23.  Result  of  the  deaths  of  Anjou 
and  Orange  (William  the  Silent)  24. 
Why  a  French  policy  was  favoured 
by  Orange  :  religion  of  the  republic, 
25.  Indignation  at  the  apathy  of  Ger 
many,  34,  35.  Determination  to  seek 
French  alliance,  36.  Value  of  such 
alliance,  52 — 54.  Step  taken  on  Anjou's 
death,  55.  Indignities  put  upon  the 
agents  sent  to  negotiate  with  France, 
56,  57.  Information  gathered  in  a 
secret  visit  to  Paris :  stipulation  of 
Henry  III,  58,  59.  Reception  of  his 
envoy  by  the  States,  61.  Reasons  for 
hesitation :  Prince  Maurice's  appeal, 

61,  62.    Effect  of  the  French  envoy's 
eloquence  :   sovereignty  offered  to  his 
king,  63,  64.     Policy  of  England  to 
wards  the  provinces,  65.     Apprehen 
sions  of  foreign  ambassadors  in  Paris, 
66,  67.  The  English  envoy's  anxieties, 


NETHERLANDS. 


INDEX. 


NETHERLANDS. 


609 


68 — 70.  Longings  of  the  French  king 
71.  Partisan  reports  as  to  the  feelings 
of  the  Dutch  notabilities  towards 
France  and  England,  72 — 74.  Enthu 
siasm  in  favour  of  an  English  alliance 
75  mtes.  Temporising  and  tantalising 
attitude  of  England's  court  and  queen 
81,  82.  Arrival  of  an  English  envoy 
his  audience  with  the  States-General 
85,  86.  Subsidence  of  enthusiasm  to 
wards  France  and  affection  for  Eng 
land,  90—93.  Dispatch  of  a  new 
legation  to  France  :  entertainment  ac 
corded  to  them,  95.  Their  reception 
at  the  Louvre  :  its  puppet-show  cha 
racter  and  profitless  result,  96,  97. 
Return  home  of  the  envoys,  98.  Real 
object  of  the  French  king  and  his 
mother  in  entertaining  them,  103 — 
105.  107.  Secret  mission  sent  to  Henry 
of  Navarre  :  his  advice  and  generous 
offer,  108—110.  Step  next  taken  after 
failure  of  the  embassy  to  France,  135. 
Provinces  re-annexed  to  Spain  :  pro 
vinces  in  whose  fate  was  involved  the 
fate  of  protestantism,  136,  137.  Cause 
for  distrust  of  Sainte  Aldegonde,  270. 
Shape  in  which  Elizabeth's  help  was 
desired,286.  Substance  of  their  envoy's 
conferences  with  Elizabeth  and  her 
ministers,  289 — 295.  Their  reply  to 
her  proposals,  296,  297.  Ill  effects  of  a 
dispatch  at  a  critical  moment,  298, 299. 
Hitch  brought  about  by  the  question 
of  guarantees  to  England,  299—301. 
Basis  of  future  negotiation  agreed 
upon,  303.  Religious  considerations ; 
character  of  the  negotiations,  304, 305. 
Further  efforts  towards  securing  Eng 
lish  aid :  despatch  of  a  new  deputation 
to  London,  310.  Its  chief  members, 
311 — 317.  Their  conferences  and  dis 
cussions  with  the  queen  and  her  states 
men,  318—331.  Trying  to  obtain  a 
little  more  from  the  queen :  English 
commander  desired  by  the  States,  335. 
Their  sine  qua  non,  337.  An  unper 
formed  promise,  338.  Terms  at  length, 
agreed  on,  339.  Unjust  taunts  of  the 
English  against  the  States,  354.  Un 
animity  of  view  in  England  as  to  ne 
cessity  of  standing  by  them,  380,  381, 
notes.  The  like  of  English  visitors 
among  them,  388.  What  was  meant 
by  alliance  with  England,  389.  Go 
vernorship  offered  to  and  accepted  by 
Leicester,  402—407.  His  installation, 
409.  Wrathful  letter  from  Elizabeth 
on  the  occasion,  422.  Voluntarily  in 
creasing  their  contributions  in  support 
VOL.  IV. — 2  R 


of  soldiers,  438.  Elucidatory  observa 
tion,  ibid  note.  Formal  delivery  of  the 
queen's  reprimand,  447.  Painful  sus 
picions  relative  to  her  bond  fides,  448. 
Their  expedition  to  waylay  the  Span 
ish  treasure  fleet,  449.  Their  exculpa 
tory  reply  to  the  queen's  message  ,450. 
Explanatory  comment,  451  note.  Their 
suspicions  against  Leicester,  453.  Con 
ciliatory  despatch  from  Elizabeth,  460. 
Textual  extracts  from  same,  463  note. 
Suspecting  the  queen  of  double  deal 
ing,  472.  476.  Their  further  letters  to 
her  on  Leicester's  appointment,  479, 
480,  notes.  Turn  given  by  her  to  her 
complaints  against  them,  483  and 
note.  Cooling  towards  and  quarrelling 
•with  Leicester,  485 — 487.  Regard  had 
for  them  in  the  secret  negotiation  for 
peace,  499,  500.  Pecuniary  proof  of 
their  appreciation  of  Leicester's  posi 
tion,  523  note. 

River  boundaries  of  their  territory,  ii, 
1,  2.  Their  regard  for  education  in 
their  struggles  for  freedom,  9.  Poli 
tical  and  financial  considerations  as 
to  union  with  England,  61,  62.  Con 
sequences  of  Elizabeth's  parsimony 
and  caprices,  64.  200,  201.  217.  237, 
238.  240.  Aggravation  of  the  quarrels 
with  Leicester,  67.  68.  74—78.  Oppo 
sition  to  his  finance  chamber,  70. 
Suicidal  restrictions  upon  commerce, 
71 — 73.  Conferences  with  Leicester 
on  his  projected  visit  to  England,  106 
— 110.  Gift  to  him  on  the  occasion, 
110  note.  Consequences  of  Leicester's 
retirement,  111.  215.  239.  Need  for  a 
union  with  England,  114.  Contention 
on  the  question  of  sovereignty  between 
the  Leicestrians  and  the  State  party, 
115—118.  221—223  225.  Lessons  on 
this  question  taught  by  Anjou's  con 
duct,  119.  Views  and  claims  of  the 
dominant  religious  bodies ;  antagon 
ism  of  the  church  and  the  States,  120 
—127.  224.  226,  227.  Contrast  b«- 
tween  the  condition  of  the  Spanish 
provinces  and  the  Republic,  128 — 134. 
Dignities  conferred  upon  Count  Mau 
rice,  and  why,  187,  188.  Envoys  sent 
to  Elizabeth :  their  conferences  with 
her  and  her  councillors,  195—200. 202 
—205.  210.  211.  Result  of  their  mis 
sion,  217.  Letters  sent  to  Leicester  and 
the  queen  upon  the  Deventer  and 
Zutphen  treasons,206— 210.  Reception 
of,  and  conferences  with,  Lord  Buck- 
hurst,  218—220.  Claim  of  antiquity 
for  the  States'  constitution :  its  true 


610 


NETHERLANDS. 


INDEX. 


NETHERLANDS. 


history,  227—229.  State  council  re 
solves:  effect  of  Leicester's  sudden 
return,  251,  252.  Action  taken  upon 
an  intercepted  letter  from  him  to  his 
secretary,  255 — 259.  Siege  and  capture, 
by  Parma,  of  Sluys,  260—276.  See 
Sluys.  Excitement  consequent  on 
Elizabeth's  peace  negotiations  with 
Spain,  286—290.  324.  Misrepresenta 
tions  of  the  conduct  of  the  States  by 
Leicester,  327.  His  plot  against  Mau 
rice  and  Barneveldt,  and  attempt  upon 
some  of  the  cities,  330—382.  The 
Ley  den  plot,  and  fate  of  its  chiefs,  332 
— 338.  Letters  from  the  queen  and 
Leicester  on  the  latter's  recall,  342 — 
344.  Result  of  his  administration,  348 
— 352.  Consequences  of  his  second  d"e- 
parture,  354,  355.  408.  Discordant  ele 
ments  at  work  :  efforts  of  the  Lei- 
cestrians  to  foment  mutiny,  409 — 412. 
417.  Result  of  Maurice's  letters  to 
England,  418—420.  Expostulating 
with  the  queen,  433.  Dutch  church 
delegates  sent  to  her,  434.  437.  Their 
notions  of  toleration,  438.  Their  con 
ferences  with  her  and  her  councillors, 
438 — 444.  Preparing  for  the  coming 
struggle,  445,  446.  Defiance  of  Parma 
by  the  native  mariners,  509.  524. 
Siege  of  Bergen-op-Zoom  :  its  result, 
537,  538.  541—543.  Result  of  the  de 
feat  of  the  Armada  upon  the  relations 
with  England,  544.  Betrayal  of  Ger- 
truydenberg  to  Parma  ;  feelings  en 
gendered  thereby,  544—547.  553.  Aid 
Bent  to  Henry  of  Navarre,  562. 
The  statesmen  and  the  soldier  suited 
to  the  States'  need  at  the  opportune 
moment,  iii,  2.  Appliances  against 
physical  encroachments,  3.  True 
creators  of  the  States'  army  :  disci 
plinary  and  other  reforms  introduced 
by  them,  4,  5.  93—102.  Territory  in 
the  provinces  still  held  by  the  Span- 
iards,5.  Successful  stratagem  at  Breda 
6—15.  [See  Breda.]  Nature  of  the  war 
in  which  the  provinces  were  engaged, 
17.  Unselfish  character  of  their 
achievements  :  progress  of  the  repub- 
HCj  18—21.  24—27.  State  of  the  "  obe 
dient  "  provinces ;  ghostly  panacea 
proposed  for  their  relief,  21 — 23.  Navy 
of  the  States,  27.  Inherent  vice  of  the 
Netherland  polity :  depository  of  su 
preme  power,  27 — 29.  Patriotic  con 
duct  of  magistrates  and  people,  30. 
Merger  of  the  State  council  in  the 
States-General:  effect  of  Leicester's 
intriguings,  30,  81.  93.  Extravagant 


claims  of  the  English  members  of 
the  State  council :  request  refused 
to  them,  32,  33.  Nature  of  the  re 
sponsibilities  and  functions  of  the 
States-General,  34.  Privileges  arro 
gated  by  them,  35.  Great  principle  the 
Nether-landers  were  fighting  for,  37. 
Their  reply  to  complaints  of  neutral 
neighbours,  and  catalogue  of  charges 
against  Spain,  38 — 41.  Military  move 
ments  and  successes  under  Maurice, 
104—119. 156 — 169.  Dangers  threaten 
ing  the  national  existence,  120,  121. 
Address  of  the  French  envoy  to  the 
States-General :  their  practical  reply, 
131_134.  Dislikes  produced  by  likes 
between  England  and  the  States,  170. 
Republican  plainness  and  monarchical 
courtliness,  171, 172.  Cross  complaints 
of  the  neighbour  nations,  173—176. 
Conferences  of  the  States'  envoy  with 
Elizabeth  and  her  councillors  thereon, 
177 — 184.  Siege  and  capitulation  to 
the  States  of  Gertruydenberg  and 
Groningen,  255—265.  270—276.  Im 
becility  of  the  course  pursued  in  the 
"obedient"  provinces,  282.  Their 
pageant  in  honour  of  Archduke  Er 
nest,  285 — 289.  Solid  achievements 
of  the  republicans,  283,  284.  Peace 
mission  from  the  "  obedient "  provin 
ces,  and  reply  of  the  States-General, 
301 — 304.  Course  taken  on  a  renewed 
application  from  Henry  IV,  for  aid, 
and  fame  won  by  it  for  the  States,  310 
—312.  Tightening  of  the  alliance  with 
Henry  IV,  314.  Scarcity  of  provisions : 
need  of  increased  levies  for  war  pur 
poses,  375.  Conjoint  attack  with  Eng 
land  on  the  Spanish  fleet,  and  its  re 
sult,  384—391.  Triple  alliance  with 
France  and  England  against  Spain: 
duplicity  of  the  latter  powers,  405, 406. 
408,  409.  Point  gained  by  the  republic, 
411.  The  march  to  Turnhout  and 
signal  victory  over  the  Spaniards,  422 
— -432.  Important  character  of  the 
.  achievement,  433.  Reception  of  and 
reply  to  a  Polish  envoy,  448—450. 
Victories  at  Rheinberg,  Grol,  Brevoort 
and  Enschede  :  a  year  well  begun,  well 
ended,  455—458.  Taxing  the  French 
king  with  his  breach  of  good  faith,  459, 
460.  Duped  both  by  France  and  Eng 
land,  461,  462.  English  complaints  of 
the  traffic  of  the  Republic  with  Spain, 
463,  464.  Offer  of  further  help  to 
France,  471.  Dealing  with  a  crafty  sug 
gestion  from  France  and  an  affectionate 
letter  from  Brussels,  472, 473.  Special 


NETHERLANDS. 


INDEX. 


NETHERLANDS. 


611 


missions  to  France  and  England  :  their 
object,  475.  Weather  obstacles  of 
those  days,  476, 477.  Progress  of  the 
envoys  :  their  reception  by  the  French 
king,  478—480.  His  make-believe 
conduct  and  impossible  propositions  : 
a  cliM-be&finale,  480—486.  Reception 
of  the  envoys  in  England,  486.  Their 
efforts  to  overcome  the  peace  inclina 
tions  of  the  queen  and  her  ministers, 
487 — 493.  Financial  difficulties:  her 
peremptory  demands,  494.  Renewed 
conferences  and  final  agreement,  495 
— 497.  Formal  transfer  of  the  provin 
ces  by  Philip  II,  to  his  daughter,  501. 
A  consideration  ignored  by  him,  502. 
Attitude  of  the  "obedient"  and  repub 
lican  Netherlanders  on  the  occasion, 
502,  503.  Original  object  of  the  rising 
against  Philip,  587,  538.  Effect  of  his 
confiscations,  539.  Simultaneously 
fighting  and  trading  with  Spain:  rapid 
expansion  of  the  republic's  commerce, 
544 — 546.  Progress  of  naval  enter 
prise  and  maritime  discovery:  pioneers 
in  the  work,  547—551.  North  Pole 
explorations,  552—577.  South  Pole 
expedition,  577 — 580.  Military  opera 
tions  in  1598 :  effect  of  disingenuous 
•  policy  on  the  part  of  allies,  581 .  Dwin 
dling  away  of  the  army:  financial  defi 
cit,  585.  Loss  and  subsequent  recov 
ery  of  Crevecceur,  585.  589.  Result  of 
prohibitions  on  foreign  trade,  586. 
More  talk  with  Queen  Elizabeth,  594. 
"  Sugar  and  Honey  "  from  her,  595. 
Her  Latin  and  her  threats  to  the 
States'  envoy,  598.  Manifest  intent  of 
the  republic,  599. 
Discontent  with  heavy  taxation  and  in 
adequate  re'sults,  iv,  1.  Determination 
to  invade  Flanders:  opinions  of  the 
military  leaders  on  the  project,  2 — 4. 
Preparations  for  and  particulars  of  the 
attack  upon  Nieuport,  5 — 50.  [See 
Nieuport.]  Effect  of  the  Nieuport 
campaign :  lesson  taught  to  the  States 
thereby,  55.  Ravages  and  brutalities 
of  the  pirate  Van  der  Waecken,  59. 
The  Republic's  only  possession  iv 
Flanders  (Ostend)  besieged  by  the 
Spaniards,  61,  62.  Details  of  the 
affair,  62—64.  66—93. 116—121.  126. 
127.  181—198.  213—217.  Principles 
typified  in  the  struggle,  225.  [See 
Ostend].  Another  march  into  Flanders: 
Siege  and  surrender  of  Grave,  95 — 97, 
112.  Discomfiture  of  the  Portuguese 
fleet  of  Bantam,  106,  107.  Extension 
of  commercial  and  political  relations 


with  the  East:  embassy  from  Sumatra, 
108 — 111.  A  naval  experiment  on  the 
Spanish  principle,  113.  Destruction  of 
privateer  squadrons  under  Frederic 
Spinola,  114—116.  121—124.  Estab 
lishment,  powers,  and  privileges  of  the 

Dutch  East  India  Company,  132 135. 

Results  of.  its  expeditions,  244 — 250. 
Envoys  sent  to  the  new  king  of  Eng 
land,  138.  Their  first  interview  with 
James,  147,  148.  Their  conferences 
with  De  Rosny,  and  with  the  English 
councillors,  158—160. 168—170.  What 
Cecil  thought  the  provinces  should  be' 
deprived  of,  157.  Secret  projects  of 
France  and  England  relative  to  the 
United  Provinces,  171. 175.  177.  179. 
The  States-General  permitted  to  raise 
recruits  in  Scotland,  180.  A  third — 
French  incited — project  for  invading 
Flanders  :  modest  intent  of  the  French 
king  in  connection  therewith,  199. 
Plan  of  the  campaign,  201.  Siege  and 
capture  of  Sluys,  and  operations  pre 
liminary  thereto,  201—213.  224.  [See 
Sluys].  Disposal  of  the  provinces  in 
James's  treaty  with  Spain,  219,  220. 
Spanish  protest  against  the  Dutch  en 
voy  in  England  being  styled  "  ambas 
sador,"  222.  A  colloquy  between  the 
"  ambassador  "  and  the  king,  223  note. 
The  Republic  left  to  fight  its  battles 
alone,  224.  255.  Irritating  results  of 
the  Anglo-Spanish  treaty;  fruit  born 
thereof  in  later  times,  227—229.  Ma- 
nufacture  due  to  the  development  of 
the  traffic  with  India,  231.  Abortive 
enterprise  against  Antwerp,  232.  Pro. 
fitless  campaign  against  Spinola,  232 
—240.  Repulse  of  the  Spaniards  at 
Bergen -op-Zoom,  250,  251.  Dealings 
with  the  Dunkirk  pirates,  251 — 253, 
Impoverished  exchequer:  military  in 
action,  255 — 257.  Renewal  of  opera 
tions  :  captures  and  recaptures :  an  in 
glorious  close,  259 — 267.  Censures 
passed  on  the  republic  and  its  chief, 
268 — 270.  Further  naval  operations : 
Klaaszoon's  heroic  self-immolation, 
270 — 274.  Heemskerk's  victorious  en 
terprise  and  death,  318—329.  Deaths  of 
some  representative  men,  275.  King 
James's  epithets  for  the  Netherlanders, 
279.  Designs  of  the  English,  Spanish, 
and  French  kings  (especially  of  the 
last)  on  the  States,  279.  281.  283—292. 
371.  464.  543.  Grant  of  a  charter  for  a 
West  India  company  :  its  terms  ;  con 
flicting  opinions  on  the  subject,  298 — 
300,  Trading  and  fighting  exploits  in 


612 


NETHERLANDS. 


INDEX. 


NIEUPORT. 


India,  417—425.  Desire  for  peace,  293. 
Secret  missions  from  the  archdukes 
and  Spain,  296. 301—808.  Negotiations 
for  and  completion  of  an  armistice,  315 
—317.  Meetings  of  envoys  for  discus 
sion  of  preliminaries  to  a  negotiation 
for  peace,  378 — 888.  Organization  of 
conferences,  389.  Offers  of' bribes  to  re 
publican  statesmen,  391.  397.  Arrival 
and  rejection  of  Philip's  ratification, 
392 — 396.  Popular  denunciations  of 
peace,  398.  Protacted  discussions,  403 
— 410.  Formal  answer  of  the  States 
to  the  commissioners,  410,  411.  Sine 
qud  non  agreed  on  by  the  States,  413. 
The  peace  party  and  their  opponents, 
415.  A  new  claimant  to  a  share  in  the 
conferences,  426.  Renewal  of  the  dis 
cussions,  434 — 440.  Obstinate  fights 
over  the  India  question,  441 — 448. 
450,  451.  Treaty  concluded  with  Eng 
land,  453.  A  present  end  to  peace 
negotiations  with  Spain,  463.  Negotia 
tions  for  a  truce  suggested,  467.  Angry 
discussions :  decision  arrived  at,  468, 
469.  The  toleration  question  :  argu 
ments  of  Maurice,  470—476.  Party 
strife  and  pamphleteering,  477,  478. 
Accusations  against  Barneveldt ;  his 
views  and  objects,  479 — 483.  Calum 
nies  against  him :  his  resignation  and 
recall,  500—504.  Modified  proposition 
of  the  Spanish  commissioners :  its  re 
jection  and  their  farewell,  483 — 487. 
Jeannin's  scheme  for  healing  the  rup 
ture  ;  discovery  and  publication  of 
Richardot's  secret  instructions :  their 
purport,  488—492.  Suggestions  for 
renewal  of  negotiations :  Maurice's 
quarrel  with  King  James's  agent,  492 
— 494.  Discussion  re-opened:  argu 
ments  of  Jeannin,  French  envoy,  for 
a  truce,  494—499.  511,  512.  Close  of 
the  discussion,  514,  515.  Maurice's  in 
discreet  mission  to  Henry  IV,  and 
lecture  provoked  by  it,  505 — 510. 
Coming  to  the  vote:  first  point  insisted 
on,  516 — 518,  Arrangement  of  the 
truce  and  articles  of  the  treaty,  519 — 
522.  Solid  advantages  secured  by  the 
States,  522—525.  Request  made  to 
and  refused  by  France  and  England : 
ratification  of  the  treaty,  525, 526.  Ap 
peal  of  Jeannin  for  religious  toleration, 
527 — 530.  Proclamation  of  the  truce, 
and  rejoicings  thereon,  533.  Debt  to 
England  :  army  establishment :  re 
venue  :  salaries  to  the  Nassaus,  534, 
535.  Arminians  and  Gomarites:  theo 
logical  contention,  536 — 538.  Con 


cluding  observations  :  the  provinces  a 
republic  in  spite  of  themselves, 
chances  of  sovereignty  over  them 
spurned  and  subsequently  coveted,  542 
— 544.  Dominance  striven  for  by  re 
ligious  sects  :  vitality  of  the  persecut 
ing  instinct,  545 — 549.  Rapid  growth 
of  commercial  prosperity;  Amsterdam 
and  Antwerp  contrasted,  551.  Results 
of  agricultural  industry  and  mechani 
cal  ingenuity,  552, 553.  Sea  supremacy 
of  the  Hollanders :  the  world's  ocean 
carriers :  Indian  enterprise,  553 — 556. 
563.  Their  wealth,  power,  population, 
and  exemplary  habits,  556,  557.  Sup 
pressed  monkish  establishments,  how 
disposed  of,  558.  Amount  and  sources 
of  revenue :  cheerful  submission  to 
taxation,  559.  Legislators,  magistrates, 
judges,  independence  of  the  last,  560. 
Army  and  navy,  561 — 563.  Weak  ele 
ment  in  the  commonwealth,  564. 
Supremacy  of  the  province  of  Holland, 
565.  Percentage  of  contribution  by  each 
province,  ibid,  note.  The  States-Gen 
eral  and  their  functions,  566.  Univer 
sality  of  education :  position  of  woman, 
567.  Eminent  literary  and  scientific 
men,  568— 571.  See  Holland,  Maurice. 
Olden  Barneveldt,  William  the  Silent. 

NEUSZ  besieged  by  Parma,  ii,26.  Leices 
ter's  sarcasm:  Parma's  danger,  27. 
Horrors  and  bravery:  fate  of  the  com 
mander  and  his  garrison  and  city,  28 
—32.  A  fact  and  a  fiction,  33. 

NEVERS,  duke  of,  his  paper  against  the 
League,  iii,  127.  At  Aumale,  140.  141. 
His  mission  to  Rome  and  anger  at  his 
reception,  241,  242.  Honouring  the 
dead,  333. 

NEWELL,  Mr,  "  the  late  La'tiner,"  i,  79. 

NEYEN,  John,  Flemish  friar,  sending  his 
avant  courier  to  the  States  on  a  secret 
peace  mission  on  behalf  of  the  arch 
dukes,  iv,  301,  302.  His  own  fitness 
for  such  work,  302,  303.  His  secret 
entry  into  the  Hague,  and  several  in 
terviews  with  the  Dutch  statesmen, 
303—306.  308—313.  315.  403, 404.  412. 
428.  449.  His  interim  wanderings  on 
the  same  object,  390.  His  tempting 
offers  to  Recorder  Aerssens,  891.  397. 
Wending  his  way  to  Spain,  397.  Feast 
ing  the  credulity  of  the  Spanish  go 
vernment,  401.  Reward  he  desired, 
452.  Chafing  at  Spanish  delays,  457, 
458.  485.  Sse  366—368.  389. 

NIEUPORT,  iii.  97.  Determination  of  the 
States  to  besiege  it,  iv,  2, 3, 5.  Perils  in 
volved  in  the  act,  3,  4.  Preparations, 


NIEUWENAAR. 


INDEX. 


OLDEN  BARNEVELDT. 


613 


march  to  and  arrival  before  the  place 
6 — 12.  Harangue  of  the  archdukes  to 
their  troops,  12,  13.  Their  first  vic 
tory,  14.  Its  effect  on  the  besiegers, 
15,  16.  Dilemma  of  the  States'  army, 
17.  Count  Ernest's  movement ;  his 
critical  position ;  panic  among  his 
troops  and  its  results,  18 — 21.  Prema 
ture  rejoicings  of  the  archdukes,  22. 
Their  council  of  war,  23,  24.  Conse 
quences  of  hesitation  on  both  sides,  25 
26.  Closing  in  of  the  opposing  forces 
decisive  battle,  successes  of  the  Dutch, 
and  abandonment  of  the  siege,  27 — 50 
Note  on  the  conflicting  accounts  of 
Vere  and  the  Nassaus,  51 — 54.  Effect 
of  the  campaign  on  the  belligerents, 
55.  See  Albert.  Maurice. 

NIEUWENAAR,  Count,  office  vacated  by 
the  death  of,  iii,  94. 

NOORD,  Oliver  van,  Dutch  circumnavi 
gator,  iii,  548. 

NORRIS,  army  treasurer  in  Holland,  not 
at  his  post  at  a  critical  moment,  i,  353. 
Charges  of  peculation  against  him,  ii, 
33.  39.  87. 

NORRIS,  Croft's  servant,  a  papist  spy,  i, 
494.  How  he  followed  out  his  instruc 
tions,  515,  516. 

NORRIS,  Sir  Edward,  i,  334.  Consequence 
of  his  hot-head edness,  353.  354.  Lei 
cester's  estimate  of  him,  ii,  85. 93.  Set 
made  against  him  at  Hohenlo's,  93 — 
95.  Hohenlo's  assault  upon  him  and 
its  results,  96—98.  146—149.  His  mis 
hap  at  Burgos,  555.  Sending  news  to 
the  queen,  iii,  267.  Her  letter  to  him, 
2(38.  His  report  to  Burghley,  ibid  note. 
See  ii,  87.  435.  554. 

NORRIS,  Henry,  ii,  554. 

NORRIS,  Sir  John,  on  Sainte  Aldegonde's 
movements,  i,  264.  Busy  in  enlisting 
troops  to  serve  in  Holland,  324.  His 
parentage :  old-time  services  of  his 
mother  to  the  queen,  333.  Character 
given  to  him  by  the  queen,  334.  Posi 
tion  which  he  found  "  not  so  flexible  as 
he  had  hoped,"  353.  Sent  to  reinforce 
Grave :  his  successes  and  his  wounds, 
ii,  11—14.  Knighted,  17.  Alleged 
reason  of  his  plea  for  mercy  toHemart, 
24.  At  the  attack  on  Doesburg,  41. 
Animosities  between  himself  and  Lei 
cester  and  others,  41 — 44.  85—87.  97. 
149.  244.  275.  514.  His  position  at  the 
siege  of  Zutphen,  45,  46.  His  ambus 
cade,  48—50.  Characterised  by  Wal- 
singhain  :  his  untractable  nature,  85. 
Threats  of  Leicester  against  him,  86. 
Commended  to  Leicester  by  the  queen, 


91.  How  esteemed  by  Wilkes,  159. 
186.  His  relations  with  Sir  W.  Stan 
ley,  159.  In  the  queen's  displeasure, 
278.  Post  assigned  to  him  in  anticipa 
tion  of  the  Spanish  invasion,  514. 517. 
Purport  of  his  mission  to  the  States, 
544.  Joined  with  Drake  in  the  foray 
into  Spain.  554,  555.  Returning 
bravado  for  bravado,  556.  Again  at 
his  death-dealing  work,  iii,  122. 

NORTH,  Lord,  i,  365.  His  enthusiasm 
with  regard  to  Holland,  385.  A  weather 
simile  for  "  the  Spaniard,"  ii,  15.  Ad 
miring  the  enemy,  19.  On  Hemart's 
treason  at  Grave,  21  note.  Commend 
ing  Kloet,  29.  On  Kloet's  death  tor 
tures,  30.  His  bravery  under  difficul 
ties,  51.  On  the  love  of  the  States  for 
the  queen,  89. 

NORTHAMPTON,  Lord,  his  views  relative 
to  Holland,  iv,  280  note. 

NORTH  Pole,  Dutch  voyages  to  the,  iii, 
552—576. 

NORTHUMBERLAND,  John  Dudley,  Duke 
of,  his  rise  and  fate,  i,  366. 

NOYON,  useless  capture  of,  iii,  258.  266. 

NUNEZ,  Sully's  suspicion  of,  iii,  305. 

NYMEGEN,  taken  for  the  royalists  by 
Schenk,  ii,  2.  3.  Threatened  by  Lei 
cester,  19.  Schenk's  attempt  to  regain 
it  for  the  States,  550—553.  Parma's 
assurance  to  its  inhabitants,  iii,  114. 
118.  Recaptured  by  Maurice,  116.  See 
iii,  102.  103. 110.  115.  116.  iv,  261. 264. 

OGLE,  Captain,  sent  to  the  archduke'a 
camp  as  a  hostage,  iv,  78.  81. 

OLDEN-BARN EVELDT,  John  van,  his 
French  inclinations,  i,  77.  At  the 
attack  on  the  Kowenstyn,  211.  Doubt 
hereon,  ibid,  note.  Condition  on  which 
he  took  oflice,  283.  His  descent: 
scandals  told  of  his  family  connection: 
314,  315.  His  views  on  theology  and 
religious  toleration,  military  adven 
tures,  and  personal  appearance,  315 — 
317.  Principle  of  sovereignty  urged 
by  him,  322.  Pronouncing  against  the 
English,  ii,  182.  His  States'  letter  to 
Leicester,  187.  206—209.  Asserting 
the  States'  independence,  225.  252. 
His  course  on  obtaining  Leicester's  in 
tercepted  letter,  255.  258,  259.  320. 
331.  Project  to  kidnap  him,  330.  A 
Beelzebub  in  Willoughby's  eyes,  415, 
416.  438.  547.  Almost  a  dictator,  546. 
Paramount  in  the  States'  councils,  iii, 
2.  (  lass  of  which  he  was  the  type, 
29.  Excluded  from  the  State  council, 
34.  What  he  was  not,  187.  His  exer 


614 


OLDEN ZAAL. 


INDEX. 


OSTEND. 


tions  to  preserve  the  protestant  league, 
471,  472.  His  mission  to  France  tor 
the  same  object,  475 — 485.  A  parting 
kiss  to  a  king's  mistress,  486.  On  to 
England,  ibid.  His  conferences  with 
Elizabeth,  487 — 494.  His  second  mis 
sion  to  England  and  its  result,  495 — 
497.  A  French  envoy's  report  of  him, 
599.  Ruling  spirit  in  the  proposed  in 
vasion  of  Flanders,  iv,  4,  5.  48.  Pro 
bable  starting-point  of  the  alienation 
between  him  and  Maurice,  55,  56. 
Their  various  differences  and  alleged 
quarrels,  232.  256.  400.  499.  503.  510. 
Their  reconciliation,  513.  Renewed 
hatred  on  the  part  of  Maurice,  545. 
Sent  to  England  on  James's  accession, 
138.  His  speech  to  the  king,  147,  148. 
Interviews  with  De  Rosny  :  counsels 
and  questionings  of  the  latter,  158 — 
160.  168—170.  Desponding,  221,  222. 
Trying  his  hand  in  the  art  of  diplo 
matic  deception,  288 — 290.  Region  in 
which  he  was  omnipotent,  300.  Called 
out  of  bed  to  an  interview  with  a 
Spanish  emissary,  301.  Part  taken  by 
him  in  proceedings  and  conferences 
thence  arising,  and  generally  in  regard 
to  peace  negotiations,  303 — 306. 309— 
311.  314,  315. 385—389. 393, 394. 396— 
399.  406.  408.  413—416.  429.  434— 
438.  439  note.  443.  447—449  452,  453. 
463.  484.  486.  492.  505.  Master  of  the 
field,  510.  The  populace  inflamed 
against  him,  478.  Money-gift  sent  to 
him  by  France:  his  justification  of  his 
acceptance  of  it,  479,  480.  Direction 
taken  by  his  ambition:  his  aspirations 
and  beliefs,  481 — 483.  Anonymous 
calumnies  against  him,  499,  500.  Their 
effect:  his  resignation  of,  and  recall  to 
his  office,  501 — 504.  A  vigorous  vote 
entirely  due  to  him,  517,  His  gratitude 
for  the  result  arrived  at,  524.  Theolo 
gical  odium  incurred  by  him,  537.  545. 
548.  Change  in  his  views  relative  to 
sovereignty,  544.  Form  of  government 
advocated  by  him,  545,546.549.  Prac 
tical  ruler  of  the  republic,  565,  566. 
See  i,  304.  ii,  127.  137.  140.  141.  168. 
216.  223.  327.  335.  350.  351.  355.  408— 
410.  413.  553.  iii,  2.  15. 172. 464.  iv,  50. 
221.  268.  369.  380.  391.  456.  470.  471. 
491.  535. 

OLDENZAAL,  captured  by  Spinola,  iv,234. 

OOSTBURG,  Maurice's  advance  towards, 
iv,  203.  Spinola's  successful  move 
ment,  211. 

ORSOY,  surrender  of  the  "  Cockfeathers" 
at,  iii,  582. 


ORTEL,  Joachim,  Dutch  envoy  in  Eng 
land,  his  qualifications  for  his  mission, 
i,289.  His  conferences  with  the  English 
ministers  and  their  queen,  289 — 295. 
297.  298.  302.  313.  His  question  and 
her  answer,  300.  Sound  advice  sent 
home  by  him,  303.  Set  to  watch  in 
London:  no  favourite  of  Leicester's,  ii, 
74,  75.  See  i,  448.  ii,  75  note  l.  258. 

OSTEND,  enthusiasm  for  an  English  alli 
ance  at,  i,  75  note.  .Surprised  by  the 
Spaniards,  186.  Their  defeat,  187. 
Recommendation  suggested  by  Eliza 
beth's  fears,  347.  "Why  an  important 
position,  363.  Parma  and  his  spy  in- 
specting  the  fortifications,  ii,  360. 362. 
388,  389.  English  anxieties  about  the 
place,  435.  iii,  267.  Safe  at  present, 
208.  Considerations-  and  movements 
apropos  of  an  invasion  of  Flanders,iv, 
3.  9.  Assembly  of  the  States-General 
here,  10.  14.  Dismaying  intelligence, 
15.  16.  Fugitives  from  Nieuport,  21. 
Thanksgiving  after  the  Nieuport  vic 
tory,  43.  45.  Departure  of  the  States- 
General,  49.  Aspect  of  the  place  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  61.  Its  population 
and  defences,  natural  and  artificial,  62, 
63.  Formal  commencement  of  the 
famous  siege,  63.  Number  and  nation 
alities  of  the  defending  forces,  64.  In 
terest  excited  :  congregation  of  adven 
turers,  66,  67.  Character  of  Vere,  the 
States  commander,  68,  69.  Composi 
tion  of  the  English  contingent,  69. 
Plans  and  appliances  of  the  besieger . 
his  "  sausages,"  70,  71.  Plentifulness 
in  the  commissariat  of  the  besieged, 
72.  117.  A  princess  cannoneer,  ibid. 
Weight  of,  and  work  done  by  the  ord 
nance,  73.  Slaughter  of  notabilities  and 
nobodies  by  war,  74.  91.  116.  Deaths 
by  pestilence,  74, 75.  Fire  and  water  at 
the  Porcupine  fort,  76.  Vere's  ques 
tionable  stratagem  pending  the  arrival 
of  reinforcements,  77 — 86.  Assault  and 
repulse  of  the  enemy,  87 — 93.  Forts 
carried  by  the  Spaniards,  117 — 121. 
Comparative  rest  after  two  years' siege: 
Auditor  Fleming's  diary,  126,  127. 
Appeals  for  help  to  the  English  king 
and  the  French  ambassador,  148.  158. 
Cecil's  estimate  of  the  place,  157.  The 
enemy's  new  commander-in-chief :  his 
antecedents  and  qualifications,  181 — 
184.  Monster  devices  harmless  of  re 
sult,  184,  185.  Fate  of  successive  go 
vernors  of  the  city,  188.  189.  194.  196 
Operations  of  the  enemy  :  a  surprise 
for  them,  191—193.  The  citadel  of 


OTHEMAN. 


INDEX. 


PARMA. 


615 


Little  Troy,  194  —  198.  Impediment 
to  the  construction  of  new  earthworks, 
195.  Gradual  encroachments  of  the 
eaemy,  197.  Thanksgivings  of  the 
besieged,  198.  213.  A  substitute  for 
Ostend,  202,  203.  209.  213.  The  enemy 
in  possession  :  departure  of  the  be 
sieged,  214—217.  Barrenness  of  the 
trophies  left  behind,  225.  See  18.  19. 
23.  24.  25.  28.  168.  171  199.  210. 

OTHEMAN  (Robert  Dale)  Leicester's 
eaves-dropper-in-chief  and  secretary, 
reporting  Dutch  gossip  to  his  master, 
ii,  136.  138.  140  Who  was  he?  141. 
A  bit  of  scandal  set  afloat  by  him  and 
its  consequences,  142  —  145  188. 

OUDENBURG  fort,  captured  by  the  States' 
troops,  iv,  9.  11.  Attacked  and  carried 
by  the  Spaniards,  14—16. 

OVERING,  Hugh,  foiled  in  his  purpose, 
ii,  168. 

OVERSTEIN,  ii,  38.  142. 

OTERYSSBL,  one  of  the  seven  United 
Provinces,  hostile  forces  in,  iv,  259. 
Its  representative  at  the  peace  negotia 
tions,  434.  Creed  of  most  of  its  people, 
473.  Its  contribution  to  the  States' 
revenue,  extent,  and  population,  564. 

OXFORD,  Lord,  his  quarrel  with  Sidney, 
i,360. 

PACX^HI,  Don  Pedro  (killed  at  Dender- 

monde)  sends  his  ghost  to  head  his 

old  regiment,  i,  222. 
PAGET,  Charles,  on  Leicester's  animosity 

towards  Mary  Stuart,  i,  369. 
PALLAVICINI'S  attempt  upon   Parma's 

loyalty,  ii,  539.  540.     Philip's  sugges- 


PAPAL  BULLS,  a  royal  trader  in,  iii,  212. 

PAPISTS  see  Roman  Catholics. 

PARIS,  its  population  and  importance, 
circa  1580,  i,  53.  Its  condition  under 
the  influence  of  the  League,  ii,  422. 
425—431.  529.559,  560.  iii,  46.  242. 
Commencement  of  the  siege,  iii,  59. 
Famine  and  its  horrors,  60  —  65. 
League  deputation  to  Henry  IV,  66  — 
69.  Philip's  orders  to  Farnese,  and 
steps  of  the  latter  to  relieve  the  city, 
73—78.  Effect  of  the  seizure  of  Lagny, 
82,  83.  Henry's  attempted  escalade, 
85,  86  note.  The  city  again  in  danger, 
91  Acts  of  the  sixteen  tyrants,  125— 
127.  Entry  of  Henry  :  rapture  of  the 
citizens,  244  —  246.  Rejoicing  at  the 
surrender  of  Sluys,  iv,  224.  Population 
(1607),  373  note.  See  iii,  87.  88.  iv,  145. 

PARKER'S  error  at  Turnhout,  iii,  431. 

Alexander  Farnese,  prince  of, 


his  offers  to  the  Netherland  States 
after  the  murder  of  William  the  Silent, 
i,  18.  19.  His  military  forces  ;  policy 
pursued  by  him,  20.  His  successes  in 
Flanders,  21.  His  design  upon  Ant 
werp,  24.  Perplexed  by  his  master's 
parsimony  and  hesitation,  89.  His  real 
share  in  the  truce  of  Cambray,  and 
trouble  connected  with  it,  100.  Suffer 
ings  and  desertions  of  his  troops 
through  want  of  supplies,  112.  173. 
Giving  his  friends  a  lesson  in  dissimu 
lation,  114.  His  feelings  on  learning 
of  the  formation  of  the  League  :  how 
he  kept  the  secret,  115,  116.  His  ge 
nius  for  military  work,  135.  Preparing 
for  the  siege  of  Antwerp  :  difficulties 
in  his  way,  137.  Personal  description 
of  him,  138.  His  scheme  for  the  re 
duction  of  Flanders  and  Brabant,  ibid. 
Progress  made :  stain  from  which  his 
fame  is  free,  139.  Effect  of  his  tamper- 
ings  with  Treslong,  149.  Working 
whilst  his  antagonists  wrangled,  153. 
His  reproof  to  Richebourg  for  killing 
Pettin,  155.  Transformation  effected 
by  him  upon  the  site  chosen  for  his 
headquarters :  permanently  useful 
piece  of  work  left  by  him,  157, 158. 
Mutilations  practised  by  his  troops 
upon  the  crews  of  captured  "  blockade 
runners,"  159.  Acceleration  of  his 
schemes  by  the  folly  of  the  Antwerp- 
ers,  159,  160.  162.  At  work  upon  his 
bridge,  161.  Incredulity  of  the  Ant- 
werpers  as  to  its  practicability,  163. 
In  doubt  as  to  results,  and  in  the  dark 
as  to  his  master's  schemes,  166.  His 
devotion  to  his  church,  167.  Result 
of  his  attempts  to  subdue  the  Ant- 
werpers  by  arguments  and  pro 
mises,  167 — 170.  Admirable  elements 
in  his  character,  171.  Reporting  pro 
gress  to  his  master,  172.  His  repeated 
appeals  relative  to  his  imminent  needs 
and  the  destitution  of  his  troops,  172. 
174.  180.  183.  184.  Obstacles  to  his 
bridge-building:  completion  of  the 
great  work,  179,  180.  Its  plan,  con 
struction,  protecting  outworks,  &c.  ; 
Julius  Caesar  outdone,  181—183.  His 
treatment  of  an  Antwerp  spy  sent  to 
pry  into  his  work,  184,  185.  His  at 
tempt  upon  Ostend  and  summary  dis 
posal  of  the  chief  cause  of  its  failure, 
186,  187.  Loses  Liefkenshoek :  hia 
prompt  action  thereon,  189.  An  in 
fernal  machine  sent  against  his  bridge: 
its  destructive  effects,  191  — 198. 
His  own  marvellous  escape,  196,  199. 


616 


PABMA. 


INDEX. 


PARMA. 


Again  at  work  to  repair  the  damage  : 
deploring  the  loss  of  his  officers,  199 — 
201.  Modestly  touching  on  his  own 
perils,  202.  Fears  excited  in  his  men 
by  the  "  demon  fireships : "  exhaust 
ing  nature  of  their  toils,  202, 203. 207. 
His  labours  in  fortifying  the  Kowen- 
styn,  206,  207.  His  report  of  the  re 
sult  of  the  first  attempt  to  wrest  the 
Kowenstyn  from  him,  209.  Defeat  of 
his  troops  on  the  Second  attack  :  his 
eulogium  on  the  daring  of  his  oppo 
nents,  210 — 214.  Resolution  taken  by 
his  officers  to  regain  the  dyke  :  effect 
of  his  opportune  appearance  among 
them,  215—220.  Exulting  in  his  tri 
umph,  222 — 224.  Honour  paid  by  him 
to  the  wounded  Toralva  :  his  reports 
and  recommendations  to  his  king,  224. 
225.  227.  La  Noue's  counsel  to  him, 
232.  Exchange  of  amenities  between 
himself  and  the  Antwerpers,  234. 
Proposes  a  secret  interview  with 
Sainte  Aldegonde :  correspondence 
thereon,  236 — 240.  Interviews  had  : 
impression  made  by  each  on  the  other, 
242 — 250.  His  private  views  as  to  the 
necessity  for  capitulating  with  the 
Antwerpers,  251.  His  declaration  on 
finding  the  real  state  of  things  in  the 
city,  252.  Fact  redounding  to  his 
honour,  253.  Extravagant  demonstra 
tions  on  his  triumphal  entry  into  Ant 
werp:  sylvan  fete  upon  his  Scheldt 
bridge,  258—260.  Work  on  which  he 
now  set  himself,  260,  261.  Tenor  of 
his  master's  thanks  to  him,  262.  On 
the  attitude  of  Holland  towards  Sainte 
Aldegonde,  265,  267.  The  one  suspi 
cious  allusion  to  the  latter  in  his  let 
ters,  284  note.  Frightening  Sir  John 
Norris,  353.  How  regarded  by  Queen 
Elizabeth:  plot  against  him  repudiated 
by  her,  356, 357.  Corresponding  with 
his  king  on  the  invasion  of  England, 
376, 377.  A  queen  and  a  crown  set 
apart  for  him,  378.  379.  State  of 
things  to  put  him  "  in  great  jollity," 
438.  His  bold  remonstrances  with 
Philip  on  the  state  of  his  troops,  489. 
Simulating  negotiations  for  peace : 
his  agents  and  tools,  490 — 495.  Report 
ing  progress  to  his  master  :  his  dupli 
city,  496,  497.  500—502.519.  Effect 
of  Drake's  victories  on  him  :  in  doubt 
about  France  :  his  troops  still  in  sad 
plight,  503—505. 520.  Encouraging  re 
ports  to  him  from  his  agent  in  Eng 
land,  506—508.  Secret  letter  from 
Elizabeth  to  him  :  his  instructions  to 


his  ag-ent  and  reply  to  her,  509 — 511. 
His  work  done  for  him  by  English 
statesmen,  520.  Heads  of  his  plan  for 
a  successful  invasion  of  England,  527 
—532. 

Netherlands  territory  in  his  hands,  ii, 
1,  2.  His  treatment  of  Ernest  of  Ba 
varia,  4.  His  estimate  of  Schenk,  6. 
His  attack  upon  Grave,  repulse,  and 
subsequent  victory,  10 — 15.  18 — 22. 
Attack  on,  capture  and  sack  of  Neusz, 
26—32.  What  he  gained  by  it,  33,  34. 
Determines  to  relieve  Zutphen  :  Bridg 
ing  over  the  Rhine :  his  plans,  45 — 47, 
Result  of  his  enterprise,  54.  His  deal- 
ings  with  Leicester's  German  levies, 
57,  58.  His  sheet  anchor,  65.  His  un 
derstanding  with  Rowland  York,  166. 
Successes  due  to  the  disloyalty  of  his 
foes,  178.  Gelder  betrayed  into  his 
hands,  179, 180.  On  the  execution  of 
Queen  of  Scots,  193.  His  demonstra 
tion  against  Sluys,  260—263.  Step 
forced  upon  him  by  the  enemy,  267. 
Once  more  a  bridge-builder,  271. 
Terms  granted  by  him  on  capitulation, 
273.  His  compliments  to  two  English 
captains,  274.  Attitude  of  Elizabeth 
towards  him,  285.  293.  His  assurances 
to  her  and  dallyings  with  her  go-be 
tween,  294—298. 301.  Effect  of  English 
reliance  on  his  bona  fides,  300.  302. 
346.  407.  Convinced  that  Elizabeth 
was  as  false  as  himself,  293.  305.  306. 
His  plottings  against  England  and 
France  :  hoodwinking  Denmark  :  se 
cret  correspondence  with  his  king,  &c, 
303.  312.  What  his  master  expected 
him  to  achieve,  314—318.  His  difficul 
ties  and  uncourtly  language  to  Philip: 
what  he  was  actually  doing,  320-322. 
OneEnglishmen  awake  to  his  schemes: 
English  correspondents  reporting 
thereon,  322,  323.  323  note.  Effect  of 
a  successful  enterprise  of  Schenk  upon 
his  equanimity,  348.  421.  Visited  by 
the  English  envoy  Dr.  Dale,  367.  389P 
390.  392.  His  estimate  of  Dale,  373- 
His  professions  of  loyalty  to  Elizabeth, 
368,  369.  Real  object  of  his  negotia 
tions,  374.  Achieving  it  in  his  inter 
views  with  Dr.  Rogers  the  envoy,  374 
—384.  Playing  the  spy  at  Ostend,  388. 
His  falsehoods  in  reference  to  Allen's 
pamphlet  and  the  Pope's  bull  against 
Elizabeth,  403—406.  Apprehensive 
about  France,  423.  Directions  in  which 
his  intentions  were  thought  to  lie, 
435.  Extent  of  his  preparations  for 
invading  England,  455.  His  army,  ite 


PARRY. 


INDEX, 


PHILIP  II. 


617 


complement  and  cost,  456.  Plan  of 
co-operation  between  himself  and  the 
Armada :  a  strange  omission  and 
troublesome  doubts,  467 — 470.  484. 
488.  Suspicions  and  apprehensions 
begot  of  suspense,  490. 498.  Like  "  a 
bear  robbed  of  her  whelps,"  508.  His 
arrangements  brought  to  nought : 
effect  of  his  master's  dulness,509 — 511. 
Advancing  upon  Bergen-op-Zoom,  537, 
538.  Grimstone's  successful  trick  upon 
him.  541,  542.  In  ignominious  flight, 
543.  Pallavicini's  attempt  to  seduce 
him :  its  effect  upon  him,  539 — 541. 
Gertruydenberg  betrayed  to  him,  544 
— 546.  Recruiting  his  health  at  Spa  : 
preparing  for  a  tussle  with  Henry  of 
Navarre,  548.  562. 

Concentrating  his  forces  on  the  French 
frontier,  iii,  1,  2.  5.  50.  At  his  wits' 
ends :  his  appeals  and  complaints  to 
Philip,  43.  44.  68.  72.  73.  137.  Garrot 
ting  and  hanging  his  veterans,  70.  74. 
His  calumniators  and  their  stories,  71. 
203—205.  225  note.  His  complaints 

r'nst  them,  206—208.  Marching  to 
relief  of  Paris,  75, 76.  Comparison 
between  him  and  Henry  IV,  77.  Their 
opposite  qualities,  142.  Advancing  to 
action  :  his  capture  of  Lagny  and  re 
lief  of  Paris,  80—83.  Occasions  when 
he  and  Henry  were  on  each  other's 
skirts,  77.  86.  91  141.  His  reception 
at  Paris,  86.  His  return  to  the  Nether 
lands  :  speedy  reversal  of  his  late 
French  conquests,  89—91.  His  move 
into  Gelderland  and  abortive  attack 
on  Fort  Knodsenburg,  111—113.  His 
adroit  relreat  and  comforting  words 
to  the  Nymegeners,  114.  His  treat 
ment  of  his  defeated  captain  at  Hulst 
115.  To  the  rescue  of  Rouen,  137— 
139. 142.  Yielding  against  his  better 
judgment,  143.  Melting  away  of  his 
army,  144,  145.  Succeeds  in  relieving 
Rouen:  severely  wounded,  146,  147. 
In  a  dangerous  position :  his  skilful 
escape  from  it,  149—151.  Results  of 
his  movements  to  Philip  and  the 
League,  153.  His  probable  reflections, 
154.  His  reports  to  Philip  of  the  in 
trigues  of  the  League  chiefs  and  the 
condition  of  France,  210 — 215.  Sends 
some  saintly  relics  to  his  master,  216 
Plot  of  Philip  for  his  destruction,  211 
— 221.  His  end  approaching,  221 — 
223.  His  death,  224,  225.  See  ii,  40 
41.  67.  181.  201.  285.  347.  366.  434 
451. 462. 463. 528. 531.  iii,  100. 103. 104 
PARRY,  William,  the  would-be  assassin 


of  Queen  Elizabeth,  his  timely  dis 
covery  against  himself,  i,  2. 

PARSONS,  the  "  green-coated  Jesuit,"  his 
monstrous  accusations  against  Lei 
cester,  i,  367. 

PATTON,  Aristotle,  ii,  98.  Gratifying  his 
hate,  his  greed  and  his  love  all  at  once, 
179, 180.  Flying  from  his  old  enemy, 
550. 

PAUL  V,  Pope,  doing  his  worst  against 
the  republic,  iv,  3b8.  371.  His  agent 
at  the  French  court,  see  Barberini. 

PEACE  from  an  upholstering  point  of 
view,  ii,  367. 

PELBES,  Count  of,  his  large  winnings 
from  Philip  III,  iv,  356. 

PELHAM,  Sir  William,  recommended  for 
military  command  by  Leicester,  i,  439. 
441.  Out  of  favour  with  the  queen: 
Leicester's  generosity  towards  him,  ii, 
40,  41,  notes.  His  narrow  escape  at 
Doesburg,  42.  Effect  of  his  example  on 
Sidney:  his  declaration  at  Sidney's 
death,  51.  53.  His  insulting  behaviour 
to  Edward  Norris  at  a  supper  party, 
92 — 95.  Bringing  the  De venter  magis 
trates  to  book,  153,  154. 

PEREZ,  Antonio,  his  offence  against 
Philip  and  its  expiation,  iii,  507.  533, 

PESCARENGIS,  Cosmo  de,  Leicestrian 
conspirator  at  Leyden  :  his  confession 
ii,  333-336.  His  fate,  338. 

PETTIN,  Colonel  John,  and  his  troops 
surprised  at  Liefkenshoek  :  wholesale 
slaughter  of  the  latter,  i,  154,  155. 
Killed  in  cold  blood  by  his  captor 
155. 

PHILIP  II,  of  Spain.  His  personal  ap- 
'  pearance,  habits,  &c,  i,  2.  His  system  : 
his  remark  on  the  murder  of  William 
the  Silent,  3.  Effect  of  increasing 
years  on  his  ambition  ;  his  possessions, 
actual  and  contemplated,  4.  His  epoch 
and  its  celebrities  :  light  in  which  he 
is  to  be  judged,  6.  Point  on  which  he 
never  wavered,  9 — 19.  Accomplice  in 
the  St.  Bartholomew  massacre,  15. 
Presents  sent  to  him  from  Turkey,  30. 
His  spy  and  confederate  in  France,  44. 
His  tempting  offers  to  Henry  of  Na 
varre,  49.  Failure  of  his  efforts  to  seize 
Don  Antonio,  67.  68.  Project  of  mar 
riage  between  him  and  the  dowager  of 
France  :  Sir  E.  Stafford's  aspirations, 
thereon,  69.  A  glutton  of  time :  his 
motto  in  that  regard,  89.  Why  he 
authorised  the  truce  of  Cam  bray,  100, 
His  conquest  of  Portugal :  his  ambas 
sador's  conferences  on  Catherine  de 


618 


PHILIP  II. 


INDEX. 


PHILIP  II. 


Medici's  claim  to  its  crown,  101—105. 
A  complication  of  villany  worthy  of  his 
admiration:  his  view  of  the  French 
king's  proposed  invasion  of  England, 
107.  £  omenting  civil  war  in  France : 
subsidizing  the  Guises,  111.  Concludes 
a  secret  treaty  (Holy  League)  with 
them,  113.  His  material  pledge  to 
wards  its  fulfilment  and  industry  in 
the  business,  114.  Confides  the  scheme 
to  Parma ;  dissimulation  of  the  latter 
on  his  behalf,  115.  His  advice  and  ad 
monitions  to  the  Guises,  116, 117.  His 
ambassador's  conference  and  report  to 
him  on  a  proposed  joint  invasion  of 
England,  124—129.  Again  urgently 
appealed  to  by  Parma  for  supplies,  172. 
Implored  to  do  what  he  was  good  at 
doing,  204,  205.  Inability  of  Sainte 
Aldegonde  to  fathom  the1  depth  of  his 
character,  245.  258.  Elevation  of  his 
escutcheon  in  Antwerp,  253.  His  sus 
picions  of  Sainte  Aldegonde,  255. 
Treatment  towards  heretics  insisted 
on  by  him:  mission  to  which  he 
deemed  himself  born,  256—258.  His 
emotion  on  receiving  news  of  the  fall 
of  Antwerp,  262,  263.  Commissioning 
Parma  to  bid  for  Sainte  Aldegonde's 
services,  266.  His  designs  against 
Elizabeth's  life,  305.  His  stipendiaries 
and  his  master,  306.  Elizabeth's  ex 
pressions  regarding  him,  and  virtual 
declaration  of  war  against  him,  327 — 
329.  354—357.  Maturing  his  schemes 
for  invading  England  ;  his  subsequent 
projects  if  successful,  376—380.  386. 
His  intended  armada  how  regarded 
by  the  Hollanders  :  an  English  expe 
dition  not  to  his  liking,  387.  A  source 
of  joy  to  him,  490.  His  reason  for 
diverting  part  of  his  remittances  to 
Parma,  505.  Peculiarities  of  his  cha 
racter,  506.  Insisting  on  impossible 
conditions  :  his  injunction  to  Parma, 
519.  Sole  purpose  of  his  secret  in 
trigues,  521.  526.  His  fixed  purpose 
relative  to  England  and  Elizabeth,  ii, 
63. 135.  A  peep  into  his  secret  cabinet: 
in  the  centre  of  his  web,  302, 303.  Cor 
responding  and  taking  counsel  with 
Parma,  304—306.  308—313.  Calculat 
ing  and  anticipating:  his  extravagant 
self-deceptions,  314—318.  463.  Rated 
and  his  schemes  denounced  by  Parma, 
319—321.  465.  Office  assigned  to  him 
by  the  pope's  bull,  400.  404.  Progress 
of  his  schemes  in  France,  423,  431. 
His  midnight  council:  his  puerile  con 
ceits,  458—461.  Incredulity  of  states-. 


men  and  the  Pope  as  to  the  reality  of 
his  invasion  scheme,  461,  462.  His 
Armada  at  sea:  its  vicissitudes  and 
its  fate,  463—507.  [See  Armada.] 
Clinging  to  false  hopes  :  how  he  re 
ceived  the  news  of  his  discomfiture, 
531—535.  Setting  the  bishops  to  work, 
536.  Looking  after  French  affairs,  561. 
His  pretensions  and  designs  relative  to 
France  and  its  crown:  iii,  1  68.  69, 
70.  127—129.  188,  189.  191,  192.  196 
—202.  209—211.  213.  247.  iv,  343.  370 
371.  His  attempts  to  re-open  peace 
negotiations  with  the  Netherlands-  ob 
stacles  in  the  way,  iii,  36 — 38.  Ground 
of  his  claims  to  France,  England,  and 
Scotland,  43.  No  friendship  between 
him  and  Pope  Sixtus,  61.  87.  Listen 
ing  to  calumnies  and  plotting  against 
Parma,  71.  203—206.  217—221,  223. 
224  note.  Parma's  appeals  and  com 
plaints  to  him,  72,  73, 74. 206—208  A 
scheme  he  was  anxious  to  circumvent, 
87.  Statistics  of  the  army  provided  by 
him  for  France,  138  note.  A  piece  of 
his  system  for  conquering  the  world, 
159.  Drift  of  his  policy  for  twenty- 
two  years,  186.  His  alleged  wish  to 
marry  his  own  daughter,  193.  His 
other  intentions  relative  to  the  be 
stowal  of  her  hand,  194.  [See  Clara  Isa 
bella.]  His  threat  against  Clement 
VIII,  195.  Sources  of  wealth  to  him : 
his  profit  on  the  sale  of  papal  bulls, 
212.  Jesuit  Odo's  counsel  to  him  for 
the  conquest  of  France,  228—230.  His 
notable  plans  for  invading  England, 
293, 294. 421.  His  assassination  depart 
ment,  and  agents  therein  and  their 
fate,  294—301.  War  declared  against 
him  by  Henry :  shape  taken  by  his 
spite  against  the  latter,  317,  318.  Ar 
rangement  of  terms  of  peace  between 
them,  498—501.  His  treatment  of,  and 
infamous  proposal  to  Philip  William 
of  Nassau,  354, 355.  Destruction  of  his 
fleet  at,  and  sack  of,  Cadiz,  380—387, 
His  schemes  relative  to  Germany,  414 
— 416.  His  new  Armada  against  Eng 
land,  and  its  fate,  419, 420.  His  public 
repudiation  of  his  debts,  and  disas 
ters  produced  thereby,  440 — 443.  457. 
Text  of  his  proclamation,  441  note. 
His  last  illness,  funeral  preparations, 
confession,  and  death,  503 — 511.  Re 
view  of  his  reign,  512 — 543.  An  apt 
exponent  of  his  own  idea  of  kingcraft, 
iv,  332.  One  of  his  golden  rules,  394. 
See  ii,  4.  16.  103.  113.  248.  369.  389. 
392.  436.  541.  iii,  49.  305—309, 584,  iv, 


1'TiiLn*. 


INDEX. 


PROTESTANTISM. 


619 


345.  353.  354.  402.  See  also  Parma. 
Spain. 

PHILIP,  Infante,  afterwards  Philip  III, 
King  of  Spain,  iii,  501 .  His  marriage, 
503.  His  instructions  from,  and  last 
interview  with  his  dying  father,  507 
— 511.  A  cipher  in  his  own  court,  iv, 
137.  333.  Head  and  front  of  the  con 
spiracy  against  France  and  its  king, 
149.  More  dangerous  to  rabbits  than 
to  generals,  240.  Peace  concluded  by 
King  James  with  him,  248.  Its  effect, 
280,  note  3.  Origin  and  extent  of  Ler 
ma's  power  over  him,  345 — 352.  His 
declaration  on  becoming  king,  353.  His 
appearance,  personal  characteristics, 
amusements,  &c,  355,  356.  Himself  a 
satire  on  kingship,  357.  A  special  dog 
ma  in  his  religious  creed,  358.  His 
domestic  life,  358 — 361.  One  of  his 
father's  golden  rules  comprehended 
by  him,  394.  Ratification  of  peace  in 
his  name,  405, 406.  His  ultimatum  with 
the  republic  in  regard  to  religion  and 
the  Indies,  460—462. 492.  Representa 
tions  under  which  his  consent  to  the 
treaty  was  obtained,  514,  515.  Secret 
and  special  treaty  with  the  republic 
exacted  from  him,  521,  522.  542.  See 
Lerma.  Spain. 

PHILIP,  Count  of  Nassau,  iii,  148.  166. 
Desperate  fighter,  mighty  drinker,261. 
His  "after-dinner  adventures,  262.  273. 
His  command  on  the  French  frontier, 
313.  319.  His  last  deed  of  daring  and 
death,  339—341.  iv,  9. 

PHILIP  WILLIAM,  Prince  of  Orange, 
eldest  son  of  William  the  Silent,  kid 
napped  andHispaniolized,  i,14, 15.  iii, 
299.  His  signal  revenge  upon  a  slan 
derer  of  his  father,  i,  15.  iii,  355.  His 
brother's  request  toEngland  regarding 
him,  i,  343.  His  return  to  the  Nether 
lands:  effect  of  his  Spanish  training,  iii, 
354,  355.  Philip  of  Spain's  hopes  re 
garding  him,  356,  357.  His  intellect- 

.  ual  calibre,  360.  Narrow  escape  :  in 
the  wrong  place,  373,  374.  Se-e  i,  301. 

PICCOLOMINI,  active  at  the  rescue  of  the 
Kowenstyn,  i,  216,  217. 

PICKPOCKETS  making  free  with  a  learned 
foreigner,  i,  310. 

PIMENTEL,  Don  Diego,  captain  in  the 
Armada,  ii,  466.  498.  Fate  of  his  ship, 
499. 

PIRACIES  of  English  mariners  on  the 
Dutch,  iii,  173—176  notes.  177.  181— 
184.  Iv,  146,  147.  Dunkirk  pirates,  iii, 
374.  iv,  2.  59,  60.  230.  251,  252. 

Pi  ON,  Colonel,  lax  in  his  discipline  at 


a  critical  moment,  iv,  14.    A  bearer  of 
bad  news,  15.  Flight  of  his  cavalry,  21. 

PLAGUE  ravages  in  London,  i,  306. 

PLANCIUS,  Peter,  his  Calvinistic  intoler 
ance  and  services  in  the  cause  of  nau 
tical  enterprise,  iii,  550.  His  theory 
relative  to  an  arctic  passage  to  India, 
553.  555,  556.  561.  See  iv,  448.  450. 

PLYMOUTH  a  contributor  of  aid  against 
the  Armada,  ii,  454. 

POISONERS  and  poison  plots  of  the  Eliza 
bethan  era,  iii,  295— 300.  Victims,  real 
or  supposed,  ii,  178.  iii,  87.  195.  326. 

POLAND,  see  Dialyn.    Sigismund. 

POLEY  the  spy,  i,  375. 

POPE,  dominions  assigned  to  Philip  II, 
by  the,  i,  4. 

POPES.  See  Clement.  Gregory.  Inno 
cent.  Paul.  Sixtus.  Urban. 

PORTO  Carrero,  captain,  killed  by  the 
Spanish  mutineers,  iii,  292. 

PORTO  Carrero,  Captain  Herman  Tello 
de,  his  stratagem  at  Amiens,  iii,  435, 
436.  Killed  at  the  undoing  of  his  work, 
452. 

PORTO  Carrero,  Don  Pietro,  inquisitor- 
general,  cashiered,  iv,  347. 

PORTUGAL,  pretenders  to  the  throne  of, 
i,  67.  101.  [See  Antonio.  Catherine  de 
Medici.]  Its  monopoly  at  the  tropics 
contested  by  the  Dutch,  iv,  105.  130. 
244.  Damage  done  to  its  fleet  there, 
106,  107.  Mode  whereby  its  adven 
turers  obtained  and  kept  their  footing, 
246—248.  Their  fulminations  against, 
and  expulsion  from  the  Moluccas  by, 
the  Dutch,  249,  250.  See  iv,  270.  419. 

POT  de  Rhodes,  Henry  the  Fourth's 
bannerman,  killed,  iii,  55. 

POULAIN,  Nicholas,  his  bold  offer  to 
Henry  of  Valois,  ii,  425,  426. 

POWHATTAN,  " emperor  of  Virginia" 
and  his  daughter  Pocahontas,  iv,  297. 

PRADA'S  reply  to  Friar  Neyen,  iv,  458. 

PREDESTINATION,  effect  of  the  doctrine 
of,  iv,  548. 

PRINSTERER,  Groen  van,  service  ren 
dered  to  Netherlands  history  by,  iv,  51. 

PRONINCK,  Gerard,  called  Deventer,  his 
character  and  antecedents,  ii,  69. 
Municipal  office  conferred  on  him  by 
Leicester,  69.  70.  119.  His  pernicious 
counsels  to  Leicester  and  their  results, 
120  note.  140.  231—233.  237. 

PROPHECIES,  a  hundred  years  before,  for 
the  year  1588,  ii,  353. 

PROTESTANTISM  and  Protestants,  under 
Elizabeth,  ii,  290.  292.  Slaughters  by 
Alva,  291.  Anxieties  and  suspicions 
in  France  and  Germany  relative  to 


620 


INDEX. 


Henry  the  Fourth's  movements,  iii, 
304.  483.  Determination  of  the  party 
in  France,  306.  Their  impending  fate 
at  the  hands  of  the  League,  409. 
Catholic  charges  against  them,  415. 
Admiral  Mendoza's  design  against 
them,  582.  Intrigues  of  Henry  IV 
against  them,  iv,  377.  See  iv,  176. 547. 
See,  also  Calvinists.  Huguenots. 

PRUYS,  Captain,  his  obstinacy  and  fate, 
iii,  343. 

PURITANS,  hatred  of  James  I  for  the,  iv, 
142.  Contempt  for  human  ills  inspired 
by  their  belief,  548. 

QUINTUPLICATIONS,  ii,  396. 
QUIROGA,  Cardinal  of  Toledo,  ii,  459. 

RALEIGH,  Sir  Walter,  his  conduct  on 
Leicester's  reinstatementinElizabeth's 
favour,  i,  459.  Sample  of  his  style  in 
writing  of  her,  iii,  171  note.  Helping 
to  organize  the  expedition  against 
Spain,  381,  382.  Spanish  way  of  spel 
ling  his  name,  381  note.  417  note. 

RANUCCIO,  Prince,  son  of  Parma,  iii,  114. 
115.  139.  At  the  relief  of  Rouen,  147, 
148.  150,  151.  See  220. 

RATISBON,  chief  work  of  the  Diet  at,  iii, 
315.  Its  cost,  316. 

RECALDE,  Juan  Martinez  de,  Spanish 
admiral,  ii,  465. 

REFORMATION,  how  kept  out  of  Spain, 
iv,  331. 

REINGATJLT,  Jacques,  one  of  Leicester's 
three  counsellors,  his  antecedents,  ii, 
68.  His  finance  chamber :  Placed  over 
Paul  Buys,  70,  71.  His  mischief  mak 
ing,  74.  Defended  by  Leicester,  106, 
107.  Result  of  efforts  made  to  save 
him  :  his  after  life,  107  note. 

RELIGIOUS  enthusiasm,  miseries  caused 
by,  iii,  44. 

RENAUD,  popular  Paris  advocate, 
hanged,  iii,  63. 

RENICHON,  priest  and  schoolmaster, 
hired  to  kill  Maurice,  his  plan  and  his 
fate,  iii,  297—299.  Envoy  Gilpin's  re 
port  of  him,  299  note. 

RENNEBERG,  Count,  the  betrayer  of 
Groningen,  iii,  103,  270.  His  attempt 
upon  Steenwyk,  157. 

RENTY,  Marquis  of,  his  command  at  the 
relief  of  Paris,  iii,  75.  80.  Too  strong 
for  Henry  IV,  82. 

REYD,  Everard,  secretary  to  Lewis  Wil 
liam  of  Nassau,  iv,  4.  569. 

RHEIMS  and  its  Holy  Bottle,  iii,  242, 243. 

RHEINBERG  city,  ii,  4.  Parma's  dealings 
with  it,  34.  45, 46.  Schenk  taking  it  in 


hand,  179.  549.  Invested  by  and  sur 
rendered  to  Maurice,  iii,  455,  456. 
Recaptured  by  the  Spaniards,  582. 
Again  besieged  and  taken  by  Maurice, 
iv,  64,  65.  Once  more  a  bone  of  conten 
tion,  263.  Taken  by  the  Spaniards, 
264. 

RHETELOIS,  Prince,  a  commander  at  15, 
iii,  348.  Sarcastic  allusion  to  him  and 
his  troops,  349. 

RHINE,  the,  ii,  2.  Bridged  over  by  Par 
ma,  45.  Opened  by  Maurice,  iii,  457. 

RIBERA,  John,  archbishop  of  Valencia, 
head  of  the  scheme  for  driving  the 
Moors  from  Spain,  iv,  336.  His  charge 
against  them,  337. 

RICHARDOT,  president  of  Artois,  propos 
ing  a  secret  interview  between  Parma 
and  Sainte  Aldegonde:  correspondence 
thereon,  i,  236—240.  Giving  La  Motte 
his  cue,  495.  Condition  he  styled 
"both  hard  and  soft,"  497.  Can't  see 
how  England  can  be  chastised,  498. 
Commissioner  to  meet  the  envoys 
sent  from  England,  ii,  359.  360.  365. 
367.  373.  384.  390.  Attempts  to  brow 
beat  them,  391.  Exchanging  quin- 
tuplications  with  them,  396.  Eliza 
beth's  distrust  of  him,  iii,  470.  His 
return  of  the  compliment,  474.  Fenc 
ings  between  himself  and  Villeroy, 
498,499.  Intriguing  with  Cecil,  iv,  200. 
His  secret  emissary  to  the  States.  301. 
Envoy  for  Spain  in  the  negotiations 
for  peace,  414.  428.  431.  Passing  a 
compliment,  434.  Answering  a  ques 
tion,  435.  Protesting  against  repub 
lican  plain  speaking,  437.  Effective 
in  his  part,  440.  Losing  his  temper, 
449.  Beginning  to  cry,  451.  End 
desired  by  himself  and  colleagues,  467. 
A  farewell  speech  and  a  prediction,  485, 
486.  A  truth  known  to  himself  and 
Jeannin,  487.  Discovery  and  publica 
tion  of  his  secret  instructions :  effect 
produced  thereby,  488—491.  Trick 
put  upon  him  by  Jeannin,  518.  Con 
soling  himself  with  quibbles;  pretend 
ing  ignorance,  524.  See  ii,  392.  397. 
iv,  514.  517. 

RICHEBOURG  and  Roubaix,  Robert  de, 
Melun,  Marquis  of  (formerly  Viscount 
of  Ghent)  his  succesful  assault  on 
Liefkenshoek,  i,  154  Base  murder 
committed  by  him,  and  its  baser  mo 
tives,  155.  Important  work  delegated 
to  him;  his  fitness  for  it,  165.  Killed 
by  an  infernal  machine,  195.  Excel 
lences  and  defects  in  his  character 
his  value  to  Parma,  201. 


RICHELIEU. 


INDEX. 


SAINTE. 


621 


RICHELIEU,  Cardinal,  his  remark  on  an 
untoward  incident,  iv,  155.  His  ver 
diet  on  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors 
from  Spain,  338. 

RIGAUT,  commandant  at  Corbeil,  killed, 
iii,  88. 

Riv  .s,  Spanish  general  at  Nieuport.  iv, 
3.16.  Before  Ostend,  96  210. 

ROBLES,  Seigneur  de  Billy,  Portuguese 
officer  in  Parma's  army,  i,  193.  Killed 
by  an  infernal  machine,  196  Parma 
deploring  his  death,  200. 

ROBSART,  Amy,  i,  367.  Result  of  the  in 
vestigation  into  the  cause  of  her  death, 
368,  339. 

ROGERS,  Dr.  John  (not  Daniel,  as  in  the 
text)  English  envoy  to  treat  with  Par 
ma,  ii,  358.  His  character,  374.  His 
own  opinion  of  the  effect  of  his  oratory 
upon  Parma,  375.  Exchanges  of  mag 
niloquence  between,  them,  376 — 382. 
Rebuked  by  Elizabeth,  383. 

ROHAN,  Due  de,  iv,  268. 

ROLLO  the  Dane,  his  dream  and  its  con 
sequences,  i,  363. 

ROMAN  Catholics.  Number  of  their 
priests  in  England  who  acknowledged 
Elizabeth  as  head  of  the  church,  i,  26. 
Grounds  whereon  she  put  them  to 
death,  27.  Causes  and  consequences 
of  her  persecution  of  them,  i,  127,  128. 
ii,  290—292.  Animus  of  the  States 
against  them  :  reconciliation  impossi 
ble,  i,  304.  Their  machinations  against 
Leicester,  374.  450.  Their  position 
under  James  I,  iv,  142.  Difficulties 
regarding  them  in  the  negotiations  for 
peace,  295.  306.  379.401.  402.408.451. 
460.  462.  471.  473.  489.  492.  Point 
gained  by  the  Republic,  522.  The 
true  source  of  liberty  for  them,  525. 
Jeannin's  appeal  for  them  527—529. 
545.  S.je  Inquisition.  Jesuits. 

ROME,  Philip's  threat  against,  iii,  230. 
Merry-making  over  Henry  the 
Fourth's  absolution,  346. 

RONSOY,  Count  de,  slain,  iii,  334. 

ROORDA,  Dutch  statesman,  ii,  223. 

ROSNES,  Savigny,  Marshal  de,  iii,  332. 
Baseless  accusation  against,  and  merit 
due  to  him,  334.  His  treachery  to 
Henry,  and  peculiar  usefulness  to  the 
Spaniards,  360.  His  prompt  action  at 
Calais,  367.  Retaliating  for  a  breach 
of  faith,  373  Castles  seized  by  him 
393.  Killed  394. 

ROSNY,  See  Sully. 

ROTTERDAM,  execution  of  pirates  at,  iv, 
60  252  A  prevailing  opinion,  253. 

ROUEN,  its  preservation  urged  on  Eliza., 


beth,  iii,  123  note.  Besieged  by  Henry 
IV,  134 — 136,  Parma  to  the  rescue, 
137.  142,  143.  145.  Success  of  his 
movement,  and  relief  of  the  city,  14:i, 
147  153. 

RUDOLPH  II,  Emperor  of  Germany,  his 
hatred  of  Philip  Ii  of  Spain,  and  dread 
of  the  Turk,  i,  30.  31.  Why  Sidney 
was  sent  to  his  court,  359.  Value  set 
by  him  on  Flushing,  363.  Reply  of 
the  States-General  to  his  peace  sug 
gestions,  iii,  36,  447.  His  attitude  re 
lative  to  Philip's  projects,  279.  His 
empire  tottering,  316  His  dog-in -the 
manger  tone  relative  to  the  Infanta, 
414.  Discrowning  scheme  of  Philip 
against  him,  417.  Laughed  at,  iv,  219. 
Pausing  from  his  star-gazings  to 
lecture  the  States :  their  reply,  426, 
427.  A  Spanish  assurance,  440.  Par 
tially  discrowned  i  humiliated,  539, 
540. 

RUE  besieged  by  Parma,  iii,  144. 

RUHROKT,  Spinola's  head-quarters,  iv, 
235. 

RUSSELL,  Sir  William,  ii,  48.  Laying 
about  with  his  curtel-axe,  51.  Weep, 
ing  over  Sidney,  53.  Sending  reinforce 
ments  to  Sluys,  263.  On  Parma's  pre- 
parations,  323  note.  See  217.  352.  344 

RYP,  or  van  der  Ryp,  John  Cornelisz, 
Dutch  Arctic  navigator,  iii,  561.  Part 
ing  company  with  his  colleagues,  563, 
Surprising  and  befriending  them,  574, 
575. 

SAINTE  ALDEGONDE,  Philip  de  Marnix, 
Lord  of,  policy  favoured  by,  i,  75  note. 
In  council  with  William  the  Silent  on 
plans  for  defence  of  Antwerp,  141 — 
143.  Accepts  the  burgomastership : 
his  large  responsibilities  and  small 
powers,  144.  His  theological  training, 
intellectual  versatility,  soldierly  quali 
ties,  and  personal  aspect,  145 — 147. 
Element  probably  wanting  in  his 
character,  148.  Dignity  refused  by 
him :  result  of  his  efforts  to  carry  out 
the  late  prince's  plans,  151 — 153.  Hii 
hair  standing  on  end,  161.  Occasion  of 
his  failure  to  capture  Parma's  fleet : 
his  '  Flying  Devil/  162,  163.  Disas 
trous  result  of  one  of  his  schemes,  165, 
166.  Direction  taken  by  his  fears  for 
Antwerp,  171.  Waiting  the  result  of 
Gianibelli's  enterprize,  198.  His  rage 
at  Jacobzoon's  neglect  of  orders,  199. 
His  post  in  the  first  attack  on  the 
Kowenstyn,  208.  His  dashing  conduct 
in  the  second,  attack,  2.11,  His 


622 


SAINT. 


INDEX. 


error,  and  its  fatal  consequences,  215, 
225.  Thwarting  effect  of  municipal 
jealousies  and  short-sightedness ,  in 
sults  and  discouragements :  anxious 
for  a  capitulation,  229,  230.  283.  235, 
236.  Parma's  proposal  for  a  secret 
interview:  corresponding  with  Par 
ma's  agent,  236 — 241.  His  good  faith 
suspected  by  both  sides  ;  a  target  for 
calumny,  242.  244.  His  inability  to 
fathom  Philip's  character  245.  255. 
258.  His  interviews  with  Parma  and 
reports  thereon :  impression  made  by 
each  on  the  other,  242 — 251.  Change 
in  his  attitude :  a  partisan  of,  yet  sus 
pected  by  Philip,  254.  255.  Hitherto 
unpublished  details  relative  to  him, 
264.  His  detestation  of  an  alliance 
with  England,  265.  His  inaccessibility 
to  bribes,  266.  268.  Two  antagonistic 
influences  he  was  bent  on  overcoming, 
267.  Catastrophe  he  hoped  to  avert 
by  his  subserviency  to  Parma  269. 
271.  His  efforts  to  clear  his  character, 
269.  272.  Tributes  of  Englishmen  to 
his  worthiness,  272  note.  A  prisoner 
in  his  own  house,  273.  Truth  of  which 
he  at  last  became  conscious,  274. 
Cautious  bearing  of  the  English  envoy 
towards  him,  274—276.  His  self-justi 
ficatory  dialogue  w^th  Col.  Morgan, 
276—279.  Lord  Leicester's  interces 
sion  in  his  behalf,  280,  281.  Work  to 
which  he  devoted  the  vest  of  his  days, 

282.  La  Noue's  testimony  to  his  worth, 

283.  Task  at  which  death  found  him, 

284.  Blunders  which  grew  out  of  his 
blunder  at  the  Kowenstyn,  299.    His 
visit  to  Lord  Buckhurst,  ii,  217.    Sus 
pected  by   both   parties  in  Holland, 
279  note.  See  i,  332.  ii,  187.  iii,  295. 

SAINT  Bartholomew,  See  Massacre. 
SAINT  Martin's  miraculous  cure,  iii,  243. 
SAINT  PAUL'S  cathedral,  London,  i,  311. 
SAINT  Quirinus,  burning  of  the  remains 

of,  and  revenge  therefor,  ii,  28.  31. 
SAINTS'  relics  sent  to  Philip  II,  iii,  216. 

453.  His  comforting  use  of  them,  506. 
SALANDER,  Tobias,    and    the    London 

pickpockets,  i,  310. 
SAN  Clemente,  Spanish  ambassador  at 

Vienna,   iii,  36.     On  the  archduke's 

pecuniary  straits,  279.     On  the  costly 

feastings  at  Ratisbon,  315,  316. 
SANDOVAL,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  an 

abettor  in  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors, 

iv,  337.  His  income,  339.    His  patron, 

345. 
SANSEVAL  at  Dourlens,  iii,  331.   Killed: 

honour  paid  to  his  remains,  333. 


SANTA  Cruz,  Marquis  of,  captain-general 
of  the  Armada,  his  ship  burnt  in  Ca 
diz  harbour,  ii,  283.  Work  shaped  out 
for  him,  314.  320,  321.  Snubbed  by 
royal  order,  462,  463.  His  end,  and 
accelerating  causes  thereof,  464. 

SARA  VIA,  Dr,  participator  in  the  Leyden 
conspiracy,  ii,  333.  Escapes,  335 

SARMIENTO'S  fleet  destroyed,  iv,  229. 

"  SAUSAGES,"  war  engines  so  called,  iv, 
70.  111. 

SAVOY,  Duke  of,  invited  to  the  French 
court ;  why  obliged  to  decline,  i,  55, 
56.  69.  Accomplice  in  the  conspiracy 
against  Henry  IV,  iv,  105  note.  149. 
164.  Bait  to  be  offered  to  him,  175 

SAXONY,  Augustus,  duke  of,  i,  32. 

SCHELDT  river  bridged  by  Parma,  i,  181. 
Character  of  the  stream,  249.  Sylvan 
fete  on  the  bridge,  259,  260. 

SCHENK,  Sir  Martin,  German  free-lance, 
his  exploits,  powers  of  endurance,  odd 
treatment  of  his  troops.  &c,  ii,  2. 5 — 7. 
Occasion  of  his  last  change  of  masters 
and  services  to  them,  7 — 9  19. 
Knighted.  17.  His  doings  at,  and  re 
sults  to  himself  of,  the  siege  of  Grave, 
21,  22.  Famous  fort  built  by  him,  23. 
549.  Defending  Rheinberg,  40.  179. 
Patton's  revenge  upon  him  at  Gelder, 
170,  180.  His  capture  of  Bonn,  348. 
Deaf  to  Farnese's  temptings,  421. 
Effect  of  his  name :  his  complaint  to 
Elizabeth,  548,  549.  His  attack  on 
Nymegen,  heroism,  defeat  and  end, 
550 — 553.  Ultimate  disposal  of  his 
remains,  iii,  117. 

SCHOMBERG,  Gaspar  de,  iii,  233. 

SCOTCH  lords  in  Spanish  pay,  ii,  306. 
329.  Favourable  to  France,  iv,  157. 

SCOTLAND  in  relation  to  England,  temp. 
Eliz.  i,  29.  305.  Resolution  of  the 
English  court  to  "procure  a  good 
peace  with  the  king  of  Scots,"  83,  84. 
Claimed  by  Philip  II,  iii,  43.  Taking 
possession  of  England,  iv,  139.  Its 
love  for  France,  140.  The  States- 
General  permitted  to  raise  recruits, 
180.  See  ii,  303.  346.  448.  468. 

SEBASTIAN,  Cornelius  and  his  ships 
storming  Tydor,  iv,  248,  249. 

SECTARIES,  how  dealt  with  by  Queen 
Elizabeth,  i,  25—27. 

SEGA,  bishop  of  Piacenza  and  legate, 
object  of  his  mission  to  Paris,  iii,  125. 
227. 

SEGUR,  M.  de,  how  nonplussed  in  his 
attempt  to  convert  his  master,  i,  49. 
69. 

SEINE,  the,  in  the  control  of  Henry  IV 


SERRANO. 


INDEX. 


SLtJYfl. 


623 


iii,  130.  147.    Parma's  successful  pas 
sage  across  it,  149 — 151. 

SERRANO,  Matteo,  and  Don  Matteo  An 
tonio,  sent  as  hostages  to  the  Dutch 
camp,  Ostend,  iv,  79.  Story  of.  the 
trick  practised  on  them  by  Vere,  79 — 
86.  Don  M.  Antonio  slain,  91.  Evacu 
ation  of  Sluys  by  Serrano,  212. 

SESSA,  Duke  of,  .Philip's  orders  to,  on 
the  death  of  Farnese,  iii,  224  note. 
Threatening  the  pope,  230. 

SEVILLE,  archbishop  of,  his  revenue,  iii, 
527.  iv,  340. 

SEYMOUR,  Lord  Henry,  timely  move 
ment  of,  li,  395.  Squadron  commanded 
by  him  in  the  Armada  fight,  455.  483. 
Angry  with  Howard,  525.  Hiscompli 
ment  to  Washingham  :  "  will  be  kin 
to  the  bear,"  527  note.  See  ii,  445, 
446.  487.  520.  528. 

SFORZA  at  the  rescue  ot  the  Kowenstyn, 
i,  220. 

SHEFFIELD,  Lord  and  Lady,  charges 
against  Leicester  respecting,  i,  367. 
368. 

SHIRLEY,  Sir  Thomas,  on  the  identity 
of  the  English  and  Dutch  interests,  i 
384.  His  endeavours  to  move  the 
queen  in  Leicester's  behalf,  433 — 436. 
Reporting  the  result  to  Leicester,  437. 
See  459.  461. 

SHIRT  attacks,  their  meaning  and  ob- 
iect,  iii,  167. 

SIAM,  iv.  424. 

SIDNEY,  Sir  Henry,  on  the  character  of 
his  son,  Sir  Philip,  i,358.  Result  of  his 
inquiry  into  the  death  of  Lord  Essex, 
368. 

SIDNEY,  Sir  Philip,  on  Sainte  Alde- 
gonde's  way  of  life  while  under  re 
straint,  i,  279.  Appointed  English  gov 
ernor  of  Flushing,  342.  353.  Fraternal 
feeling  of  Prince  Maurice  towards  him, 
343.  His  departure  for  Flushing,  357. 
His  character  and  capabilities :  animus 
of  the  queen  towards  him,  358.  Why 
sent  to  Vienna,  359.  His  protest  against 
Elizabeth's  marriage-project  and  quar 
rel  with  Oxford,  360.  His  tournament- 
trim  in  honour  of  Anjou,  361  Adven 
turous  intention  frustrated  by  the  ap 
pointment  conferred  on  him,  362. 
Arrives  at  his  post :  his  reception,  362 
363,  364.  His  punning  propensities. 
399.  ibid .  note.  On  Davison's  devotion 
to  his  duties,  400.  Threatened  by  the 
queen,  423.  Characterising  Heneage's 
doings,  and  warning  the  government. 
446.  Successful  attack  by  himself  and 
Maurice  upon  Axel,  ii,  34—36  40. 


Jealousy  excited  by  his  promotion,  37. 
His  complaints  relative  thereto,  and 
sacrifices  to  alleviate  the  condition  of, 
the  troops,  38  39.  Character  in  which 
he  joined  Leicester's  forces  at  Zutphen, 
49.  A  chivalrous  extravagance,  5l' 
Receives  a  fatal  wound ;  his  conduct 
in  his  last  moments,  52,  53.  53  note. 
55—57.  See  i,  298.  344  365.  491,  ii,  2. 
43.  45.  48.  92,  93. 

SIDNEY,  Sir  Robert,  volunteer  at  Does- 
burg,  ii,  43.  A  false  fear  regarding 
him,  181.  His  impression  relative  to 
the  destination  of  the  Armada,  300 
On  the  weakening  of  his  country's 
hold  on  the  affections  of  the  Dutch, 
piracies  of  English  mariners,  &c,  iii, 
168,  169  notes,  174  note.  267.  Acquit 
ting  himself  of  a  distasteful  mission, 
369— 372.  AtNieuport,  iv,30.  Charged 
with  cowardice,  ibid.  note.  See  i,  365. 

SIGISMUND  of  Poland,  his  efforts  at  me- 
diation  between  Spain  and  the  Nether 
lands,  anomalous  position,  &c,  iii,  447. 
Eccentricities  of  his  envoy,  448 — 451 
See  iv,  277. 

SILK  manufacturers  flourishing  in  Hoi 
land,  and  discouraged  in  France,  iv, 
231.  372.  554. 

SILLERY  demanding  the  Netherlands 
for  his  master,  iv,  283.  285,  286, 

SIXTEEN  tyrants  of  Paris  and  their 
doings,  iii,  125 — 128  Retribution  in 
flicting  on  them,  130. 

SIXTUS  V,Pope,  his  origin  and  character, 
i,  132.  Excommunicates  Henry  of 
Navarre  :  his  compliment  to  him  and 
to  Queen  Elizabeth,  133.  Outwitted 
by  Philip,  ii,  311,  312.  435.  461.  His 
bull  against  Elizabeth,  399—401.  A 
denial  regarding  it,  404.  His  excla 
mation  on  Guise's  arrival  in  Paris,  427. 
A  suspicion  against  him,  462.  Re 
fusing  a  million  to  Philip,  508.  De 
nounced  by  the  League,  iii,  45.  His 
love  of  art  and  schemes  of  family 
aggrandisement,  61.  His  death  and 
its  alleged  cause,  87,  88.  Philip's 
unholy  request  to  him,  193. 

SLOAT,  delegate  from  Overyssel,  iv,  434. 

SLUYS  besieged  by  Parma,  ii,  251.  260. 
Situation  of  the  town,  261.  Heroism 
of  besiegers  and  besieged,  262 — 266. 
Effect  of  jealousies  between  Leicester 
and  the  States,  266—268.  Schemes 
to  relieve  the  place :  Parma's  bridge, 
269—272.  Leicester's  fireships :  capi 
tulation  of.  the  town,  273—275.  313. 
Parma's  chat  with  De  Loo,  294—296. 
Attempt  to  blockade  Parma,  528.  De- 


624 


SMITH. 


INDEX. 


SPAIN. 


faat  of  Spinola's  galleys,  iv,  121—124. 
Maurice  advancing  towards  it,  201.  Its 
strategic  importance.  202,  203.  Fall 
of  intermediate  fortified  places,  203 — 
207.  Investment  of  the  town,  208.  Pro 
gress  of  the  siege  :  famine  and  pesti 
lence,  208.  209.  Spinola's  attempt  to 
relieve  it,  210—212.  Victory  of  the  be 
siegers,  212,  213.  English  and  French 
rejoicings,  223,  224.  Du  Terrail's  at 
tempt,  .257 — 259.  Longings  of  the 
French  for  it,  285,  286.  289.  292. 

SMITH,  Captain  John,  the  Virginian  ad 
venturer,  iv,  297. 

SMITH,  Sir  John,  his  opinion  of  Leices 
ter's  recruits :  Leicester's  opinion  of 
him,  ii,  518,  519. 

SNELLIUS,  Willebrod,  important  scien 
tific  labours  of,  iv,  571. 

SOLIS,  Captain  de,  his  fatal  disobedience, 
ii,  20. 

SOLMS,  Count  Ernest,  wounded  and  cap 
tured,  iii,  340.  His  death,  341.  343. 

SOLMS,  Count  George  Everard,  nomi 
nated  to  Sidney's  regiment,  i,  217.  De 
fending  Thlolen,  538.  Indignation  at 
his  surrender  of  Hulst,  iii,:394,  395. 
Commander  of  the  Nieuport  battalia, 
iv,  8.  Work  given  him  to  do  there, 
9.  10.  28.  See  ii,  38.  iii,  263.  273.  319. 
423.  426. 

SONOY,  Diedrich,  Leicester's  adherent,  ii, 
216.  Defying  the  States,  332.  355. 
His  English  encouragers,  409.  417, 
418.  Maurice's  charges  against  him, 
418,  419.  Ordered  to  surrender,  420. 
His  profitless  English  experiment,  and 
last  days,  421. 

SORBONNE,  the,  its  attitude  in  regard  to 
Henry  IV,  iii,  48.  49.  246. 

SOUBISE,  Prince  de,  learning  from  an  apt 
teacher,  iv,  264. 

SOUTH  Pole,  Dutch  voyagers  to  the,  iii, 
577. 

SOYSSONS,  "  fat  militia  captain,"  his  dis 
closure  to  Willoughby,  iii,  410. 

SPADE,  the,  vindicating  its  dignity  as  a 
military  weapon,  iii,  157. 

SPAIN  in  the  sixteenth  century,  its  ex 
tent,  natural  advantages,  cities,  de 
pendencies,  &c,  i,  7.  Its  Netherland 
provinces,  8.  Held  in  awe  by  Germany, 
30,  31.  Where  open  to  attack,  80. 
Principles  personified  by  the  nation, 
383.  The  overshadowing  power  of  its 
day,  iii,  44.  Receiving  supplies  from 
its  enemy,  175.  544.  Its  troops  in 
mutiny,  291,  292.  Calumnies  of  its 
emissaries  against  Elizabeth,  377. 
Anglo-Dutch  expedition  against  it, 


379_382.  Result  of  same,  384—391.. 
Projected  alliance  against  it,  397. 
Peace  with  France  agreed  on,  498 — 
500.  Position  of  the  nation  under 
Philip  II,  517.  Sources  of  its  revenue, 
520.  Why  not  a  rich  country  national 
pride  and  indolence,  521 — 523.  Popular 
diversions,  524.  The  landholding  class, 
525,  526.  Its  hierarchy  and  their  re 
venues,  527,  528.  Its  commerce,  con 
dition  of  its  people,  power  of  its  king, 
&c,  529—540.  The  like  particulars  re 
garding  the  nation  under  Philip  III, 
iv,  107.  330—335.  Redeeming  the  ad 
miral  of  Arragon  withDutch  prisoners, 
iv,  98.  Its  share  in  the  plot  against 
the  French  king's  life,  104,  105  notes. 
Its  condition  under  Philip  III,  137. 
Its  gifts  to  the  courtiers  and  queen  of 
James  I,  144.  Its  relations  with  James 
and  with  Henry  IV,  148—150.  101— 
164.  200.  279—284.  Treaty  agreed  on 
with  James,  219,  220.  Fruit  borne 
thereby :  Spanish  enlistments  in  Eng 
land,  227,  228.  Destruction  of  the 
troop-laden  ships  and  their  human 
cargoes,  229,  230.  Spaniards  and  For 
tuguese  among  the  Spice  islands,  246, 
247.  Expelled  therefrom  by  the  Dutch, 
248 — 250.  The  nation  weary  of  war : 
monetary  troubles  and  mutinous 
troops,  292.  True  meaning  of  its  diplo 
macy,  308.  Armistice  concluded  with 
the  States,  313 — 317.  Renewal  of  same, 
413.  Naval  battle  with,  and  victory  of 
the  Dutch  in  Gibraltar  Bay:  massacre 
of  the  vanquished,  320—329.  Effect  of 
the  victory,  364.  Superstitious  notion 
as  to  the  extent  of  the  nation's  power, 
330.  Expulsion  of  the  Moors:  wicked 
ness  and  folly  of  the  act,  336—339. 
Increase  of  archbishops  and  their  in 
comes,  339,  340.  Degradation  of  the 
orders  of  chivalry :  prominent  charac 
teristic  of  the  national  polity,  ibid. 
Trade  in  church  cures,  341.  Maxima 
and  principles  of  its  foreign  polity,  341, 
342.  Cross-claims  of  and  on  foreign 
potentates,  342,  343.  Decay  of  army 
and  navy :  general  poverty  of  the  na 
tion,  343.  Foremost  man  in  the  land, 
344  [see  Lerma,  Duke  of  j.  Difficulties 
in  the  way  of  continuing  the  war  : 
Spinola's  protests,  and  secret  emissary 
to  the  king,  362—368.  Hope  in  quib 
bles,  379.  Progress  of  peace  negotia 
tions  :  Ratifications  rejected  by  the 
States,  392—396.  Indignation  at  Mad 
rid,  400.  Monkish  reassurances  and 
ducal  credulity,  401.  New  ratifications 


SPENCER. 


INDEX. 


STANLEY. 


625 


and  discussions  thereon,  402 — 412. 
Again  worsted  in  a  naval  battle  with 
the  Dutch,  419 — 425.  Renewed  peace 
discussions,  434—439.  The  Indian 
difficulty,  441—448.  460.  462.  524. 
Truce  negotiations  opened,  467.  End 
of  same,  487.  Discussion  reopened, 
494.  Closed,  515.  Terms  of  truce  at 
last  agreed  on,  516 — 523.  See  Lerma, 
Duke  of  Parma.  Philip  II.  Philip 
III.  Spinola,  Ambrose. 

SPENCER,  Richard,  co-envoy  to  the  States 
with  Winwood,  iv,  389.  453.  535  note. 

SPLLBERG,  Joris  van,  iv,  133. 

SPINOLA,  Ambrose,  Marquis,  iv,  111. 
Condition  of  his  assumption  of  com 
mand  at  Ostend,  181,  182.  His  ante 
cedents  and  personal  characteristics, 
183,  184.  Noting  what  was  needed, 
185.  186.  His  first  success,  187.  Post 
ed  near  Sluys,  202.  203.  209.  His 
operations  towards  relieving  the  place, 
210,  211  His  repulse  and  return  to 
Ostend,  212.  Same  surrendered  to 
him,  214.  His  hospitalities  to  the  de 
feated,  215.  His  reception  in  Paris : 
coveted  honour  refused  to  him  in 
Spain,  225.  Intrigues  against  him,  226. 
Raising  recruits  and  sending  them  by 
sea,  227.  Attack  on  his  ships  and  mas 
sacre  of  his  troops  by  the  Dutch  ad 
miral,  229,  230.  Measuring  himself 
with  Prince  Maurice,  232  His  man 
oeuvres:  their  effect  upon  his  opponent, 

233.  Captures  Oldenburg  and  Lingen, 

234.  Throwing  away  his  advantages. 
234,  235.     His  victory  over  Maurice 
and  capture  of  Wachtendonk,  238, 239. 
His  adroit  disclaimer  of  the  merit  of 
his  own  successes,  240,  241.  One  mili 
tary  quality  wanting  in  him,  241.  Re 
pairing  the  finances  of  Spain,  254, 255. 
His  illness,  255.  257.    At  work  again  : 
resultless,  operations,  259 — 263.    Cap 
tures  Groll  and  Rheinberg,   263,  264. 
Mutiny  among  his  veterans,265.  Rush 
ing  to  the  rescue  of  Groll :  conduct  of 
his  opponent,  266—270.     Bankrupt: 
fighting  easier  than   financing,  295. 
Initiating  negotiations  for  peace,  301. 
Advising  thereon  :  falling  into  discre 
dit,  362 — 364.  His  remonstrances  and 
their  result,  365—368.  402.  His  views 
as  to  the  value  of  peace  for  Spain,  416, 
417.    Proceeding  on  his  mission :    his 
reception   at  the    Hague,    428 — 431. 
His  magnificent    housekeeping,  432. 
Disadvantage  he  laboured  under  440, 
&e  268.  392.  395.  397.  413.  414.  443. 
449.  485.  486.  517. 

VOL.  IV. — 2  S 


SPINOLA,  Aurelio,  iv,  368. 

SPINOLA,  Ferranto,  mortally  wounded, 
and  exhibited  as  a  trophy,  i,  215.  225. 

SPINOLA,  Frederic,  his  privateering  ex 
ploits,  iv,  113.  His  skirmish  with  Sir 
Robert  Mansell,  114.  Destruction  of 
his  ships  by  the  Dutchmen,  114 — 116. 
His  last  engagement  with  them,  de 
feat  and  death,  121—124.  182. 

SPINOLA,  Gaston,  Count  of  Bruay,  his 
colloquy  with  Maurice,  iv,  111. 

STAFFORD,  Sir  Edward,  English  envoy 
in  Paris,  warning  Queen  Elizabeth  of 
threatened  dangers,  i,  3.  On  the  va 
garies  of  Henry  of  Valois  and  hie 
minions,  39,  40.  On  Don  Antonio's 
straits  and  devices,  67.  His  embarrass 
ments  relative  to  France  and  the  Pro 
vinces,  and  reports  thereon,  68.  70.  A 
certain  "  handy-work  of  God  "  prayed 
for  by  him,  69.  On  the  probable  re 
sult  of  the  negotiations  uetweenFrance 
and  the  Provinces,  92.  On  the  rebuff 
given  by  the  French  king  to  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  100.  On  deser 
tions  from  Parma's  army,  and  the 
transmission  of  supplies  in  English 
bottoms  to  the  Spaniards,  173.  The 
French  king's  importunities  to  him,  ii, 
424.  His  reply  to  Guise's  proffer  of 
protection,  431,  432.  His  doubts  about 
the  destination  of  the  Armada,  436, 
437.  Speaking  the  truth  as  far  as  he 
knew  it :  his  pamphlet,  529,  530.  On 
Henry  the  Fourth's  bearing  on  the 
battle-field  and  on  the  unwise  disband 
ing  of  his  troops,  iii,  78,  79. 83, 84.  See 
also  83  note.  With  Henry  in  the 
trenches  85.  On  Henry's  attitude  to 
wards  the  Catholics,  88.  His  death, 
141  note.  On  a  contemplated  enormity 
by  Philip,  193. 

STANLEY,  Sir  Edward,  his  daring  act  at 
Zutphen,  and  prompt  recognition  of  it 
by  his  commander,  ii,  59,  60.  Mission 
entrusted  to  him,  167.  Reporting  on 
the  unprepared  state  of  his  soldiers. 
452. 

STANLEY,  Sir  William,  his  insubordinate 
conduct  at  Doesburg,  ii,  44.  His  reply 
to  Norris's  adjuration,  50.  Leicester's 
asseveration  regarding  him,  52.  Office 
injudiciously  conferred  upon  him: 
feelings  thereby  engendered,  155 — 
158.  His  high-handed  conduct  and 
reply  to  remonstrances  addressed  to 
him,  159 — 164.  Suspicions  as  to  his 
fidelity,  165.  168.  His  hoodwinking 
banquet  to  the  Deventer  magistrates, 
169.  His  treachery  and  surrender  ol 


626 


STARCH. 


INDEX. 


TILBURY. 


the  city  to  the  Spaniards,  189—172. 
His  reward :  replies  of  officers  he  at 
tempted  to  seduce,  173,  174.  His  de 
fence  of  his  conduct  and  subsequent 
fate,  175—177.  See  iii,  103.  i07. 

STARCH,  excessive  use  in  Holland  of,  iii, 
376,  377.  Fiscal  measures  and  pulpit 
fulminations,  377. 

STATE  secrets  of  old  time,  modern  facili 
ties  for  their  unravelment,  i,  54. 

STATES-Geueral.     See  Netherlands. 

STATISTICS,  a  great  writer  on,  iv,  569. 

STEENWYCK  ;  Maurice  at  its  gates  and 
away  again,  iii,  111,  112.  His  return  : 
importance  of  the  place :  extent  and 
result  of  Maurice's  burrowings  and 
diggings,  157 — 161.  Lesson  taught  by 
them,  256. 

STEVINUS,  Simon,  mathematical  tutor 
to  Maurice,  iii,  3.  His  mechanical  mar 
vels,  iv,  570. 

STIRUM,  Jan  van,  his  reply  to  a  demand 
to  surrender,  iii,  335.  Dining  with  his 
conqueror,  456. 

STRADA'S  account  of  Parma's  escape 
from  an  infernal  machine,  i,  199  note. 
His  report  of  Marnix's  oration  to  Par 
ma,  249  note. 

STRATAGEMS,  notable :  Grimstone's,  at 
Bergen-op-zoom,  ii,  541,  542.  Breda, 
iii,  6 — 16.  Zutphen,  104.  Amiens,  435. 
Vere's,  at  Ostend,  iv,  79—86. 

SUAREZ,  Don  Alvaro  de,  killed  at  Ostend, 
iv,  91. 

SULLY,  Maximilian  de  Bethune,  marquis 
de  Rosny  and  duke  of,  his  wounds,  and 
report  of  the  fight,  at  Ivry,  iii,  54  note. 
His  precautions  on  admitting  aSpanish 
agent  to  his  master,  305.  His  presence 
of  mind  at  a  critical  moment,  436, 437. 
His  scheme  for  raising  money,  438. 
Disposing  of  an  offerer  of  a  bribe,  439. 
Helping  to  settle  accounts  with  pur 
chased  patriots,  500,  501.  His  opposi 
tion  to  international  commerce  and  per 
sonal  gain  thereby,  iv,  131.  His  naive 
confession,  ibid  note.  Scheme  confided 
to  him  by  Elizabeth,  151—153.  Sent 
to  congratulate  James  on  his  accession, 

153.  Ill  effects  of  a  well-intended  act, 

154,  155.     His  desires  for  peace :  his 
impressions  of  England,  155, 156.  His 
arrival  in  London  and  first  interview 
with  Cecil,  156,  157.  His  suspicions  of 
and  dislike  for  Cecil,  168—170.     His 
interviews  in   England   with  Barne- 
veldt,  158—160.  168—170.   Change  of 
costume  forced  on  himself  and  suite, 
160.  His  reception  by  King  James,  161. 
Their  first  gossip  apt}  subsequent  con. 


ferences,  162 — 167.  173.  Imposing  an 
oath  on  and  unfolding  a  scheme  to  the 
king,  174 — 177.  Drawing  a  treaty, 
distributing  largesse,  and  taking  his 
leave,  178—180.  His  notions  and  ap 
prehensions  relative  to  the  silk  manu 
facture,  231.  554.  Result  of  his  finan 
ciering,  371.  374,  375.  378.  See  iv,  219. 
221.  283.  284.  456. 

SUSSEX,  Lord,  an  alleged  victim  of  Lei 
cester's,  i,  368.  His  warning  against 
the  "  Gipsy,"  370. 

SWEDEN,  iv,  1 75,  278. 

SWITZERLAND  and  the  Swiss,  iv,  152.153. 
175.  Results  of  a  truce,  498. 

TARDIF,  Paris  magistrate,  put  to  death: 
his  crime,  iii,  127. 

TARGONE,  Pompey,  his  unwieldy  and 
useless  war  machines,  iv,  183 — 185. 

TARIK,  enduring  memento  of  a  conquest 
by,  iv,  322. 

TASSIS,  John  Baptist,  ex-ambassador 
from  Spain  to  France,  i,  66,  67.  113. 
Deventer  surrendered  to  him,  ii,  171 — 
173.  His  despicable  office  about  Parma, 
iii,  205.  His  counter-poison  to  the  con 
version  of  the  Bearnese,  239.  Left  out 
art  a  great  dinner,  322, 323.  Deploring 
the  progress  of  heresy  and  republi 
canism  in  the  States,  346.  347.  Beard 
ing  Henry  IV  and  getting  a  "  head- 
washing,"  iv,  149,  150.  See  ii,  46.  47. 
165.  iii,  203.  236. 

TELIGNY,  son  of  La  Noue,  i,  95.  Result 
of  his  sortie  at  Lille,  156.  Hazardous 
service  undertaken  by  him,  165.  Con 
sequences  of  its  failure,  166.  Released 
from  prison :  at  his  father's  death,  iii, 
124. 

TERNATE,  iv,  245. 246.  Establishment  of 
relations  with  Holland,  247.  Their 
joint  attack  on  Tydor,  248, 249.  Taken 
by  the  Spaniards  and  retaken  by  the 
Dutch,  423.  Spanish  assault  repelled 
by  its  garrison,  424. 

TERRAIL,  Du.    See  Du  Terrail. 

THIONVILLE,  rendezvous  of  the  Spanish 
mutineers  at,  iv,  2. 

THIRTY  Years'  War,  the,  a  verification 
of  a  Netherlander's  prophecy,  i,  146. 

THOU,  Jacques  Auguste  de,  historian,  iii, 
233.  234. 

THROGMORTON,  Sir  Nicholas,  an  alleged 
victim  of  Leicester's,  i,  368. 

TIEL,  the  heath  of,  its  peculiar  nature, 
iii,  427.  Great  victory  of  Maurice  upon 
it,  428—431. 

TILBURY,  ii,  454.  Elizabeth's  review  ot 
her  troops,  512.  Sw  517. 


TrMtfERMAN. 


INDEX. 


UTRECHT. 


627 


TIMMERMAN,  Antwerp  mechanician 
associated  with  Gianibelli  in  his  in 
fernal-machine  project,  i,  191. 

TINOCO,  accomplice  in  the  poison  plots 
against  Elizabeth,  arrested  and  exe 
cuted,  iii,  296,  297. 

TOLEDO,  archbishopric,  its  revenues,  iii, 
353.  527.  Se-e  Sandoval. 

TOLEDO,  Don  Pedro  de,  head  of  a  Span 
ish  marriage  embassy,  iv,  454.  His 
proceedings,  455,  456.  466.  See  524. 

TOMSON,  Richard,  on  Parma  and  Sainte 
Aldegonde,  i,  265. 

TORALVA  at  the  rescue  of  the  Kowen- 
styn,  i,  217.  Desperately  wounded, 
222.  Honourable  treatment  accorded 
to  him  by  Parma,  224. 

TOURS,  Robin  de,  balked  of  his  bargain 
by  De  Bethune,  iii,  439. 

TRE  vr,  Council  of,  iii,  128.  246. 345. 591. 
592. 

TRESLONG,  William  de  Blois  Lord  of, 
admiral  of  Holland,  governor  of  Os- 
tend,  alliance  favoured  by,  i,  75  note. 
His  refractory  nature  and  obstinate 
courses,  149.  Cashiered  and  im 
prisoned  :  result  of  Queen  Elizabeth's 
intercession :  his  end,  150,  151. 

TRIVULZIO,  Count,  Spanish  general, 
with  his  cavalry  at  Sluys,  iv,  202.  His 
troops  frightened  out  of  their  garrison, 
204,  205.  His  victory  turned  to  defeat, 
206.  Frightening  away  his  foes,  236. 
Killed,  238. 

TRUCHSESS,  Ferdinand,  killed,  i,  178. 

TRUCHSESS,  G^bhard,  ex-archbishop  and 
ex-elector  of  Cologne,  translates  and 
disperses  Lord  Burghley's  pamphlet, 
i,  31,  32.  Disasters  resulting  from  his 
love  for  Agnes  Mansfeld,  32.  Venting 
his  complaints  in  a  string  of  proverbs, 
83.  Feelings  towards  the  French  king 
and  English  queen  variously  ascribed 
to  him,  72.  73.  To  be  assisted  by 
^nglish  money  to  make  head  against 
his  rival,  84.  Money  asked  for  him 
from  Elizabeth,  ii,  3.  Esteem  of  Eng 
lish  noblemen  for  him,  3,  4,  notes. 
Playing  the  spy,  79.  80.  See  i,  424.  ii, 
548.  549. 

TURENNE,DUC  de  Bouillon,  and  his  "like 
liest  footmen,"  iii,  79.  Not  dropping 
away  like  others,  84.  On  Maurice's 
capture  of  De  venter,  110  note.  His 
marriage,  139.  Campaign  he  was  to 
undertake,  313.  What  he  was  and 
was  not  provided  with,  ibid.  Result 
of  his  winter  movements,  319.  Sur 
render  of  Ham  to  him,  325.  Relieves 
La  Ferte,  326.  His  effort  to  relieve 


Dourlens  :  accusation  and  counter-ac 
cusation,  331 — 334.  Heads  a  mission 
to  Elizabeth,  397.  His  conferences 
with  her  and  her  councillors,  and  de 
parture,  399—406.  His  return  to  Eng 
land  with  the  ratified  treaty  :  psalm- 
singing  and  feasting  on  the  occasion, 
407,  408.  See  iii,  131.  132.  134.  306. 
459.  483.  iv,  257. 

TURKEY,  or  the  Ottoman  empire,  i,  30, 
31.  iii,  446.  iv,  128.  Making  peace 
with  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  iv,  278' 
/See  Amurath.  Mahomet. 

"  TURKISH  ambassadors,"  iii,  257. 

TURKS,  captives,  sent  home  by  Maurice, 
iv,  212. 

TURNHOUT,  skirmish  between  the  Dutch 
and  the  Spaniards  at,  iii,  259.  Mau 
rice's  great  victory,  422 — 432.  Magni 
tude  and  moral  effect  of  the  achieve 
ment,  433,  434.  450.  458. 

TYDOR,  iv,  246.  Its  king  conquered  and 
spared  by  the  Dutch,  248,  249.  His 
relapse  to  Spanish  servitude  and 
punishment  for  it,  423. 

TYRANTS,  the  only  citadel  against,  ii, 
301.  The  Sixteen  of  Paris,  see  Sixteen. 

TYRONE,  Lord,  prevented  from  aiding 
his  Spanish  allies,  iv,  95.  Partaking 
of  the  archduke's  hospitality,  279. 

TYSEN,  Bartholomew,  killed,  and  his 
coffin-lid  shattered,  iv,  75. 

UCEDA,  duke  of,  Lerma's  son,  his  wealth 
and  expectations,  iv,  346. 

UCHTENBROEK,  Colonel,  his  narrow  es 
cape  at  Ostend,  iv,  74. 

UMPTON,  or  Umton,  Sir  Henry,  English 
Ambassador  in  Paris,  ii,  562.  On  the 
king's  wound  at  Aumale,  iii,  141  note. 
Challenging  an  insulter  of  his  queen, 
ibid.  His  counsel  to  Henry  IV  after 
his  repulse  at  Rouen,  152,  153.  Pre 
senting  letters  from  Elizabeth ;  his 
opinion  of  the  fair  Gabrielle,  362—364. 
A  bit  of  farce  over  Elizabeth's  portrait, 
364,365.  Dead,  370  note.  See  403. 

UNCHAINED  Lion,  order  of  the,  iii,  579. 

UNITED  Provinces,  their  limit  as  dis 
tinguished  from  the  Spanish  or 
"  obedient "  provinces,  i,  8,  9.  Their 
sovereignty  and  constitution  collect 
edly  and  individually,  11—13.  Their 
names  and  respective  contributions  to 
the  general  fund,  iv,  565.  See  Hol 
land.  Netherlands. 

URBAN  VII,  a  thirteen  days  Pope,  iii, 
89.  195. 

UTRECHT,  one  of  the  seven  united  pro 
vinces,  i,  319.  406.  A  St.  George's 


628 


TJYTENIIOOVE. 


INDEX 


VELASCO. 


day  banquet,  ii,  15 — 17.  Wilkes's  ac 
count  of  the  quarrels,  124  note.  Buck- 
hurst's  reception,  220.  A  non-contri 
butor  to  the  general  fund,  237.  254. 
Threatened  by  Spinola,  260—263. 
Religion  of  most  of  its  inhabitants, 
473.  Its  percentage  of  contribution  to  j 
the  general  fund,  565  note.  See  ii,  127. ! 

128.  188.  215.  216.  331.  417.  iv,  297. 
434. 

UYTENHOOVE,  Colonel,  made  governor 
of  Ostend,  his  fitness,  iv,  194.  Deemed 
dead,  and  set  upon  by  plunderers: 
how  saved,  196. 

VALDEZ,  Diego  Flores  de,  captain  in  the 
Armada,  ii,  465. 

VALDEZ,  Pedro  de,  squadron  commanded 
by,  ii,  465.  His  ship  disabled,  476. 
Surrenders  to  Drake,  477. 

VALLADOLID,  arbitrary  removal,  by  Ler- 
ma,  of  the  Spanish  Court  to,  iv,  351. 

VAN  DEN  BERG,  Count  Frederick,  com 
mander  of  Coeworden  garrison,  iii, 
162.  His  defiant  reply  to  a  call  to  sur 
render,  163.  Forced  to  capitulate,  168, 
169.  His  indecent  taunt  to  his  cousin, 
340.  Marshal-General  of  the  archduke's 
camp  at  Nieuport,  iv,  13.  His  post  at 
Ostend,  64.  Stealing  away  in  the  dark, 

129.  Aiding  Du  Terrail's  movement 
upon  Sluys,  258.      See  iii,  266.  281. 
362. 

VAN  DEN  BERG,  Count  Herman,  effect 
of  a  sarcastic  remark  on,  iii,  106. 
Valiant  and  bibulous :  wounded,  107. 
His  surrender  and  colloquy  with  his 
conqueror,  109,  110.  See  362. 

VAN  DEN  BERG,  Count  Lewis,  command 
ing  in  the  field  at  18  years  old,  iii,  157. 
Killed,  160. 

VAN  DEN  BERG,  Joshua,  his  alleged  dis 
covery  in  the  Azores,  iii,  551. 

VAN  DEN  HOVE,  Anna,  buried  alive  by 
the  Jesuits,  iii,  444—416. 

VAN  DEN  TYMPEL  put  under  arrest,  i, 
265. 

VAN  DER  BERG,  Adrian,  his  daring  sug 
gestion,  iii,  6.  How  and  by  whom  it 
was  carried  out,  8 — 16.  See  Breda. 

VAN  DER  DELF,  captain,  Turnhout  sur 
rendered  by,  iii,  431. 

VAN  DER  DOES,  poet-soldier  and  heroic 
defender  of  Leyden,  i,  313.  ii,  335. 445. 
485.  His  tough  fight  with  a  Spanish 
ship,  499.  His  expedition  to  the  Ca 
naries  and  death,  iii,  586,  587.  "Adore 
comme  un  Saint,"  594  note. 

VAN  DER  DOES,  Dirk,  duty  laid  by  the 
States  on,  iv,  312.  Going  a  little  wide 


of  his  mark,  312,  313.     The  monk's 
gold  chain,  312.  390.  397. 

VAN  DER  HAGEN,  Captain  Stephen,  sail 
ing  of  a  Dutch  East  India  fleet  under, 
iv,  135.  His  league  with  a  Malabar 
chief  and  capture  of  Amboyna  from 
the  Spaniards,  244.  See  423. 

VAN  DER  KEMP,  a  phrase  explained  by, 
iv,  399  note. 

VAN  DER  MEER,  Jacques,  see  Beren- 
drecht. 

VAN  DER  MEULEN,  Antwerp  merchant, 
trying  his  hand  at  negotiation,  iii, 
473.  Reporting  what  he  heard,  474. 

VAN  DER  NOOT,  Colonel  Charles,  with 
his  Zeelanders  at  Nieuport,  iv,  18,  19. 
Their  panic  and  flight,  20.  Made 
governor  of  Ostend,  126.  His  suc 
cessor,  187.  At  Sluys,  208.  Left  on 
guard,  234.  Surprised  by,  and  repel 
ling  an  invader,  257,  258. 

VAN  DER  WAECKEN,  the  Dunkirk  pri- 
vateersman,  his  piracies  and  butch 
eries,  iv,  59.  His  escape  and  death,  60. 

VAN  DER  WERFP,  Adrian,  shocking  the 
intolerants,  ii,  333.  See  335. 

VAN  DER  WERKEN,  pensionary  of  Ley- 
den,  iii,  450. 

VAN  LOON,  Colonel  John,  killed,  iv,  189. 

VAN  WENA,  Admiral  Storm,  his  ill-star 
red  Expedition  to  Brazil,  iii,  587. 

VAN  WERNE,  his  gossiping  imprudence 
and  its  consequences,  i,  238 — 240. 

VAR AMBON,  Marquis  of,  iii,  323.  His 
family  pride,  359. 

VARAX,  Count,  successor  to  La  Motte, 
iii,  328.  359.  423.  Giving  his  enemies 
the  slip,  425.  Position  of  his  forces, 
426,  427.  429.  Killed,  430.  Respect 
paid  to  his  remains,  432. 

VASQUEZ,  Roderigo  de,  deprived  of  his 
post  by  Lerma,  iv,  347. 

VASTO,  Marquis  del,  Spanish  commander 
at  Warnsfeld,  ii,  47.  50.  Escaping  an 
English  battle-axe,  52. 

VAVASOUR'S  advice  as  to  the  readiest 
way  to  a  peace,  i,  445.  456. 

VELASCO,  Juan  Ruys  de,  dying  orders 
of  Philip  II  to,  iii,  506.  508.  509. 

VELASCO,  Louis,  commander  of  the  Arch 
duke's  artillery  at  Nieuport,  iv,  13 — 
23.  Spinola's  compliment  to  him,  240. 

VELASCO,  Ferdinand  o  de,  Constable  of 
Castile,  not  shining  as  a  soldier,  iii, 
344,  345.  Designated  ambassador  to 
England,  iv,  163.  167.  His  emotions 
and  acts  on  his  arrival,  180.  His  pro 
test  and  King  James's  reply  to  it,  222. 
His  dealing  with  Dutch  prizes  handed 
to  him  by  England,  228. 


VELASCO. 


INDEX. 


WACHTENDONK. 


629 


VELASCO,  Juan  Ruys  de,  King  Philip's 
dying  orders  to,  iii,  506.  508.  509. 

VENICE,  Mistress  of  the  Adriatic,  losing 
her  oceanic  supremacy,  iii,  544.  A 
proposed  sop  for  her,  iv,  175.  Conse 
quences  of  her  quarrels  with  the 
Jesuits,  256.  278.  Embargo  laid  by 
Lerma  on  diplomatic  communication, 
349. 

VENLO  besieged  by  Parma:  Schenk's  in 
terest  in  the  place,  ii,  21.  Frederick 
Henry's  unsuccessful  demonstration, 
iv,  265. 

VERDUGO,  Francis,  Spanish  governor  of 
Friesland,  i,  163.  His  pepetual  cry, 
180.  Murder-project  charged  upon 
him,  ii,  242.  Howling  for  money  and 
hanging  his  men,  iii,  70.  His  humble 
origin:  his  complaints  to  Farnese,  103. 
His  letters  intercepted,  111.  His  chi 
valrous  estimate  of  Maurice,  117.  Re 
sult  of  his  attempt  to  reinforce  Steen- 
wyck,  159.  His  efforts  at  Coeworden, 
162,  163.  166.  His  shirt  attack  on  the 
besiegers,  167,  168.  Hits  attempts  to 
retake  Coeworden,  266.  269.  Beaten 
at  Groningen,  274,  275.  His  last  feat 
and  death,  326.  His  character  and 
career ;  puns  on  his  name,  327.  See 
ii,  46.  47.  54.  iii,  109. 115. 116.  221. 281. 

VERB,  Sir  Francis,  ii,  263. 352.  Knighted, 
544.  Wounded  at  Steenwyck,  iii,  158. 
Off  to  Brittany,  164.  A  narrow  escape, 
273.  His  capture  of  Weerd  Castle,  343. 
Joining  in  the  naval  expeditions  to 
Spain,  380.  384.  388.  453.  At  the  siege 
of  Turnhout,  423.  426.  429.  Opposed 
to  the  Nieuport  project,  iv,  3.  Com 
mander  of  the  rear-guard  on  themarch, 
8.  His  broken  slumbers  and  unac 
cepted  opinion,  16.  Advising  an  im 
possibility,  17, 18.  Wading  at  the  head 
of  his  men:  giving  them  cold  comfort, 

26.  His  advice  and  Maurice's  reply, 

27.  Placing  his  men,  28.  32.    A  well- 
timed  volley,  33.     Bearing  the  brunt 
of  the  conflict :  his  wounds  and  his 
complaint,  36,  37.    His  horse  killed  : 
his  lucky  rescue,  38.      Note  on   his 
published  accounts  of  the  Nieuport 
affair,  51 — 54.  Commander-in-chief  at 
the  defence  of  Ostend,  64. 68.  His  per 
sonal  aspect :  mutual  hatred  between 
himself  and  the  Nassaus,  69.     Driven 
from  his  post  by  wounds,   74.    His 
dealings  with  suffering  citizens  and 
dishonest  soldiers,  75.     Orders  reluc 
tantly  given,  76.     His  cunning  trick 
upon  the  enemy,  77—86.   120.    His 
Defensive  operations  and  repulse  of  the 


assailants,  86 — 93.  His  iiitenable  pro 
position,  95.  With  the  States  army 
on  march  into  Flanders,  96.  See  ii, 
547.  562.  iii,  113.  595. 

VERB,  Sir  Horace,  brother  of  Sir  Francis, 
at  Nieuport,  iv,  39.  At  Ostend,  88. 
Wounded,  92.  In  the  water,  238. 

VERE,  Robert,  brother  of  Sir  Francis, 
iii,  338.  Murdered,  340. 

VERHOEP,  Captain,  succeeding  his  slain 
admiral,  iv,  325.  In  command  of  an 
East  India  fleet,  417.  425. 

VERREYCKEN,  Louis,  Spanish  envoy,  his 
conferences  with  Elizabeth,  iii,  596, 
597.  Sent  to  the  Hague  on  the  peace 
business,  iv,  392.  His  conferences 
there,  393—396.  Taking  back  gifts 
offered  to  the  Dutch  statesmen,  397. 
Further  conferences,  403,  404.  412, 
413.  428.  483,484.  Conveniently  lame, 
485. 

VERVINS,  Franco-Spanish  treaty  of  peace 
at,  iii,  498—500.  Equivocal  observ 
ance  of  the  treaty,  iv,  149.  162.  222. 
402.  443. 

Vic,  see  De  Vic. 

VILLALOBOS'S  unwelcome  reminder  to 
the  Admiral  of  Arragon,  iv,  40. 

VILLEROY,  prime  minister  to  Henry  III, 
and  subsequently  to  Henry  IV,  sacri 
ficing  his  master,  i,  123.  Proposes  to 
invade  England :  his  conference  with 
the  Spanish  envoy,  124—127.  "Un 
petit  coquin,"  ii,  339  note.  Conferring 
with  the  States  envoys,  iii,  459. 481— 
483.  The  States'  gift  to  him,  482. 
What  he  was  sure  to  do,  486.  Terms 
exacted  by  him  from  the  Spanish 
envoy,  498,  499.  On  the  thorn  planted 
by  the  States  in  the  Spanish  foot,  iv, 
164,  note.  On  the  attitude  of  Spain 
towards  France,  200.  On  the  need  to 
the  States  of  their  India  traffic,  448. 
His  comic  characterization  of  Ri- 
chardot,  491.  See  iv,  280.  283.  401. 

VILLIERS,  i,  264.271.  His  influence  over 
Prince  Maurice  and  animus  towards 
England,  333.  Denounced  by  Leices 
ter  :  Hohenlo's  threat  against  idm, 
395,  396. 

VIRGINIA,  iv,  297. 

VOLMAR,  Jacques,  a  leader  in  the  Ley- 
den  conspiracy,  ii,  333.  His  conduct, 
trial  and  fate,  334—338.  340. 

WAAL,  need  for  protecting  the  line  of 
the,  iii,  103, 11J.  Parma's  adroit  move 
ment,  J14.  Maurice's  bridge,  116,  See 
260—262. 

city,  ii,  2£ 


630 


WAGENAAR. 


INDEX. 


WILKES. 


by  Mansfeld,  549.  Captured  by  Spi- 
nola,  iv,  239. 

WAGENAAR  on  the  powers  granted  by 
the  Dutch  States  to  Leicester,  i,  451 
note. 

WAGENAAR  of  Zeeland,  obligation  of 
mariners  to,  iii,  548. 

WALCHEREN,  coveted  by  the  French 
king,  i,  71. 

WALLOON  Provinces,  "reconciliation" 
of  the,  i,  8.  Falling  away  from  their 
Flemish  sisters,  iii,  346. 

WALSINGHAM,  Sir  Francis,  i,  4  note.  On 
the  resolution  of  the  Dutch  after  their 
prince's  murder,  13  note.  On  the  con 
dition  of  Protestant  Germany,  34  note. 
His  habit  of  reserving  foreign  state- 
secrets  for  the  queen's  own  eye,  55. 
Services  of  Roger  Williams  to  him,  78. 
Probable  results  had  his  policy  been 
followed  out,  80.  His  insight  into  the 
future,  81.  His  impatience  at,  and 
denunciations  of,  the  puerilities  of  his 
own  government,  89,  90.  Overruled 
in  the  council,  90.  On  the  queen's  dis 
like  for  Sainte  Aldegonde,  266.  His 
own  estimate  of  the  man,  272  note.  281. 
His  instruction  to  Davison  concerning 
him,  275.  Conferences  between  him 
self  and  the  Dutch  envoys  on  the  ques 
tion  of  aiding  Holland,  290—294.  His 
two-fold  nature :  his  politic  letter  to 
Davison  on  the  subject  of  the  confer 
ences,  295,  296.  Laid  up  at  Bam 
Elms:  visited  there  by  Ortel,  298. 
Policy  towards  the  Netherlands  en 
joined  upon  him,  300.  Moralizing 
thereon,  301.  His  timely  counsel  to 
the  Dutch  envoy,  302.  His  physiog 
nomy,  317.  Wherein  the  queen  of 
fended  him :  condoling  with  Davison, 
345.  Utterly  discouraged,  352.  His 
encomiums  on  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  358. 
359,  360.  362.  Spies  upon  his  spying, 
375.  Straightforward  in  his  advocacy 
of  aid  for  Holland,  381  note.  His 
estimate  of  Sir  John  Norris,  391. 
Sticking  to  his  post,  418.  His  com 
forting  assurance  to  Leicester,  457  note. 
Piercing  through  the  queen's  attempt 
to  deceive  him,  468.  487.  Exposing 
her  double-dealing,  469  note.  Not  to 
be  browbeaten,  470.  Explaining  the 
queen's  meaning  and  yet  puzzled 
thereby,  474,  475.  Discovering  his  an 
tagonist's  devices :  amenities  between 
himself  and  the  queen,  491,  492.  See 
ing  after  sunset :  bringing  the  secret 
negotiators  to  book,  514 — 517.  Forc 
ing  his  adversaries'  ha^ds,  024,  On 


the  caprices  and  wilfulness  of  the 
queen,  ii,  39.  77.  90.  104. 191, 192. 194, 
195.  211,  212.  213  note.  329,  330. 
Never  deceived:  a  lesson  learnt  by  him, 
301.  527  note.  In  possession  of  the 
Spanish  plot,  322,  323.  329.  408.  His 
beliefs  about  the  Armada,  434.  437. 
474.  His  conferences  with  the  Nether- 
land  church  deputies,  438 — 440.  444. 
His  death,  iii,  34.  See  i,  119.  335.  336. 
337.  412.  416.  419.  423.  429.  437.  451. 
456.  457.  458.  459.  467.  472.  483.  501. 
509.  526.  ii,  102.  215.  237. 

WARMELO,  Sheriff  of  Zalant,  Spinola 
repulsed  by,  iv,  263. 

WARMOND,  John  of  Duvenwoord,  Sei 
gneur  of,  i,  1 3.  Admiral  of  the  Dutch 
contingents  against  the  Spaniards,  ii, 
445.  iii,  380.  Elizabeth's  estimate  of 
his  services,  381.  His  ships  off  Cadiz, 
384.  Knighted,  386.  Siding  with 
Essex  in  an  overruled  project,  388. 
Elizabeth's  letter  of  thanks  to  him, 
389,  390.  His  due  withheld  from  him 
by  an  English  historian,  390  note. 

WARNSPELD,  battle  of,  ii,  47 — 55. 

WARWICK,  Ambrose  Dudley,  Earl  of, 
his  gloomy  warning  to  his  brother,  i, 
432. 

WAR WTK,  Admiral  Wybrand  van,  com 
mander  of  the  first  fleet  of  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  iv,  135. 

WATERVLIET,  Maurice  at,  iv,  232,  233. 

WAUW,  traitorous  surrender  of,  ii,  178. 

WEEKD  castle  captured :  hard  lines  for 
its  garrison,  iii,  343. 

WEERDT,  Sebald  de,  Dutch  navigator, 
iii,  578.  His  ship  the  sole  survivor  of 
the  fleet,  580.  Murdered,  iv,  243. 

WEKLL,  Schenk's  successful  stratagem 
at,  ii,  8. 

WEST  India,  see  Dutch  West  India  Com. 
pany. 

WIER,  John,  Dutch  writer  against  be. 
lief  in  witchcraft,  iv,  570. 

WILFORD,  Thomas,  on  England's  stake 
in  the  safety  of  Holland,  i,  375,  376. 
Tendencies  of  his  countrymen  de 
nounced  by  him,  382.  On  the  luxu 
rious  tastes  of  the  Hollanders,  384. 

WILKES,  Thomas,  on  the  characters  of 
Prince  Maurice,  and  Sainte  Aldegonde, 
i,  272  note.  Sent  to  the  Netherlands : 
his  competency,  ii,  89,  90.  "  Fraught 
full"  of  the  Queen's  "conceipts,"  91. 
His  views  on  Drake's  Netherlands 
visit,  103,  note.  Saves  Reingault's  life, 
107  note.  His  reports  of  the  Utrecht 
controversy,  124  note.  141  note.  Lei-- 
cester's  animosity  towards  him,  13ft 


WILLEBROD, 


INDEX. 


WITTENIIORST. 


631 


150  note.  246.  253  note.  279.  Setting 
himself  right  with  Burghley,  139  note. 
Sympathizing  with  Sir  John  Norris, 
158,  159.  His  conduct  in  reference  to 
Stanley  and  York's  doings  at  Deventer, 
160 — 165.  "  Pawning  his  own  carcase" 
to  relieve  the  troops,  184.  His  letter  on 
their  condition,  ibid  note.  His  truth 
fulness  to  Leicester  and  its  conse 
quences,  185 — 187.  His  democratic 
theories:  and  dispute  with  Barneveldt, 
221—225.  228,  229.  Receives  a  dan 
gerous  order :  his  action  thereon,  235 
— 237.  Conscious  of  Leicester's  malig 
nity,  245.  Taking  his  leave  in  time, 
252.  277.  His  reward  for  his  fidelity, 
278.  Buckhurst's  eulogium  on  him, 
279  note.  Denouncing  Denmark,  303. 
See  ii,  106.  254.  259.  352. 

WILLEBROD  the  Frisian  martyr,  ii,15,16. 

WILLIAM  the  Silent,  Prince  of  Orange, 
His  assassination,  rare  qualities,  &c.  i, 
1.  Philip's  remark  on  hearing  of  his 
death,  3.  His  disregard  of  warnings, 
4  note.  Change  produced  by  his 
death:  his  counsel  on  Anjou's  treach 
ery,  10.  Title  accepted  by  him,  11. 
Result  of  his  murder  upon  the  resolu 
tions  of  his  countrymen,  13.  Effect  of 
his  patriotism  upon  his  property:  cha 
racter  of  his  sons,  14,  15.  See  Louisa 
de  Coligny.  Value  set  by  him  on 
Ghent,  22.*  Policy  favoured  by  him, 
25.  Spirit  of  his  conduct  towards  reli 
gious  opponents,  26.  ii,  121.  His  anx 
iety  to  keep  Holland  and  Zeeland  free 
from  foreign  domination,  i,  62.  A  Ppr- 
tuguese  candidate  anxious  to  succeed 
him,  67.  Efforts  of  the  French  king 
to  buy  Walcheren  from  him,  71.  How 
he  regarded  same,  72.  Conduct  of 
Flemish  nobles  ascribed  to  their  jeal 
ousy  of  him,  86.  Impetus  given  by  his 
murder  to  Parma's  operations,  138. 
His  far-seeing  plan  for  keeping  the 
enemy  out  of  Antwerp,  141 — 143. 
How  he  secured  Sainte  Aldegonde's 
life,  147.  His  unteachable  gift,  148. 
Why  an  enemy  rejoiced  at  his  death, 
154.  Loss  to  the  patriots  on  the  very 
day,  154. 188.  Parma's  charges  against 
him,  167.  168.  His  eulogium  on  Sid 
ney,  359.  His  homely  attire :  Fulke 
Greville's  portraiture  of  him,  371,  iii, 
284,  285.  Condition  of  his  family  in 
consequence  of  his  patriotic  sacrifices, 
i,  394.  395.  A  lesson  with  which  he 
made  the  world  familiar,  ii,  301. 
"  Father  William,"  349.  As  to  the 
offer  of  sovereignty  to  him,  iv,  544. 


Alive  to  the  meaning  of  religious  free 
dom,  547. 

WILLIAMS,  Roger,  his  soldier-services 
to  the  State,  and  inaccessibility  to 
Spanish  bribes,  i,  78.  Sagacity  of  his 
views :  shews  the  true  way  to  cripple 
Spain,  79,  80.  His  counsel  after  the 
fall  of  Antwerp,  332.  336.  His  exploit 
at  Grave,  ii,  22.  Baulked  in  a  project, 
34.  His  complaint  relative  to  Hohenlo, 
37.  Making  a  mark  of  himself,  42. 
His  wise  words  and  brave  acts  at  Sluys, 
264—266.  269,  270.  His  reply  to  Par 
ma's  attempt  to  enlist  him,  274.  His 
mission  home,  275.  Epistolary  com 
mendations  on  him,  275,  276,  notes. 
Master  of  the  horse:  Leicester's  grudge, 
514.  Playing  the  host  and  speaking 
his  mind  to  the  League  deputies,  iii, 
68.  Fighting  and  writing,  122,  123. 
His  brilliant  action  before  Dieppe,  122 
note.  His  wholesome  counsel  to  his 
queen,  123  note.  His  exploit  at  Rue, 
145.  Dead:  history  left  behind  him,  381. 
See  ii,  67.  263.  295.  352.  357.  517.  554. 

WILLOUGHBY,  Lord,  on  the  supineness 
of  the  German  princes,  i,  33.  Hero  of 
a  ballad,  ii,  48.  Unhorsing  a  Spanish 
general,  51.  Taking  command  in  Hol 
land,  vice  Leicester,  355.  Excellences 
and  defects  in  his  character :  his  own 
consciousness  of  the  latter,  356,  357. 
Getting  into  hot  water  with  the  States, 
409,  410.  410  note.  413—417.  Why 
dissatisfied  with  his  position,  412.  His 
share  in  the  stratagem  at  Bergen-op 
Zoom,  542.  Ceremony  performed  by 
him  at  the  end  of  the  fight,  543,  544. 
His  conduct  in  reference  to  the  Ger- 
truydenberg  disaster,  545 — 547.  See 
i,  352.  362.  ii,  67.  352.  420. 

WINGFIELD,  Sir  John,  commander  of 
Gertruydenberg,  ii,  410.  An  alleged 
accomplice  in  the  betrayal  of  the  gar 
rison,  544—547.  iii,  103.  His  fatal 
foolhardiness,  386. 

WINTER,  Sir  William,  English  admiral, 
ii,  409.  Longing  for  the  Armada,  449. 
His  fire-ship  suggestion  to  Howard, 
485—487.  Wounded,  503.  See  501. 
502.  520. 

WINWOOD,  Ralph,  sent  to  assist  in  the 
peace  deliberations  at  the  Hague,  iv, 
389.  453.  His  quarrel  with  Maurice, 
492,  493.  His  counsel  on  religious 
matters,  537. 

WITTENHORST,  Walrave  van,  sent  to 
test  the  feelings  of  the  States  on  the 
peace  question,  iv,  296.  Purport  of  bin 
report,  300,  301. 


632 


Y. 


INDEX. 


ZUTPHEN. 


Y,  the  form  given  by  Maurice  to  his  sub 
terranean  workings,  iii,  261.  272.  The 
letter  doing  its  work,  274. 

YBARRA,  Stephen,  Philip's  envoy  to  the 
League,  iii,  129.  Miscalculating  the 
effect  of  some  murders,  130.  Spectacle 
of  which  he  was  an  involuntary  wit 
ness,  244.  Indicating  its  effect  in  three 
words,245.  Characterising  the  younger 
Mansfeld,  278.  Watching  an  archduke 
and  denouncing  a  duke,  282.  His 
summing  up  of  the  former,  283.  His 
dealings  with  another  duke,  322,  323. 
Mission  proposed  for  him  relative  to 
Spinola,  iv,  364.  Protest  and  steps  of 
Spinola  thereon,  365.  His  puerilities 
and  boasting,  366.  Recalled,  367. 

YORKE,  Sir  Rowland,  English  volunteer 
in  Parma's  camp,  i,  193.  Desperate 
expedition  headed  by  him,  194.  His 
character  and  antecedents;  as  un 
trustworthy  as  daring,  ii,  156.  Post 
unwisely  conferred  upon  him,  157, 158. 
His  traitorous  conduct,  164 — 168.  Price 
put  upon  his  head :  his  later  career 
and  end,  177, 178.  Vengeance  wreaked 
on  his  exhumed  remains,  iii,  110. 

YSENDYKE,  invested  by  Maurice,  iv,  205. 
Its  surrender,  206. 

YSSEL  river,  its  military  importance,  iii, 
103.  Bridged  by  Maurice,  106.  See 
iv5  260—263. 

YSSELSTEIN,  Colonel,  co-leader  in  the 
attack  upon  the  Kowenstyn,  i,  208. 

YVETOT,  iii,  148. 


ZAIDA,  king  of  Ternate,  his  treaty  with 
the  Dutch,  iv,  247.  See  Ternate. 

ZAPENA,  Spanish  admiral  and  marshal, 
his  counsel  at  Nieuport,  iv,  24.  An 
argument  more  potent,  25.  Prisoner 
to  the  Dutch,  43. 

ZEELAND,  one  of  the  Seven  United  Pro 
vinces  :  views  of  its  navy  officers  on 
the  proposed  relief  of  Antwerp,  i,  233. 
Character  given  to  its  people  byGilpin, 
288.  Its  extent,  cost  of  its  dykes,  &c. 
iii,  25.  Its  delegate  at  the  peace  nego 
tiation  congress,  iv,  434.  449.  With 
drawal  of  its  deputies  from  the  States 
Assembly,  469.  484.488.  Their  return, 
510.  Standing  out  and  talking  of  set 
ting  up  for  itself,  504,  505.  506.  511. 
512.  513.  Submitting  to  the  truce, 
514.  Its  revenue,  564.  Its  percentage 
of  contribution  to  the  general  fund, 
565  note.  See  Holland.  Netherlands. 

ZUTPHEN,  i,  58.  163.  Its  siege  deter 
mined  on  :  Leicester's  plans  and  pre 
liminary  operations,  ii,  41 — 45.  Par 
ma's  forces  and  position,  45 — 48. 
Warnsfeld  fight :  Sidney's  death 
wound,  49 — 53.  Results  of  the  en 
counter,  54 — 60.  Mistaken  choice  of 
a  commander  for  the  fort,  156,  157. 
Traitorous  admission  of  the  Spaniards, 
177,  178.  Starvation  in  its  garrison, 
iii,  73.  Stratagem  by  which  Maurice 
gained  the  fort,  104.  Investment  and 
surrender  of  the  city,  105  See  ii,  155. 
181.  206.  iv.  264. 


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Book  Slip-30m-8,'54(6210s4)458 


1397lili 


Motley,   J.L. 

History  of  the  United 


Call  Number: 
DH186.5 

M58 
v.2 


Moti 


M58 


139744 


